Shanteria, Genesis, Mahari, Nasiir

Dr. Greene

English 1101

28 September  2017


RRR " Dad, Little that We Knew"

                                           

Mary Agrusa wrote the personal nonfiction narrative essay, "We Didn’t Know”,(Oct. 7, 2016) to explain that her ignorance towards the war became enlightenment once her father shared his war experience. She explains this experience by taking us back in the past when he was alive and spoke to her about the war. She uses personal experiences and flashbacks in order to deepen the text, so that her audience could be able to either relate or gain knowledge to this experience. Agrusa's intended audience was those who might have had a parent who was involved in war or to those who might not have experienced this and wants them to know.

This essay gave me a better understanding towards mourning over a deceased love one in selective service, since I have yet to have a family member involved with the military. I could relate to young Agrusa’s bewilderment and ridicule when learning “Flanders Field”, because I felt her comprehension suffered due to the lack of experience from a soldier's point of view . It does not only takes an opened mind but also a person equipped with the experience to elaborate on the matter.

Through flashbacks and personal experiences, Agrusa shared with us her struggles and thoughts about her father involvement in the services. Things she did know and things that she didn't was shared in the narrative. In repeated motifs, the authors uses flashbacks to where her dad was alive to show her confusion and her personal thoughts about war then. She also continues to say the phrase " We didn't know", to represent the idea of the text.

 She tends to include questions throughout the text, where she . She would ask, " Why were these so important to him? (124). Things she did know and things that she didn't was shared in the narrative. She would say , " Why there, I don't know." (125). Then later she would say," And now we knew". ( 126). This right here is part of her purpose and style. She would use this as a way to get her audience involved in her confusion but then she sorts it out with the truth. She ended her personal narrative with stating, " There is much we don't know but some things are clearly defined. He loved god, his family and his country." (127). Here this concludes the idea that although she didn't know much about her fathers wartime, she knows her father.

Works Cited

Mary,Agrusa. "We didn't know." Connections: Guide to First Year Writing @ Clayton State University.  Ed. Mary Lamb. 6th Edition. South Lake: 2016. 115-117 print