Blog 1

  Edwidge Danticat in her fictional essay, “All the Home You’ve Got” (2017), claims that at the end of the day, your body is your only real possession in the world. In the opening of her essay, Danticat develops her thesis by reflecting on the religious beliefs of her family. Despite cherishing and praising Danticat, she describes how her parents abused her. It was a traumatic experience for her that plagued her even as an adult. However, she wrote about it to bring closure to such a dark moment in her life. It allowed her to forgive the people that hurt her. Danticat wrote about her experiences to reach out to other victims of abuse. She believed that although these things happened to them, they shouldn't feel that God forgot about them.


The way Danticat develops and splits the story into different sections is something I found interesting and applicable to my writing. By doing so, she allowed the readers to follow the thought process and the composition of her work. I liked the story transitions because they provided the reader with enough time to figure out what is going on. The story transitions helped readers predict where the writer wanted to take them. It is a strategy that I want to implement in my writing because I want to have the same effect Danticat had with her readers. I also want to consider using the plain and clear composition of her essay. Unlike many other authors, she did not misuse figurative language or over-the-top metaphors. Doing so can cause issues for many readers. Danticat wrote her story in a way that readers could grasp and comprehend the message of her writing. Her simplified composition is refreshing. It makes her story more relatable and easy on the eyes. She has many traits that I plan on using in my writing.