I am currently looking out the window to the bustling street and every single person I am seeing has a story of their own, has a family story that I could never begin to imagine. I have no way of knowing the way family may have shaped a person’s life, but everyone’s family will affect the way in which they perceive the world. Because of this, no one person perceives the world in the same manner. Since we all have different perceptions, none of us can completely understand how someone else sees the world. This is not to say that we can never at least begin to understand the point of views of others. Personal narratives serve this purpose. They allow us to start understanding things we may never experience ourselves. When reading an autobiography
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Autobiographies provide us the opportunity to begin to understand a story and a perspective that is different from our own.
In Richard Rodriguez’s “,Achievement of Desire” he uses a personal narrative to describe his educational experience as a son of Mexican immigrants in an American school system and the struggles that came with it. Many of these struggles had to do with a separation he began feeling from his less educated parents. Both my parents have college degrees and English is my first langauge, so I will never have the same experiences as Rodriguez, but by reading his narrative I can begin to understand the way his family and his culture influenced him. As the author is progressing through his education he seems to express this feeling of …show more content…
I, on the other hand, grew up in a small farm town in Massachusetts where the biggest crimes are the occasional home or car burglaries. So how could I possible relate to experiences of someone that would grew up in Homewood? The answer is the same thing that allowed me to relate to Richard Rodriguez’s life as an immigrant. Personal narratives. In “Our Time,” John Wideman writes a personal narrative about some of the experiences of he and his brother, Robby, growing up in Homewood. In this autobiography Wideman tells the story of his brother who refused to abide by society’s rules and ended up in prison. Wideman struggles trying to understand how his brother ended up so differently than himself. Although Wideman and I have had profoundly different family experiences that does mean I can not begin to understand his perspective, just as I could with Rodriguez. Wideman grew up in a black family in a lower class town, while I grew up in a white family in an upper middle class town. These varying upbringings are sure to manifest drastically different family dynamics. On the surface it appears that Wideman’s family story is entirely different from mine, but I wonder if that is entirely true. Although our experiences have been different, are there not themes that overlap between us. Wideman has a brother that seemingly revolted against society. My own brother has seemingly
Autobiographies provide us the opportunity to begin to understand a story and a perspective that is different from our own.
In Richard Rodriguez’s “,Achievement of Desire” he uses a personal narrative to describe his educational experience as a son of Mexican immigrants in an American school system and the struggles that came with it. Many of these struggles had to do with a separation he began feeling from his less educated parents. Both my parents have college degrees and English is my first langauge, so I will never have the same experiences as Rodriguez, but by reading his narrative I can begin to understand the way his family and his culture influenced him. As the author is progressing through his education he seems to express this feeling of …show more content…
I, on the other hand, grew up in a small farm town in Massachusetts where the biggest crimes are the occasional home or car burglaries. So how could I possible relate to experiences of someone that would grew up in Homewood? The answer is the same thing that allowed me to relate to Richard Rodriguez’s life as an immigrant. Personal narratives. In “Our Time,” John Wideman writes a personal narrative about some of the experiences of he and his brother, Robby, growing up in Homewood. In this autobiography Wideman tells the story of his brother who refused to abide by society’s rules and ended up in prison. Wideman struggles trying to understand how his brother ended up so differently than himself. Although Wideman and I have had profoundly different family experiences that does mean I can not begin to understand his perspective, just as I could with Rodriguez. Wideman grew up in a black family in a lower class town, while I grew up in a white family in an upper middle class town. These varying upbringings are sure to manifest drastically different family dynamics. On the surface it appears that Wideman’s family story is entirely different from mine, but I wonder if that is entirely true. Although our experiences have been different, are there not themes that overlap between us. Wideman has a brother that seemingly revolted against society. My own brother has seemingly