The Essays!!!

I think the first thing that we need to figure out is what makes an essay, an essay. To me, an essay is a short bit of writing that focuses on one topic. That being said, what makes 'The Stunt Pilot, 'Ali in Havana,' and 'Silent Dancing," essays? Lets start with 'The Stunt Pilot.' It has one topic that it focuses on stunt piloting, and that fits my definition of an essay. The essay uses great descriptions with lines like 'streaming beauty in spirals behind him.' You can almost imagine what the event actually looked like. 'Ali in Havana,' also fits the requirements of being a short work and focusing on the topic of a night at the Cafe Cantante in  Havana observing the relationships between different people. To explain these relationships, Talese uses a great description to explain the relationship between Ali and Castro. The sentence, 'His expression remains characteristically fixed and benign, and his eyes do not blink despite the flashbulbs of several surrounding photographers,' shows the hesitation Ali feels as Castro approaches him. Finally,  'Silent Dancing' was a great example of an essay. Cofer uses great descriptive words to explain what Paterson was like to him. Sentences like, 'The slate blue of the winter sky and the darker hues of the snow-bearing clouds,' really help you to picture what it was like in Paterson. I love the way that the description of the home movie was inserted in between explaining life in Paterson, and how each section was made to co-exist with the explanation in the next paragraph.  All of these aspects make each of these essays, an 'essay.'