Reflective essays tell a story by sharing details about a personal experience. In his reflective essay, Henry Haggard wrote about an experience that led him to believe, even more strongly, that Americans need to do more to help people who might be fleeing bad situations in their home countries. Ruby Allen-Short also wrote a reflective essay—about an especially meaningful haircut. You probably read Ruby's essay in earlier lesson.
Ruby felt as though her especially long hair had become part of her identify, and she wasn't sure how she would feel about having it gone. Read the last two paragraphs of Ruby's reflective essay to refresh your memory about how she felt about her experience.
Unlike most of the tissues on our bodies, hair is not alive. Once the keratin root pushes past the surface of the scalp, it is functionally dead, and the effect of ‘growing” is achieved as it is pushed outwards by new hair cells. This means I was literally carrying dead weight on my head for nearly twelve years. . . the locks that fell into my lap were just these dead things I used to wear. I realize now that I had never cut my hair because I was afraid of what might grow in behind it. I let it become so fragile at the ends that, on the day I finally cut it off, it had stopped growing at all. (That's true, by the way, not a metaphor. That's how split ends work.)
To most people, a haircut isn't a big deal. For me, my hair had become a representation of my own fears—the fear of change, the fear that I would become someone I didn't want to be. When I watched nineteen inches of it land in my lap this summer, I knew that no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, a haircut was the first step to figuring out who I really was. We all need to try on different identities in order to find what fits, and we may need to wander in order to discover where we belong. I had kept my hair long to avoid facing those questions about myself, and it had held me back. But now I know: Sometimes you need to cut away the dead stuff in order to keep growing.
If you didn't get a chance to read Ruby's reflective essay in a prior lesson, or if you would like to reread it, click the Read Me Button below.
Just like Henry, Ruby was able to use her reflective essay as prewriting for something more persuasive. Click the Read Me Button below to read Ruby's persuasive essay. As you read, think about Ruby's claim and see if you can tell how her reflective essay helped her form an opinion. What combination of reasons and rhetoric help make her essay convincing?
As you can see, Ruby's reflective essay led her to the belief that parents should allow their children to experiment with their physical appearance. After reflecting on her own experience, Ruby concluded that trying out different ways of being is a crucial part of determining one's identity.
What elements make Ruby's essay work as an example of persuasive writing? Match each sentence from her essay to the word or phrase that describes it.
