Reading Response #1

Both Hogg and Black demonstrate the features of the form that Ballenger talks about on page 94. Both essays use first person, which demonstrates how connected the writer is with the work. Using first person forces the writer to write with “openness and honesty” (93). Also, the “reader can’t hide” from his or her feelings that are being addressed (93). For example, Hogg could have been completely embarrassed by her obsession with Davy Jones that even led her to a random hotel at the age of twenty-seven just to see him and hear him again. This is not typically something that someone would want to openly confess; however, in a personal essay one is able to be honest and share his or her innermost feelings without humiliation. Also in Black’s essay “The Joy of Mud”, she is asked at the end if she will be joining them every week to do this work and she responds, “Vince, I aspire to be ready for this every week. But for now I’ll have to admit that I’m only at the beginning of a path I never expected to travel” (B15). She gives an honest answer and does not try to fake it saying that she will be there at the same time every week. Furthermore, both essays are written about commonplace subjects. Hogg writes about her infatuation with a musician. It is not some deep topic, but just something simple and important to her. Black writes about her experience in Hawaii as she is working her way through the lo’i in order to get food. This is not some great topic that she has searched out and studied, instead it is just a special experience to her that she wants the reader to understand. In addition, both of these personal essays relied mostly on observations. Although Hogg’s “I’m a Believer” did give some concrete facts concerning the Monkees and their background, most of her account came from her memory. She relied heavily on her own experiences and her own thoughts. Hogg confesses, “I listened to the Monkees Greatest Hits album nearly every day, playing the songs where Davy sings lead, pulling the record needle again and again to the beginning of “Daydream Believer” where he speaks with his British accent” (B1). She reminisces on the past as she paints a picture for the reader of this young girl sitting by her record player constantly replaying her favorite song. Black relies very much on detail and her memory and very little on actual facts. She comments, “Several hours pass, and I am still bent over among silky, heart-shaped leaves that nod pleasantly at me in the breeze, marveling at the mud as it slips smooth between my toes, the long hidden weeds straining against my foot soles” (B12). Black utilizes her recollection of events and scenery in order to convey to the reader what is taking place. She wants the reader to fully comprehend the situation and to feel as if he or she was originally there. Moreover, Hogg’s essay demonstrates the form of shifting back and forth from the then and the now. Hogg starts off in the past as she describes a scene from 1977. She continues to speak of the past; however, she then abruptly moves to the present. She then later returns to the past as she shifts back and forth. She ends her essay in the past as she states, “He reaches up and puts his arm around me, and we both play our roles, smiling for the camera” (B10). This technique of changing from the past to the present allows for the reader to be completely involved. The reader is able to follow her thought process and obtain every detail in doing so. Black, on the other hand, tells her story as she looks back on the past. She does not really shift back and forth, but instead she picks the past and sticks with it. Lastly, the thesis in these two essays is not stated up front, but it is later developed as the essay is written. The realization in both of these essays cannot be stated at the beginning because the writer has not even made this discovery yet. In personal essays, it is more common for the thesis to be stated at a later point once the writer figures out the point that they are trying to make. The “so what” is this final realization. Hogg realizes that her dream of Davy Jones is so much greater than the reality. She says, “I realize I could probably drink and gamble with Davy all night long if I tried to. But of course I already know that would ruin what magic remains” (B9). She then continues, “I accept, finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all, and I, the daydream believer, am just a fan” (B10). Hogg realizes that everything she felt and believed as a child is not the truth and she finally sees that she is just another fan to Davy. She does not really know him and she never really will.