McCourt Response

I have never read Angela's Ashes nor have I seen the movie, but if the movie is anything as grand as the book I would buy it on the spot. I have never been so moved by so many varying emotions from a memoir as I was by this one. Frank (Francis) McCourt is a genius in my opinion (as well as I'm sure countless others) and I feel grateful to have learned a lot from him, by just reading his work.
I too, as many in my class already know this, grew up well below the poverty level, but have always approached my writing of that time period as the adult I am now. I thought it was so incredibly smart of McCourt to use his childhood voice. It made seeing everything he was seeing so much more poignant because children are innocent and so are there voices. You automatically trust the narrator, not because it is a memoir, but because it is a little boy telling you. Yes, little children do tend to exaggerate the truth sometimes, but McCourt didn't stretch anything. He writing was raw and beautiful.
McCourt describing character's through a child's perspective only enhanced my reading experience and laugh/cry out loud. Quite embarrassing when you are in the presence of others.
I also enjoyed being able to really see the characters through their accents that he portrayed with how he wrote the dialect. I don't think I had ever thought to write dialogue that way, but now that I have seen in done is such a phenomenal way I would love to try it out in my own writing. Giving the characters literally there own voice added immensely to the image of the characters in my head. It seems as though he didn't really give that much description in way of physical traits and yet I could tell you exactly how they looked.
I listened to McCourt read (ironically on the panel with him was Maya Angelou) and it made me laugh even harder listening to his voice telling his story. I believe that authors should be able to read their work because it's theirs. Their performance, as it were, should make me either go and buy the book or go reread the it. One could learn a lot by listening to him read his work. Even though he was much older when he read his work, he still had the child like persona and enthusiasm while reading the book. It was a great thing to behold.

One of My Childhood Experiences.

I grabbed the snake by it's head.
"Look mommy."
"Leslie, put the snake down and back away from it."
She screamed as she started sprinting in my direction.
"But he's my friend."
"Leslie just do as I say please. No arguing."
I put the my new friend down.
"We'll play tomorrow when mommy is not watching."
Just then a shovel was smashing my friends body into the grass.
"No" I screamed and began sobbing instantly.
"Why would you do that."
"That was a rattle snake Leslie."
"So." I exclaimed hysterically.
"Leslie, that snake could have killed you."
"But he wouldn't have. We were friends and you killed him."
"Leslie I'm sorry, but one day you'll understand."


So, I thought that this would be extremely easy, but writing in present tense as a child, at least for me, was extremely difficult. I think that writing was some of the worst writing that I have ever done. I remember this memory as if it was yesterday and yet trying to write about it seemed so foreign to me. I am deeply embarrassed by this writing sample, but am choosing to keep it up as to give an example of what NOT to do when writing. I hope that this helps many people.

Angelou Response

In Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Angelou evokes several emotions from her readers by using beautiful poetic imagery and conversational dialogue. I feel that there is not one scene that doesn't make the reader utilize every one of their five senses. The following is a writing exercise of mine trying to imitate Angelou, by describing a childhood memory of mine primarily using senses to tell (show) the story.

Mama's in the Kitchen

My mother has been a single mom ever since I can remember. My parents were divorced since I was the age of two. I am the youngest of six children so I do not remember the yelling, crying behind closed doors or accusations of another women as my older siblings do. I thought that it was normal to only have a mom in the house until I began kindergarten.
My mom worked several jobs to support her large family, but the jobs turned into one career which was nursing. My mother would work nights so that she could make us dinner and be back when we all woke up in the morning. She would try her hardest to play working mom and housewife mom by always having at least our dinners being homemade. It was a treat when breakfast was something besides cold cereal during the summer and cracked wheat during the winter.

One early morning I woke up long before the sun was to come out and I heard some rustling in the kitchen. I decided to play detective and find out what the noise was. My mother eyed me from the door way.

"Les Mess, what are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep." I yawned.

I walked over to the kitchen table t0 where my mom was making flour clouds with every toss of flour from it's container onto the table.

"What are you doing mom?"

"I'm making cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but only good little girls that go to sleep get to enjoy them."

"I want to help you though."

With that my mom put me to work by spreading melted butter, sweet sugar and cinnamon all over the pastry dough. Then she rolled the dough up like a long snake. She began cutting the snake into small parts by wrapping tread around the dough and pulling tight. That was my favorite part. That and having my mother's attention all to myself. I will never forget that memory as long as I live.

Ok so as you can read I am definitely no Angelou, and I definitely did not use all of the senses. I mean I did in real life but it did not transfer to the page. Granted this was just a freelance writing experience, but I know I could do a lot better. I feel that I can access memories pretty easy, which is probably why I am getting my master's in Creative Nonfiction, but actually inhabiting the memory is definitely more difficult. My writing would improve by leaps and bounds once I got that down.

As for Angelou's memoir I definitely feel that the larger themes of racial segregation and women's liberation are still very relevant today. Both of those issues still have a very long way to go until they are no longer issues. Her story is timeless even though it is set during a specific time because of themes that go through time such as unconditional love, respect and most importantly in my eyes forgiveness. Forgiveness for oneself. I believe Maya's character is so compelling because it shows the "American" plight or "American Dream" if you will. I hate saying it that way. Angelou had to fight against the odds of childhood rape, racism, being a woman and blaming herself for her rapist's murder. She conquered all of these things. She is a survivor.

I love Momma's character. She reminded me so much of my own grandmother. This book was beautifully written. One day I wish to write a 10th as good as Angelou.