Exploratory Essay
The question I came up with as the basis for this assignment is this; why do we allow
others to dictate what we do and how we feel about ourselves. This question comes from the
chapter titled Dancing.
In this chapter Barry writes about how she loved to dance while she was growing up. It
wasn’t until a girl she knew told her that she looked stupid while dancing that she didn’t like it
anymore and became self-conscious. After that she didn’t like how anyone else danced either.
The dance teacher all of a sudden seemed less beautiful, more insane, had a “freaky jiggle”, and
a “scary wiggle”. Why does something like this happen to most people? In the end shouldn’t we
do what makes us happy not what makes others happy? I mean, we’re the ones that have to live
with ourselves, the choices we make, and the things we do for the rest of our lives.
I think it mostly has something to do with not wanting to look stupid or do something that
