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Ingrid Ankerson's 'Cruising'

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White knuckles clench the wheel at ten and two, beads of sweat line the forehead, and a unsteady foot slams the pedals as the adolescent takes the drive into adulthood. As the adolescent moves forward, she must patiently learn control and meaning similar to how one learns to drive. In Ingrid Ankerson’s “Cruising”, the use of a reminiscence, interaction with still frames, and adolescent voice reveals the adolescent’s longing to find purpose and take control as she drives into adulthood. As the poem recalls an adolescent’s cruise, the meaning becomes apparent. The speaker “remember[s] cruising” as the night went by “like movie credits”, and as movie credits are commonly displayed as an insignificant blur of words that quickly pass, this gives the impression that the night lacked purpose. Following the description of the night, the speaker shows how desperate and adrift adolescents are in learning and finding their purpose by describing herself as “sniffing the …show more content…

As the reader attempts to follow along with the narrator, the still frames flow quickly past the screen and out of control in both directions (Ankerson and Sapnar). This erotic and seemingly uncontrollable movement represents how the reader’s struggle to find control parallels the adolescent’s struggle; the reader must learn how to control and drive the still frames as the adolescent must learn how to control and drive into adulthood. Additionally, the adolescent voice that accompanies the interactive still frames and text helps elucidate the meaning by giving the poem an emotional appeal that stresses the young female’s longing for purpose and control as she drives into adulthood (Ankerson and Sapnar). The use of these visual and auditory aspects drives the meaning of the poem home on different layer than the text

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