Friday, July 22, 2011
Is All Writing Autobiographical?
Murray makes the claim that all writing is autobiographical in some sense, yet I've had many, many students tell me that their past English teachers have told them they can't use "I" in their writing, particularly "formal" writing (whatever that means--I've never really understood:)). Think back to what you've been taught about how "personal" your school or work writing (that is, not your diary, journal, poetry, songwriting, or other "expressive" writing) could be. What kinds of rules or guidance did you get about your school or work writing? How does that advice you got compare to what Murray is saying? What are the implications of his arguments? If he's right, how would it change the way you think about writing? [Due: end of day Friday]
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I am in complete agreement with Murray. As I stated in an earlier post, I feel his ideas are the closest to how I feel about writing, although I don't think I ever really analyzed it myself. The rules and guides presented to me growing up in regard to writing were things I always felt limited me. I wanted to express myself in my writing, to distinguish it from others'. To carry my 'voice'.
ReplyDeleteMurray encourages the writer to write autobiographically, that is, for their writing to contain traces of their creators. Murray writes to make meaning of life, and I feel such an idea is very commendable. In that sense, I feel both the writer and the reader would leave with a much more deeply fulfilled experience.
Always been taught to keep away from the “I”, “me”, “myself”, but Murray in a very special way was able to express himself giving his writings a special personal touch without being too obvious. Writing while leaving your own trace makes the articles an autobiography without it being your diary. Writing the way he does makes reading more pleasurable, while the creator gets to express what he/she feels and the reader gets to recognize those feelings, creating a especial connection. The especial trace left by the creator, that a good reader would be able to identified when reading another of their articles.
ReplyDeleteThe implications might be that not all teachers might agree with Murray’s argument, and when writing an article following Murray’s ideas the students might not get the grades expected (since the teachers might think they are crossing the line of the commonsense “rules”).
Yes, he is definitely right. Writers should be able to find a satisfaction on their writing and not feel like they are being limited in expressing themselves.
All of my previous English teachers have always emphasized to keep away from having the word “I” and such out of our writings. When reading Murray he shows us a different way to write without making it sounds so “personal,” yet, still having that “personal touch” in what is being written. He wants the creator to add some personal sparks so that when the reader reads the article he/she can relate to them. Teachers generally don’t agree with these ideas making it more difficult for students to follow Murray’s thoughts because it could lead to “poor” writing in a teacher’s perspective.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I agree with Sandra, Murray is right; writers should be able to find a satisfaction on their writing and not being limited in expressing themselves. Making writing a bit more personal can give the reader a different experience when reading something.
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ReplyDeleteMy English teachers from before have always advised me not to get into the habit of using “I” in my essays. In my essays in the past I still had a tendency of using “I” in my essay papers. I never knew how to be able to write essays and make it sound personal. After reading the article about Murray, I now realize that it is possible for a story to sound personal and not use “I”. He found a way in which writing is more interesting and enjoyable for students to read. Being able to write personal the reader is able to relate to the author and understand what is being said throughout the reading. I always thought with stories I can relate to I find it more interesting to read because I know what the author is trying to say and I never have a dull moment when reading something I can relate to.
ReplyDeleteImplications that Murray might get are not everyone agrees with him so depending on who might read your essay they may have a different way for you to write instead of the ideas Murray wrote in his article. I believe that Murray is right and it will change the way I think about writing by being able to express your own ideas in your writing. Being able to write your own ideas and being more personal with your writing develops skills to becoming more creative.
I have never been told by a teacher to not use the word "I " but I do think that there is pressure on students to not personalize academic writing. Muray make a good point in this article that made me rethink academic writing and it's purpose.
ReplyDeleteIn high school my freshmen, sophomore, and senior English teachers taught me to never use "I" or make essays personal. However, my junior year, my English teacher actually pressured us to make the essays personal because he wanted us become more "interested" in writing them. I can honestly say that it worked. Even with analytical essays he would ask that we compare the characters or situations to ourselves or our own. This teacher I had is probably the only teacher that really taught me how to write, analyze, etc. Pretty sad. I wish I had more teachers like him in high school.
