Spinning the Wheel of Life

The article “The Game of Life” by Kathleen Dennehy is a great personal essay for several reasons. First, Dennehy discusses the game of Life which is a subject nearly everyone has some memory of. She then takes this well-known topic and makes it her own by describing her game with her three young nieces. Dennehy also uses humor throughout the essay, such as the elation at drawing the $120,000 salary card, which makes the piece enjoyable to read. The best aspect of this personal essay is that Dennehy combines a critique of true life with her playing of the game Life. For example, she talks about the disappointment people find when their life doesn’t turn out the way they had planned as a child. She shares this idea when discussing how nothing truly horrible happens in the fictional game of life; no minimum wage jobs or internet dating. Dennehy also talks about the empowerment of women by relating who her nieces chose to drive their plastic cars. The fact that they wanted their pink person to drive instead of the blue husband was much different from her childhood days where sitting shotgun was to be expected. The essay “Game of Life” is a great example of a personal essay because Dennehy talks about important themes in the humorous and personal form of playing a board game.