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The English Language

Decent Essays

The English Language

Everyone has a different interpretation of the word, “invention”. However the word is simply defined as; a new device, method of process developed from study and experimentation. An invention is just a mental fabrication; it’s a falsehood (Dictionary.com 2013).1 Although in the essays, “Why I write” by Joan Didion, “Life in a new Language” by Eva Hoffman, and “Basmati Rice: An Essay about Words” by Audrey Thomas, each author has their own view on the English language, how they each began inventing their own writing styles, and also their reasons for why they chose to become writers. These are the three things that make their definitions of invention very particular and their own. In today’s society, there …show more content…

Didion also mentions that she comes up with her characters by analyzing a group of people in a specific place. For example, when she comes up with Charlotte from the appearance of a random girl she saw for a second one morning at an airport and from Charlotte she came up with Victor. Charlotte and Victor become an invention of her imagination. Not only did she use other peoples appearance to give her inspiration of a new character she also put herself in the characters shoes and ask herself questions as if she was really the character in the story. Thomas did something similar, although she didn’t invent characters; she invented objects that she had observed. Unlike Didion and Thomas, Hoffman was unable to observe her writings, she couldn’t put herself in someone else’s shoes and she couldn’t use the word, “I” in her writings. She would rather write about a character that she knows, rather than becoming that character like Didion does.

Writing is not just a way of inventing new characters; it’s a way of exploring yourself and finding new ways of thinking. Didion enjoys writing about the people who she invents and then putting her self in their shoes, when she does this she is discovering new feelings and characteristics about herself. Hoffman’s also does something similar; she creates a self - image of herself by writing her diary. By doing so she’s not

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