William Bradford, John Smith, Ben Franklin, and Frederick Douglass: all famous for personal narratives; all written for a specific purpose and auidence; consider how the past impacts the present; what can we learn from these writers? Can we believe everything they write? Why not? What type of persona are they crafting? What is the danger of believing what may be fictionalized as being passed off as truth. Think about writing a "conversational essay" where you address a topic from one or more of these narratives in an informal manner: divergent, digressive, pulling in current events and personal story, to create an essay that's interesting, engaging, and insightful.