My favorite narrative I read was “My Father’s Sketchbook” by Jessie Hawkes. I personally enjoyed this piece because it was well written and was a good story. I could feel the author’s feelings in her words she writes. I got a good idea of what a personal narrative is by this piece too. One of my personal favorite parts of her story is when she first finds her dad’s statement that he “is sad” (96). I really could see what she was going through at this time and could kind of relate to the way she was feeling. I have always looked up to my dad and when I was young he was invincible and would play around with me. We would have little arm wrestling matches and do other father son games. It is my guess that he also let me win these games. I remember playing a game of Pig with my dad. Pig is a basketball game where if you make a shot, the other person has to make the same shot. If they don’t, then they receive a letter. One time while playing, I accused him of not trying. He claimed he was, but I wasn’t completely sure if he was. I can relate to this girl when she realized that her dad let her come close to winning these arm wrestling matches. Overall, I really enjoyed this personal narrative and could relate to many parts of her stories and learned how I should structure mine.
My favorite quote I found in this particular piece was at the end of her personal narrative. When she was hugging her father, she said her fathers hug was as if he was saying, “ there is sadness in this part of the journey too. There is sadness and there are mistakes, but more importantly, there is joy. And love. And growing” (98). I liked this quote because I can relate to this statement. I am going through the same part of life that she I going through and I agree that it is hard, but there are a lot of rewards that come along with it.
I felt the same way about this story. the way she wrote I felt like I was in the story and could feel what she was trying to describe. My dad was the same way with me. I would always want him to play as hard as he could and not hold back on me, but I'm pretty sure he never really tried his hardest. Know its fun to be the older kid and do that to the little kids that you play with. I liked that quote as well. I think it relates to all of us who just left for college.
ReplyDeleteI agree that reading this narrative has helped me recognize how to structure my narrative and given me a boost on brainstorming. I love how you focused mostly on her playing and 'winning' with her father. I enjoyed your anecdote. I think that at one point or another we have all had that done to us and done it ourselves. At the time it made me mad when my parents or older siblings didn't try their hardest. However, I realized even if I did know they hadn't tried their hardest, it made my day whenever I would win a game.
ReplyDeleteI liked the quote you used. It says an optimistic tone and, in case you haven't noticed in my blog, I love optimism.