Homework answers / question archive / Crafting the Personal Essay, Chapters 11 and 12 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Raised Catholic" (Links to an external site

Crafting the Personal Essay, Chapters 11 and 12 Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Raised Catholic" (Links to an external site

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• Crafting the Personal Essay, Chapters 11 and 12
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, "Raised Catholic" (Links to an external site.) (The Atlantic)

General posting guidelines this week: Please post a Primary Post in response to the discussion topic(s) below; as well as a thoughtful Reply to another person's post. You may write your primary post and reply in either order. One post is due by Thursday, and one is due by Sunday. Each post is worth 10 points, for a total of 20 points. 

To ensure a cordial style, please remember to greet your classmates and sign your name in your posts.

Specific Guidelines for this Discussion

Note: This discussion topic has two parts. Please respond to them both in your primary post.

Part A:

In Chapter 11, "Writing the Spiritual Essay," Dinty W. Moore explains that writing a spiritual essay is about exploring one's internal conflict regarding faith or belief. Moore states, "Writing the spiritual essay is about discovering parts of your own self" (135).

After reading Chimamanda Adichie's "Raised Catholic," first, please briefly identify a way that you see Adichie "discovering parts of her own self" as she reflects on being raised in a Catholic tradition that she began moving away from as a teenager, but that she also retains an uneasy, yet sometimes proud, connection to.

Then, please briefly identify one of the prompts under "Your Spiritual Essay" on pp. 136-138 of Moore's book that interests you as a source for a spiritual essay of your own. Why does this prompt interest you, and how do you imagine exploring it in an essay?

Citing your source(s): If you refer specifically in your post to Adichie's essay or Moore's book, please cite your source(s). Please refer to the guidelines in Format for Citing Sources in Your Writings.

Part B:

In Chapter 12, "Who Am I Today?" of Crafting the Personal Essay, Dinty Moore says, "One sure way to become as good a writer as you can become is to allow your self into the writing, to make room for that 'strong personal presence'" (151). Moore endorses honesty as one important source of a strong personal presence on the page.

Please choose one of the statements from the "Writing Exercise: The Myriad Self" on pp. 147-148 of Moore's book. Fill in the blank in your chosen statement, and use that passage to begin an essay where this strong sense of "you" is communicated to your readers. Please write a few sentences to a paragraph of your essay-in-progress that communicates this strong sense of you.

Citing your source(s): If you refer specifically in your post to Moore's book, please cite your source(s). Please refer to the guidelines in Format for Citing Sources in Your Writings.

Best wishes for contributing to this discussion!