Analysis Of My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir By Samantha Abeel

Even though someone looks completely normal, a person could still have a learning disability. My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir, written by Samantha Abeel, introduces the issue of stereotyping learning disabled people. It showed the struggles she went through because of such stereotypes. Throughout the memoir, Abeel addresses the difficulty of being learning disabled using flashbacks to her time from elementary school to college.
In that beginning of the memoir, Samantha Abeel was like everybody else, until she started falling behind in math. Abeel has a problem of not being able to learn skills based on sequential processing, such as, numbers, spelling, and grammar. She knows it is because of her learning disability, but Abeel did not know
The flashbacks in the memoir perfectly fit the format of the book. Abeel brings out more emotion and gives the reader more imagery of the event and the thoughts that she had. The flashbacks are showing the reader her memories through her eyes. Without the flashbacks, Abeel’s memoir would have been less interesting to read. It would not be as engrossing to read because it would just be Abeel telling the reader of her difficulties, not showing the reader her actually struggling. If she were to end at, “I chose to lose friends rather than own up to my fears,” (66) instead of going into a flashback to show that statement, the reader would not know the extent of her fears. Because she did go into a flashback, the reader learns that Abeel cannot own up to her fears to her friend very well. Abeel had gotten very nervous and embarrassed before she replied that “[she] just can’t” (67) in response to her friend’s question about her not going to any parties or sleepovers. In every section of the memoir, there is at least one flashback that is included for the sake of demonstrating Abeel’s troubles, giving an example of when Abeel has problems dealing with something or someone because of her learning disability, or to contrast with how Abeel was when she was still the same as everyone else and how she was after she learned that she was different. The flashbacks enhances the memoir because it is showing the reader the memories rather than telling the reader about the memories. Abeel had clearly illustrated her struggles of being learning