Comparison Essay

Author's Note: This is a Comparison Essay on The Trojan Horse, and Safe Haven.

There is an essence where Helen compares to Katie, from Safe Haven.  Katie may not know she's beautiful, but that doesn't mean she isn't.  Unlike Helen who knows she is the most beautiful goddess in the world.  Another difference there is between the two character is how selfish Helen is.  Katie is the complete opposite.  She didn't want to hurt anyone when she ran away from home.  When she realized she'd hurt Alex and his family she made a run for it.  Katie, doesn't like being the center of attention.  While, Helen let war occur over her.

While there are many small differences between the two characters, there is one major similarity.  There was war over Helen, because two guys fell in love with her and wanted to win her over by winning the war.  In Safe Haven the plot is quite similar.  In Safe Haven, Katie runs away from her husband and meets a new guy named, Alex, that she falls in love with, and Alex loves her back.  One day Kevin, Katie's husband, finds her and Alex, and there's a fight over her.  The way the two characters reacted is different, because Katie tries to break the fight up.  Helen let there be war, but overall there's still that major similarity.

The Trojan Horse Reading Response

Author's Note: This is a reading response on the old story of, The Trojan Horse.

Not only were the Greeks and Trojans in war, but after that Greek Army departed an odd gift, a wooden horse, was left behind for the Trojans.  This was the conflict of the story, the Trojans either thought that they should burn the wooden horse or praise it.  After the priest stabbed the wooden horse the conflict was resolved by Sinon sharing his knowledge with the Trojans.  The whole thing was so sneaky, because the whole time the Greek band of warriors were hiding in the belly of the wooden horse.  This devious scheme could happen nowadays, because there are wars going on today.  None of that could happen at a school or small work place, because today a tactic known as, compromise, is used in schools and work places.  Lastly I haven't seen any thing relatively close to this story in novels, films, or real life of this century.

What is True Beauty?

Author's Note: This is a reading response on, Ribbons.  I've gone back and updated this piece and turned it into an essay for my next conference.

Superficial beauty can be defined as the way our country insists we carry ourselves to fit in with our society.  In this country people buy the most expensive clothes they can find, wear as much make-up as they have, and invest in plastic surgery. All to make themselves look beautiful to our current day society.  Our society doesn't allow people of all shapes and sizes in, which results in many people not being able to feel good about themselves.  People of both genders and all ages have insecurities.  In many cases people are insecure about their weight.  Sometimes girls are even concerned about how big their feet seem to be.  What they don't know is that in China girls go through physical pain to have small feet.

Foot binding is the process in which a female child's mother bends their feet backwards slowly when they are growing up.  The reason this occurs in their country is because their belief is that no man would marry a girl with big feet.  To them it may be tradition, but I see it in from an awful perspective.  While we Americans are crying over our shoe size Chinese girls are putting up with the pain of growing up with small feet.  The worst part is that the gentlemen of America don't care what shoe size you are, if they love you they'll marry you.  Simple as that, but the men in China actually refuse to marry a girl with big feet.  You can't put blame on these men because it's simple tradition, but the first man to break this unwritten law I will bow down to.

As these ladies grow up with their feet being bound, they are put through many struggles.  Eventually they'll get used to the certain way they have to walk, in order to cause them the least amount of pain.  Now imagine someone, with those conditions, trying to dance with bound feet, you could practically feel the amount of discomfort they would endure.  Now think about how popular dancing is in America.  Every dancer knows that there's a price to pay when it comes to wearing ballet shoes.  They're tightly wound, which make them very uncomfortable to wear.  Yet we wear them anyways, because it's part of the dancing culture we have.  As different cultures teach people alternate ways, their assumptions cause misunderstandings.

 A misunderstanding is the conflict in the short story, Ribbons.  The grandmother has gone through the foot binding process, which caused her to demand the burning of her granddaughter's ballet shoes.  In her eyes the ribbons reminded her of horrific childhood memories.  I assume the grandmother would’ve reacted in the same way, even if she wasn’t her granddaughter.  It seems foreign to her, the reason anyone would do such a thing to themselves.  Although her granddaughter wasn’t self-harming herself, other’s do to achieve superficial beauty.  In China foot binding is not a choice girls have, otherwise they will never get married.  We look at foot binding like it’s a crime, think about how people of other cultures see Americans superficial beauty.

