College Essay系列（四十九）：2024 哈佛成功文书（4）

前三篇分别是：

College Essay系列（四十六）：2024 哈佛成功文书（1）

College Essay系列（四十七）：2024 哈佛成功文书（2）

College Essay系列（四十八）：2024 哈佛成功文书（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，家庭文化是近年来越来越常见的主题。相较于2023的 《Family at Barnes & Noble》、《Backyard Four Corners》、《Seeing Without Looking》和《First Haircut At Age 17》，哈佛在2024的移民家庭文化主题文书显得略少。这篇以Crochet为元素的故事，题材上是新鲜的。就这一点，已经至少是B+了。

作为一篇申请文书，这篇采用了常见的五段式结构，Introduction、Development、Transition、Furthering和Conclusion。这篇《Crochet into America》的引入部分，简捷并有细节，看得出作者有个好笔头。中间的内容和过渡，奶奶的战争年代和难民经历、我最初的困难，找到自己的创作对象，这些故事细节丰富、顺滑流畅。

直到最后的结尾、简单明了的总结这个故事，虽没有呼应元素，但不失干脆利索。选择这么老式的写作结构，就不要再把文书想得太复杂，这样做是对的。可以说，这篇文书主要的吸引人处，还是它选择了Crochet作为个人成长的代表。这个选择不少见，也不多见，因而很有趣。

最后，尽管可以大圈特点的地方不多，我的给分还是B+。反复读几遍后，感觉主要好处就是crochet这个主题选择经得起揣摩。