Journal #4

Journal Assignment #4

Descriptive Writing Assignment

Using Ann Hodgman’s essay as a model, write a detailed description of a recent meal that you ate.  Your focus should be on describing as many aspects of your food as you can.  

Important Elements:                      Concrete/Abstract Images

                                                            Multi-Sensory Images                                                                                                       Simile, Metaphor, Analogy

Dominant Impression

                                                           

 

            That moment when your mouth is completely satisfied and no other hot and appetizing spice could ever compare to this outer body experience. Whenever a waiter serves Bang Bang Shrimp to one of the lucky customers everyone in the room can smell the sharp but enticing effect of the seasoning surrounding the shrimp. Your ears can hear the slight crunch of the breading that is then filled with flavor and delight. When eating bang bang shrimp it is like a burst of flavor has exploded into your mouth and always leaves you wanting more. The appetizer is so satisfying that your mind, stomach, and mouth will be filled and never want anything else again. The sweet chili sauce mixed with a slight touch of hot chili sauce will induce your senses making it impossible to resist. Everyone likes the taste of shrimp but after adding all the ingredients to form the bang bang your whole body will forever love this appetizer. The shrimp is described as delightfully small and perfect for a bite size appetizer covered in a citrus and zesty flavoring that will draw your eyes and mouth in until you feel as if you cannot live without eating this delicious appetizer. 

Journal #3

                                                                                  

Journal Assignment #3

“No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch” – Ann Hodgman

(The Norton Sampler p.77)

Read the selection and write a one paragraph response to the following questions.

1.  Cite three specific examples of Hodgman’s descriptive imagery that you find to be particularly effective. 

“Poultry by-products consist of necks, intestines, undeveloped eggs and other ‘carcass remnants’ but not feathers, heads or feet.” (Page 78 line 5)

“I flipped the patty into the sink, where it immediately began leaking rivults of red dye” (Page 78 line 11)

“There we chunks in the can, certainly – big, purplish-brown chunks” (Page 79 line14)

Journal #2

Journal 2 - Annie Dillard – “The Death of a Moth,” from Holy the

Firm

1. How are the moths in the essay’s opening different from the moth at the campsite?  What do the different moths represent? 

The moths are the two different approaches to life. The moths in the bathroom are dead and empty. They are just body parts and not recognizable. The moths at the campsite were burning like the wick in the candle. She is saying that the first ones are nothing, dried up bits of life that aren’t inspiring or driven. The moth in the flame brought some life and beauty. She wants to be the one in the campsite because it’s burning and passionate.

2. What lesson does the moth provide that Dillard takes back to her students? 

The lessons that the moths provide is to give whatever you do your all. It is to be the person to attack it and go all out. The ax could also mean to dig deep and struggle to find your courage.

3.  How many references are there to fire in the essay?  What’s the larger significance of fire in the essay? 

There three big references to fire in the essay. The candles before she goes to bed, the title of the book that inspired her to become a writer, and the moths in the fire. The fire represents inspiration. The fire is sparking ideas, passion, and ignites. She compares the moth to a saint that is a martyr. The death has meaning and it wasn’t an empty death.

4. Address how each of the following quotes connect to Dillard’s overall point.  

a.      “I would rather be ashes than dust!
          I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
          I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in        magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
          The function of man is to live, not to exist.
          I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
          I shall use my time.”

                    -Jack London

He is saying here that she would rather have lived his life at the best and has meaning instead of being nothing. He wants to leave life knowing that he did something important and passionate. London is saying to take every day and live it to your fullest. Don’t let your days get away from you and be passionate towards anything you do. It connects to Dillard’s point in that her whole essay if pointed towards finding the fire within and being important in life.

b. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

          -William Butler Yeats

In this quote, Yeats is saying that education is not just getting what you need to done but it is taking what you have learned and make it into something big. Don’t just learn what you need too but learn everything you can and make importance out of it. The purpose of education is to ignite an interest and spark a fire with the individual person. This relates to Dillard’s essay in the mention of fire and using fire as a symbol of inspiration.

c. “A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.”  

          -Franz Kafka

This quote by Franz like Dillard is referring to the ax in going at things with full force. He is saying that books bring out the person we really are inside of us. Dillard says in her essay to go at life with a broadax saying to go through life giving it your all. 

Journal #1

Once upon a time I was a little girl with a big dream that changed my life forever. Anyone reading this would assume that I became someone who is to be remembered but I am just here to tell you my story, the truth. Mom and Dad weren’t the typical parents that pushed me to be the best person I could. No, they were the ones that brought me down. Sometimes I can’t blame them, since the death of my sister sent my dad to drugs and my mom through the roof with anger. It seemed that they forgot about something else, me.

When I was nine nothing was stopping me from becoming a princess. I was destined to become something important, someone with the name everybody in the world will know. I even thought of changing my name from Bernice Bowers to Stephanie Hope because everyone who is anyone has the coolest name. In my trailer in Sunny Side Trailer Park in Alabama, I would walk through the streets in my crown, which I saved up cleaning Ms. Jenkins’ house, waves as if I was Anne Hathaway from the Princess Diaries.

At the age of fifteen, after growing out my brown curly hair, filling out in my breasts, growing into my heart shaped face with blue eyes, and having the body that every girl in my grade wishes they could have there was a change. I went to Hollywood at eighteen with so much vigor that no one would dare get into my way. Except for Kegan Hanes. He was the first boy I ever loved or so was said. I was intrigued by his high class parents that dressed like polo models, his knowledge of the world I was never a part of, and his friends that looked at me with such respect. It wasn’t until the night that these friends of his looked at me a little differently after having a few drinks. That night, those guys did things to me that no woman should ever endure while the love of my life, Kegan sat back and did nothing. I was broken with nothing, no money, or the will to move on. After becoming homeless and ruined for months, I decided it was time to do something for myself. I went to an audition for a small movie and although I looked ragged, a woman there saw something in me that no one has before. Her name was Elizabeth Nied and I would be nothing without her. She brought to success as a famous actress and I now make my own money and will never let all those people bring me down again. I became the princess I was made to be.