Write a narrative essay in which you bring your own experience to life while also making the broader significance clear.

Choose a topic below and write a narrative essay rough draft. Your essay should include the five characteristics of narrative writing: A clearly identified event: What happened? Who was involved? A clearly described setting: Where and when did it happen? Vivid, descriptive details: What makes the story come alive? A consistent point of view: Who’s telling the story? A clear point: Why does the story matter? You will find helpful information from Everyone’s an Author in Chapter 12 “Writing a Narrative,” particularly the Roadmap.Using Larry Lehna’s essay “The Look,” choose an experience from your own life that sheds light on a social, political, cultural, or economic issue Perhaps you were bullied in middle school, for instance—a deeply personal experience that has broader significance. Write a narrative essay in which you bring your own experience to life while also making the broader significance clear. At some time in our lives, we have all had a run-in with some form of an authority figure. In what ways did your skin color, gender, stature, dress, or other factors in how you look or present yourself affect that encounter? Did any characteristics work in favor or against you—and if so, how? Write a narrative essay of this encounter as you remember it, reflecting in particular on how your physical presence affects your life. Jan Brideau’s essay “Lydia’s Story” tells a story about a Hurricane Katrina survivor, not only relating Lydia’s experience, but also explaining how Lydia’s experience affected her [Brideau] and her understanding of her own experience. Write a narrative in which you, like Brideau, tell a story about a story that you heard from someone else. Think about what point you can make through the retelling of this story, how you will make your own point clear, and how you will frame and retell the story to effectively convey this point. Select a photo of a parent, older relative, or someone who has influenced you since childhood, and write a narrative about the photo, going beyond what you may know of the time and place depicted. What might your subject have been thinking or feeling when the photo was taken? Next, bring the photo to the present moment—how do you feel about the photo and its subject? Why did you choose that photo? Be sure to include a copy of the photo in your essay.

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