Loneliness In Shaka Senghor's 'Writing My Wrongs'

Loneliness is the true evil that causes a profound amount of pain within someone, driving them into the worst imaginable fate: a life of violence. In Shaka Senghor's memoir, Writing My Wrongs (2016), Jay’s life tumbles down into darkness. From when his mom disconnected herself from his life to murdering an innocent man, Jay felt a sense of loneliness throughout many periods of his life. Although his father had always been by his side, Jay felt detached from his father’s new life with his new wife and children. His parents absence in Jay’s future molded his thoughts into wrath-driven actions. The state of loneliness and neglect corrupted Jay from within, and lead him to act upon his thoughts, which were destructive. Senghor utilized rhetorical devices such as repetition and pathos in order to emphasize Jay’s solitude.
When he was a young boy, Jay had a normal life. His parents …show more content…
He had a brief encounter with his mother and father, but they left quite quickly. On page 137, we see Jay’s stream of consciousness and how lonely he feels; “No one hugged me, no one told me everything would be okay, no one explained to me that cars weren’t galloping chariots of death, driven by the grim reaper himself” (137). In this paragraph, Senghor used repetition to emphasize Jay’s state of loneliness and how he was left to answer his own concerns. In the sentence of “galloping chariots of death…” (137), Jay is being dramatic by associating a basic understanding with a dark image. He’s been living in constant fear after the incident, carrying a gun everywhere he goes, in case of “emergencies.” The chariot of death symbolizes the car and the grim reaper represents Jay’s ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend. Also, it can be implied that Jay was disappointed that the gunshot didn’t drive him closer to death since he didn’t seem as if he could live being