Why Does Place Matter?

In comparing both of these essays I discovered that both authors have slightly negative views about the writing profession. I thought it was interesting that both Sanders and Dillard believe that to be a ‘true’ author one must separate oneself from society, abandon family and friends, and perhaps live in solitary. However it seems that both authors decided to take different approaches to their writing. Sanders defied all of the “writers society’s” standards and got married, had children, and moved to a so-called characterless place in the Midwest. Place matters for Sanders because he was able to move past society’s norms and discover personality and excitement in his own way which helped him to create his own style of writing. Dillard chose to follow society’s standards for writing by choosing to write in an isolated environment. However this lonely environment only made her detest even the idea of writing. Her loneliness began to take a toll on her as she soon began to describe her writing as a sick friend. She stated she could not “skip a visit or two” for the “work will grow and get harder to control”. She found it did not take a particular place for her style of writing to develop.