ReplyDeleteI dont ever recall being told to not use "I" when writing. I do agree with Raul because I am also in agreement with Murray. I would consider all of "my" writing to be autobiographical, i'll always put my personal thought in anything that I read or write.
ReplyDeleteReading this article, makes me realize how much of my writing and reading is autobiographical. I take it all in I create my own thoughts and feelings towards the writings. Everyone will have different ideas or views of "my" writings.
I do understand how in a research if we put some of our own thought into it, it would make a difference, because sometimes we would be in agreement of disagreement with the writer. Which would give us an oppurtunity to raise questions and arguments.
Well my past teachers have told me not to use the words “I, me, and myself” because that wasn’t the way people are supposed to write. But like myself, I have seen that people that don’t use these words have trouble explaining things that happen to them or they do. The rules I got from my past English teachers was that never use first person when I write about things only when I have like personal experiences happen to me. Murray’s argument was that it was ok to use those words because it is something that comes from the person that is writing the stories. The advice that was given to me does not compare with the advice that Murray uses but, I agree with Murray because the writer is suppose to write about what he/she feels and that’s how the context becomes more interesting.
ReplyDeleteMy past teachers in high school told me to never put myself into writing unless asked to. That turned me away from writing after awhile because it made it seem I was just writing to write. After reading Murray's article he gave me ideas on how to write and put myself into the writing without using personal terms such as "I" "me" or "myself". To Zoe I wish I had high school teachers like you :) and I agree with Raul on him saying being personal in your writing will help both writer and reader gain a deeper fulfilled experience.
ReplyDeleteCountless times have I been told that "I" should never be used when writing. Writing should never be biased or ever based on my own opinions or thoughts. I should not add in anything that refers to how I feel about the topic. After reading this article I felt I could really relate to Murray, which was partially the reason that I found his article to be much more interesting than the others. His article made me feel okay about putting a little bit of myself into what I write. I think that writing with showing your views is essential to capture the readers attention.
ReplyDeleteFor most of my middle school through sophomore year in high school I was taught to not personalize my essays with "I." Like Zoe in my Junior year my English teacher wanted us to become more involved in our writing, leave a part of us in our written works. The way he taught us how to write an essay was the easiest way I had learned. i was lucky that he taught senior english also. In especially helped when writing my research papers, it taught me that I was allowed to involve my own thoughts in my research paper but still contain the facts that I had found.
ReplyDeleteThere were alot of rules we had to follow in school from where to put a period, coma, quotation mark etc but one of the main things I remember when writing was we could never write about ourselves. I had a teacher in highschool who would take away point if we put i in our paper. I agree with Murray when he states on pg. 64, We make up our own history, our own legends, our own knowledge by writing our autobiography because when we die all thats gonna be left of us is our own writing. I would prefer to take Murrays advice and write about our own experiences so that people can relate to that.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to say I've truly analyzed my writing in accordance to Murray's style. However, I can say that I've always been taught to be an objective writer; meaning try to keep the "I" "me" "we", etc... out of my writing. It would be interesting to observe my writing in a more creative way.
ReplyDeleteLooking back to what Murray has said and what I have learned over the years about writing, I have to say, Murray's concept is new to me. I have definitely heard "don't use 'I' in schoolwork" before. Murray's concept makes a lot of sense to me, though. It's definitely true that our own styles of writing seep through our works. I love how this class is effecting what I think about writing. I think I write so differently now than I did even a month ago.
ReplyDeleteI have had at least on teacher tell me not to use “I” in writing while others have said that it’s ok. Every writing/English teacher I have had has a different view of writing. Despite of how I was told how to write in class, I have always liked keeping journals where I can express my writing without any rules. Murray seems to believe that depending on the kind of writing and reason for writing something is what depends on what mood you write in. I agree that some writings should contain a little of ourselves in the work we do. It usually helps me to write about something that I can personally relate to.
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