Mimicking Style of Writing

(O'Brien 55).

Lying there in the middle of the street, looking at my parents running towards me, I felt a sudden rush of panic come over me, as if I were drowning in fear. Chunks of my own life had flashed by. I saw a five-year-old girl dressed as a cheerleader trick or treating for the first time; an eight-year-old girl running and twirling around her backyard in her ballet shoes; and ten-year-old girl lacing up her basketball shoes for a big tryout. My whole life seems to rush through my thoughts and onto the bloody pavement, running away from me, everything I had ever wanted to be.

When mimicking O'Briens style of writing, I am talking about the time I was in a really bad bike crash when I was in the seventh grade. Today, I still have to deal with the not only physical effects of the accident, but the guilt that I carry over the amount of bills and anxiety I put my family through.

Although my bike crash barely compares to the devastating mental effects of war,  I felt like my life had flashed before my eyes and this certain event in my life has changed me forever, just like Tim O'Brien's emotional breakdown on the rainy river.

In this paragraph, Tim O'Brien's grammar and syntax help to develop the deeper meaning of what he is trying to convey. To show the overwhelming feeling of fear he uses multiple semi colons instead of making his different memories into complete sentences. This creates, what feels like, a never ending sentence that represents his life. When the reader reads this, they can't help but to feel bombarded with all of his memories as well.