In China girls go through physical pain to have small feet.  This is something people don’t understand.  All in all, the people that see how wrong foot binding is, may be the ones that look at themselves in the morning and wonder why they weren’t blessed with a smaller face and bigger eyes.  Maybe there’ll always be some form of superficial beauty lingering around, keeping people up at night, but I hope not.  I wish for one day where everyone can get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror and thank god for what he has given them, because that’s not superficial beauty.  That’s true beauty, no matter how other people see it, it’s still true beauty.

What Will It Take?

Author’s Note: This is a text analysis essay that is based off of the online, unpublished, story, Forever and Always His, by RiceLover.  This is also an edited piece to help me improve in Text Analysis and score a 10 in body paragraphs.

In two years, I’ll be able to drive.  In two years, I’ll be half way through with high school.  In two years, I’ll either have my future decided or will be trying to figure out a plan for my future.  A lot can change in two years.  In the beginning of Forever and Always His, by Ricelover, Everett loves Riley to no end, until one day his mother, Collette, dies.  Throughout the next two years Everett builds up so much hatred towards Riley, by blaming his mother’s passing on Riley, that it takes Everett and Riley practically another year to become lovers again.  Since, the book is written from Riley’s point of view, readers have already have pity towards her, but if you were to read the story in Everett’s point of view, you’ll also see how over-powering Everett is, and gain more pity for Riley.

Riley put up with taking Everett’s sarcastic remarks for two years after Collette’s sacrifice, but only because she loved him.  She may’ve thought it was unfortunate for her to run into his dad at the grocery store at the time, but in the long run she was grateful.  She became closer with Everett, but she still blames herself for his mother’s death.  Unintentionally Everett’s father gets remarried and it brings them even closer together, yet Riley is still rebuking.  Immediately after Collette's passing it was easy for Everett to accuse Riley of the incident, he even had other things to hold against Riley.  After two years though, his personality has changed drastically and it takes a mistake of his to notice how awful his attitude had gotten, since he broke up with Riley.

Long after Collette’s death and Everett and Riley’s reunion, their relationship is once again ruined, but this time around Riley can’t be blamed for what happened, yet Everett tries.  In the following quote Everett proves the control he had in their past relationship.  “”You have to believe me Riley.”  Everett suddenly said, making my heart sting.”  (Chapter 23, page 2)  If this had happened during the time before Everett’s mother’s passing, Riley would’ve believed him, because he was never at fault in their past relationship.  He was always right, never wrong.  This time a lot has changed between them and even though what Riley says next isn’t forgiving, it still hurt her.  I don’t think it should’ve hurt her, but she was and still is fragile and Everett knew it.  It was easy for Everett to use that against Riley during the two year period of him lowering her self-esteem.  Reading this certain section of the book made me feel victorious for Riley, for not only because she stood up to Everett, but for shutting him down as well.

Unlike the first quote, the second quote is taken from a part later in the book where Everett is trying to regain Riley’s trust, once again.  ““Riley, one thing,” I heard a whisper before I went into a deep slumber, “I don’t want you to blame yourself for my mother’s death anymore.  I never wanted you to blame yourself.””  (Chapter 27, Page 5)  For one, his apology is quite late.  Which leads me to suspicions of other last-minute apologies in Everett and Riley’s past relationship.  Considering Riley  isn’t one to decline one’s justifications, this could potentiality be another reason why Everett considers himself the boss.  The power Everett has doesn’t allow Riley any choice but to accept his pleas.  From my viewpoint I find this perverse for Everett to do, because he knows Riley lacks confidence, which should only lead him to question Riley's true feelings.

You’ll see how over-powering Everett is, and gain more pity for Riley, if you were to read the story in Everett’s point of view.  Even if he gradually changed back to the Everett he was before his mother’s sacrifice, he still has his over-powering aspect.  He will still expect Riley to buy his lies and he will still expect Riley to forgive him and his late apologies, but she’ll slowly put him in his place.  After a whole year of trying to regain his love, she deserves to have some say in their relationship.  Hopefully she will, and if not I hope he loses her again and notices how much he misses her.  Knowing that, they’d be a perfect match, and he would be worthy of her as well.

