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Josh Sorenson

Mrs. Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 1010, section 4

October 6, 2017

Nicholas Sparks and Cardboard Boxes

Growing up, my favorite book was, “If you take a mouse to school” by Laura Numeroff.

I became visually captivated by the detailed drawings depicting a fictitious mouse stirring up

commotion on each page. My mother would read Numeroff’s book with the addition of many

other children’s stories as we sat together before bedtime. In these special moments, Mother,

encapsulating my attention, spoke words that danced off the page. As my imagination and

reading skills developed, interests were shifted from being a listener, to a creative storyteller.

Using facial expressions, different accents, and outlandish plots, my purpose became to draw

laughter out of my audience.

Sprawled out on the cold cement floor of my unfinished basement next to an open

cardboard box, bulging with artifacts from my Elementary School career, I eagerly revisit my

childhood. These artifacts, consisting of various pictures, art projects, and report cards are

retrieved from the box and stacked haphazardly on the floor for future study. Instead, Attention

is turned to personal writings, essays, short stories, and journal entries. Despite overwhelming

amounts of run-on sentences, excessive use of colloquial language, and incorrect paragraph

structure, each written example brought familiar laughter and precious memories . Marveling in

disbelief at the child I used to be, and still am in many ways, I think about personality

characteristics that have remained unchanged. Anaïs Nin, one of the leading female writers of the

20th century, explains that “We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in
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one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature

in one realm, childish in another.” Similar strokes of pubescent creativity are apparent in modern

drafts, although the intricacy improved. Studying several short stories from sixth grade, I

discover that each essay is fingerprinted with my humorous and awkward personality. An essay

titled, “Leopard Story” reveals childlike humor and the invincibility felt as I courageously

defeated a leopard with nothing more than a machete and a GPS. Lighthearted in nature, this

essay was impossible to read without smiling due to phrases such as, “There was a fat kid sitting

next to me that threw up all over me.” Failing to maintain a serious demeanor, hysterical laughter

involuntarily follows. The essay concludes and childhood masterpieces are returned to the

confines of the cardboard box, rejuvenated and youthful.

Naturally, each new school year brought increasingly advanced writing curriculums.

Argumentative essays, summaries, and research papers replaced creative stories, much to my

distaste. They were forgotten as soon as a sufficient grade was received. Further into my quest to

find examples of past writing, I logged onto my school e-mail which housed various writing

assignments since seventh grade. Google docs, the modern day cardboard box, provided a blur

papers written with little time or effort. Assignments completed with countless mistakes, filler

words, and limited style. Undesirable traits such as these sprouted in middle school and

blossomed during high school. At the beginning of my sophomore year, I was given the task of

completing an argumentative essay using cited sources from articles provided. The title, already

sounding dull, “Rating System: A Great Advantage” proved to be a great disadvantage when

supported by the content. My sarcastic personality was displayed in the first sentence, but

ultimately became non existent in the following sentences as I claimed that responsibility for

content viewed by children, lied in the hands of their parents and not with the media. Rambling,
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re-summarizing, and fulfilling the basic requirements of a five paragraph essay, my fingers typed

furiously to finish the assignment and escape boredom.

Of all people, I did not expect Nicholas Sparks to save me from the grips of unfulfilling

writing. When perusing the aisles of the school library library, the romance section is often

avoided by junior boys in high school. This proved false however in my honors english class.

Being forced to read for fifteen minutes at the beginning of every class, my friends and I used

our time as an opportunity to investigate the world of romance and achieve understanding of the

female mind. My little band of hormone raging friends, interrupted silent reading time with

sharing of unrealistic passages from Spark’s novels that existed only in fantasy. I first read the

novel “Dear John” which led me to binge on various novels such as “A Walk to Remember,” and

“The Notebook.” These experiences proved useful when our class was given an assignment to

write a personal essay. For the first time since my elementary school years, I had the desire to tell

a story. The prompt received for the essay left room for creativity and storytelling. I was no

longer confined to analyzing articles and writing meaningless papers of my earlier years.

Although this task was vastly rewarding, it was also tedious. Sweating, groaning, and the

aggressive use of the backspace button became constant components to my writing process.

Revising, thinking, and painting a picture for my reader consumed considerable amounts of time.

The final product became valuable as I saw the laughter and happiness it brought to those who

read it. I titled the essay, “How to be the Hero in a Nicholas Sparks Novel” which offered

unrealistic advice mixed with my personal style and flair. This followed with the embarrassing

story of my first kiss to parallel the romantic fiction.

I am a storyteller. My imagination transcends reality. Quirky and humorous lines such as

“you can never be her knight in shining armor if you can’t open a pickle jar” drip with my
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personality. The absence of passion results in hastily written papers that often constitutes an

attitude of resentment towards writing. Producing great writing brings rewards but requires

sacrifice. Many years have passed since I contributed memories to the cardboard box. New

elements and styles have been added to my writings, but humor, excitement and passion for

stories have remained constant factors for meaningful writing. Time will eventually reveal if

these child-like traits remain and I mature in other areas of my life as Anaïs Nin theorizes.

Works Cited

Numeroff, Laura. “If You Take a Mouse to School.” New York, HarperCollins, 2002.

Sorenson, Joshua. “How to be the Hero in a Nicholas Sparks Novel.” October 24, 2016.
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---. “Leopard Story.” February 4, 2011.

---. “Rating System: A Great Advantage.” September 22, 2015