“The Essay: and this is not a form of literary expression unfamiliar to me. I can remember being introduced to it. It was the opinions and observations of people I did not know, and their opinions and observations bore no relationship to my life as I lived it then.” Jamaica Kincaid “Resisting Definitions”When I read this comment by Jamaica Kincaid I am reminded of a young child that is being stubborn and not willing to give anything a chance. It is very similar to the situation when a student would say to a teacher, “This is stupid, when am I ever going to use this.” This is the type of remark that Jamaica is making when referring to essays.
There are many things that at first glance appear to have no affect on your life, but when you take a step back and look at things again you realize the affect things can have on you. I encountered an experience similar to this when graduating for high school and beginning to make my way off to college. I was told, “College is a new experience and you will meet all different kinds of people, but the most important thing to remember is to be yourself.” At the time it seemed like just another person putting in their advice and wishing me good luck in school, but as I began to look back on it, it meant so much more. It reminded me of a poem I have framed entitled, “The Man in the Mirror,” it states that in the end he is the only one you must be happy with. This poem gives all kinds of deep inspiring advice and it comes from a person I have never seen, talked to and will never meet, but it has a huge impact on my life. The poem gives you an image of a wise old man sitting in his rocker reminiscing on his life and revealing the secrets of life with his grandchildren. That is what an essay should do it should have an enormous impact on your life even if you know that you will never see this person or maybe you don’t even agree with them, but it should make you challenge something, make you wonder.
The imagery that an essay should portray is monumental in being successful. It should take you to a certain place in time; give you a certain feeling deep down in your gut. Only then will you know if you have a successful piece of writing. Essays are nothing more than a person sharing their thoughts with anyone who is willing to read them, but you can learn a lot from other peoples thoughts and that is why I disagree with Jamaica’s statement about the writers opinions having no relevance to her life.
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