"Farm Girl" by Jessica Hemauer

1. Hemauer wrote this essay because she wanted readers to read about what her life was like growing up on a farm, and how she had to manage and take charge of her different lifestyle that no other kids had experienced. No matter if she was the "farm girl," or the girl that was so involved with school activities, she was always different, but knew how to manage her time wisely without being stressed. The main purpose, in my opinion, was to give to others what she had to experience, and that was learning responsibility and time management.
Different audiences may see different purposes depending on what interests them more about the essay. Some people may be more interested in her farm life, and others may be more focused on her school life, and then choose what the purpose is based on their own amusements. Also, different audiences could include those who manage their time well versus those who don't, and those who are responsible and/or irresponsible.

2. I think that her audience is for people who have troubles with time management, and just showing that its possible to be involved and work hard, but how you manage your time and becoming responsible is key. This can be supported in the last paragraph when she says "And every day people notice that i am different from the rest of my peers. At school, teachers and organization leaders are impressed by my time management skills and the amount of responsibility i take on." She then throws in a little comic gesture when her boss asks where he can find people with such commitment by saying "Try hiring some farm girls. I hear they turn out pretty good."

3. Hemauer establishes her ethos in this essay when she is told by her father that she doesn't have to work on the farm anymore and can be like a normal kid and participate in school. She becomes very involved, and when she thinks that by doing this she will fit in, she is mistaken because no matter if she was the farm girl or the president of the student council, she always had such commitment and went above in beyond in all her endeavors.

4. Hemauers responsibility to her readers is to show them that time management is very important, and that its possible to be very involved without being stressed. She shows that it is possible to be involved with many activities, its just about how you handle them. To her family, she plays a role as the youngest child and is used to being watched and protected, but she doesn't complain or anything. Its funny because even though she is the youngest, she is always the one who is most mature in situations.


5. Even though not everyone has been raised on a midwestern farm, many of the lessons that Hemauer has learned in her life on the farm have been taught to someone else one way or another. For example, when working on the farm with the new born, she grasps hold of a sense of control and being in charge. "When i feed the calves, i am finally the one in charge. It is a nice feeling, being on the opposite end of the spectrum. They are my responsibility." Many people in life, I'm sure, can relate to this quote, finally seeing life in a completely different view point. Finding a sense of maturity. Throwing in this lesson in relation to her life invites readers to relate to that sensation she went through of finally feeling responsible. Even though Hemauer found her feeling of control in a different way that many others may have, it gives the audience a time to sit back and think about their first moment of feeling this way, and think of their personal remembrances of growing up.


6.) Yes, I believe that any reader would be able to relate to Hemauer's experience because there are so many lessons learned and taught that I am sure everyone has gone through once in their life time.  Hermauer grabs the reader's attention by describing the farm life with concrete detail, which grabs readers attention, whether they grew up on a farm or not. People who have grown up on a farm can clearly relate, which reels them in to read more, and also those who haven't been raised on a farm I am sure are reeled in as well and would be interested to see what this lifestyle was like. 

7.) The significance of Hemauer's story, in my opinion, is that hard work pays off. When one works hard, it shows immense amounts of responsibility, and most of the time leads to success. How one also manages their time is key too, because proper time management can reduce amounts of stress in life tremendously. There can be many interpretations, but this is what I picked up from the story.

8.) Throughout her whole essay, Hemauer uses a lot of narrative details that make you feel as if you are in the setting, using all five of your senses. For example, "As soon as we open the door to the basement, we can smell the putrid aroma of cows that has seeped from our clothing into the damp cool air." I feel like I am there, walking beside her, smelling this scent, that personally makes me feel sick to my stomach. She really hits home with the sense of smell. She gives so many examples or smelling something, whether its the scent of cows or "The delicious smell of smoked bacon and cheese omelets grows more with each step," and she doesn't stop there. She continues with her sense of hunger, and reading this makes my stomach growl, and just feel the sensation of my taste buds watering with excitement. Everything that she describes uses so much detail!


9.) Hermauer uses dialouge in her essay only when necessary. There are moments where she just doesn't need to because her detailed descriptions fill in the gaps where dialogue would usually be necessary. Since this essay is mainly about her experiences growing up throughout her childhood, its not necessary to have much dialogue, besides the comments made to her throughout these experiences. To make up for this, there are a lot of clear sensory details, like describing the smell of the food, or how she feels every morning when she wakes up, etc.


10.) I read a blog entry titled "Just How Bad is That All-Nighter on Your Body Anyway?" by Kelci's College Life Blog. Her entry wasn't as detailed as Hemauer's, which was a little disappointing. I still got the message that Kelci was portraying to readers, but there weren't the concrete details that I had experienced while reading "Farm Girl." Kelci also used a lot of run-on sentences, which bore be, whereas Hemauer used a lot of quick sentences that got to the point, and made the story feel like it was reaching it's climax over and over again, filled with excitement!