Sunday, December 8, 2013

13. My inappropriate relationship

"The summer [she] turned 12, [she] went to sleepaway camp." She met Nathan there, "the 20-year-old swimming counselor." The author developed a "secret crush on Nathan." She notes that him, like her, "didn’t quite fit in." Her crush on him "flowered into something more raw and persistent" when "one morning in the chilly lake, Nathan swam up behind [her] to correct [her] stroke and an electrical charge passed between [them] that was unlike anything [she] had ever felt before." After that, she "wanted to kiss him; (...) thought about it constantly". One night, she went out of her bunk and went to his after a "long walk across camp" in the middle of the night. She "reached out and touched his bare shoulder" and "he cradled [her] face in his hands and leaned in to kiss [her]." After that, she continued to do this every night, even though she was confused, until they got caught and "he got fired." The camp's director asked a bunch of questions, and she answered "I love him," and she claims until now, as a grown up woman, that it was really love. When she came back to school, she had gone "from a girl who had never been kissed to a notorious slut." Although the "Department of Health and Human Services" difines it as a sexual abuse, she still finds it hard to identify herself as a victim, because she "asked for it." 

The author begins by telling the reader what she calls that incident, and makes an allusion to the movie "I Know What You Did Last Summer," raising the curiosity of the audience. She continues until the introductory 2nd paragraph, when, at the end of the paragraph, she writes "The real reason is because I believed I asked for it." On the next paragraph, she implies by giving examples that, as she turned 12, she dawned on the topic of sex, which introduces another similar topic she wrote about on the first and second paragraphs. It's noticeable that she lacks some quoting reminders when she cites rumors and her thoughts. There are some descriptive paragraphs, where, for example, the author describes Nathan, and some narrative paragraphs where she weaves her story and knits it with her feelings. She also has a small use of questions, which mainly focuses on her thoughts. Althought chronologically, she cuts some parts out, but without compromising the reader's understanding. She uses the "Department of Health and Human Services" as a reference, which makes her points stronger, but at the same time, weaker, because although the circumstances fit into the category of sexual abuse, she claims it wasn't sexual abuse. She writes another anecdote, but its utility is doubtful. Even though her essay is well written, the last paragraph and the main point of the essay are weak.

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/24/my_inappropriate_relationship/

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