My Writing This Year
This year I have learned a lot of things in writing. First semester I worked on learning how to revise writing and rewrite things I have written before. This semester I learned how to write an essay on a book. I had written essays before but nothing like this. It was hard to not use personal pronouns and part tense. The first book I wrote about was "Scarlet Ibis". "Scarlet Ibis" is a short story that we read in class. I got a 2 on this essay. I used part tense and personal pronouns. Over the next two books I read on my own I improved greatly in writing. Every week we had to right a paragraph. I made sure I followed the rules and was able to get full credit on all of the packets. When we had our next time writing I was ready because I had written about this book while I had been reading it. We had an hour to write. I tried really hard to follow the rules for the essays and I made sure I had quotes that would prove my point. I wasn't able to finish my essay or even read it over in the time we had. When I turned it in I was turning it in blind. I had no idea if what I had written was any good. When I got it back I had gotten a 4 on a 1 to 5 scale. I was so proud of this that I took it home and left it with my parents to read. Sense that day it has disappeared from my possession so I don't have any proof of this any longer because it was hand written. Next year I hope to keep better care of things I get back that have been graded because I'll never know when I'll need them again.
Scarlet Ibis Essay
I did not do well on this essay. I used personal pronouns and past tense words. I knew I wasn't suppose to and I thought I had caught all of them but I hadn't. I didn't revise this essay because I was busy rewriting the Don't Mean a Thing script and I was excused from the assignment. I know threw the book essays I have written sense this one, I have improved a lot. I still mess up and use past tense some times but I am starting to learn how to ketch it. On this essay I got 46/60 or a 2. I will improve future essays by making sure I do not use personal pronouns and past tense words. I also need to work on in betting my quotes better.
Though The Narrator realizes his actions are selfish that doesn’t stop him from pushing Doodle till the very end. For example, right after Doodle walks in front of his family for the first time, when they found out The Narrator was the one who helped him they hug The Narrator and he knows “...I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices.” (Hurst, page 3) This thought shows his awareness of what he did for his brother and what he’ll do to him. The Narrator also feels an unknown amount of guilt for having his intentions being completely self beneficial. In addition, The Narrator thought after seeing Doodles dead body "For a long time, it seemed forever, I lay there crying sheltering my fallen scarlet ibis from the heresy of rain" (Hurst, page 6) The Narrator knows he's gone too far, pushed too hard after he sees his brothers dead body. He has to deal with the realization that his brother died trying to please him. The Narrator pushes his brother till he dies and all that time Doodle is just trying to please his brother, not wanting to be left alone.