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.

Dear Donor

Author's Note: This is a letter written to a wealthy donor (Mrs. Smith). The prompt was to write to a donor about which facility they should use their money to build.

Dear Mrs. Smith,

I understand that you are having trouble deciding what facility you want to make with your money. I think that a gym would benefit children and teens like myself. There are many different designs and plans for a gym, but it would be best if the gym included a basketball court, a workout area, and a couple of racquetball courts.

Although you might think that this is too expensive, it really depends on how much money you are willing to spend. The minimum for just a indoor basketball court/facility would be 700K, but it could be upwards of $1.5 million. With that in mind if you were to build a YMCA type complex it would be between $3-5 million. Although the cost could vary depending on the land that would be used to build it and the size of the facility. While that is expensive you could get some of your money back by charging a small monthly fee for membership (ex. $10).

Another reason why this facility would be great is the fact that it could be built on the land at the end of my neighborhood. For about 3 years now there has been an open chunk of land that is easily big enough to fit a sports complex. It would be a great place to build a sports facility because of the large space and materials wouldn’t have to be transported very far. This plot of land would be a great place for a gym, or sports facility. Furthermore, if the complex was built there could then there could be a bus that took kids there when school ended. This would allow kids to have something to do after school. Also the children would love the welcoming facility, and the kids could then stay out of trouble and go there if their parents were at work or at some other sort of obligation.

Finally, this facility could allow high school kids to have a chance to volunteer. These volunteer opportunities for high school would be a great way to encourage and motivate the students to volunteer and earn a merit award. This would even create some jobs for adults or teens.

If you want kids to have the optimal experience from your facility, you should create a sports facility. As you can see this would benefit many people, including creating jobs and keeping young people out of trouble.

Darry's Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a prediction piece on Darry’s point of view during the scene where he slapped Ponyboy.

Darry’s Point of View

I have been waiting nervously for Ponyboy for almost 3 hours. If he does not come home soon I’ll definitely have to call the cops. I’m too nervous--I should maybe read a book-- no I’ll read the newspaper. Maybe that will calm me down before he gets home, if he ever does. I cannot believe he would disobey me and stay out late like that. If I ever did that to Mom or Dad they would flip out on me, although they would probably forgive me eventually. That’s how it will go when Ponyboy gets home. Everything is alright now he’s just a little late.

While I was reading the newspaper I heard the door slam shut in one swift motion. I jumped up from my seat, disregarding the newspaper. I saw Ponyboy and I immediately started screaming at him, “It’s two in the morning, I was about to call the police and have them look for you!” Ponyboy stirred nervously while I continued to holler, “Where in the world were you!” Then Ponyboy said something that I wish he would not have.

“I fell asleep in the lot.” Ponyboy stammered.

“You what!!! You know it’s dangerous out there. You should never go near that lot at night. You should not even go there during the day.”

Ponyboy stuttered, “W-w-well, sorry.”

“Sorry does not cut it!” I shouted and then I slapped him as hard as I possibly could. I’m not exactly sure what happened after that but Ponyboy started sobbing and he ran out the door. Then I did something that I knew I would eventually regret… I just let Ponyboy run...

Ponyboy's Point of View

Author’s Note: This is a point of view response on The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton. It analyzes the main character, or Ponyboy's point of view.

Ponyboy’s Point of View

          In The Outsiders by: S.E. Hinton, there are two rival gangs of teenagers; the greasers and the Socs (socials). The Socs drive around in their mustang’s jumping greasers. Ponyboy and Johnny, who are young greasers get jumped one day while trying to run away from home. Johnny loses his cool and kills a Soc, therefore they have no choice but to leave their already broken households. This story is written in Ponyboy’s point of view. From Ponyboy’s point of view, characters in the story are described in a way that allows the reader to understand the other characters, in a way perspectives of others wouldn’t allow.

                One way that the perspective of the story would change was during the scene when Ponyboy gets slapped by his older brother Darry. In Ponyboy’s perspective Darry is no fun, he also thinks that Darry hates him, finally he thinks that Darry is just a workaholic. What Ponyboy doesn’t know is if Darry stopped working they would not be able to afford living costs. When both of their parents died in a tragic car accident Darry had to pass up on a football scholarship so he could support his family. If this particular scene was told from Darry’s point of view, it would tremendously alter the reader’s thoughts on the situation. Someone who read The Outsiders would then be thinking about how mad Darry was and not about how much Ponyboy hated his brother. The reader would also be feeling bad for him because he was trying to help Ponyboy but Ponyboy never listened to him, but as the story is told from Ponyboy’s point of view it makes Darry seem like the bad guy in all scenes.

                This book would be changed a lot if it was written in Darry’s point of view. Some of the scenes would not be in the book and others would be completely different. One scene specifically would be altered greatly  would be the scene when Ponyboy and Johnny had already run away and Darry had to figure out what to do. The reader would experience the intense emotion that Darry was feeling. Also the reader would 

not be able to listen to Sodapop talk to Darry. Additionaly if Darry knew that Ponyboy went to Dally he would have been even more scared because he would have known that Dally gave Ponyboy and Johnny a gun. Overall the whole book would be extremely different.