Narrative of the Life of a Jersey Girl

 by Chelsea Suiter

I was born in Seaside Heights, near Toms River, and about nine miles from Beachwood, in New Jersey. I have no memory of how long I’ve been a tanning addict; my salon’s computer crashed and the records of my appointments have been erased. Some of the old clients have records of how long they’ve been tanning. I cannot tell why this information was erased for me. I was not able to talk to the owner about this glitch, they own too many other salons in different cities, and do not have time for my inquiry. My closest estimation is between thirteen and fourteen years. I have this guesstimate, because it was around the time that I went to my first homecoming dance in middle school.

I've gone to a couple of different tanning salons over the years. I’ve moved around a couple of times, due to bad management, rushed sessions, and unsanitary practices. One salon, had receptionists who did not care about treating the clients respectfully. They would shout at patrons who did not make their monthly payment on time, and threaten them with expulsion. Another salon didn’t even have conventional horizontal tanning beds; they were the standing only models. This salon was also very busy, so not only were you forced to stand throughout the whole session, they limited your exposure to ten minutes, so getting a healthy glow was almost impossible. The wait was also almost always at least half an hour and they didn’t wipe down their rooms between uses.

After years of walking around as an orange Oompa- Loompa, I decided I had had enough. I no longer wanted to share my bi-weekly paycheck with the money hungry owners of a tanning salon chain. They had me trapped in a contract though. I would need to pay them extra to be free from their grasp. It was worth it to me to pay the fee. At first, immediately after I quit tanning, I felt very self-conscious and insecure. It was a feeling that I had not anticipated, thinking only that I would feel empowered to be free of the tanning salon. I can say though, that eventually I became comfortable with myself and my choice to quit tanning. Tanning was damaging my skin, and causing me to appear tangerine in color. I did research and saw how much I had been hurting myself over the years. I now dedicate my life to speaking out against tanning bed use and the dangers of UVA exposure.

Meta-Commentary:

I did this parody on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass. I fashioned my story after his, my introduction was done to mimic his, he states "I was born in Tuckahoe, near Hillsborough, and about twelve miles from Easton, in Talbot county, Maryland"(Douglass Ch.I). I tried to copy my intro, in an identical fashion, only changing the names of the towns and states so they would be relevant to my story. I also tried to write my story like he did, with a first-person point of view, beginning many sentences with "I" statements to give it more of a autobiographical feel.

I also mimicked Douglass with my theme and characterizations. In Douglass's narrative, he is a slave who takes you on his journey from slavery in the south to freedom in the north. In my story, I'm a Jersey girl who is trying to be "freed" from the cultural stigma that only tan skin is beautiful. Both of these have the same theme which "describes quest for freedom" a very prevalent topic slave narratives, as Professor Donna Campbell explains on her Slave Narrative Page. I also used some of the same characterizations as Douglass did, he talked of being owned by a slaveowner who did not allow him to ask about his age "I was not allowed to make any inquiries of my master concerning it"(Douglass Ch.1). I gave that same characteristic to the owners of the tanning salon who were too busy dealing with all of the other stores in the chain, they did not have time to devote to my inquiry about how long I had been a customer. Both of these "authority" figures took the "little person" for granted, and mistreated them without a second thought. Another instance where I mimicked Douglass in was when I believed that the conditions of the tanning salon was unsatisfactory with the stand-up beds, short tanning time allotments and extended waiting room times. Douglass describes their lack of proper sleeping arrangements and short resting times by saying,"there were no beds given to the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such"(Douglass Ch.11). They relate because both of us are very uncomfortable, while doing something that should be relaxing. Of course all of the "wrongs" done to me would never come anywhere near comparing to what happened in Douglass's life, I did my best to copy him in these areas.

The last area in which I parodied Douglass, was at the end where I decided to speak out against sun exposure. In The Biography of Douglass, provided by the PBS station, they state "Douglass would continue to give speeches for the rest of his life and would become a leading spokesperson for the abolition of slavery and for racial equality". Both of us went through something in our lives that impacted us in a very big and very different way, and decided that it was our duty to speak out against it so that other people did not go through the same hardships as us.

"Long Island Iced Tea"

It was many a summer nights ago,

                At a bar called the Lonetree,

That a cocktail was served, you may know

                It is called Long Island Iced Tea;

This cocktail was poured, when weather was hot

                And it filled my soul with glee.

