Mark Phillips' Pages: Workbook: 6/7/10: There's an unmistakable dividing line.

Jacob Lawrence, "Life, Death, and Resurrection" (1955) — Jacob Lawrence, *Life, Death, and Resurrection* (1955)

June 7, 2010:

There's an unmistakable dividing line. Before, during, after.

The writing matures suddenly. Before: prolix, unfocussed, lacking structure, form, or focus. During: turmoil, contradiction, conflict. After: clarity.

It's not true that "He became himself through that experience." You never stop becoming yourself. It would be reasonable to say, "He stopped being the things he wasn't."