Perspective

In “How to Become a Writer,” Lorrie Moore is an unreliable narrator, giving (mostly) terrible advice to aspiring writers. She writes in the second person point of view so the essay is not so much about her struggle—although much of the advice could be taken from her own experience—but about what she thinks is necessary in becoming a writer. It is obvious from the tongue-in-cheek tone that she is not expecting readers to take her advice literally but then why write the piece? What she is telling us to do is unrealistic and full of bad life choices. She doesn’t expect us to follow her advice word for word; she is making the point that it is OK to make mistakes. It is OK to be a little irresponsible in youth, a little careless, because this is the only time you can get away with it. This is your time to find yourself. It is OK to veer off the path from time to time and find out who you are and what you want. 

The second person point of view is the most effective for this piece because it jumps out at you: do this, do that, make terrible mistakes, etc. It is more direct and has more of an impact than if she told the story in first person or third person. I would use this point of view—although I never have—if I thought the story needed it. So far, I haven’t written a story or essay in second person. It seems like it would be limiting and only work in a piece similar to Moore’s. There are probably many more possibilities but I think it would be fun to try.