My face burned. I adored the vets, but I was not a man or a war veteran. I was a girl on the verge of becoming a woman (pg. 112)
Emily Rapp uses first person in her memoir, Poster Child. The use of first person is important because it is really a great technique to draw a reader in and really have the reader be in your shoes. The quote above is an example of this. Rapp displays how she feels like an outsider not only to society in general but also around people with disabilities like hers. She can’t relate to them because she isn’t a hero that lost a limb she was born like that and it makes her feel different and almost alone. We wouldn’t be able to tell this if the story wasn’t told in first person. Understanding Rapp’s frustration and sadness is a crucial part in getting the most out of this story emotionally. When reading the first person, one gets much more out of it then if they were being told a story.