We Are All Humans

Author's Note: I was to write an analysis of how the story, After You My Dear Alphonse, relates to the topics of naivete and reverse racism.  How it compares and contrasts to our city's society and other areas of the world, and also what lesson I thought Shirley Jackson was trying to teach us.

Back in the days, racism was common, now-a-days that isn't always the case.  In our small city's society and other areas of the world, there are both older folks and younger souls.  The younger souls are being raised into a non-racism world, while the older folks are the complete opposite.  Less then 100 years ago, racism was not only taught, but preached through ministers of churches and educational teachers.  The elders grew up learning this way of life, which effects their lives today.  This seems to be the cause of mostly all racism that still occurs today.  Since this was how their generation grew-up, that is how they act.  Later racism disappeared, but some parents disagreed with the movement and continued to teach their children otherwise.  I feel that this was the lesson Shirley Jackson was trying to draw attention to through his writing.  I believe he wanted the next generation to have an idea of how unfair this olden day  life style was.  The naivete was cruel and I think Shirley was one of the few people that was against racism.

Let's Get Physical!

Author’s Note: This is an essay based off of the following question asked by my Physical Education teacher, “What value does physical activity provide you?”  I chose to use this essay for Language Arts as well, in order to score an advanced level introduction and AB transitions.

Feelings the cool air rush from my head to my toes as I’m extended into the air is the best feeling in the world.  A short girl who’s feet dangle from her chair because they can’t touch the floor gets to feel likes she’s on top of the world.  I look up instead of down because I can only see what’s above me and nothing that’s below.   This is the feeling I get from hitting a single cheer stunt and I wouldn’t be able to experience this fulfillment if I didn’t build up my strength.  In able to properly hit a cheer stunt the flyer (that’s me) has to pull her body weight up through her arms and keep her abs tight.  To be able to pull as much body weight up as possible I have to do tons of push-ups to strengthen my arms and even more sit-ups to strengthen my core.  Even though I may not enjoy doing push-ups and sit-ups, it’s worth it because I get to enjoy cheerleading.  Cheerleading definitely wouldn’t be as fun if I didn’t have the strength to stay up in a stunt and experience the feeling of being on top of the world.

Aside from the my own personal advantage from psychical activity, cheerleading, an advantage everyone can receive from the work of psychical activity is a healthy, long life.  Depending upon what you would like to attain through the works of psychical activity you can usually accomplish anything.  If you want to have stronger arms, push-ups will become your friend.  If you want to have stronger legs, you’ll become familiar to squats and if you want a strong core, crunches will act as if they’re your annoying aunt.  The time it takes to succeed may vary, but your hard work will eventually pay off!   You could also choose to look at it in a life-long way because you could live even longer off of your good health.  I learned once, that your heart has a certain amount of beats, so even running can pay off in the long run.  Although I don’t particularly enjoy running, I like the idea of living a healthy, long life.

As I said, running isn’t exactly enjoyable, in my opinion.  Neither are most psychical activities, once again, in my opinion, but the ending result is usually good, with the exception of a few cuts or bruises (meaning I don’t require myself as, “balanced”).  Which makes me strive to keep participating in physical activities.  In conclusion, I don’t always enjoy physical activities, but I have a motivation, my future self.  I don’t want to be one of those people that will never be able to join a sport with their friends because I’m out of breathe by the time I make it to first base.  I want to be one of those people that gets to encourage their friends or children to join sports to stay fit and active.  If I stay the way I am today, I will get to be that person.  It’s almost as if physical activity is a cheat on a test.

Author's Note: This is a poem that I wrote for a Social Studies assignment.

You see this girl working for money

Money that she doesn’t have

And guess what

It still isn’t enough

And yet you still watch her make a shoe

That she will never be able to wear

Never be able to see on her family

Or friends feet

Never even be able to see in a store

And that doesn’t make you sick

You refuse to pay her

Even two more dollars per day

Not even one

You have more than enough

You flaunt expensive clothes

While you drive in an expensive car

To your expensive home

That you can afford

A Clean, Well-lighted Place

Author's Note: These are questions from a reading response to A Clean Well-lighted Place.  I just found out that we were only supposed to do one, but I did all the questions as homework.

