Prof. Jessica Penner | OL02 | Spring 2021

Amani Nassar, Critique on Anonymous

Reading “Whatever Happened To ___?” by Anonymous gave me as the reader a very telling inside view of what it’s like to be a woman in the writing world. I enjoyed the description the author gave us of scenes, but I especially enjoyed the detail she used to evoke and show us the emotions of others in the story like her husband. Throughout the story she was very open and honest about her struggles as a writer, a wife, a mom, and even just as a woman defeated in the courtroom. This transparency allows us to see the harsh realities of the world that we can either relate to or may have even encountered ourselves. There were moments in the story where Anonymous bolded certain sentences that were previously stated like “For the story to work the way it always works, the woman has to be better than average” and “My husband came home as a cyclone, ready to take down our house. He was a car wreck, an assault.” I believe these sentences were being restated with bolded emphasis because these were the main struggles the author went through, this was her life and she wants these particular moments to stick with us the way they have stuck and changed her. Some questions I still have are did her ex-husband ever show signs of jealousy before her work became more known? Also, did she look for support though other outlets like other female writers?

3 Comments

  1. Joselin

    I agree with what you mentioned about “the woman has to be better than average”. I think women, in general, have to be constantly proving they are fit for their tasks in this case the author had to be a great writer in order for her to succeed.

  2. Moose

    I agree that the author shows her struggles as a woman in a writing world and the responsibilities she has to take. She wrote it in a way that the audience can relate to or have a connection to. I enjoy how you quoted from the text and explained in depth the meaning of it.

  3. BensonH

    I agree that how open she was when writing this. Thought it may be because she is writing it anonymously. There are plenty to things I would be able to say if I knew it couldn’t be traced back to me.

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