Writing :: Personal Narrative Writing Education Essays

Writing Mountains are tall. If you are stupid enough to jump off one you fall fast and you land hard. The five-paragraph theme is my mountain and I have just jumped right off it. There don't seem to be any outcroppings to grab for, and my assignment is to discuss my cliff as I continue to drop from it. So I will not grab. I will let myself fall, and hope for pillows at the end. I feel lost without my introduction to conclusion formula started at the beginning of this paper. Why do I have to do this assignment? Oh, I understand that I need to break a mold that has been added to, layer upon dreadful layer, for the past eight years or so. The only problem isHOW? I think that what I am feeling is not unique to me, and that the instructor will more than likely read these same words a dozen times in other fonts. I do not want to spend my entire paper feeling sorry for myself and wasting paper complaining that the answer to my question is not right under my nose. I would pity my reader. I would also hope that I am a stronger writer than that. Strong writers should be able to get beyond the theme. I propose that the theme is no more than a weak writer's response to demands tired English teachers put on them, or a Lazy Writer's cop out. The theme is easy. We know how it works and we crank it out like so many machines. My question is this: what normal everyday Joe in his right mind would not take the easy route to writing a paper? There is no reason to make things harder than they have to be, especially when the teacher will spend a minimal amount of time on whatever you write, whether it took you five minutes or five hours. Lots of readers like to be spoon fed, and the theme is a handy ladle. It's when you try to pour directly from the sauce pan that you are Getting Beyond The Theme. The only time I have ever Gotten Beyond The Theme is on those rare occasions where I get a burst of creativity in class or at home, and the grades I usually get on these Creative Masterpieces are mediocre at best. I must have forgotten my parachute.