Post 5: The Lesbian Bride's Handbook by Ariel Levy

Ariel Levy (right) and wife
Amy Norquist (left)

Planning a wedding is not an easy task and Ariel Levy wrote about her own experience in her essay The Lesbian Bride’s Handbook. Ariel Levy has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2008. In her career she has written several books and has appeared on television programs such as The Colbert Report and Oprah (Levy). Trying to plan wedding is a struggle no matter how big or small. Although, she tried to deny that she was unlike other brides Levy had to deal with everything any bride must go through: venue, in-laws, food and most importantly the dress. What Levy wrote was deeper than just the plans; since her purpose was to inform the audience that in the end all that matters is love and happiness. The intended audience women who have been or will be getting married. Description was used in the essay and was important to achieving the purpose of the essay. Ariel went into great descriptive language of the dress that she bought for her wedding day “The skirt was tight at the top and then exploded with volume and hand-painted floral appliqués. When I put it on, I appeared to be in full bloom” (Atwan 138).  The description used made it easy for the reader to know how much Levy loved the dress and how it made her feel. Description of the dress helped add contrast to the end of the story when she had the dress just hanging in her closet and realized the only thing worth keeping was her wife, Amy. Ariel Levy did accomplish her purpose in my own opinion. I found that through her use of personal information and fabulous description in the essay, she was able to make the purpose known to the audience. I thought that the essay was well written and unique; which allowed the purpose of The Lesbian Bride's Handbook to be achieved.

Work Cited

Atwan, Robert, and Adam Gopnik. The Best American essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print.

Levy, Ariel. "Ariel Levy." Ariel Levy. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2013. <http://www.ariellevy.net/news.php>.