Reconstruction of Memory - Meymey Seng
A red spiky fruit is being handed to me. One might call it strange but it is actually delicious and sweet, easily one of my all-time favorite fruits. Eager to dive into this fresh batch that was just purchased from the local Asian supermarket, I tore one open, ripping apart the outer layer to reveal the fruit itself.
With the little self-control that I have, I trickshotted the lychee straight into my mouth like a basketball player making a bucket. After the consumption of this I became distracted, conversing with my sister, taking away my precious seconds of lychee eating. What she does not know is that it this basically saved my life.
Halfway through the conversation my voice was locked inside my throat, trapped. Trying to verbalize the words that were forming in my head was physically impossible. Don’t panic, I told myself. As I struggle to talk, I gasped for air and found it not possible to exhale and inhale. The only form of communication was my flailing arms and wide-opened eyes, desperate for help.
My mother ran towards me, confused, afraid, and frantic. She asked me what was happening, what was wrong, but the problem is that I couldn’t talk. That damn lychee. About to rush to the hospital my mother shoved cough drops and water down my throat. The people in my household paced frantically, staring back at me with fear, yet everything felt like a blur to me.
Slowly, my throat was clearing up and I was able to croak out a word and puff out a breath of air. I told everyone that I was okay, going to the hospital is unnecessary at this point. Running through all of the different possibilities we were shocked by the only culprit, the red spiky fruit. Never having an allergic reaction to this nor any other fruit before, of course my first reaction had to be one that almost put me in an anaphylactic shock. If I had eaten more, I am not sure what the outcome would have been and do not want to even imagine it.
Author's Note
In my writing, I was able to connect one of my personal experiences to that of Chief Bromden’s. In the ward, he would pretend as though he could not talk in order to avoid trouble, even when others may be talking to him. During my allergic reaction, I was unable to speak when I so desired to, which made me wonder that when Bromden was not speaking, did he feel trapped? Along with that, in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey used short sentences to show urgency which inspired me to incorporate that, bringing out the true feelings during the actual situation. Moving on to the Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood used many comparisons, for example the Commander to certain fragile objects, to convey a deeper understanding. Using this idea, I used a simile to describe one of the moments in my memory, to give the readers a clearer visual.
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