The Age of Iron: Epiphany Moments

"I have held on to that story all my life. If each of us has a story we tell to ourself about who we are and where we come from, then that is my story. That is the story I choose, or the story that has chosen me. It is there that I come from, it is there that I begin" (120).

Mrs. Curren tells the story about her mother as a little girl numerous times in her letter to her daughter. This story, she expresses, is so important to her that it is a part of her. The idea of holding a story so close to one's identity reminds me of Augustine's Confessions and of our own digital life stories. In a way, the letter Mrs. Curren writes parallels Augustine's Confessions. Mrs. Curren says in her first confession, "I do not want to die in the state I am in, in a state of ugliness" (136). She says in her second confession,"I have been a good person, I freely confess to it. I am a good person still. What times these are when to be a good person is not enough!" (165). She expresses who she is, what is important to her, and what she learns about herself as she writes about her life. In this way, Mrs. Curren also reaches a new level of self-awareness in a way that parallels Adrienne Rich. This semester is packed with books that deal with identity and epiphany moments of self-awareness. Going back to the Mrs. Curren's mother's story, this story is to her what my digital life story is to me. We each hold in is stories that make us who we are. Without having to define ourselves, we can use life experiences to explain where we come from.