In E.B. White’s “One More at the Lake” and Judy Brady’s “I want a wife”, both authors write on personal encounters they experienced. The author chooses two different methods of writing styles. E.B. White utilizes a nostalgic reflective descriptive piece, whereas Brady uses a more sarcastic narrative. Arguably both writers do a great job in their story telling skills. Both stories are respected and pleasing, yet similar but different at the same time. The authors’ choice of writing style is what gives one story more of an advantage to the other. Though descriptive and narrative essay have identical intent – to tell the reader a story- narratives are more effective in capturing the audience because the uses of different voices, they bring ideas into perspective and they are relatable. There are special components that both style of writing possesses. Narrative writing usually does not stress adjectives to give the physical details of characters, setting or events in the story. Nothing like descriptive writing, narrative writings are written in the first person in order to convey the author's attitudes, beliefs and memories. Narratives are conventional, while descriptive writings content often emphases on a single event, object or place. Occasionally, writers utilize narrative writing style to tell about the past or the future in broad terms. A narrative often reflects personal experience, clarifying what happened during some sort of incident. Narrative essay topics include recounting an experience where the learned something significant, such as losing a tooth, first day of high school, or any type of life changing experience However, narration are not always a personal experience. Narratives are a form of storytelling. Narratives tend to have more casual and conversational tone. On the other hand, descriptive writings concentrate on conveying the writers’ outlooks and opinions through highly visual images, and expressive figurative language. Whereas, narrative writing does not center on the audience insight of the writer’s world like descriptive writing does. Descriptive writings evoke emotion. In descriptive writings are in free form while in narrative writing, are more structured. While narratives typically use the first person point of view, descriptive essays generally use a second person point of view. Narratives are interesting because they tend to be written in different voices either first person or third person. Typically, narratives are written in first person. Writing in first person gives the essay personality. In “I Want a Wife”, the author uses this technique. For example: “I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the baby-sitting arrangements.” (Brady, 1971) Descriptive essays usually are written in a second person voice. Authors use second-person voice in order and try to pull the reader in, trying to make the reader as if he or she is a part of the story. The language and tone of a story grabs the readers’ attention regardless. However, when stories are written in first-person as in narratives it makes the reader feel connected. The first-person voice seems like best friends listening to each other vent on the phone. On the other hand, the choice of second-person voice forces the reader to be in a place where he or she may not want to be. The audience can lose interest if they feel uncomfortable and disconnected. Creating connections like narratives do is what make pieces memorable. Both descriptive and narrative writings tell a story, as stated before. However, descriptive writings explain or describe something physical, whereas, narratives give insight on a situation or idea. Descriptive writing describes a person, place or thing. In E.B. White’s “Once More to the Lake”, White uses a lake to connect his childhood experiences with his father to the experiences with his son. He goes on to describe the experience as they went fishing in the morning. He felt the same humid moss and saw the same dragonfly on the water. That is when he realized nothing have changed much. Everything was exactly how he remembered it. Then he sits there placing the rod in the water-watching dragonflies and everything was so familiar. This moment was almost haunting, to the point when he looks over at his son, he wasn’t sure if he was looking at his child or his young self (White, 1941). The purpose of descriptive is to evoke a sense of understanding and awareness in the reader that is familiar and solid. Descriptive usually leaves a dominant impression on the reader from the author, whether if the impression is negative or positive. They give the reader no room to form individual thoughts, whereas narratives give a little more. Narratives allow the reader to take a journey. For instance, in “I Want a Wife”, the narrator realizes the works she does being a wife, wishes she had a wife herself and goes on to explain why (Brady, 1971). Brady then takes a sarcastic tone, to point out the societal role of a wife. She goes on to discuss wives fulfilling sexual desires, social and emotional needs. Basically showing woman who is fully invested in her husband. Now everyone may not agree with what Brady is saying. However her words and tone enthralls the audience Brady makes the reader consider how a housewife may feel whether the reader has personal experiences or not. The reader is allowed to see her position and is able to determine for his or herself if Brady’s points are or aren’t valid. This brings the reader in and keeps the reader engaged, even if it is just to disagree with the narrator. Narratives have more of a connecting element. Moreover, the order in which the two respective writings are written have an impact on how each type of writing is received. Narratives are written in chronological order. It allows the audience to watch and understand how the story unfolds. For example, in 1970 Brady writes “As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?” Brady uses a satiric tone and talks about the life as a wife and mom. She first describes the attitude of a man acquiring a wife. Brady then talks about how one they are married how a man depends on his wife to satisfy every part of his life. Next, she touches in the egocentrism husbands have and how men did not appreciate. What a wife does. Finally, Brady expresses the graciousness of a wife giving up things like completing school or having a social life. Many narratives are personal flashback or reflective pieces. For the most part, there is some sort of internal and/or external conflict. Narrative tries to express some insight or talk about a learned lesson from said conflict. By having this conflict element, the reader can either compare to his or her own similar experiences or can learn something from reading the story. Descriptive, on the other hand are usually written in order of spatial importance. Basically, it is written on what the author feels is more relevant. If the spatial order technique is not executed properly it can cause the reader to become confused and frustrated. If the reader does not understand why the story is written in that particular order the author chose. For instance, in “Once More to the Lake” The narrator starts talking about talking about him and his dad going fishing in 1904. He then goes on talking about talking his son a trip. Now even though, White does a good job transitioning between the two different events, it can still be easily confusing which event the narrator is talking about at the time. Such as, when White writes, “When we got back for a swim before lunch, the lake was exactly where we had left it, the same number of inches from the dock, and there was only the merest suggestion of a breeze” (1941). Descriptive can be tricky. When writing a descriptive essay, plummeting into illogical emotions and digressing is easy. Therefore, the writer needs to present a controlled and reasonable depiction, so the reader gets from the essay a clear sense of what is attempting to describe. As before mentioned, descriptive pieces supposed to describe a person, place or thing. But what if the reader does not know what the author is alluding to or does not understand the analogy being perceived. How will the reader grasp and comprehend is author’s purpose? The writer’s purpose is never misleading in narratives, narratives allow readers to interact and bond with the story. Connecting to the reader is important when writing, whether it is an essay, poem, news report or speech. It is the author’s duty to know how to deliver his or her message. Both descriptive and narrative are good tools for writing. However, narratives tend to be more appealing than descriptive writing. Narratives have many different tones, lessons to be learned, connectivity and several other elements that a descriptive lack. When reading regardless the material, there should always be a dynamic experience.

References

Brady, J. (1971). I Want a Wife. . Retrieved May 25, 2014, from http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/everythingsanargument4e/content/cat_020/Brady_I_Want_a_Wife.pdf

White, E. (1941). One More to the Lake. . Retrieved May 26, 2014, from http://www.freewebs.com/lanzbom/EBWhiteLakeEssay.pdf