1. Pick out at least three phrases/quotes which you think are especially important to the story (what you might mark on a printed text.) Briefly describe why you chose each.

“Who cut him down?”

“His niece.”

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, it was the first mentioning of the poor old man’s depression as well as the first, out of two, reveals that the man didn’t have a wife, or has a late wife, as later explained in the story.

"I want to go home to bed."

"What is an hour?"

"More to me than to him." 

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, it was showing the start of an unruly work companionship.

I am not young.”

-          I feel that this quote was important to the story because, these words summoned up the author’s feelings and made it clear that his writing was directed towards younger people.

2.  What is one event, character, or plot element that is similar to a modern text/film? Explain.

I believe that the younger waitress is similar to a character in a modern film, “Safe Haven.”  I think this because the main character, Katie, in “Safe Haven,” has the same mood towards the people that stayed late in the restaurant she worked at because she felt that there was a greater chance that that was when her husband would show up.  Now the character in this short story isn’t a girl and isn’t scared of his wife showing up, in fact, he wants to go home to see her, but they both have an anger towards the customers that stay later then closing times.  Only for different reasons.

3.  Write a brief analysis of the two waiters.  What do they represent about life? What does the café symbolize?

The older waiter I feel is who the author I feels tries to share his wise message through, while the younger waiter is how the author displaces symbolism.  Maybe the author was wise and knew that that was how the world would one day turn out and was trying to steer people away from acting like that, or maybe he used the café to symbolize the olden day vibe that he loved that he never wanted to change.

4. How does Hemingway use light and dark as symbols? How do the shadows fit in?

Hemingway uses light and dark to symbol what I feel are feelings, the old man is depressed, which meant that he was to sit in the shadow of tree leaves, while he explained the rest of the café to be upbeat and fun with its great lighting.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Author's Note: Today we watched a short film of, A Clean Well-lighted Place, off of Youtube in Language Arts and I was supposed to analyze the the films adaptation.  I also had to evaluate the choices made by the director, including actors, setting, lighting, and music.

Overall I thought that there was only one major change I would've made to the film, if I were the director.  I think that a very important part of the short story was when Hemmingway described the deaf man to be sat outside of the cafe. So I would've positioned the character outside of the cafe instead of inside, but the rest of the film I wouldn't change especially because the dialog was spot on.  As far as actors go I feel that the waiters acted quite well.  Although I loved the actor's acting as the deaf man because he was loud, just as I imagined the character while reading the short story.  He also did an exceptional job on walking away from the cafe, he was unsteady, but yet not clutzy, just as I visioned.

Similar to how I felt towards the choosing of characters in the film, I also thought the setting was quite precise.  The cafe was lighted and sterile both in the short story and on film.  Aside from the lighting in the cafe I would argue that there should've been street lights, so that we could better see the man stumbling his way down the street.  Another alternative to solve that problem would've been to change the color of his jacket, so that in the darkness you could still see him.  All together my favorite part of the film had to be the music.  I physically couldn't think of more perfect music for the setting in the beginning and end.  The music just added to the mood of the movie, like in the beginning, when the music was on a lower key and slow, it prepared the viewers for a sadder film.  In the end when the music was still on a low key yet a little faster, it added to the drama of the film's ending.

A Taste of His Own Medicine

Author’s Note: This is a Text Analysis piece written about the unpublished story, Forever and Always His.  (This book can be found and read on wattpad.com.)

“Riley, please let me explain.”  Everett said, the look in his eyes showing that he was desperate.  “It wasn’t what it looked, I swear.”

This quote, taken directly from the book, is very meaningful to the plot of the story because it creates a strong mood of despair.  This conversation happens after Everett is caught with Riley’s so-called friend, Cassandra.  This means that Riley is going to be unforgiving by not listening to what Everett has to say.

I would say that this was an act of irony because Riley is usually the only one who believes Everett and has a lot of trust in him.  Don’t get me wrong though, I would’ve done the same thing if I were in her shoes or if I were put in the same situation.  I also believe that if others  were put in that situation they would be just as unforgiving, but the people that would stop and think about if they possibly misunderstood are the ones who I feel would’ve done what Riley didn’t.

