Grade 8 Date: 10th May, 2023

Narrative essay writing:

 What About Narrative Essays?

Personal essays are typically based around a real experience that you’ve
had and, like descriptive essays, allow you to develop your ideas more
creatively than other long-form writing methods such as academic papers or
journalistic articles. They’re usually written from a first-person perspective
and draw on poignant moments and experiences from the life of the writer.
A popular form of personal essay is the literacy narrative. These stories
are focused on writers discovering their relationship with words, whether that
be reading, writing or speaking. Many of the world’s most notable writers
have coined literacy narratives for magazines and journals, detailing their
earliest memories of reading and writing, or reflecting on their process as a
novelist, poet, journalist, or screenwriter.

“Goodbye to All That” by Joan Didion

Included in Slouching Towards Bethlehem, a collection of Didion’s
essays, this piece delves into the emotions evoked by Didion’s leaving New
York City, and her journey of self-awareness.
“I was in love with New York. I do not mean ‘love’ in any colloquial
way, I mean that I was in love with the city, the way you love the first person
and never love anyone quite that way again.”
“Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson was known for his exceptional
personal narratives, delivered in both written and spoken form. His work is
one of the best narrative essay examples of the 19th century.

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Grade 8 Date: 10th May, 2023

“My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a
spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine
and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady.”
“Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin
Reflecting on his life as a Black man in early– to mid–twentieth century
America, James Baldwin’s narrative essays are frequently referenced to this
day.
“Harlem, physically at least, has changed very little in my parents’
lifetime or in mine. Now as then the buildings are old and in desperate need of
repair, the streets are crowded and dirty, there are too many human beings
per square block.”
“My Life as an Heiress” by Nora Ephron
She may be known for her romantic comedy screenplays like You’ve Got
Mail and When Harry Met Sally, but Nora Ephron began her career as a
writer and found widespread success with her personal essays.
“I never knew why my mother wasn’t close to her brother, Hal. I can
guess. It’s possible that he didn’t help out financially with their parents. It’s
possible that she didn’t like his wife, Eleanor. It’s possible that she resented
forever the fact that her parents had found the money to send him to
Columbia but made her go to a public college. Who knows? The secret is dead
and buried.”
“Joy” by Zadie Smith
British essayist Zadie Smith has won numerous awards for her work
and is a global best-selling novelist.
“Perhaps the first thing to say is that I experience at least a little
pleasure every day. I wonder if this is more than the usual amount? It was the
same even in childhood when most people are miserable. I don’t think this is
because so many wonderful things happen to me but rather that the small
things go a long way.”