Eric Scott’s “Picking Lots” unlike most other religious memoirs does not feature a narrative in which the author is either discovering a new faith or leaving the faith in which they were raised. Instead, Scott describes a narrative which conveys how normalcy is dependent on ones perspective. He begins his short memoir by explaining how he never viewed his Pagan upbringing as being unusual when he compared himself to his peers. He describes this when he states “When I was young, of course, I had little idea of what my life looked like from the outside; [….] While I recognized that my life was strange, everybody I knew was just as strange—or stranger!—and so I still felt quite normal by comparison” (Scott, Picking lots). However, once he left his hometown to attend university and ventured out of his comfort zone, he soon discovered that he was very different when compared to his friends. Scott writes, “I realized that I was the weird one, that my friends were engaging in, at least from the standards of a Midwestern background, completely normal behavior. It just happened to be a sort of behavior to which, due to my upbringing—to my lot in life—I had never been exposed”(Scott, Picking lots). Scott’s experiences as described in his memoir exemplify how an individuals idea of normalcy is dependent on perspective.
In order to articulate this theme to his audience, Scott relies heavily on a relaxed and friendly tone which makes him relatable to his audience. For example, when Scott is describing his the big moment he realized just how strange his faith is, he says “As an example of what I mean, during that first semester I once arrived early to a friend’s apartment for a nerd party. (I only went to nerd parties then. To be honest, I still only go to nerd parties.)” (Scott, Picking lots). His use of a humorous friendly tone makes a heavy and often controversial topic such as religious identity light and inclusive for people with varying religious opinions. This allows his audience to be able to think and discuss these differences without the fear of harsh judgment.