Essays

This may have been my favorite book of the profiles class. I have a hard time chosing between this and The Last American Man. Anne’s Alternating Views While writing her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Anne Fadiman faced the daunting task of introducing a culture that is unfamiliar to many westerners and show how the difference between that culture and the American medical community ultimately caused a young girl to become irreversibly brain damaged. To pull this off successfully, Ms. Faden had to make sure that the readers couldn’t blame one person, one group, or one …

Another craft essay and this one also ties in with the previous post Krakauer vs Gilbert. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Presence in The Last American Man The author’s presence is prominent throughout this book. Before we see her and Eustace Conway together on the page, we learn a little bit about the author’s background which includes working on a ranch in Wyoming for two years with Conway’s younger brother. “Like me, Judson was twenty-two years old and a complete and thoroughgoing faker.” (9) The purpose of including this is to show the readers that Gilbert and everyone she worked with on that …

Here’s the craft essay about Into the Wild, it ties in with the previous post Krakauer vs Gilbert. Framing Jon Krakauer In the visiting writer workshop on Friday, Lee Gutkind described how the basic building blocks of creative nonfiction are scenes and stories. An author uses a frame, or a larger story, to keep the reader turning pages, but stretches each scene out so that the substance (the “aboutness”) is cleverly woven through the narrative. In other words, the frame keeps the reader reading because it keeps him or her wanting to find out what happens next. After the workshop, …

Another craft essay for my class. Figurative Language in Moneyball Michael Lewis’ book about the Oakland A’s, is so brilliantly told that readers who don’t care about baseball (readers like me for example) still enjoy the story. For those who like fairy tales, there’s the Cinderella story about how the A’s General Manager Billy Beane drafted players who were too fat, too short, or just not handsome enough for the other major league teams. Or for readers who enjoy a hero’s tale, there’s the one about how Beane, by looking at statistics in a new way, revolutionized the game of …

Here’s what I wrote about Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder for my profile class. Choice of Point of View The most engaging sections of Tracy Kidder’s profile of Paul Farmer occur when the author is on the page, offering his own reflections on the complexities of his subject. By using a first person narrative and inserting himself into the action, Kidder skillfully guides the readers on the journey of figuring out Paul Farmer and his obsessions. The first person point of view allows the author to expose the complexity of his own relationship with Farmer, which adds another dimension …