Introduction
As a documentation of my personal experience, I got moved so much with anecdotes. Still, in the same line with my class work, I got to have a good experience with anecdotes. Therefore, it became my first choice when the teacher asked us to write about our personal experiences. The subject was within the context of the discussion. Furthermore, one can only get to have a feeling of an anecdote using the five senses. That is, the sense of touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste, through all these senses, I was able to in culminating my most interesting anecdote. However, to get to enjoy an anecdote, one has to sharpen his senses or rather his perception (Cuddon 41).
Anecdote.
One of the experiences that I vividly remember and which I highly believe qualifies to be an anecdote is the experience I had while on a picnic drive with three of my friends. I was seated in the front seat next to the driver throughout the journey. The journey was exciting as we could share some of the best jokes ever. The climax of the jokes came when we started arguing with the driver about GPS, Gordon, one of my best friends and our driver for that case detested that I should switch off the GPS since he knew the route so well. Knowing what the consequences might be, I insisted on keeping the GPS on throughout the journey so that we could detect in case we veered off the intended route. He too on his side insisted that I switch it off, realizing that keeping the GPS on would make be at loggerheads with him, I hesitantly obliged to his demand.
Analysis.
However, upon turning off the GPS, the argument did not just stop there, in fact, it escalated and got humorous. Justin, another friend who seated at the backseat, made the argument incredibly entertaining. He said, “Ooh, like the last time we switched it off, we ended up in that cow farm.” What made us laugh more was the picture of seeing their car on a cow farm, probably surrounded by mooing cows. The imagination was humorous, very comic for that matter, but Justin’s statement though humorous had a pint for that case. As a matter of fact, a GPS is an important tool, especially when traveling to unknown locations, something that Gordon looked down upon.
Just as literature, anecdotes can either be fictional or real. For our case, it was real as it involved a real life encounter. Nonetheless, the anecdotal feature is quite evident in most literary works further revealing the close link that exist between the two. Anecdotes can only be analyzed from the context, either as being fictional or real. From our context, the anecdote was real. However, even real anecdotes have some element of exaggerations that evoke laughter from the listener, moreover, it’s this laughter that gives anecdotes the entertaining attribute (Cuddon 43).
Even though exaggerations are evident in most anecdotes, they are quite subtle, that is, they cannot be conspicuously realized or pointed out at one time by the listener (Xavier 48). From our experience, there was an element of exaggeration, that is, it was unexpected for a car to end up in a cow farm but rather to get out of the intended route. The major reason I chose anecdotes as an account of my personal experience is due to the fact that they involve all the five human senses, moreover, they are primarily based upon a recount of a real personal encounter, just as directed by the lecturer.
Failing to use a GPS in our journey was extremely dangerous as we could end up in an unknown route for that matter not necessarily a cow farm. The element of the cow farm was the only humorous aspect of the experience. However, Justin’s intention was just to put people in the know that failing to use GPS in unknown route could end up the wrong way. From our experience, yes we got to laugh, but the information was relayed as well. Anecdotes have a close link to humor while their sole intention is to pass on some crucial information. It is, therefore, advisable that as people get to enjoy their experiences, the informatory part of it should not be overlooked whatsoever.
The major reason I wrote this anecdote was to give a personal life event that had an anecdotal feature. But that was not the only reason, I found the anecdote quite educative especially for travelers who would want to leave behind their GPS systems or fail to use them altogether. The anecdote reveals how a GPS can be important to travelers but presents the information in a quite humorous way (Xavier 48).
Conclusion
Anecdotes are not just mere jokes with the primary intention of making people laugh but rather exquisite literary genres for that case. Even though anecdotes can be viewed in the perspective of evoking laughter, people should also learn that they disclose the real truth in a general and humorous way (Xavier 38). Furthermore, they serve a purpose of describing a character in a typically humorous way but give a better understanding of such individuals. Indeed, from Justin’s talk, it was quite humorous but we got to understand him in a better way; Justin is a cautious fellow who doesn’t like to take chances.
If we didn’t follow his advice, probably we could have got lost, that’s being cautious enough. Moreover, anecdotes are important literary genres since they are quite diverse in tone, style, and utility; almost every person has the capability of using anecdotes. Nonetheless, anecdotes serve a variety of characters ranging from cautioning to offering advice. Today, anecdotes are applied everywhere; one cannot fail to hear an anecdote from television programs, movies, lectures and so on. These only explain how valuable an anecdote can be (Cuddon 57).
Anecdotes form the biggest percentage of advice or talks that have some particular point, usually sensitive. Moreover, anecdotes can be used to advise individuals without injuring their ego or emotions. Therefore, it is the most widely adopted strategy used to give advice or public advice. People have varied personalities, when they are being advised; they need a kind of approach that would not infringe into their pride (Cuddon 60).
An anecdote is something that can only be compared to literature, well, it’s clear that one has to sharpen his literary skills in order to enjoy literature, the same happens to anecdotes. As a matter of fact, anecdotes are quite related to literature, in fact, someone can refer to them as literature in disguise (Xavier 33). Although people have been encountering the term almost on daily basis, several of the have not yet known what they mean, moreover, they tend to confuse it with the normal daily jokes. However, an anecdote is quite different from a joke even though some aspects of jokes and anecdotes seems to marry.
Works Cited
Cuddon, J. A. Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, Third Ed. London: Penguin Books Publishers, 2012, Print.
Xavier, Kennedy. Handbook of Literary Terms, Third Ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education Publishers, 2011, Print.
