This document summarizes and provides strategies for narrative and descriptive essays. It discusses combining these genres in composition courses to allow time for other types of writing. Narratives are presented first as students are familiar with storytelling, and descriptions are easy as students can describe events. The writing assignments ask students to experiment with these strategies by considering how to arrange real events expressively in their essays. Students are directed back to sample essays for advice on how to explore experiences through chronological storytelling, parallel cultural events, or prove common sayings. The final paragraph discusses the purpose of an excerpt from Maya Angelou's autobiography to promote racial understanding.

1. Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive Analyses of the Essays and Short Stories
Narration and Description
THE STRATEGIES
Although the narrative and descriptive essays are often given as separate assignments in composition courses, they are combined in this first section so
that teachers can present expressive writing and still reserve time for the many forms of informative and argumentative writing. This choice is tricky
because it confirms the folk wisdom about expressive writing and rhetorical difficulty. According to custom, students can write narratives first because
they are already familiar with storytelling and can organize a personal experience according to simple chronology. Similarly, students can write
descriptive essays early because they can use their...show more content...
THE WRITING
The writing assignments that conclude this section ask students to experiment with these strategies in their own essays. As students plan their first
drafts, you should encourage them to see the relationship between two lines of action: (1) the events as they happened in real time and space, and (2)
the events as they might be arranged and presented in an expressive way. Ask them to consider how certain events in their essays will have to be
telescoped or expanded to dramatize the narrator's conflict or point of view. Once they have plotted the story line, they will be ready to write. Each
writing assignment sends students back to one of the essays for advice, evidence, and stimulation. For example, assignment 2 suggests that students
explore a personal experience in which they had to perform an unpleasant deed (Orwell), assignment 3 asks students to chronicle their own experiences
with storytelling (Goodwin), assignment 4 asks students to parallel surrounding and familial cultural events (Cofer), and assignment 6 invites students
to offer their own proof of the adage "seeing is believing" (Angelou, Dubus, Adams).
MAYA ANGELOU"My Name Is Margaret"
Purpose
The purpose of Maya Angelou's autobiographical novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings–to promote understanding between people of all races–is
evident in the excerpted episode "My Name Is

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