Essay Comparison

After reading these two essays I realized a variety of similarities and differences within Heather Havrilesky’s writing style. I found that a major similarity in her style came from the way she starts out her writing. In most short stories or essays that I have read they usually open up giving a description of the character leading the story. In this case I didn’t receive that normal opening. Instead her writing just jumped right into action or giving an example of an event that had recently occurred. For “A Tree Falls in the Forrest”, it gives a small blurb on a girl waking up after losing her virginity then goes directly into her friend driving her to work at the ice cream shop. Similar to “Disastrously Unprepared” where it gives a small blurb of an accident and directly into a woman running out to call 911. I think this is important to her style because it allows the characters to develop throughout the story without everything about them being laid out. Which leads me into a difference about her writing style within these two essays. I believe Havrilesky differs in style simply by who she is capturing. She shows a great difference in dialogue when writing in both essays because she is capturing people of different age ranges. I feel like this is difficult to do in many situations and that she distinctly revealed the differences in the main characters ages.

           

 If I had to choose a favorite out of these two essays I would choose “Disastrously Unprepared”. This story made me feel like no one can ever be prepared for anything in life although it’s how we respond that makes us strong. This essay allowed me to feel like no matter how your life is lived it will be divine. Each person lives a different life although in disaster most are often unprepared. This doesn’t mean that people are a disgrace it just means were living life. This essay was confusing to me at times and some aspects were difficult to follow but the ending of this essay is what I believe made it my favorite. It showed we always have to remember the good times and not continuously analyze the mistakes we made along the way.