A Personal Memoir: Surviving A Night In The Forest

Write a memoir piece of your own that’s about your own life and is inspired stylistically, thematically, and/or contextually by one of the pieces we have read this semester. In your piece, feel free to relay your initial experience of an event or person (or otherwise) and comment on it in hindsight – this is how many of the pieces you read this semester are presented. Let the piece you are inspired by influence how you tell your personal story in a way that seems most natural. Remember, this is not a persuasive or argumentative piece; it’s not academic in the traditional sense. You are writing a personal, reflective piece where you reflect on a person or an aspect or time of your life! Be specific, use anecdotes, and write clearly while allowing your personality and your reactions (then and now) to shine through as you explore and explain your thoughts and feelings.

This is creative, but it must adhere to grammar and syntax rules.

Write reflection on the creative personal memoir piece you’ve written.

Part one – creative personal memoir:

Imagine waking up in the middle of a dark dense forest. Imagine waking up to the sounds of fearful animals like the jackals and the tiger and not the beautiful soothing voice of the songbirds. Imagine being covered with mud, dirt, and dust all over your body. Imagine getting bankrupt and getting landed up in the middle of the forest with no money. On top of all, imagine that you were left all alone to die there in the forest with no warm clothes, food or money. It had been snowing all night long and you were left all alone under the tree in the midst of that forest. You could hardly move your hands or your legs or even any other parts of the body. This is almost like feeling death to be very near and there is nothing but only hopelessness all around. This kind of condition is perhaps unknown or even beyond the unknown. This was my condition during the last winter. Whenever I recall this event, I do not know what the actual definition of this event is. I might call not an adventure or once in a lifetime adventure but again you do not call it an adventure when it was almost ready to take your life.

I could barely open my eyes. I did not know what was happening and why was I all alone. I wanted to cry for help but there was not a single soul to be seen around. Neither could I open my mouth for raising a voice. I felt that my tongue got frozen and I could not even move it or separate it from my jaws. I could felt that my nose was red, stiff and blocked. It made breathing really tough for me. This was becoming even more life taking for me as I had the problem of asthma. This added to the misery that I was suffering through. I thought of calling the police through my phone as I could not speak a word through my mouth. However, it was also very tough for me to even move my hand and take it down to the bag underneath that would help me to take out the phone.

  I knew that I was too weak to even move a bit. I still wanted to take the phone from my bag for calling someone to help, as I did not want to die like this. I had to go home. I had to meet my parents. I had to tell them sorry. This is the last hope and the last thought that was goby ion in my mind as I recalled what happened the last night. I had been friends with a group of strangers that started coming in our locality for the last two-three weeks. They were really strange and did not behave well with any of the local people. Many people from our residence also complained that they were harassed by those boys and girls. Not only this but that mysterious group also stole money, gold, and other costly materials by using physical violence. Knowing this my parents were really worried about me and warned me about them. They asked me not to hang around with them or play with them.

Part two – critical analysis:

I did not listen to them. I felt that these are all rumors and I really liked their company. I was a teenager then and at that adolescent period having friends with whom one can hang around is always cool. I thought that people are just spreading rumors about the fact that they are not good and are robbers. They invited me to a party and for a bonfire in the forest. I told this at home and there was a huge quarrel between me and my parents. They would not let me join the party. However, I did not listen to them and I went to the party. Little could I sense about this impending danger that was lurking in front of me.

I just remember that I went into the forest where that group had set up a bonfire and there were music, food, and drinks all around. Initially, it was really very colorful and seemed exciting. I also can recollect that my pet dog Lucy also accompanied me to the party. It was my best friend and would never let me go out of sight. I also can recollect that I was about to take a sip from a glass of drink and just then everything went blank. Something very hard hit the back of my head and everything was slowly getting dark in front of my eyes and I could not see anything. My head was paining a lot and it was also becoming too heavy. I could, however, see my dog Lucy moving around me in circles and I can still hear the faded sound of its barking. Lucy knew that something that was going on around there was not right and he also knew that I was in real danger. Slowly the barking of Lucy also became faint and finally, it stopped. I could also not see anything around me. Nothing was there and the only thing that was visible to my eyes is the darkness.

