44 pages 1 hour read

Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, Ronald Cotton, Erin Torneo

Picking Cotton: Our Memoir Of Injustice And Redemption

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2009

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Essay Topics

1.

How does the authors’ strategy of alternating narrators affect how the memoir's plot unfolds? What is the goal of this technique? Is it effective? Why or why not?

2.

Why do you believe that Jennifer describes her rape in such graphic detail? This is not always the case in memoirs that deal with rape. Find another memoir that focuses on the experience of sexual assault and compare and contrast the authors' approaches to describing the crime and its physical and emotional aftermath.

3.

In prison, Ronald was able to preserve his humanity and avoid the dehumanized quality he deplored in other inmates. How was this possible for him? Use evidence from the text in your response.