First Year Hon. Mention: Don't Look Back in Anger

WRIT 1700A, Writing: Process and Practice. CD: kerry doyle.

Abstract

This assignment challenges students to depart from the “standard” academic essay and participate in the classical tradition of the personal essay: shaping “personal experiences into narratives that make connections with anonymous readers, eliciting a wide-range of emotions and intellectual engagement” –narratives “carefully crafted in strategic ways to reach an audience who does not know the author or may not care about the author’s experiences in any way”.

In “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” Sivana Vythilingum fully “owned” this assignment in relating the course of a tentative teenaged romantic experience sharply deteriorating into violence – by virtue of which it is permanently etched into her physiology, in this case, her sight. The essay skillfully weaves present and past experience, combining convincing sensual detail and a strong narrative thrust to embrace issues of immigration, ethnicity, class, gender, personal growth and maturity. The author engages readers in these immensely complex issues with a deft hand, giving them life through a confident and sophisticated shaping of a compelling narrative.