Analysis of Life story by David Shields - Essay Example

Analysis of "Life story” by David Shields Recently, I read an article named “life story” by David Shields. The essay is on the “writing as revision”. The essay provides us with many insights about some truths about life, the different stages of life and the way we live them. Shields provide a great essay which is worth to be analyzed. The author a creative style and well thought of words to describe life. This essay stands out as one of the best essays both in the choice of diction and style of writing. I particularly enjoyed Shield’s atypical and fresh way of structuring this essay. The sentences are put together coherently to deliver the message on different aspects of life. However, the different sentences sued in construction of a paragraph are independently able to deliver a message and make sense on their own. For instance, when he says “This vehicle not purchased with drug money. Hugs are better than drugs.” The two sentences are independent of each other in terms of examining, but they are coherently linked to make a sensible paragraph which is nice to read especially because it has a prose flow. Shield’s uses powerful phases and sentences which sound like bumper stickers. When the author says, “Heaven doesn’t want me and Hell’s afraid I’ll take over” (Shields, 82), this quote signifies a strong deeper meaning. In my opinion, the author is trying to tell us that neither heaven nor hell can take human’s life. On the surface, the author wants to tell the readers that he is a bad guy especially due to the tone of his voice throughout the essay. I feel that deeply, the author wants us to be strong in life and live without fear of death. To him, Heaven and Hell are human’s imagination and, therefore, we should not worry about dying if we live on earth happily. In life, we can find the real things if we work hard and most importantly, work hard. In my opinion, if we think deeply, we own our lives. Personally, I have seen bad guys live more than 80 years, and also good guys can live 80 years. Whatever you do on earth, whether good or bad, life’s fate is not decided by your actions. I understand this text from a cultural framework. Heaven and Hell are just the place that dead men going to. But we have a big premise, the belief that Heaven and Hell is real. Those two things may not appear in some countries’ culture and opinion, but every culture has their own god who can decide human’s fate. I don’t believe we have god in this world. If we have, why is it that bad guys can live over 80 years? Shield has organized his random sayings like bumper stickers to depict life’s journey through different phases. The beginning of the essay, he talks about youth and the activities of the youth such as partying, dating and having girlfriends. He says, “You’re only young once, but you can be immature forever. I may grow old, but I'll never grow up. Too fast to live, too young to die. Life's a beach.” This construction represents the irresponsibility of the youth. He then goes on to focus on sexuality and relationships. He says, "Not all men are fools, some are single," and "Girls wanted, all positions, will train." When talking about sex, he says that “sex is only dirty when you do it right... I'm looking for love but will settle for sex. (Shields, 83). After sexuality, the next thing he discusses is death. As such, we get the gist of life from different perspectives from when young, through puberty to adulthood till death. While I agree with most of his life’s insights, I disagree about his opinion on sexuality. In modern world, nobody wants to have sex in the right way if it will be considered dirty. Furthermore, sex is not dirty, whether right or wrong, as it is considered by many as a way of deriving pleasure. The author made me wonder, what kind of sex is wrong? He maybe thought people who are in a relationship are the ones who have sex the right way. In my opinion, sex in modern society is a form of entertainment. As such, there is no correctness for sex when we consider this information in a societal framework. Shields uses an innovative way to present the quotes in a simple manner but which combine to from a bigger meaning. From a societal framework, he shows a perfect reflection of the society. For instance, when he says, “No more Mr. Nice Guy” (Shields, 82), this quote me reflect on the wider society where it is hard to find trust in relationships. The author feels depressed to communicate with other people in this society as he finds no trust between any relationships. In my opinion, he is almost right, because I have never met people who can pour their hearts to me since I finished my junior high school studying, except from my family. This society has so many tricks and cheats. None can be really helpful and believable except our families. Shield is also very imaginative with diction and the oscillation between different viewpoints of first, second and third person perspective. The tone of the paragraphs are different depending on the massage. He says, “Life is pretty dry without a boat” (Shields, 84). This quote is an imagined sentence. The author compares life to a river. If we have a boring life, the river will be dry, and we can across this river simply. If we have an interesting and challenging life, the river will be torrential, and we must need a boat to across this river. The boat is like a tool to solve problems in our life, the answer for the life’s question, and the choices we need to make to live. He is ambitious and has his own way to conquer this world. This is 21st century. We are too young to be normal. There is so many chances waiting for us to find. As such, I agree with the author’s opinion. Trying to get a challenging life and make our life colorful and interesting. I consider this information in a societal framework. In conclusion, the essay provides us with insights into the correct way to live. Don’t mind other’s perspective, everyone in this world is different. We can make our special way to build our life. Of course, as a young people, the most important thing is I should have an ambition to challenge this world. Work Cited David Shields, “Life Story”. Writing as revision - Boston, MA. - Pearson Custom Pub. 2003 Read More