Memoirs - Course 4 - Week 4

 

As with the last, this is a two-part assignment. Think about a significant conversation that you’ve had in your life with someone (or multiple people) about an experience that was important to you. (The death of a loved one; the loss of a house key.) The first piece should be between 300 and 500 words or so, where you convey this conversation strictly through dialogue as if it was a script. You’re allowed to use names, and “he said” and “she said” in order to differentiate who is speaking, but no description and no narration is allowed. Context can come only through dialogue.

Then I want you to convey this same conversation and tell the same story through narration in a similar number of words, but this time you may not use more than 50 words of dialogue - that's about six lines. Again, it's the same conversation, but narrated, paraphrased or described. This final assignment should utilize elements of the first three assignments: character, detail, description, tension.

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You know what your problem is?" Angel asks his friend.

"That I'm fat?" Yves replies.

"No," Angel says, shaking his head.

"That I'm crazy, or I dream too big?" Yves asks with obvious discomfort.

"You became successful too young. You were 23 and already traveling to India, Brazil, Europe. You were busy doing good things. I don't know what they were, but I know it was too much for you, and now you feel lost because you're not traveling. You need to see to your kid and your wife. Your wife is constantly sick, and your kid requires a lot of time and energy."

Angel's wife interrupts, saying, "You have two options. Either you are grateful and enjoy your kid and your wife, or you go to the opposite side and be like your dad. Abandon them all and focus on making money. Work. Work a lot. Work all the time, but I ask you, what do you prefer?"

Yves adds, "I don't know."

Maggie adds to her comment, "Because I see my kids, and I'm amazed. I hug them, and I'm so happy to be next to them. I look at them, and I'm grateful. I used to be the workaholic mom, leaving the kids at nursery, school, or with grandparents, paying for nannies. But now that I'm with them, I take them to football practice, and we talk all afternoon. I wouldn't change this for anything."

"I think you're right. I should abandon my family and focus on making more money and getting results."

Yves was serious when he said this.

They were all drunk, and the conversation was happening past 3 AM. It shouldn't be taken so seriously.

Yves was talking during the night with their neighbors. They were all drinking. Yves talked about how difficult it is to decide between professional development and being a parent. Both have benefits and it seems like both do not match between them. Angel and Maggie a couple and friends of Yves talk to him about redemption and importance of family.