Narrative Slippage and Editing in my Blog

For this post, I have reread my blog from the very beginning and analyzed how this relates to narrative editing and narrative slippage. “The Self We Live By” describes narrative slippage as describing a story in a broad context, but also making it unique to one’s own perspective and situation. If I consider my blog to be my self in a story, then there are ways in which I align with broader construction of the group I am in, as well as ways that I differentiate myself from the rest of the group. My main audience for my blog is the students in my English 225 class and my English 225 instructor. Therefore, I make references to discussions we had in class, assuming that those who are reading my entry were in class the day we had that particular discussion. For example, in one of my posts about my new insights on inquiry, I made a reference to a class discussion we had that questioned beliefs most people took for granted, like the fact that Columbus discovered America. However, I keep in mind that other people who are not in my English 225 class may also stumble across my blog, so I try to reiterate and summarize important points that were made in class for those who were not present for the discussion.

My narrative aligns with the narratives of others in my class because we are all centering our blogs on the same basic concepts: identity, inquiry, and rhetorical analysis, to name a few. But the way in which each of us views these concepts differs, and thus makes each of our blogs unique. For instance, in my very first post, I constructed myself for an audience that judged me based on a first impression, and then used my words to counteract that first impression. Through my blog, my audience can learn a lot about me, like the different identities I merge together in social and academic situations, my respect for religious beliefs, and how I think identity relates to biomedical engineering and medicine. These characteristics make my narrative unique and differentiate it from others who are writing on the same broad topic as I am.

After reading about narrative editing in “The Self We Live By”, I have come to see that the perspective from which I am writing has changed depending on the nature of my post. Towards the beginning, my perspective is that of a student who is trying to learn more about her identity and where it falls into place in society. As I learned more about rhetorical analysis and inquiry in my English class, my perspective switched to one that was more inquisitive. I began to question many beliefs in my field, and slowly began to relate two concepts I had learned in class to my major: identity and inquiry. The posts show how my learning has been affecting my thoughts and personal development, which has pushed me to think critically about identity in medical practice. Since I am writing a first person narrative, I am expecting my audience to perceive me the way I intend for them to through my writing style and content. However, when I try to write from the perspective of a doctor, in the posts where I discuss my inquiry paper, that may not be giving my audience a completely accurate narrative, since I am not yet a doctor and therefore cannot personally identify myself with that identity. Through my posts, I have integrated a little bit of myself, and a bit of the identity I hope to obtain.