Another Personal Narrative - White

Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?

The introduction is not really grabbing per se, but it is interesting. We can see that the reader has not been to Maine in a long time, and that he now prefers salt water to fresh water. He notes that there is no place like Maine, and since we recognize the time since he has been, we wonder what could be so special about this place. The only positive things he notes about the trip is the placidity of the water and that the trip was a success. The reader wonders what could be so successful about ringworm and ending up in the water with clothing on. Despite all of this, the writer still feels a strong urge to return to the place of his childhood trips. So I was interested to continue reading.

Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?

The writer does focus on a series of significant events in his life. The narrative revolved around a trip to Maine with his son, where he reflected on how things were similar and different from the way they used to be.

Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?

This narrative is absolutely packed with sensory details. You can hear, smell, feel, and see all of the details of this trip almost as if it is first hand. The writer includes a great deal of descriptive adjectives in his narrative, which allow the reader's mind to be swept off to this haven.

Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?

The writer does not include speech or dialogue, but the focus is not on individual characters neccesarily, aside from himself and his son. He reveals them to seem like one and the same and reflects on how he is viewing his son as if it is he himself that he is watching. He reveals how he somehow has turned into his father, but that the feeling he gets from this place is the same. Their location is the focus, and he spends most of his time painting a picture of Maine for the reader.

Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?

The story is definitely relatable, despite the timeline the story provides for us. This all happened so long ago, but so many of us can remember taking trips with their family as kids. It is a strange feeling when we realize that we have turned into our parents and how so many of the things we say and do we remember from our parents when we were kids. The focus is on this place, but we can all relate to vivid memories and reliving our past. Some of us have even taken our kids back to the places from our past, and it is a joy to watch them interact with the same things we remember interacting with as kids. Even if the reader did not take trips as a kids, we can all see how things have changed from when we were children, and how some things have not changed at all.

Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?

The significance of this place to the writer is obvious. We can see how the writer's memories of the place as a child and the present trip all blur into one. Taking the trip back to Maine allows the writer to relive his childhood, but through different eyes. He has become his father and he seems to realize how his father must have felt, and why they continued to make that trip year after year. We have a sense that this trip will not be a one time event for White. He describes the changes that he notices in this place, but for him they do not matter. It is still the same place. The changes remind us that we are in the present, and make him realize his place as the patriarch in the family rather than the boy.

Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story?

I thought the ending of the story was a little odd. However, it did reinforce the point of the story. He was reliving his childhood through his boy to the point of almost being able to feel a chill he was not experiencing himself. His son was having the same trip that he had as a boy. We realize that time passes and changes so many things, but that not everything changes.