I had a thirst, and needed refreshing,

                At a bar called the Lonetree;

I had need to be quenched which water could not quench

                Only relaxed by Long Island Iced Tea,

She calmed me in a way that troubled my peers

                Who cared not that she gave me glee.

This is why, that many summer nights ago,

                At a bar called the Lonetree,

The sirens began shrieking, deafeningly,

                After too much Long Island Iced Tea;

My stomach was pumped, forever separating

                What once gave me so much glee,

Sobriety was forced upon me, I drink no more

                At a bar called the Lonetree.

Meta-Commentary:

This poem I've written was done to mimic the poem "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allen Poe. I chose this poem because I think Poe is a beautiful writer, and I respect him so much for overcoming the odds of a less than perfect life, as is pointed out in the Heath Anthology of American Literature, Poe's "life was contradictory to his literary legacy"(Lauter). He led a life that was full of disappointments and obstacles, but he found a way to persevere, and leave his mark in American history. 

I've tried to draw from his rhyme scheme, refrain, theme and imagery. In my poem "Long Island Iced Tea" the stanzas are written with the same rhyme scheme as "Annabel Lee." Poe uses a ABABCB rhyme scheme in the first stanza of "Annabel Lee." Throughout this poem, he makes the short lines rhyme, while the longer ones do not always follow that rhythm. He begins his poem with "It was many and many a year ago/In a kingdom by the sea"(ll. 1-2), this was mimicked in my first two lines where I wrote "It was many a summer nights ago/at a bar called the Lonetree"(ll. 1-2). My poem uses his same rhyme scheme throughout the first three stanzas of this poem. Additionally, as far as poem structure is concerned, I've chosen to use the same type of refrain as Poe. He repeatedly uses the line "In a kingdom by the sea"(l. 2) throughout his poem. He also, with his rhyme scheme, uses the last words in the even lines of his poem to rhyme with the lase word, "sea". In my poem, I used the line "At a bar called the Lonetree"(l. 2) repeatedly. I also made sure to make the subsequent even numbered lines rhyme with the "ee" sound at the end of the short lines in my stanzas.

Other aspects of Poe's poem, which I used as part of my parody was the theme and imagery. I believe that the theme of "Annabel Lee" was mourning the loss of something loved. Poe's poem is mourning the wrongful loss of a woman, dearly beloved by a man, who felt like their time together was cut short. In my poem, I'm portraying an alcoholic, who has a strong addiction to alcohol, more specifically, long island iced teas. The alcoholic is torn away from the cocktail by a close call with death and the intervention of loved ones. Annabel is torn from her love by the angels that "coveted her and me"(l. 8). Both of these show a person's feeling of personal loss, one is the loss of a human companion, the other is the loss of a substitute for one. I also believe that the imagery in my poem is linked closely in Poe's poem when he says "A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling"(l. 15). This line instantly gave me shivers, causing more of a body reaction than an image in my head. In the fifteenth line of my poem, I tried to cause the same reaction, stating "The sirens began shrieking, deafeningly"(l. 15). This line causes me to feel as if I'm outside as an ambulance races by, causing a rush of adrenaline and making my ears ring, even after it is no longer within eyesight.

Another aspect in which I parodied Poe was in his Romantic writing style. As Professor Paul Reuben writes in his Perspectives in American Literature page, often a characteristic of Romanticism is "stress on emotion rather than reason"(Reuben). In "Annabel Lee" a man is heartbroken over the sudden and tragic loss of a woman he cared dearly about, his judgement is so clouded by his loss that he blames "The angels not so happy in Heaven/ envying her and me"(ll. 21-22). Obviously a man, in his right state of mind, would not blame angels envy for this woman's death. Likewise, in my poem, alcohol has clouded my judgement, and made reasoning impossible. Whenever an addiction in succumbed to, people cannot see through it, and must rely on the help of others to guide them into the clear. The long island iced tea was a symbol of love for an alcoholic, who would also feel a sense of loss when they could no longer drink it anymore.

Jersey Shore Picture: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTEhVmWd4hFznYDOJqt2iesPzFTe-tF2LkJNAvnVdkygcdGGGmQz6InpECe

Long Island Picture: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-En7osjhjWMA/TZ39ulDPUnI/AAAAAAAAAIw/-bp8e60Mg9w/s1600/long+island.gif