"Pass" critque

Boyer Rickel’s memoir, "Pass" depicts the author’s childhood and adolescence in a small suburb in the 1950’s. Throughout the essay, Ricker reminisces on his observations of three separate male interactions and how he coped with his struggle to adapt to social norms. The first and third interactions portray him struggling with adulthood and masculinity, while the second interaction portrays him struggling with sexuality. With each struggle, Ricker is able to cope with his maladapted self by becoming passive and by repressing his individualism. Ricker seems to use this memoir as a means of liberating his repressed homosexuality and true self.
Ricker’s voice throughout his memoir is simultaneously casual and academic however is done without being condescending. The fluency of sentences and the clarity in which the author described or explained people, feelings, and places, mixed with his voice enabled a quick, pleasant read.
Though one aspect, somewhat peculiar about this piece, was how the memories were placed out of chronological order. After I read the first two memories and began to read the third, I was confused; I thought I had misread the second memory, so I went back and reread it. Upon doing this, I then realized that the author had purposely arranged the interactions out of chronological order. Ricker placed the second memory before the third memory as a means of introducing his homosexuality and to also emphasize the awkwardness and anxiety he felt growing up as a homosexual in a predominately heterosexual environment. Although this is clear now, Ricker could have avoided confusion among his writers and still accomplished this effect (depicting homosexuality as the source of his struggle to fit in with masculine interactions).
The author could have avoided confusion by making the opening sentences of each memory more time relevant. Ricker starts off the second memory by saying "Some years later…" while the third is started off by saying "By age twelve…". Without trying to rewrite the author’s piece (just provide suggestions), Ricker could have put for the second memory "By the time I was in high school" and put for the third memory " Several years beforehand…". In doing this, I feel the transition between memories would have been more smooth, clearing up any possible confusion.
Overall, I enjoyed the piece and had fun interpreting what the author was trying to express. I am a sucker for the genre, dirty realism, so the second memory really sparked my interest.
The event that I am considering writing about for my personal memoir is a coming of age story where I depict an incident that has helped with my transition into manhood. Like Ricker’s "Pass", I also plan on writing about my observations of masculine interaction (although mine will be of prior to a significant event rather than of a simultaneous struggle with homosexuality), so I can use this piece as influence on my own.