The first things that caught my eye in this text was when she was talking about people life stories, and how they are not just a collection of facts like a Wikipedia page. Rather than just being the facts about someones life and what they have done, it is how the integrate that into who they are and how they internally utilize it. Next, she talks about how when we tell other people about an event in our life, we tell it as a timeline in a narrative way. When we think of these things in our head tho, rather than thinking of it as a story, it is an experience or even a “representation of their existence. Lastly, she talks about optimism and finding the good in even the worst of situations. She believes that people who are able to look on the bright side of things “have a more complex sense of self and greater life satisfaction.” I agree with this statement and it really made me think. I always try to look for even the smallest bit of good and often times people around me will look at the negatives and change the way they think about something. If you only focus on the bad and never the good, there would be no hope in the world.
Max – I like the quotes you choose from the narrative. For the first two quotes, you stated them but didn’t explain why you choose them. They’re key quotes to this narrative and you choose the three quotes that “sum” up this narrative. Good job!
You brought up some really interesting points that Beck makes. I liked how you mentioned when Beck talked about being optimistic, that point also stood out to me. You did a nice job going into depth about how or why these points stood out to you.