Context

    In Dorothy Allison's personal essay "Context" (1994), she defines that you have to know that everyone have different circumstances and different backgrounds so you have to be aware and learn other people situations. The Dorothy Allison develops and supports her thesis by giving a story on what happened to her. The purpose of her writing this is to let other people know that you have to be able to understand context in order to be able to understand someone else's situation. The intended audience for this personal essay were college students.
     After reading "Context", it was confusing to us as to what Allison did not want her lover to know. Allison's tone and mood made us feel suspicious about what was really going on, as if she wanted it to remain a secret. But then when Allison began to have flashbacks of her childhood, we started to have some "context" and understand what Allison and her lover were referring to. Once we got the idea of Allison's background and past experiences it shed a new light on what people percieve of others based on who they currently are, which made us have a deep appreciation of people's past and how it shapes them into who they are now. 

     Allison compared the social classes and worried about her lover’s reaction while taking her to visit her family. Allison expressed complex feelings in order to show the audience the difference in behavior and attitude among classes. Allison noticed her lover’s confusion: “I thought I knew what it would be like-your family, Greenville. You told me so many stories, but words…” (118). Allison had a hard time thinking of her family behavior and attitude which was different from her lover. When her stepfather lost his temper because he was horrified at the prices in the souvenir shop, he said, “Jew bastard will charge me if you break anything” (119). Any time Allison thinks about the language her family used in her lover’s presence she feels ashamed. Allison used her family memories and her personal experiences to define the context based on her back ground.