These pieces reflect the goals or characteristics of the essay form through their descriptive details. The writers allow the reader to step into their world as they explain their setting and meet a new character as they announce their personal beliefs or inner thoughts. What makes their stories essays are the use of the writer’s insights; they each form their own short interesting story and use that as a guide into their own thoughts. Each story follows through as if a stream of consciousness from the writer themselves. In the audio essays, the reader can feel more emotion and emphasis on the topic at hand because it allows us to feel a more “real” human connection, almost as if the person you are hearing is someone in front of you describing their life (like a movie) rather than telling and showing you with words. You feel more inclined to listen and delve into their story.

Tone is an important feature that can be noted more carefully than it would be if it was in writing. If this was a written piece, tone is something the reader would have to assume or find evidence of. But since it is audio, it is very noticeable to guess the writer’s age, their feelings towards an event/topic, and the sound of the writer’s voice gives a more accurate approach to the general topic that will be discussed. What makes the audio essay more distinctive is it actually appears more personal, concrete and universal than an essay would have. With an essay we would have to read it several times to get a gist of who was speaking, what they were saying, why they said it and what makes it so important. And with the audio essay there is no need to over-analyze the piece, it is already said through a voice. I would say since the audio essay offers more direct communication with language, it is easier to determine an essay’s overall idea. But that does not mean a written essay offers less empathy and emphasis. In fact, an written essay offers the possibility of meanings to interpret. A written essay is open for the reader to analyze form and structure, it offers the reader a chance to form opinions and question placements of words such as maybe, I, like, etc. An audio essay is limited to telling instead of showing insights which make their stories a bit too concrete.

In 81:Guns,

“If you were passing by the house where I grew up during my teenage years, and it happened to be before election day, you wouldn’t have even needed to come inside to see that it was a house divided. You could just look at the Democratic campaign poster in the upstairs window and the Republican one in the downstairs window, and see our home for the civil war battleground it was. I’m not saying who was the Democrat and who was the Republican, my father or I, but I will tell you that I am not the one who plastered the family truck with National Rifle Association stickers, that I have never subscribed to Guns & Ammo, and that hunter’s orange was never my color. About the only thing my father and I agree on is the Constitution, though I’m partial to the First Amendment while he’s always favored the Second.” (4:34-5:19).

Description takes on a major role. As Sarah Vowell describes her environment, the people and the atmosphere around her we can see she is using the irony of a house divided and war to let the reader/audience know her father and her do not agree on things (NRA). Vowell’s use of descriptions allows the reader to feel her emotions and emphasize with her as she discusses events like holding a gun for the first time. She describes the force of the gun being fired pushed her down to the ground, and feelings flowing through the veins in her body;

“But I remember holding the pistol only made me feel small. It was so heavy in my hand. I stretched out my arm and pointed it away and winced. It was a very long time before I had the nerve to pull the trigger, and I was so scared I had to close my eyes. It felt like it just went off by itself, as if I had no say in the matter, as if the gun just had this need. The sound it made was as big as God. It kicked little me back to the ground like a bully, like a foe. It hurt. I don’t know if I dropped it or just handed it back over to my dad, but I do remember that I never wanted to touch another one again.”(6:49-7:27)

Throughout Vowell audio the tone she takes is very controversial and distant. She describes a lot of differences she and her dad have up until the last couple of paragraphs, where after mentioning the plan for her father’s ashes she is soft-spoken, compassionate and respective;

“I’ll do it too. I don’t know about my mom and my sister, but I’ll do it. I’ll have my father’s body burned into ashes. I’ll pack this ash into paper bags. The morbid joker has already made the molds. I’ll go to the mountains with my mother and my sister, bringing the cannon as he asks. I will plunge his remains into the barrel and point it into a hill so he doesn’t take anyone with him. I will light the fuse, but I will not cover my ears, because when I blow what used to be my dad into the earth, I want it to hurt.”(14:40-15:14)

The last lines “Because when I blow what used to be my dad into the earth, I want it to hurt,” informs the reader that Vowell is starting to understand her father and realizes that even though they are so different they are still very much alike.