Aside from the despair the readers feel Riley on the other hand must feel empowered by finally getting to give Everett a taste of his own medicine.  Everett never let Riley explain, never even took a glance in her direction for two years after not listening to what she had to say, now it was Riley’s turn and it must’ve felt amazing to be her in that moment.

Not only did Everett wittiness help Riley decide to take this ironic approach but Cassandra’s betrayal made it even clearer to Riley that it was the perfect solution.  Cassandra acted like her friend only to hurt her later and Riley’s best friend, Max, was played by her as well.  Cassandra made Max fall in love with her.  Riley knew at that moment she was only used and lost all respect for the both of them just as fast as Max fell in love with Cassandra.  Therefore the quote symbolizes that sometimes even the most genuine people want to get a taste of having the last word.

Keep Running

Author’s Note: This is an extra personal narrative I wrote about the time my friends and I ran around my friend, Allison’s neighborhood and played a common game known as, The Hunger Games.

“Let’s head back to the house,” I motioned.  As Macey turned around she shuttered, “Do you see that?”  “Wait,” I squinted, “that’s our other group of alliances.”  We sprinted in their direction, until we knew we had no chance in catching up.  We made our way back to Allison’s house and tiptoed up her front porch and without taking our eyes away from what laid behind us we cautiously closed the front door.  I signaled for Macey to stay quiet as we crept our way towards the staircase.  We peered down into the darkness while we listened for the voices of those who were out to get us.  I held my breath as I took my first step down Allison’s flight of stairs and when I had finally assured myself no one was down there I took another two steps.  I dragged Macey down the flight of stairs only to be met with an empty, motionless basement.  We ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.  Seconds later a bang echoed through the house.

Macey turned the lights off as I downloaded a flashlight app on my iPod.  I shone the light on my pale faced friend and begged for her to quit breathing so heavily.  My phone started vibrating in my pocket and after I check the caller ID, I answered.  Allison spoke first, “Hello?”  “Hi,” I whispered back.  Allison seemed concerned, “Where are you and Macey  “We’re in your basement hiding in the bathroom from Abby, Savannah, and your little sister, they’re upstairs” I replied shakily.  “They just left, we’re on the porch outside the basement, meet us out here.”  I pushed myself off the bathroom door and Macey opened the door.  I walked to the glass door and took a quick peek upstairs.  “Macey, c’mon,” I said harshly.  Macey scampered across the wood floor and met me at the glass door just as three faces appeared.  Allison waved to me as Macey tried to unlock the door.  It just wasn’t budging and Allison gave up and told us to go through the front door and meet them on her driveway.

Macey and I ran up Allison’s stairs and made it to her driveway just as Katie, Melody, and Allison did.  It didn’t take long and my life was put at jeopardy.  “Alright I’ll do it,” but not without a catch, “as long as you don’t leave me behind.”  “Deal,” everyone agreed.  The plan was to call Savannah and tell her that my alliances left me and when I was trying to catch up with them I twisted my ankle.  There was just one glitch in the plan though, Savannah wanted to know where I was.  I made up a lie and hid behind Allison’s house waiting for Abby, Savannah, and Allison’s little sister to come out her front door and attack.  “We can see you and we knew it was a fake call,” Abby shouted and after that it wasn’t long before Allison, Katie, Macey, Melody, and I were running down the streets from Abby and Savannah, who hurt her ankle a while back and wasn’t allowed to run on it.

“Keep running,” I stammer through heavy breathes.  With each thud of my heart against my chest I fell further behind.  My legs wobbled underneath me and my feet went numb.  I sprinted up to one of my alliances.  “Just a little further,” she heaved.  My lungs gasped for air as I held my breath making my way for a shrub that five others were camouflaged behind.  Needles of ice poked through my thin leggings as I laid motionless behind the shrub.  The footsteps of those whom walked our path pounded through my ears.  Easily our cover could be blown if everyone kept mumbling plans back and forth.  “Quit talking,” I forcefully whispered.  Everyone grew silent.  Minutes passed by before Melody willingly snuck a look to see if Abby and Savannah had passed by the bush without noticing that we were hiding behind it.  Unluckily Abby and Savannah were still staking out in front of the bush, not wanting to make the first move and get caught.  Abby swerved away from Melody, who had started chasing after her, and everyone popped out behind the bush and made a dash to save Melody.

