Communicating Through Writing Struggles example essay topic

Struggles with Communicating Through Writing Struggles are a part if everyday life for most everyone. People have problems doing all sorts of things, such as physical labor or working a math problem, but, in reality, a seemingly easy task, communication, may be the most common struggle people face. The communication of a point, emotion, feeling, thought, or idea, I believe, is what the majority of people grapple with most in their lives. The struggle comes partially in trying to get others to understand an abstract thought or emotion and partially from not really knowing what one is actually trying to express. In other words, people struggle with being able to understand their own ideas and feelings themselves and then have difficulty expressing those ideas and feelings to others. One way people try to express their feelings and thoughts is through writing.

Annie Dillard, author of "Aces and Eights" is an example of a writer who struggles in expressing concepts, thoughts, and emotions. This is evident throughout her essay. In the essay, Dillard writes about a weekend trip she takes to a cabin in the mountains with her daughter and her dog. During this weekend, Dillard spends much time reflecting on her life.

She finds that she not only has problems communicating with others but also communicating with herself. One reason Dillard struggles with communicating emotions and thoughts in her essay is because she herself does not really know what she is trying to say; she does not know what she truly thinks and feels. This concept is apparent throughout her essay. Dillard uses metaphors in her essay to relate more concrete thoughts to her more abstract ones of which she cannot quite grasp the real meaning. One metaphor in the essay is that of the child and her bike with cards on the spokes.

She writes, "They clip and clap slowly, for the hill is steep. Now the pushing grows suddenly easier, evidently; the cards click and slap. At once, imperceptibly, she starts down. The pace increases.

The cards are slapping and she is rolling, and the cards are slapping so fast the sound blurs" (Dillard 164). This metaphor Dillard creates allows her to get a perspective on how she feels about her life while letting readers know as well. It shows that life was slow at first but now, as she reaches middle age it feels like her life is just flying by very quickly. This metaphor is an example of Dillard struggling to communicate with herself.

It allows her to learn more about how she feels about her life which, will in turn, allows her to communicate more easily to others how she feels. Another metaphor used by Dillard in her struggle to understand herself and to communicate with others is that of jumping off her porch. She writes "It occurs to me to try to step down from the porch, which is moving in the orbit at 68,400 miles an hour. I plan to take huge, leaping steps in the air. It will be, I realize, a rare thrill, but unfortunately I cannot find a landing space that looks soft" (Dillard 158). This is a metaphor about her life in which Dillard shows that she is unsure about where she is in her life.

Not knowing where she is in life causes her problems in communicating with and to others because she does not know herself which is key in being able to talk with others. One is not able to communicate with others effectively if he or she is not able to effectively communicate with him or herself. One theory about the essay is that the girl Dillard writes about is actually Dillard in her younger years. If Dillard's intent is that the daughter represents a younger her, then it is an example of her struggle to express to the readers what she thought and did as a younger person and what she thinks about herself now as a middle aged woman. Whenever Dillard writes about her daughter she refers to her as "the child". One example of this is when she writes "The child has found a bicycle under the porch; she wants to ride it" (Dillard 159).

Perhaps Dillard uses "the child" because she is actually referring to the child in her; the child in her wants to ride the bike. This use of "the child" is an example of Dillard struggling, in her writing, to show and tell and readers something about herself; something about her personality of which even she is not fully aware. By writing about "the child" Dillard is able to gain valuable insight about herself while letting others learn along with her. Many authors, including Dillard, struggle with writing about memories. "Aces and Eights" is all about the memories Dillard has and the memories she is making. What makes memory so difficult to write about is that most people do not remember things exactly as they happened therefore they struggle to find the truth.

Without the truth, there is a problem in communication. Dillard makes it obvious in her essay that in order to make some memories she must know that a certain event she is witnessing will be a memory. As she and her child float sticks of fire down the river she says "It seemed both to take too long and end too soon. As a memory, however, it was already looking good" (Dillard 158). Later in the essay a man named Noah talks about making a memory while watching his children play. He says he thought to himself "This will be the time called 'when the children are little' " (Dillard 171).

Both Noah and Dillard have to consciously decide that a memory is happening. By doing this Dillard makes it easier on herself to communicate with others later because she will remember exactly what happened and will be able to convey her thoughts accurately. Author Patricia Hampl's essay "Memory and Imagination" is about the process of writing memoirs and the struggles one encounters while writing. What she writes in her essay can directly relate to Dillard's struggles in her writing. Hampl says that the process of writing is a process of self discovery, a way to truly learn how and what one feels and thinks. Hampl says that while writing she became the images' "dutiful servant - or thought I was.

In fact I was the faithful retainer of my hidden feelings which were giving commands" (Hampl 35). She is saying that her true and hidden thoughts and feelings come out in the writing process, and, by going back and reading her drafts she is able to really understand herself. She says "I can read this little piece as a mystery which drops clues into the riddles of my feelings" (Hampl 32). She continues with saying "My narrative self wishes to be discovered by my reflective self, the self who wants to understand and make sense of a half remembered story...

". (Hampl 32). Hampl is basically saying that authors begin writing not really knowing what they are actually trying to say and only by rereading their own writing can they discover out their true feelings and thoughts. This is why some authors such as Dillard are unable to effectively communicate their emotions and ideas. They write in order to understand themselves, not necessarily to communicate with others, and, conversely, to communicate with others, they first need to be able to communicate with themselves.

Many authors struggle to express feelings and thoughts, not becuase of their own problems but because of the people reading their work. Readers have begun not to listen to what they are reading. They have stopped reading for true understanding and meaning. Even authors themselves sometimes forget to listen to and understand their own writing. As Hampl writes we must "not only tell our stories but listen to what our stories tell" (Hampl 45). Authors must use their stories, first drafts, as a way to get in touch with themselves so they can effectively communicate with others.

I have learned to communicate with myself through art by painting, drawing, and photography. Through this I am able to learn about my feelings and thoughts and then from there move on to communicate with others. People must begin to really understand themselves before they can expect anyone else to understand them through any type of communication such as speaking, writing, or art..