Example Of Essay On Running And Being Chased - An Adventure And An Ordeal

In these excerpts from ‘An American Childhood’ and ‘Always Running’, the authors, Annie Dillard and Luis. J. Rodriguez talk about an incident from their childhood where they indulged in childish activities and got chased by adults. Dillard recounts how an adult chased them down to reprimand them about throwing snowballs at cars and Rodriguez talks about him and his friend going over a school fence to play basketball and getting caught by cops. Both of these excerpts contain a lot of drama and action as it is about them being chased. The drama in Dillard’s piece is attenuated by the words she uses. She uses words such as smashed through, under, up, down and across to describe the routes taken by her and her friend to escape from the man chasing them. Using these words increases the drama of the narrative as the reader tends to visualize the unfolding scene in a fast pace. Although it was not a serious incident the words serve to heighten the tension and creates a suspense of what is to follow. Rodriguez on the other hand combines images to make the narrative dramatic. When speaking about being chased by the cops, he rolls all the other experiences into the chase. He brings in the images of being chased by gangs, other cops, bullies and teachers. The chase isn’t about what has happened that evening but a microcosm of his life and those of others like him. This merging of the images from past and the future is what makes his narrative dramatic. Although both are narratives of what had happened in their childhood, the similarity stops there. Dillard’s experience is more of an adventure that made her happy and exhilarated, while Rodriguez's account is dark, disturbing and morbid. Unlike Dillard’s happy ending, Rodriguez’s account ends on a sad note.
Dillard uses a lot of action verbs in her narrative. Chase, run, impelled and compelled are some of the action verbs in the excerpt that are used to dramatize the whole incident. Rodriguez uses dramatic verbs such as grab and seize in his account. The use of different verbs helps the authors in letting the readers know the emotions that lie behind their words. The former is an adrenaline filled adventure chase while the latter is a doomed run from the law of two very scared kids. Dillard’s sentences are long. She brings the breathlessness felt by her and her friend after the chase in her sentences which are long and action filled. A lot of actions is covered in just one sentence. Rodriguez’s sentences are very short, most of it just a line long in the form of conversations between the two friends. Although the length of their sentences vary they both pack equal amounts of information in their sentences. The reader is told just what is needed. Dillard’s long sentences do not bring down the speed of the narration. Rather it adds to the breathlessness of the chase. Rodriguez writes short extremely short sentences but these are enough to shock the reader. He lays down the facts as is. there are no exaggerations or embellishments and this makes the account raw and painful to read.
The similarity between the two excerpts is the fact that both are narratives of incidents from the childhood of the respective authors. Each recount an incident from their life and both the incidents involve getting chased as kids by adults. Dillard’s account however is different from that of Rodriguez as hers is something that is a typical childhood memory. Childish actions being admonished by someone older. Rodriguez’s account on the other hand while talking about an equally childish adventure has dark undertones and a horrible end. Both the author use different verbs in their narratives to bring out the tone of their experiences and leave the reader equally spellbound and attentive.