The primary focal point of nonfiction writing is when the writer attempts to confront reality while
allowing the audience to grasp the author’s impulse of what they are documenting. The goal of creative
nonfiction is when you are able to record reality with a personal or public aim in order to preserve a
perspective lens. This helps it become intertwined with reflective insights.
John T. Price gives a perfect example of reflective insight with his nonfiction essay called “The Burnt
Plane”. The reader immediately Knows the story setting, a brief timeframe, and a tone of reflection in the
first two lines. “As Jason Murphy’s mom drove us to the farm, I wondered how it would look now that his
dad was dead. It had almost been a year” (Starkey text 234).
The author introduced the use of imagination as he goes on about his character wondering what the
“overgrowth”, and “the farm itself would look like after one year had passed” (Starkey text 234). The
reader is brought back to reality by the brilliant use of the author’s transitioning with the opposite of
what was “imagined” in the story. There was “freshly mown grass”, and “Jason’s uncle was waving” as
our character arrived to the farm (Starkey text 234).
The phrase “like always” makes you notice the author’s intention here was to point out to the audience
that a sense of reflection and remembrance was the focal point of the story. This reinforces the opening
of the story here the character Jason Murphy’s dad passed away. The “dust covered machine parts” and
“handprints” allude again to the passing of time while invoking a sense of looking back (Starkey text
234). This constant sense of reflection transitions smoothly with the characterization and setting from
the opening line.
The memories the boys have of Mr. Murphy when they were young set the tone of the death
foreshadowed in the opening line. The author leaves the reader with a message that life goes on after
death. The phrase at the end “We had work to do” tells it best.
Citations
Price, J. T. (n.d.). The Burnt Plane. VitalSource Bookshelf Online.
https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9781319406530/epubcfi/6/184[%3Bvnd.vst.idref
%3Dch03_22]!/4/2[dav_9781319406530_W0DiKcmRGr]/2[dav_9781319406530_pDRqvf8NJE]/4[dav_97
81319406530_X5X3IiVgFH]
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