Black and Hogg: Personal Essays Analyzed

While I was reading both of these personal essays, “I’m a Believer” by Charlotte Hogg and “The Joy of Mud” by Catherine Black, I was surprised to see how informally written these were. This was more with “I’m a believer” than the other essay. Throughout school I have gotten used to having a certain structure in essays that I have to follow. Also I usually try to raise the level of vocabulary beyond what I would use in everyday speech. These two essays, especially the first one, do not do either of these things that I am so used to. In Charlotte Hogg’s essay she wrote about her experiences with Davy Jones of The Monkees from when she was a teenager to when she was an adult. It was as if you were actually in her mind as all of this is happening. Hogg’s essay used vocabulary that the average person will use in everyday communication, and it also seems like the same words that you would use if you were just thinking about something in your head, when there is nobody else to criticize what you are saying. Catherine Black’s essay does this as well, though it seems like it is a little more structured and properly written. Hogg seems to make the story flow and to tell a story that did more than paint a picture in your head, but could relate to the reader’s experiences in life. Black on the other hand is a little more difficult to relate to because she speaks about experiences that most have never even heard of, and that are also in exotic locations that most can’t relate to. Most people can relate to idolizing a musician and going to concerts the rush that you feel when you come close to that idol. Not many people have been to areas in Hawaii such as the one described in “The Joy of Mud.” On top of not being able to relate to the area, it is also hard to imagine farming the taro in the lo’i. Another thing about these that came as a surprise to me was how they ended their stories. Hogg seemed to finish the whole idea of the story and I knew when the end was coming near. In Black’s essay, the end of the story kind of snuck up on me and just ended; it seemed like she was not done explaining, and then it just ended.
In The Curious Writer, Ballenger lays out the guidelines for what makes a good personal essay. Hogg’s essay meets all of the guidelines that are set forth, while I believe that Black’s essay meets all but one. They are both written exclusively in the first person, and the story is developed through and relies on the authors experiences throughout their life and their observations. “The subject of the essay is often commonplace.” This is the guideline that I believe Black’s essay struggles with. As mentioned before, it is difficult for most to relate to the experiences throughout the story. Hogg fulfills this guideline exceptionally well, bringing about experiences that almost everybody can easily relate to. Overall, I believe that they are both very well written personal essays, and will help to guide me while I am writing my personal essay.
This helped me a lot more than I thought it would in how I plan on writing my personal essay. Without reading these essays I would have most likely tried to have been a lot more formal and not have followed Ballenger’s guidelines as well. It helps to read the guidelines and then to see how they are properly used before I start writing my own personal essay. It does more than give guidelines on doing it, but it also shows us how to actually put these guidelines to use. It is also really interesting how we have talked about how we should not criticize our writing as we are doing it; we need to just let it flow. Normally I would be criticizing myself and stopping in the middle to change something a lot, but it is kind of weird that we should not be doing that anymore. It goes against what I have done in school for years, but I think that this way is better; it helps us to put our thoughts and feelings in the paper a lot more than usual.