Critical Analysis of The Love of My Life by Cheryl Strayed - Essay Example

In examining the nature of grief and self-discovery, Strayed uses a number of techniques bordering on literary sensationalism. In these regards, initially one of the most notable elements of Strayed’s essay is the startling opening line it uses to hook the reader. Strayed writes, “The first time I cheated on my husband, my mother had been dead for exactly one week” (Strayed). This opening line functions to immediately hook the reader through this rhetorical technique, leaving them questioning the future progression of the text.

This aspect of leaving the reader slightly questioning the text’s intentions becomes a thematic element; for example, in another instance, a non-descript man simply asks the narrator if she is ‘mature’. Another effective literary tool the text uses is a reference to a sort of symbolic aspect of nature. For instance, Strayed writes, “When I was a child I witnessed a leaf unfurl in a single motion. One second it was a fist, the next an open hand. I never forgot it, seeing so much happen so fast.

And this was like that — the end of one thing, the beginning of another: my life as a slut” (Strayed). In this instance, Strayed draws a comparison between the unfurling of the leaf and the nature of her development and maturation. This is highly effective as it functions as a sort of overarching metaphor for the nature of the story as one of discovery and ‘unfurling,’ as well as offering a clever and witty punch. The text is replete with such aspects of startling subject matter, ranging from frank discussions of sex to flippant approaches to death.

In addition to the specific literary technique of sensationalism, Strayed implements a sort of parallel narrative structure that functions to provide concomitant insight into the grieving process, and the process of self-discovery. In these regards, Strayed orchestrates one strand of plot that considers her mother’s death and the grieving process; then there is a converse plot that articulates the narrator’s response to this process through wanton sexual encounters and private thoughts on social relations.

The process is highly effective as Strayed is able to expertly interweave the means of sexual relations as the narrator’s response to the unspeakable difficulty of coping with her mother’s death. Indeed, to some extent, the narrator seems to make ironic humor out of the ‘5 stages of grieving,’ instead indicating she “didn’t bargain, become depressed, or accept. I fucked. I sucked” (Strayed). As the text advances, the reader begins to witness Strayed’s personal development and her overcoming the grief of her mother’s death.

Indeed, towards the story’s conclusion, the predominant thematic emphasis shifts from one centered on grief to one centered on self-realization. Strayed writes, “My mother had been dead for three years. I was twenty-five. I had intended, by this point in my life, to have a title of my own: The Incredibly Talented and Extraordinarily Brilliant and Successful Writer” (Strayed). In this instance, the text has shifted from a concern with the narrator’s mother’s death to a concern with how her mother would have viewed her personal development.

This is an extremely powerful articulation, as the advancement of the story parallels advances in the narrator’s life, giving the reading an increased visceral experience of the maturation process.