Week 6: Comparing the Blogs

Comparing the Blogs

The blog post entitled “Cousins” gave me goosebumps.

Personally, I can’t see myself as one of the two main characters (i.e. the narrator and her cousin), but I can picture myself as standing off to the side and observing the events unfold before me. Based on the preciseness and detail of the situation described in the last scene, I imagined that I was standing between the pair while they spoke their wordless conversation.

I don’t think the author overtold the story. In fact, I kind of wished it had more substance and detail to it. I want to know exactly what their big fight was about. However, I thought the last scene was very well written. It showed the raw emotion exchanged between the cousins, rather than just telling the audience about it.

She does a nice job describing the scene and giving the reader a good idea of what all went down, and I don’t think any more details are necessary in this section—except maybe to explain what happens beyond this scene. Do they ever talk again? Do they move in together for a second time?

I get a sense of truth telling in this blog. I don’t think she would lie about them getting in to a fight, although the last paragraph could be an exaggeration for dramatic effect. Perhaps this conversation was completely one-sided, or maybe the cousins actually spoke to verbally apologize. Either way, if this was a dishonest part of the blog, then it served a dramatic purpose.

In Lena Dunham’s blog “Difficult Girl,” she recounts the story of growing up with a few different psychologists, and the progress she makes throughout her life with her various disorders (i.e. hypochondria, chronic fear, obsessive compulsive tendencies, and inappropriate sexual fantasies).

Personally, I cannot see myself in this story because it is so focused on her life. She has a longitudinal approach as she starts off the journal entries as an eight-year-old being afraid of everything and concludes as an adult in her twenties, freshly out of college I am assuming. Because her stories are so personal and tailored to her individual experiences, I cannot connect to them, especially because I have never seen a therapist or fought with my mom or suffered from various mental disorders.

I don’t think this author overtold her story. I think it was bold of her to include sexual details as she did, but I don’t think it was oversharing. It was important to the plot (showing her sexual tendencies) and was probably difficult to admit and write out. However, rather than showing, Dunham tells us about these events. She rattles off matter-of-factly and bluntly. She offers a substantial amount of detail and insight, but only in a way that makes the reader seem like an outside peering in, rather than feeling like you’re standing right in the midst of everything (like in the other blog).

I get the sense that this author is mostly telling the truth. While this article is blunt and very introspective, I guess I could see why someone would think she is exaggerating the truth a little. This is especially true in the first few posts about her childhood because it might be hard to remember the exact details from twenty years ago as she explained them. But also, I am a really bad judge of this because I always assume everyone’s telling the truth in their stories. I guess I trust the authors too easily.