Response to Scott Russell Sanders

Sanders points out the one truly obvious thing about the personal essay that nobody truly wants to admit. It takes alot of arrogance to write a personal essay. The author realizes that they are speaking to the entire world in each line that they write, just like the example of the soap-box orator that Sanders writes about in his opening paragraph. I don't want to admit that I'm arrogant but to an extent I am. However, arrogance isn't necessarily a bad thing, its what will drive an author to get published and learn intricate ways to captivate readings. It gives the author a chance to bring someone into their essay and say "This is who I am, This is what I have gone through, I hope you like it." Through the essay Sanders demonstrates his love for the personal essay. Its true that non-fiction can be harder than writing fiction because the characters are real and the story actually happened. Poets don't often write thousands of words for just one poem, novelists create a story, and journalists quote others without often saying anything about themselves. Essays make the author vulnerable to the public opinions but I believe that that vulnerability is what makes the essay good. People will read your essay and hopefully they will get a feel of who you are, how you think, what you've been through. Reading an essay can let you know the person who wrote it.