What stylistic choices is Parker making in this first paragraph that grab your attention? What type of emotional reaction does it create in you, the reader? Why do those stylistic choices encourage or discourage you from continuing to read the essay? Could you envision Parker’s essay going in a different direction than she ultimately did based on this first paragraph?

(250-400 words)
Please begin to reread Parker’s essay again, but this time I’d like for you to stop reading after the first paragraph and address the following questions:

What stylistic choices is Parker making in this first paragraph that grab your attention? What type of emotional reaction does it create in you, the reader? Why do those stylistic choices encourage or discourage you from continuing to read the essay? Could you envision Parker’s essay going in a different direction than she ultimately did based on this first paragraph?

Now continue to read the remainder of the essay, then answer the following questions:

What themes did Parker’s essay ultimately address? Does the essay take any turns that were unpredictable based on just the first paragraph? Describe the tone (emotional tenor) of the concluding paragraph, then compare it to the tone of the introduction. What has changed about Parker’s writing decisions, style, diction, argument and why?

Writing Reflection: First Draft of the Personal Essay

Now take a look at your own first draft and address the following:

Describe the topic, themes, and tone of your very first paragraph. What do you want for your reader to understand about you or your topic after having read this introduction? What changes between your first and last paragraph? What information do we learn over the course of the essay? Are there any tonal shifts in your essay? Where and what motivates this shift? Thinking of Parker’s strong stylistic choices in her essay, how could you experiment with your rewriting to amplify the effect of emotion and tone?

And finally some broader questions about your first draft:

Describe your topic and why you think it suits the personal essay genre. What will your reader learn about you through this topic / story? What do you consider to be the most successful aspect of your first draft (style, tone, humor, diction, structure, clarity, etc.) and why? What do you consider to be the least successful aspect of your first draft and how might you improve upon it moving into the revisionary stage?

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