Darkness all around and it seemed that I was being engulfed by something unknown and something that was making me very weak. I gained consciousness in a nearby hospital bed with my parents surrounding and the doctors surrounding me.  I saw on my parents' face and it was all filled with tears and depression. Seeing my parents cry, tears started rolling down my eyes as well and I was feeling very sorry for not listening to them. Doctors said there was a deep wound at the back of my head and that was made with a very hard stick and there was no money left in my bag. The gold chain that I was wearing was also not found. My parents told me that they tried calling me on my cell phone but it was switched off and they also did not find it in my bag. I realized that it was the work of none but that group whom I thought to be my friends. They wanted to steal my money, jewelry, and other expensive belongings.

So, they made a plan of inviting me over and then hurting me. Perhaps they wanted to kill me as well but it was my luck that I survived. Perhaps, it was a warning being given by6 god to realize that one must not ignore or overhear their parents's advice. I felt something wet on my hand and beyond doubt it was Lucy. After I was hit on my head and fell unconscious those robbers stole that they needed and left the place. They left me to die. However, Lucy was always there with me. He was hiding behind the bushes and waiting for these robbers to flee. It was Lucy who kept on barking and calling for help. Lucy was also cold, hungry and tired. However, she did not leave my side. She mounted on top of me and kept me warm with its fur. Sat the same time she kept on barking loudly till help reached.

I thank you, Lucy. Thank you, mom and dad. Thanks to all the local people that took me to the emergency medical unit. Lastly, thank you God for saving me that night and giving me a lesson about life that I will never ever forget. I will be very alert to making friends and will also listen to the advice given by my well-wishers.

I have been inspired to write this life memoir after reading the work called A Million little pieces by James Frey (Frey, 2004). This is a memoir that talks about the life of James. He talks about the hardships that he has gone through. He is confessing very honestly. I feel that this is one of the most important parts of composing a life memoir. One needs to be brutally honest in describing parts of their life, be it any positive bright parts or any dark, gloomy chapters of life.

I was hence inspired to honestly weave my darkness or harsh experiences without adding any coats of artificiality or sweetness in it. I wanted to write about this incident as it has taught me some of the very important aspects of life. It has also helped me in knowing the difference between the friends and the foes. I wrote about this experience because it seemed similar to what James Frey narrated in his work. He woke up in a plane having no idea about how he reached there or where was he going. He could also feel getting engulfed by a huge pain. James Frey describes very minutely with subtle details, the injuries that he had. HQE MENTIONS all those injured parts of the body that were painting and he also mentions that even things not known to him were painting.

This might as well refer to his mentality or his conscience. Same was the case with me. The little I could remember was the enormous pain that I had and also the huge mistake of not listening to the advice of my parents. I was also feeling horrible about the fact that I had been so senseless all this while. It was because of me that my parents had to see me in this state and I had also brought Lucy into a huge danger. Luckily, she was safe but those robbers could also have harmed her or even killed her. So, it was not only then pain within but the pain without that was swallowing me.

I liked the writing style of Frey as well. It seemed very appealing and very unique. He writes naturally and abruptly whatever thought come into his mind. It seems as if the reader is directly listening to this from James. It seems as if  Frey is in face to face conversation and is narrating the though just as it is coming to him. I feel that reading Frey's work A Million Little Pieces is indeed very useful as it portrays self-reflection in its true light. Self-reflection is not any predefined or well-organized set of writing but it must be a random jotting down of the thoughts. These thoughts are those that come in mind whenever one tries to recollect and reflect upon any past incident.

References

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Zinsser, W. K. (1989). Writing to learn (pp. 17-18). New York: Harper & Row.