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Analyzing The Essay 'Against The Grain' By Marina Keegan

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In the essay, “Against the Grain,” Marina Keegan discusses her journey living with Celiac Disease. Keegan kicks off the essay describing what she will eat on her death bed, Oreo’s, hamburger’s, pizza, donuts, a beer, and so on, she basically lists the core foods in the diet of the average American teenager. Keegan leaves the reader wondering: “Why those specific foods? Maybe they are her favorite?” These questions are then answered in the following paragraph. She states that she is allergic to gluten and continues on to discuss how she was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and how her life was growing up with the uncommon allergy. Keegan includes personal experience, facts, and evolution of her thoughts to uncover how Celiac Disease has impacted her life. …show more content…

She was diagnosed in 1990, when the disease was not well known. She describes how her mother went to great lengths to ensure her baby girl’s safety in a gluten filled world. Support groups, meetings, and more, Keegan expresses how what her mother accomplished in the community, impressed her. Though what her mother did impressed her as she got older, growing up her mother’s efforts embarrassed her. Brining an extra cone to her elementary school so she could have ice cream, baking 3 separate gluten free pies for her every thanksgiving, and every Halloween calling all of the neighbors to ensure they had candy safe for her to eat. It was the attention her disease drew to her that she

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