Xinxiu Tian

Dr. Lauren Holt

ENG221
March 4, 2015
Rhetorical Analysis Of Text-Based Memoir
The topic of my memoir is that my childhood experience of living in Beijing made
me a person who has extremely deep connection to my hometown and tried to seek
belonging when I lived in Beijing and study in the United States. And my theme is that
having moved to different places from an early age disrupts a sense of belonging, and
these moving experiences have shaped me to a person who considers belonging as the
most important thing in life.
In my text-based memoir, I talked about my one-year life experience in Beijing,
aiming to demonstrate my theme. When I wrote this memoir, I referred to several famous
writers memoirs and wanted to develop a connection between their stories and mine. The
two authors that enlightened me the most were Mary Wollstonecraft and Afridi. My story
of moving to another city resembles Wollstonecrafts experience of travelling to some
European countries. Likewise, my negative experiences that happened in Beijing and my
strong connection to Dalian were similar to Afridis deep sentimental attachment toward
her home country Pakistan.
The connection between my memoir and Afridis A Gentle Madness is that we both
make a claim that the experiences of moving to another place shaped ourselves. Afridi
states, This singular memory is the core around which Ive come to orient myself,
circumambulating it still, despite the passage of time and regardless of place (Afridi 52).

In making this comment, Afridi believes that although her moving is a negative
experience because her family was forced to leave Pakistan because the country was at
war with itself, she does not want to forget this memory. On the other hand, she considers
this experience as the most important memory in her life, believing that it shaped who she
was in the future. Just like Afridi, I claim that though the year that I lived in Beijing was
full of sadness and loneliness, it was the most influential experience in my life. In my
memoir, I contend that one year away from my home made me realize that I suffered not
only from homesickness but also from my loss of belonging. My experiences of living in
other places made me realize that material wealth meant nothing for me, and the most
important thing for me is the sense of belonging, and not being excluded from the society
I am in. As a result, I am determined to come back to my hometown in the future,
because I can only join in the community and live happily in Dalian.
In the same way, I also developed close connections with Wollstonecrafts letters in
terms of how trips to another place can shape a persons point of view, and develop their
way of thinking. In the first letter, Wollstonecraft maintains that the reason of writing
letters is giving you my observations, as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed
with the impression they have made on me (Wollstonecraft 5). In other words, trips
made Wollstonecraft generate new ideas. Though Wollstonecraft was not originally from
Sweden, experiences of traveling in Sweden changed her points of view significantly.
After witnessing the fact that servants had such low wages that they must steal things for
living, Wollstonecraft herself writes, In fact, the situation of the servants in every
respect, particularly that of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from having a just
conception of rational equality (Wollstonecraft 12). Because of the unfair phenomenon

that she had witnesses during the trip to Sweden, she developed a deep hatred toward
Sweden and toward even most of the Europe countries. Instead of admiring luxurious
lives of the upper class people, Wollstonecraft wished to leave Europe as soon as possible
since she could not bear the sense of guilty and anger. She could not seek a sense of
belonging in Sweden because the societys value was too different from her own beliefs
that were social equality and morality, even though Sweden was highly developed and
upper level people lived in a great luxury.
Likewise, in my memoir, I described a common social phenomenon existing today in
China: people from all over the country rush into major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai,
and Guangzhou for job opportunities, better living situations, and material wealth.
Therefore, it becomes a stereotype that local people consider these foreigners as outsiders,
excluding them from society. I would never have the chance to discover this fact if I did
not move to Beijing with my family. During the year I lived in Beijing, I was considered
to be a stranger by my classmates and my teacher, and they all ignored me even though I
did nothing wrong. Obviously, I dont belong to any other places except for my
hometown, Dalian.
Both Afridi and Wollstonecraft demonstrate that their experiences of leaving home
and going to another place shaped their personality, their sentimental attachment toward
home, and different places. Similarly, in my text-based memoir, I argue that my
experiences of living in Beijing and studying in the United States have shaped me to
become a person with strong nostalgia. Furthermore, I eventually realized that material
wealth, job opportunities, and better living situations could not make me happy. Even
though I earn a good living in developed cities, I am miserable because I cannot feel the

sense of belonging. I have always contend that experiences of moving to different places
disrupt my sense of belonging and make me to a person who has strong nostalgia, and I
deeply believe that coming back to my hometown will eventually bring back my sense of
belonging, which I have always been seeking.