College Essay係列（四十九）：2024 哈佛成功文書（4）

前三篇分別是：

College Essay係列（四十六）：2024 哈佛成功文書（1）

College Essay係列（四十七）：2024 哈佛成功文書（2）

College Essay係列（四十八）：2024 哈佛成功文書（3）

 

第四篇，Clara 的《Crochet into America》

My nightstand is home to a small menagerie of critters, each glass-eyed specimen lovingly stuffed with cotton. Don’t get the wrong idea, now – I’m not a taxidermist or anything. I crochet.

Crochet is a family tradition. My grandmother used to wield her menacing steel hook like a mage’s staff and tout it as such: an instrument that bestowed patience, decorum, and poise on its owner. During her youth in Vietnam, she spent her evenings designing patterns for ornate doilies and handkerchiefs. Then the Vietnam War turned our family into refugees. The Viet Cong imprisoned my grandfather, a colonel in the South Vietnam Air Force, in a grueling labor camp for thirteen years. Many wives would have lost hope, but my grandmother was no average woman. A literature professor in a time when women’s access to education was limited, she assumed the role of matriarch with wisdom and confidence, providing financial and emotional security. As luxuries like yarn grew scarce, she conjured up all sorts of useful household items – durable pillowcases, blankets, and winter coats – and taught my mother to do the same. Because of these bitter wartime memories, she wanted my handiwork to be of a decidedly less practical bent; among the first objects she taught me to crochet were chrysanthemums and roses. However, making flowers bloom from yarn was no easy task.

Even with its soft plastic grip and friendly rounded edges, my first crochet hook had a mind of its own, like the enchanted broom in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” It stubbornly disobeyed my orders as I impatiently wrenched it through the yarn. My grandmother’s stern appraisal of my efforts often interrupted this perpetual tug-of-war: My stitches were uneven. The edges curled inward. I would unravel my work and start anew.

I convinced myself that cobbling together a lopsided rectangle would be the pinnacle of my crochet prowess but refused to give up. Just as a diligent wizard casts more advanced spells over time, I learned to channel the magic of the crochet hook. The animal kingdom is my main source of inspiration; the diversity and vivid pigmentation of life on Earth lend themselves perfectly to the vibrant and versatile art of crochet. Many of the animals I make embark on migratory journeys, like their real-life counterparts. Take Agnes, for example, a cornflower-blue elephant named after mathematician Maria Gaetana Agnesi who lives in my calculus teacher’s classroom, happily grazing on old pencil shavings and worksheets. As I fasten off the final stitches on every creature, I hope to weave a little whimsy and color into someone’s life.

Each piece I finish reminds me of the network of stitches that connects mother and daughter, past and present, tradition and innovation. In this vast cultural web, I am proud to be my family’s link between East and West. As I prepare for adulthood, I am eager to weave my own mark into the great patchwork quilt that is America.

在多元化主流的大背景下，家庭文化是近年來越來越常見的主題。相較於2023的 《Family at Barnes & Noble》、《Backyard Four Corners》、《Seeing Without Looking》和《First Haircut At Age 17》，哈佛在2024的移民家庭文化主題文書顯得略少。這篇以Crochet為元素的故事，題材上是新鮮的。就這一點，已經至少是B+了。

作為一篇申請文書，這篇采用了常見的五段式結構，Introduction、Development、Transition、Furthering和Conclusion。這篇《Crochet into America》的引入部分，簡捷並有細節，看得出作者有個好筆頭。中間的內容和過渡，奶奶的戰爭年代和難民經曆、我最初的困難，找到自己的創作對象，這些故事細節豐富、順滑流暢。

直到最後的結尾、簡單明了的總結這個故事，雖沒有呼應元素，但不失幹脆利索。選擇這麽老式的寫作結構，就不要再把文書想得太複雜，這樣做是對的。可以說，這篇文書主要的吸引人處，還是它選擇了Crochet作為個人成長的代表。這個選擇不少見，也不多見，因而很有趣。

最後，盡管可以大圈特點的地方不多，我的給分還是B+。反複讀幾遍後，感覺主要好處就是crochet這個主題選擇經得起揣摩。