Gautam 1

Bhupal Gautam
3408 S 300 E #B-8
Salt Lake City, Utah
bhupalgautam2009@yahoo.com
November 16, 2016

Instructor Ronald W Bohannon

Salt Lake Community College
4600 South Redwood Road
Salt Lake City Utah 84123
Dear Bohannon,
To accomplish this project, I gathered and analyzed my three writings, written in different
periods of my life. I have tried to establish the fact that how an ethnocentric person can improve
writing skills in a second language with endeavor.
This is my own reflection of a difficult but continuous journey into English writing. As a
second language, I have experienced many difficulties pacing forward to the higher level.
Continuous self-motivation is the main key to get success in every field of life no matter how
difficult it is. Keeping this fact in my mind, I continued my writing practice which transformed
my writing skill into the next level.

Sincerely,

Bhupal Gautam

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Bhupal Gautam
Instructor Ronald W. Bohannon
Salt Lake Community College
English 1010-004
19th November 2016
My "Hook-or-Crook" Journey into Writing?
Born and raised in illiterate family in the remote part of the Himalayan country Nepal,
struggling with farm and livestock, interacting with rivers and mountains, deprived of quality
education, I have realized that a regular writing habit matters a lot in human life. My parents
were illiterate and unaware to the modern world. Obviously, they had no formal education; but
they were determined to send their kids to the school. Explicitly or implicitly, they had realized
the importance of education and its value in life. Anyway, I started going to school when I turned
six. The value of education in life was not solid in my immature brain. As a second language,
English classes started from grade eight; therefore, most of the students were obviously very
weak in English. I was no exception.
But, my writing drastically changed when I failed English in tenth grade. With a bit
jealousy, the feeling of revenge, and inspiration from my parents, I determined to improve in
English writing skills. I began writing articles in English language. First article, I wrote in
English was A Beautiful Parrot. I vividly remember the first sentence of that article- Parrot is

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a beautiful bird in the earth (Gautam-1999). I tried to elaborate sentences but was unable to
make the article longer. Later, I showed the article to my English teacher. He remarked good
and suggested to write world in place of Earth. His little reinforcement encouraged me to
write about many things. Later, I was able to express my feelings and experiences on pages up to
some extent. I still have those writings. When I read them, I feel nostalgic. The first writing was
incredibly a dull writing, lacks of real enthusiasm and fails to hook even my own interest, how
can others be interested on it. The writing has so many shortcomings but it still describes some
features of a parrot. I would like to quote a sentence from the writing, - Parrot produce eggs and
make it a samall baby. (Gautam-1999). It looks like a funny statement; but it was a good start
though. Some words are misspelled and sentence structure is awkward. Readers might laugh
going through the writing.
Later, I built a habit of everyday writing in a diary to express my distress, gloom, grief,
and dissatisfaction. I used to address my diary as a good friend and would express my emotions
and dissatisfactions. Gradually, the diary became my good friend to whom I could express any
griefs, pains or whatever. My dear mute friend, (Gautam-1999) my writing would start
from this type of address. Everyday writing not only became a good way of expressing my
emotions and dissatisfactions but the diary became my history too. In one day of writing in my
diary, I expressed dissatisfaction of my employer, I had gone Dharan with great dream and
come back with only harassment (Gautam-2007). On another day, it depicts dissatisfactions,
pain, poverty, and loss: I have annihilated the memory of women. Either Kalpana or
Sharmila (Gautam-2007). It clearly shows how my people struggle to get a tiny little job in
an underdeveloped country like Nepal. How painful the situation is when one has compulsion to
erase the memory of a beloved one due to the poor economic condition? My second writing is

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more organized than the first one. I tried to describe the features of a parrot in a first writing with
few words. There is no connotation expressed in it. Some sentences are awkward like a picture
drawn by a toddler. But my second writing is more elaborative. It symbolizes the real picture of
unemployed or partially employed persons pain and frustration.
At the beginning in SLCC, one assignment, I had to accomplish was the critical response.
I had been given three writings to choose. I chose Elizabeth Cady Stantons reminiscence The
Eighty Years and More (1815-1897): The critical response was organized and could able to
analyze the essay critically. Stantons reminiscence is the perfect expression of pain, frustration,
suppression, gender discrimination, struggle and achievement throughout the life to become a
successful person. The article is able to express the thesis in such a way: Only the thing to
encourage writer to get success is the thought in her mind that her father would be satisfied with
her and would say- Girls are as good as boys. (Gautam-2016) This writing is an example of
better understanding of subject matter, organization of writing and word choice.
After analyzing all three artifacts, produced in different stages of my life, I have realized
that my writing skill has significantly improved. I am assured that being motivated by a
continuous writing habit affects significantly in ones life just like my improvement in writing
from then to now. At my first article, I could not elaborate more sentences, correct misspelled
words, and awkward sentence structures. I could write less one hundred words in it. When I read
through it, I felt embarrassed. But when I read my diary, it is more elaborated and organized. I
could manifest my feelings and dissatisfactions in my diary by hook-or- crook which is the
example of determination and self-motivation. My everyday writing habit gradually pushed me
after I pushed myself towards better understanding of language. Sentence structures, word
choice, writing sequences and many more skills have improved in this last writing.

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Work Cited
Gautam, Bhupal. Critical Response to 'Eighty Years and More (1815-1897): Reminiscence of
Elizabeth Lady Stanton. unpublished, July 2016. Web. 19 Nov. 2016.
Gautam, Bhupal. Personal Diary My friend. 23 September 1999. Nepal.
Gautam, Bhupal. Personal Diary My friend. 21 June 2007. Nepal.