How might I use the form of an essay to set up an idea? A story where something that happened in my past was connecting directly with my present. That would make for good use of parallelism, stringing the two stories together in such a way as they reflect each other.
I really enjoyed the form and structure of Silent Dancing. Cofer’s technique of using one moment frozen in time as a reference point was fascinating to discuss. Perhaps I shouldn’t say reference – it was more of a lens through which she was looking at her past. The way she started chronologically at her earliest memories and moved forward until she and the movie were in the same place in time said much about how she felt about the situation. Also, perhaps it said something about how she feels about it. We looked for an answer within the text, but the form says something too. We get a few hints about what happened to some of the people/characters: her cousin who was sent to Puerto Rico, her great-uncle who passed away. But where is she in all of this? Does her use of form indicate that she hasn’t really gotten past her childhood? I think it could be
A method I might use to make an interesting essay would be something like the houses I’ve lived in. So far, I’ve lived in five different places – not as many as some, more than others I’m sure. Setting up an essay that had different sections based on where we were living could be a good structural technique. This might work if I were talking about my parents’ declining relationship or my relationship with another member of my family, one of my sisters, for example. As for which technique this would be, I would think juxtaposition, or accumulation. Or even patterning. I guess it depends on how exactly I told the story, which elements I left in and left out.
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