Looking at a "Defensive Realization"

That's the memoir I chose; "Defensive Realization", by Jason in New York.

A brief summary: 'Twas Jason's first day of football practice and the season and such. He got to the field he belonged in to play the sport he loved. He enjoyed every minute, but there was always one thing: he didn't like playing defense. He said he didn't "hate" it, but he was no good at it, and as a result preferred offense and rarely played defense when given the choice. However, for one of the biggest games of their season, his coach put him in on defensive, and he wasn't very optimistic about it.

(I believe his words were, "With me in, our shutout was over for sure.")


He played anyway, wanting to get as much time as possible playing that beloved sport, and he tackled an opposing player, effectively ending the game. This also sparked a new passion for a skill he never knew he had.


Albeit relatively short, I believe Jason's was an excellent example of a great memoir. He mixed storytelling with his reflection so well I had a hard time discerning one from the other. He says "The season had gone as perfectly in my mind as possible." I interpret that as a reflection, because it seems like he's looking back on those seven weeks and seeing that they were indeed fantastic and special. Also, near the end he states that the "tackle ended the game but started something even more important." I don't think that in the neat of the moment, after someone makes a decisive tackle, they'd stop and think that the tackle "started something important". Jason is obviously recalling the experience and realizing that it was a turning point in his life for him.


Most of his memoir was telling the story of this realization, an idiosyncrasy, I would think, of memoirs; Jason told a story that took place over time, and he recounted the earlier events and transitioned to the significant later events appropriately: "The next seven weeks went by so fast and dream-like that I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t in that deep sleep back on August 22nd."


He even went back to the beginning, cleverly alluding to that morning on the 22nd of August. It's not a perfect example of it, but that is similar to a literary technique I learned in elementary school called "full-circle ending."


Reading this memoir, I felt a little connection to myself. I also plan on writing about a seemingly small thing that started something new for me (aren't we all?). The way Jason ended his memoir kinda sums it all up: 

"For me, it started a new love for a new skill that I didn’t know I had."