Reading Journal 1 Karen Armstrong
Reading Journal on the Excerpt from Karen Armstrong’s Autobiography.
The author is very expressive of her feelings, and I believe it is these feelings that she wants to let out to the world in her autobiography, there is not one point but an entire phase in life that she expresses in her writing. The feelings and mind-set of one lost, looking for an identity to fit into; can be a point she is trying to convey but then again, there is a lot of flow in her words that makes this point more or less abstract. Her point, if that’s what we may call it, can be figured out by several lines throughout the writing, and particularly by the end of the text. She mentions losing her way in a world that meant nothing to her; implying her loss of identity in a completely new world where she was finding it very difficult to create another one.
The author makes a perfect choice of words, in particular the adjectives are what intrigued me for instance the use of “murky and smoke-filled” when she describes the club. The words she uses aren’t mere descriptions but drag a feeling with them, her choice of words is just right and can bring about crystal clear imagery instantaneously. After reading these three pages I have definitely come to realize just how much three pages can say. And I can definitely relate to the text which is probably why I liked it so much. I can see myself thinking and feeling exactly how she does if I were put into that situation, which is probably why I had a smile on my face the entire time I was reading. I discovered several things, probably my most important one was; I’m not the only one who gets as nervous as she does when being ignorant about something; in her case not knowing who the Beatles were for instance. The few paragraphs gave me a boost of confidence and a vision of what would happen if I attempted to take new experiences I wouldn’t normally otherwise have taken, a good example would be visiting a nightclub or dancing with
The author is very expressive of her feelings, and I believe it is these feelings that she wants to let out to the world in her autobiography, there is not one point but an entire phase in life that she expresses in her writing. The feelings and mind-set of one lost, looking for an identity to fit into; can be a point she is trying to convey but then again, there is a lot of flow in her words that makes this point more or less abstract. Her point, if that’s what we may call it, can be figured out by several lines throughout the writing, and particularly by the end of the text. She mentions losing her way in a world that meant nothing to her; implying her loss of identity in a completely new world where she was finding it very difficult to create another one.
The author makes a perfect choice of words, in particular the adjectives are what intrigued me for instance the use of “murky and smoke-filled” when she describes the club. The words she uses aren’t mere descriptions but drag a feeling with them, her choice of words is just right and can bring about crystal clear imagery instantaneously. After reading these three pages I have definitely come to realize just how much three pages can say. And I can definitely relate to the text which is probably why I liked it so much. I can see myself thinking and feeling exactly how she does if I were put into that situation, which is probably why I had a smile on my face the entire time I was reading. I discovered several things, probably my most important one was; I’m not the only one who gets as nervous as she does when being ignorant about something; in her case not knowing who the Beatles were for instance. The few paragraphs gave me a boost of confidence and a vision of what would happen if I attempted to take new experiences I wouldn’t normally otherwise have taken, a good example would be visiting a nightclub or dancing with