I chose Maya Angelou’s Graduation and Joan Didion’s On Keeping a Notebook in this essay because they talk about timeless thematic concepts. Angelou’s paper explicates on the restoration of self-image and faith, inspired by confidence and power. Conversely, Didion’s paper emphasizes on the importance of keeping a notebook in reconnecting with priceless memories.
The first challenge I encountered while reading Angelou’s paper was an emotional distraction. It was very emotional to learn about the obstacles that an individual has to overcome in order to succeed. I will enhance my ability to self-monitor and control emotions when reading in class. The second challenge was language, especially word decoding and understanding semantics and syntax. Didion used large vocabularies, such as verisimilitude and predilection (Didion, 1968). I will improve my understanding of semantics and strong vocabularies to handle this challenge.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
I learnt about the power of a moment in a person’s life. In Graduation, it took seconds for Mr. Donleavy to destroy Angelou’s happiness by an undermining and racist speech. The dark and drab thoughts were averted and her faith and self-image restored by a powerful speech from Henry Reed in seconds (Angelou, 1989). Notably, a moment in time can build or destroy a person. Similarly, Didion states that important moments should be captured in a notebook. The moments in time turn out to memories. It is worth revisiting the times that created the moments with the help of a record of events. Notably, moments in time are priceless.
I would follow Maya Angelou and ask how the graduation moment shaped her future encounters. The question is relevant because there are people who have self-image and faith, but still fail to make something positive out of their lives.
If I was to write a journal, I would write about moments that shaped the development of my character. The main reason for this is that in the changing fortunes of time, the character is what makes us unique. Moments that facilitate character development determine the positivity and toxicity of life in the present and future.
References
Angelou, M. (1989). Graduation . Logan, IA: Perfection Learning Corporation.
Didion, J. (1968). “On Keeping a Notebook ” in Slouching Towards Bethlehem . New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