After a few fake killings took place we all decided to finish the game up and walk back to the house.  Allison’s mom greeted us at the front door and took a quick head count telling us that our parents would be here in around a half an hour.  We all sat around the kitchen’s island and hydrated ourselves with bottles of water and also munched on some apples.  My friends and I talked about how we couldn’t believe that even pretending to be in the Hunger Games for under an hour was beyond tough and challenged each and every one of us.  The talents we never knew we had were tested.  The whole concept of the Hunger Games was scary and at the end of the day we all agreed that if our world were to come to, The Hunger Games for entertainment, we would all volunteer as tributes for each other.  

Not So Sorry

Author's Note: This is a parody poem that's tone is sarcastic and insincere.  I wrote it about my friend that spit off of a bridge that was located directly in front of where we were tail-gating before a big baseball game.

I spat

off the bridge

that you

were walking under

and which

you did not deserve

the spit that

landed in your hair

Forgive me

it was an accident

but I found it

quite amusing

Photophobia

Author's Note: This is a short poem written about a girl named Tina that is phobic to everything and phobias themselves, hence the title.  (Photophobia is the phobia of phobias.)

I’m Tina

I’m a phobic to all creepy crawly bugs

Tight spaces give me anxiety

Bikes and books make me itchy

The pitter patter of rain against my skin gives me rage

I can’t breathe if I stand above ground

The sight of light makes my head spin

And when I sleep my dreams scare me awake

Insanity racks my brain
And there is no cure

It's eating me alive

Run As If Your Life Depends On It

Author's Note: This piece is a written reflection upon the figurative language I found in The Maze Runner.

In the book, The Maze Runner, the author used extraordinary figurative language throughout the entire book.  James, the author, not only used similes and metaphors, but he also added onomatopoeias, hyperboles, and anaphoras.  Adding these examples of figurative language enforced me to make connect and visualize The Maze Runner as if I were the one who wrote it.

A form of figurative language that was used within the publication was an onomatopoeia.  An onomatopoeia is a sound that refer to action taking place.  The following sentence contains the onomatopoeia the author illustrated;  'The creature kept coming.  whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr click-click-click whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr click-click-click.'  Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr click-click-click are sounds added to allow the reader to better visualize the situation.

There were also hyperboles hidden in James's writing.  One that I found was, 'The anticipation of trying to guess its next move was killing Thomas.'  This can easily be deciphered as a hyperbole because, it is an exaggeration.  This is both the most dramatic exaggeration and the exaggeration used most when creating a piece.  This creates a stronger feeling of sadness towards Thomas.

An anaphora may be one of the harder particles of figurative language to use.  I give credit to the author for creating this tremendous anaphora; 'A horrible, terrible, awful idea. The worse idea in the history of horrible, terrible, awful ideas.'  The repetition of the words horrible, terrible, and awful makes the point clearer to the reader and enforces a mood of worry which makes the reader want to continue reading.

More commonly used figurative language such as, similes and metaphors were also added to The Maze Runner.  A simile I found somewhat intriguing was; 'Fear seemed to hover in the air like a blizzard of black snow.'  This simile is an astounding example of imagery because he compares something transparent, fear in the air, to something nonexistent, black snow, which lets the reader's imagination wander.  

The following metaphor I found influenced a frightful tone; 'A mechanized surge of machinery sounded from outside, followed by the familiar rolling clicks of a Griever on the stony ground, as if someone had scattered a handful of nails.'  The sound of a handful of nails being scattered is unpleasant and comparing it to a so called "creature" creates the frightful tone.

Overall I found that the author did a stupendous job of keeping the readers interest high by using a important aspect of writing.  You must realize that there was more loads of figurative language jammed in, The Maze Runner, that forces you to keep reading.

Anything but a Beautiful Day

Author's Note: This is a fictional poem that I wrote as a language arts warm-up.

