Outside Reading Set #4: Reflective Essay

2/21/11

“Make a Wish.”

Nancy Gibbs

Reflective Essay

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1957473,00.html

Nancy Gibbs’s tone in “Make a Wish” is highly nostalgic and thoughtful, flashing through some of her most memorable birthdays experiences. Gibbs expertly employs parallel structure, musical devices, and colorful imagery to draw readers into her musing mood. Listing birthdays, she says: “Sixteen was sweet; 18 was freedom” and “Turn 14 and grow five inches. Turn 17 and follow in love.” The simple parallelism in these sentences creates a definite rhythm, pulling readers back into Gibbs’s quietly wistful trip down memory lane. Throughout the piece, Gibbs consistently follows this syntactical format: “You get fire at 32 and feel 12 again, or you’re invited to teach for the first time and feel ancient standing in front of all those wide eyes. You circle back on certain ages, replaying them until you get it right.”

Musical devices such as alliteration help maintain the rhythm of reflection as well in this piece. The alliteration in “…moodiness, and mystery, when every day feels so suddenly rude and ripe with expectations and revelations” makes the “moodiness” and “mystery” mentioned feel more tangible to the reader; they become not just simple diction choices, but diction choices backed up by a communicative rhythm. Sprinkling numbers throughout her writing is another way Gibbs manipulates language. Not only do these numbers help establish the theme of dates and birthdays in the piece, they also help establish the tone. They are like nostalgic milestones; every time readers encounter one, they enter one of Gibb’s memories with her.

Imagery as demonstrated in “Ten felt very big—those two digits, one so straight and mature, the other so round and promising” and “…being able to watch the candles flicker, and marvel at how many birthday wishes past have already come true” bring life to the simple numbers and memories Gibbs recounts. Readers can nearly feel the physical warmth of the candles and the slightly more intangible warmth of the happiness emanating from all the wishes which have already come true. The vivid description of the number ten makes ten not only an abstract number, but a concrete segment of time in Gibbs’s life.

This piece’s ability to draw readers in emotionally is its biggest strength. It speaks from the heart and communicates a touching, thoughtful, and nostalgic feeling. In terms of a reflective essay, this tone is perfect. However, since AP writing is more geared towards concise, clear-cut tones, one weakness this essay may have is the slightly blurred and amorphous effect its particular tone creates. While that effect communicates clearly emotionally, the writing is not organizational enough to be well suited to an AP exam.