Nancy Mairs

Reading texts from over a hundred years ago, we often chuckle at how odd the English language was - reading Shakespeare is clearly different from reading the works of J.K. Rowling. To us, the older varieties of English have bizarre grammar, spelling, and pronunciation, which make us reluctant to accepting it. The reason why these older versions of English perplex us is because language is always changing. Modern-day English is composed of many different concepts, but for me, there are five…

More and more people are coming to understand that there are stories that tell only one side. In the TED talk from the speaker Chimamanda Adichie she tells “The Danger of a Single Story”. Her talk was a glimpse into her childhood. Chimamanda Adichie explains that her entire childhood, the stories she read and came to know she couldn`t relate to. The characters had blue eyes, blonde hair and played in the snow, these were foreign experiences that she never had. Another single side of a story she…

In her work “On Being a Cripple” she describes personally how these sources of pressure, do not specifically come from individuals, but collective societal standards. “Todays ideal woman, .. is never a cripple” (Mairs 76). Due to her overall fortune of having an understanding doctor and family, she does not have to deal with pressure from them, because they realize it would be condescending and unrealistic plus ultimately stressful for themselves. Instead, it is…

shower me with affection even when she was too weak to stand up on her own. In her essay, “On Being a Cripple,” author Nancy Mairs describes the time one of her students reacted to the knowledge that she can paint her own fingernails despite having multiple sclerosis, “she told me, that if I could go to such trouble over fine details, she could keep on writing essays” (50). Similar to Mairs, Ashley was able to live through a hardship and still have her personality and strength. The day after…

details, things I can relate to, and not too much gore. A sense of humor in a personal essay is a good thing. Humor is a great way to keep the reader interested and not get bored with the information one is trying to give the reader. Such as when Nancy Mairs put in her essay “On Being a Cripple”…