Personal Narrative: My Declaration Of Independence

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I have written recreationally for years and usually enjoy the freedom to choose topic, theme, event, and character. Outside my carefully constructed written world, my confident, professional engineer mother makes most major decisions, and I’m content with giving her the power and quiescently awaiting her instructions. I’m not uncomfortable with the situation, because it’s familiar. Every battle, every struggle of one power against another, has at its heart a need for independence. A nation asserts the right to govern itself, just as my mother and I will inevitably butt heads. For each fight, there is history and nuance in every action. Both verbal and non-verbal inflections endeavor to counter each other, bluffing and escalating until one faction cedes the field. Every person has a story about independence; this is mine. As with many historical opponents, the fight began in our same holding pattern in which I passively agree or assist if she needs me. I have enough on my mind to tide me over, and the geological shifts in plot and character consume my attention and free time. My mother must know that I…show more content…
My mother made the same point, over and over again, no matter how I changed tack or maneuvered. She constantly insisted that the world could never allow for any of these three innocuous paths for my character. I needed someone who could discuss this with me like an adult, as though I might plausibly have cultivated the facilities to intelligently assess a situation that I had personally designed and built. Eventually, I gave up the battle and stopped fighting back, giving her the impression that she had convinced me and simply making the decision under a black cloud of discontent. After that, we fell back into the holding pattern, but it was subtly changed; if I completely disagree with my mother’s decision for me, I retreat and go down my own path. It’s a kind of independence, but in a pale, passive form. It’s enough, for

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