What I Think, What I Am? by Edward Hoagland Summary and Analysis with question answers:
“What I Think, What I Am”
-Edward
Hoagland
In the essay, the writer
Hoagland offers a clear definition of the personal essay. He suggests that
there is a blend of logic and reason in this form of writing. He also notes a
great interest in the mind within essays. While many people believe that essays
are no longer relevant, Hoagland disagrees. He argues that essays can be
marketed more easily than short stories. Storytelling has been around since the
time of cave paintings, but movies, novels, and biographies have drained some
of that storytelling power. The writer believes that once short stories are
written in a specific context, they cannot be improved further. In contrast,
essays can be revised and updated in each edition.
Hoagland sees the essay
as straddling the line between what you think and who you are. This means it
reflects the writer's mind, thoughts, and feelings. He strongly supports
personal essays, viewing them as expressions of the human voice. According to
him, personal essays represent the mind's spontaneous flow onto the page. He
argues that these essays do not follow the structured outlines typical of other
writings. In this sense, they are more casual than articles. Essays do not wrap
up with a summary as articles do.
An essay communicates
from one mind to another. An educated person shares ideas in this format. This
makes essays less universally appealing than stories, as they often target an
educated, possibly middle-class audience. Personal essays also tell a story
while maintaining a specific perspective. A good example is Mark Twain's
"Corn-pone Opinions," where Twain describes a 15-year-old boy who
listened to a neighbor's slave preach from a woodpile.
A personal essay is often
not autobiographical, but it can reveal the author's mindset. This genre
differs from others because it focuses directly on the mind. The fascination
with the mind forms the essence of essays.
1. What are the
similarities and differences, as Hoagland maintains, between an essay on one
hand and a story, article, or autobiography on the other?
Ans: An Essay
(especially a personal essay) is different from an article because the personal
essay is more informal. Unlike stories, it is the voice of human beings. An
essay does not usually condense to a summary as articles do. An essay is a mind
speaking to a mind so to understand, it needs intellect and a logical mind. It
is less universal than stories because the essay is addressed to an educated.
For him, autobiographies are generally extended essays that talk only about the
writer self.
2. An "emphasis upon
mind speaking to mind is what makes the essay less universal in its appeal than
stories". What does Hoagland mean by this statement?
Ans: He means
by this statement that essays are written for educated and intellectual
readers. So, to understand essays, there needs minds and intellect. In this
regard, the essay is less universal in its appeal than stories.
3. What does Hoagland
mean by the statement, "the artful I of an essay can bias chameleon as any
narrator in fiction"?
Ans: He means
that like in fiction, in the personal essay, the first-person narrator's status
and existence become like a chameleon. The narrator changes his colors as a
chameleon frequently changes according to the situation. Here color means the
narrator's existence throughout the essay.
4. What is Hoagland's
tone in his essay?
Ans:
Hoagland's tone in his essay is suggestive and appealing (to write a personal
essay).
5. How does Hoagland
"define" essay? Is the definition formal, or extended?
Ans: Hoagland
defines the essay as mind speaking to the mind, the fascination of mind is the
fascination of the essay and it does not boil down to a summary. In this
regard, the definition seems to be formal.
6. "An essay is
intended to convey the same point to each of us". Discuss.
Ans: While
comparing the essay with stories, the writer says that the essay is intended to
convey the same point and ideas to each of us. He means that a personal
essayist does not give symbolic and muddle ideas but he tries to tell us
clearly what he wants.
7. What is the
relationship between what you think and what you are?
Ans: What you
think is related to the mind, what you are is related to your existence. It is
interrelated because without a mind, your existence is meaningless and without
your existence, you cannot think.
8. "Fascination of
the mind is the fascination (of the essay)" (6). Explain.
Ans: The
fascination of the mind is the fascination of the essay because essays are
directly concerned with the mind. The very freedom of the mind possesses is
bestowed on this branch of literature that does honor to. A personal essay
frequently is not autobiographical at all, but what it does keep in common with
autobiography is that by its tone. It conveys the quality of the author's mind.
Nothing gets in the way. It means that only the personal essay and the author's
mind are directly connected. So that fascination of the mind to write only can
be towards fascination of the essays.
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