stronghold

“I suddenly realize that at this minute I am happy” (38).

while reading, i remember reading over this paragraph a second time. This was a wondrous moment for Meredith. That moment of happiness and sheer joy is so valuable. it is not something that you can just recreate. it is not something that you can fake either. that moment of realization is striking and it leaves you sitting there thinking about how you wished you could always be like this. speaking from a personal experience, i remember sitting there, looking around the room and thinking, "this is where i need to be. this is what i enjoy." i also remember thinking "is this really all i need to have a breakthrough like this?" Meredith's breakthrough was writing, mine was art. similar to Meredith, picking up that pencil and putting it to paper, there was just something about it that feels so comforting. it is an escape from what is happening in the chaotic world around you

the lonely hunter

“I am drifting in over my head and want my mother to grab me out of the tide” (6).

This is a metaphorical statement. Meredith of course is not drowning, but she is caught in a wave of hard times and I can understand where it is that she is coming from. When a young girl is trapped or upset or hurt, all they want is to be home with their mother. All they want is some motherly support and it seems to me that she is not receiving it. I can relate to her hard times, I have been down and upset and when I am I want nothing more than to go home and hug my mom after a long, hard day. It seems to me as though Meredith is trapped in a state of loneliness and she needs help getting out and wants to turn to that one person who is supposed to always be there for you.

shunned

“Shunning is supposed to keep bad things from happening in a community.  But it doesn’t correct the life gone wrong.  It can only expose the transgression to a very raw light, use it as a measure, a warn to others…” (xi-xii)

When someone does some thing that most people in the community frowned upon the entire community begins to shun that person. One example that is used in the memoir, Without A Map by Meredith Hall, is adultery. Getting pregnant at the age of sixteen is not something to be shunned for, in my opinion. I find it as a punishment in itself. I am only seventeen and I would have had the baby already, which means my social life would be over, all my money would go towards supporting my child, and I would not get the opportunity to live at college or anything. Also, knowing my parents would be ashamed in me as well is punishment enough, let alone the entire community.
The third sentence about the transgression, I believe is completely false. Just because they are shunning one poor girl for her wrong doing does not mean it will stop all the other girls from getting pregnant. It will not warn the others, it will just teach the others that she is only human and everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are what make us human and that is how we learn, by our own mistakes. You can not learn from others unless it directly effects you.