Big Boy: This article was difficult to interpret out of context, but I imagined it as one of a series of seemingly trivial moments that the author felt actually defined his character. The author's frantic reaction to the giant turd in the toilet was based on what he thought others would think of him; his only focus was his image. Through his brief dealing with the turd seemed to reveal to himself the fact that it was no more a reflection on himself than anyone else there, and that the event in itself was not important.
My Little Brother Ruined My Life: This memoir was the narrator's memory of a week spent with his younger half-brother. The narrator initially makes himself very easily sympathized with, but as the narrative continues, I found the narrator coming off as too self-pitying and having taken his victim complex too far. The whole essay seemed to sit upon the brink of a character change, specifically of the narrator changing himself by setting his brother on a different path than the one he took, but in the end it was not so.
American Goth: This essay had a very witty sense of humor that I much enjoyed. The narrator made herself eccentric enough to be interesting but not so strange that as to be difficult to identify with. Initially, the mother seemed unlikable in her disdain of intellect (i.e. the "book phase" comment), but the narrator's experiences throughout the essay offered a different perspective, that her mother was only trying to show affection in a strange way. The narrator almost ended the story having gotten what she wanted, but the cab driver's reaction showed that she couldn't truly change her nature.
Six Panel Autobiography: This comic was an interesting alternative form of memoir. The author picked six general landmarks in his life and detailed them in graphic format, and embedded in this was the simplistic irony of the fifth panel's revelation that the author is actually a graphic novelist.
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