Reflection
The first piece of writing I chose from my pre-college works is my final term paper from senior year, a research paper about the character Yossarian from Heller’s Catch-22. It examines Yossarian as an absurd hero through his beliefs about war and the actions he takes to save himself. This paper is one that I very much enjoyed working on, partly because I appreciated Catch-22 a great deal for its humor and irony, and partly because the study of absurd heroes was one that I loved working with. I believe that it represents me very well as a writer in the technical construct of an evidence based paper and it is quite literally where I left off writing. Reading over it again today granted me some clarity that I did not have during my constant readings while I was writing, and I can definitely see some areas for improvement, but I am still very proud of what I put on the paper. The biggest thing that I think about when I look at the paper is a greater sense of maturity in my writing, nothing seems “fluffy” and the paper follows a path that never strays too far from its intended purpose.
The second piece of writing I included is my personal statement for college. Obviously it is a little cheesy, but I feel that it captures my voice well. Whenever I write, I try to incorporate a little style into my words, one that allows the reader to know that they are reading my work. I believe this statement really captures it and I occasionally sneak peeks at it to remind myself to lighten up and take things a little less seriously. A little something extra I do every day is writing Facebook updates about my life. My friends may find the constant posts annoying but I believe it as really strengthened my voice and style, and it allows me to look back and appreciate the small things in life.