The Stranger in the Photo Is Me

The assignment:

Read and annotate Donald Murray’s “The Stranger in the Photo is Me,” where he uses a photograph of himself as a young man in uniform overseas during World War II as a prompt for reflecting on his life and how life changes as we age. Additionally, through his reflections on this period of his life, the piece has a secondary central idea of the powerful (often negative) influence war can have on our perceptions of life. This piece will serve not only as another model of how to develop an argument using personal experiences, but also as a writing prompt.

Feel free to watch this video, an overview of the major parts we looked at: stranger in the photo organization.mp4) .

Analyze how multiple central ideas develop in his text and how Murray develops his central ideas through his own analysis of personal experiences and reflections -- how this reflection on his photo not only leads to building a central idea regarding how people's views of life change over time, but also how his experience in the war has influenced those changes. The confluence of these ideas builds to a statement about the negative effects of war as well, showing how he uses the photo as a springboard for both reflection and argument.

Next Steps: Tomorrow students will bring their own photos into class, and we will do an activity to help them mine these photos for writing ideas.

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