The sun was shining

The birds were chirping

But it was anything but a beautiful day

Unlike the blazing yellow sun

And the vibrant colored birds

I was dressed in nothing but black as I

Peered into her casket

As I did this I couldn’t help but notice

The reassuring smile that she left with

Which forced a curl from the corner of my lips

And as I took my last glance

I knew

Everything could only get better

Reflection on Fun in the Sun

Author’s Note: This is a reflection on my descriptive piece, Fun in the Sun.

In my descriptive essay, Fun in the Sun, I used imagery.  There are many ways that using this particle of writing helped my piece.  Basically it’s specifically used to create a picture in the minds of your readers.  If I hadn’t used imagery the people who comprehend it wouldn’t be able to picture my memory like I could.  I believe that every writer, whether professional or not, should make an effort to have their readers see what they do through imagery. 

One form of imagery I used was tone.  In the following sentence; A moan of relief simultaneously escaped our mouths as our feet felt the cool sand underneath the satisfying lukewarm water, I created a tone of relieve. This tone is written in the sentence, but  if I had taken out, of relief, the tone could still be pin-pointed.

I also attempted to add senses, which is another form of imagery.  In this sentence; As the conversation ended I waddled upstairs still wrapped in a blanket and breathed in the air that smelt of wood one last time.  I added a sense of smell.  Senses are an even easier fragment of writing, but only if you they are used correctly.  If you know mostly everyone has either: seen, heard, smelt, tasted, or felt the sense you added, the sense then fits under the category of imagery.

The two examples of imagery that I reflected on were just a small fraction of the imagery, I used in my descriptive essay.  If you are going to use imagery in a piece you need to make certain that you are using it from start to finish.  One piece that is based off of tones and senses is descriptive and it’s definitely not as difficult as you may think because, I’m not anywhere near the best at writing, but I do believe that my readers saw a picture that perfectly matched mine.

Fun in the Sun

Author's Note: This is a figurative language essay that I analyzed.  To be able to view the pictures larger you should click on them and it will open another window with the picture in a larger scaled size.

The Bridges of Your Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a short response to the book, The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller.  I wrote this to showcase my knowledge on point of view. 

The point of view in “The Bridges of Madison County”, by Robert James Waller, is written from the perspective of a third person narrator.  The way that the author explains it, your heart fills, not with love, but with a yearn for what could have been for Francesca.  The reader’s feel for Francesca and all of the problems she has to undergo.

The intense feeling of loss you feel for Francesca while reading the story gives you the strong feeling of deprive for Robert as well.  While reading the short section of the book that explains the love Francesca has for Richard, it gives you the feeling of disturbance.  While in the point of view of the author the reader interprets that Richard is the vicious soul.  In this particular scene Richard calls to reassure himself that everything seems all right and it snaps Francesca back to reality as Richard comes home.  You would think that Richard is the overly-protective.  Although if the book was written from the perspective of Richard the readers would think differently towards Francesca.  I rewrote the ending of the book from Richard’s point of view to prove that Francesca now becomes the evil one.

It’s not that I didn’t trust her, but I called to check up on her every day to make sure nothing went wrong and she was safe and sound at home.  The first time I called I immediately recognized a bitter tone in her voice.  Of course, I knew something was up, but I didn’t act upon it, because of the trust I had in her.  I called once more before returning home and once again I heard there was a bitter tone when she spoke.  She didn’t say anything more than she was fine and then made up an excuse to hang up before I told her anything time consuming.  It was unnatural and my mind started to wonder about all of the possibilities there was that I could be scarred of when I pulled into our dust driveway.  When I arrived home everything was in its place and Francesca acted like her normal self until a few days later.  Rain spat from the black clouds that covered the sky.  After a long period of time in the truck Francesca began to cry, unlike the quiet and few tears she spread at our wedding, these tears were loud and streamed down her face.  I asked in a rather confused tone instead of the sympathetic tone I should have used.  After a long silence she spoke, “Good-bye Robert Kincaid.”  Instead of being curious I decided to keep my questions from escaping my head because, I never again wanted to see my wife as upset as she was that day.

Not all of the readers will still side with Francesca when the book is told from a different viewpoint.  That is why The Bridges of Madison County is an exceptional romance novel to prove that if told in a different point of view.  Interpretations could change.  Who do you think was at fault?