The Final Opportunity

The Final Opportunity

                The Pewaukee Pirates had worked so hard to get to the biggest stage in high school basketball: the state championship. They definitely didn’t want that opportunity go to waste. The Pirates had gone 23-1 in their in-conference games with their only loss coming to Whitnall. Although the Pirates did beat Whitnall at home, no one knew how the game would go at a neutral site. The Kohl Center was hardly neutral for the Wisconsin Badgers.

Pewaukee beat the Waterford Wolverines in the semifinals by a slim margin of 5 points. Jack Gohlke hit 4-4 free throws to seal the game off. Frustrated, the Waterford players leisurely walked across the floor to head into the locker room. While the Pirates fans celebrate, the players know they have to keep their mind on their next game against Whitnall.

The big game was today and the players filtered out of the hotel to get onto the team buses. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but Jack Gohlke and Jaeger Hoang were not on the bus. The coach was the only one to notice, but he presumed they had already gone to the arena and were just trying to warm up early. What the coach didn’t know was that two of his players had in fact decided to walk to the arena.

“I didn’t realize the Kohl Center was this far away,” complained an impatient Jaeger.

“Neither did I.” Jack replied, “I thought that is was only a 20 minute walk.”

“I think it’s already been like 20 years.” Jaeger retorted sarcastically.

“I doubt it has been that long. We probably only have like 10 minutes to go.” Jack answered. All of a sudden Jack thought that he saw a group of angry Whitnall fans down an alley. He asked Jaeger, “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“Never mind,” Jack responded not wanting to sound frightened.

“What were you talking about?” Jaeger asked.

“Well I thought that I saw a group of deranged Whitnall fans.” Jack stated.

“Wow, you have issues.” Jaeger acknowledged as he laughed hysterically at Jack’s comment. They continued to walk down the street, and Jack kept peeking into alleys making sure that there weren’t any Whitnall fans looking to cause some trouble. Nervously, Jack started sprinting down the alley, with a heart beating at the speed of light, while Jaeger had to hustle to keep up.

“Let’s just get to the arena and suit up.” Jack said in a panicky tone.

“Calm down.” Jaeger replied in a voice that wasn’t quite as calm as he would have liked. Focusing on the game, Jaeger tried to slow Jack down so that he wouldn’t be so afraid of his own hallucinations so that he would be ready to go. Achieving the state championship goal would require a great amount of focus and concentration.

“Okay, I think we are almost there.” Jack stated as he finally slowed down.

Considering the circumstances, Jack and Jaeger should have been very nervous about what was around that corner, but the two of them were very good at handling these kind of circumstances. As they turned the corner they saw… the Kohl Center.

Irritating was the word that came to Jaeger’s mind when he thought about this experience with Jack. He was bored out of his mind the whole time and thought that they should’ve taken the bus along with the rest of the squad. Finally, they could relax and prepare for the biggest game of their high school career.

Quote from Fahrenheit 451

"Didn't sleep well. Feel terrible, god I'm hungry. I can't figure it." Mildred said this after Guy asked her how she slept last night. He knew that she took all 30 of the sleeping pills last night. Guy suspects that Mildred was trying to commit suicide, and he is trying to figure out why. This quote symbolizes their awkward relationship and the fact that they probably shouldn't be married.

Unfocused and Un-Concentrated

Author’s Note: In this piece I tried to create a mood describing Artemis Fowl from the book Artemis Fowl 7: The Arctic Incident with figurative language; such as similes, metaphors, etc. Then I analyzed the short description in an essay format.

Unfocused and Un-concentrated

                Artemis is a shadow of his old self. He is now focused on numbers and has extreme OCD. He is normally smarter than Einstein, but now he has the attention span of a nat. While he is focused on numbers, he thinks anything that has to do with 4 is deadly, and 5 is lucky enough to get him out of a jam. Additionally, Artemis always acted affectionately while addressing accomplished fairies.  Now he is as soft as a child’s blanket although he used to be as hard as a rock.

Unfocused and Un-concentrated (Essay)

                Have you ever considered using figurative language in your writing? As you can see in the piece that I wrote above, the mood can be changed dramatically by just using a little figurative language. Figurative language is one of the best ways to get someone into and excited about your piece. Once they are into your piece they will definitely appreciate the use of even more figurative language.

                In Unfocused and Un-Concentrated the main use of figurative language includes similes and metaphors. The similes and metaphors provide the story with thought provoking comparisons, such as “He is normally smarter than Einstein, but now he has the attention span of a nat.” This metaphor references the fact that Artemis Fowl used to be one of the smartest if not the smartest person on the planet, but after he got a fairy disease he cannot focus on one thing for an extended period of time.

                Towards the end of the piece, there is an example of alliteration, “Additionally, Artemis always acted affectionately while addressing accomplished fairies.” With this example the reader gets an interesting, yet somewhat silly sentence. The main reason that alliteration is used is so that the reader can take a little break from the seriousness of the piece and enjoy a sentence or two of silly wordplay. Alliteration is also great to add a playful mood to a piece if you think it's a little dull or dreary.

                Figurative language can create a great mood in a piece. It helps you get readers engaged and interested in your piece. Once you know how to  use figurative language, you should definitely make use of it right away. If you don’t use figurative language you are like a dog chasing its tail, never making progress.