Goldie Barajas
English 1A
10/15/10
Responses to “Memory: Mee Street and Beyond” from the book
The Mee Street Chronicles: Straight Up Stories of a Black Woman’s Life
By Frankie Lennon
6) In the essay “Memory: Mee Street and Beyond” the author is writing about how memory is essential and crucial to know one’s self. All throughout her essay, the author informs the reader about different sorts of memories she has from her childhood. These memories tell her and the reader something about her past, which I hope is helpful when continuing to read the rest of her book. In addition, the essay is significant because it explains the importance of memory to the author’s understanding of herself. If there was no memory, then the opposite of what the author has stated in the conclusion of her essay would take place, this is that stories could not be told, we would not be able to tell the good from the bad, and nothing would mark who we are.
7) The author organizes this piece by using narration, description, and comparison & contrast. An example of one mode of development is: when the author compares and contrasts her first home in Mee Street, located in Knoxville, to her second home in 1919 Dandridge Avenue. The difference between these two homes was that in Mee Street the author was surrounded by playmates of her own color and she was allowed to roam around freely in the neighborhood.(pg3) While in her home in 1919 Dandridge Avenue the author was a loner surrounded by white people and was not allowed to go out unless she was going “to the store, to uncle Frank’s or to Mrs.Delaney’s.” (pg.4) Also, to make the piece flow smoothly between paragraphs the author connects each paragraph to her topic, which is memory. The author starts each paragraph by introducing a memory to the essay that connects to her introduction and this technique allows the author to achieve continuity in her writing. Transitions within a paragraph are important as well and the author does take advantage of them. The author uses words like: eventually, back then, which is why, and while keeping, to transition within her sentences, in her paragraphs and doing so makes the author’s writing flow smoothly.
9) When trying to identify the writer’s tone of voice I decided to choose the word “memory” because it appears more than once in each paragraph of the essay and it is also the topic of each paragraph. Memory, according to my dictionary, is the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving facts, events, impressions, or of recalling or recognizing previous experiences. The author describes events to the reader and experiences she had throughout her childhood. Memory is also one thing the author values and this can be shown on the last paragraph of this essay. The author values memory because it tells her and her readers the story of who she is. In addition, a word to describe the author’s feeling throughout her essay would be reminiscing because she is recalling past experiences and events. A word that reveals this feeling, I think, would be remembering because in order to recall past experiences one must remember them first.
