Journal #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



When I see brownies my mind leaps into a new world of joy and happiness that nothing else could compare. Brownies have the perfect square bodies cut perfectly by their maker. Their brown, flaky top layer looks delicious atop the fresh, darker layer below. Once you bite into a rich warm chocolate brownie, your life will be changed forever. There is no crunching just a delicate heaven for your taste buds. Fresh out of the oven, the brownies melt on your tongue and you float away on a cloud of chewy chocolateness chewing slowly to savor the taste. Once they are gone you wish to reach across the plate to grab another deliciously smooth brownie. Entering your mouth the chocolaty goodness makes you the happiest person in the world. The flaky top might leave remains your lips, but no worries you can save it for later.

Journal #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.


1. “I gagged my way through can after can of stinky, white-flecked mush and bag after bag of stinky, fat-drenched nuggets.”
2. “A lumpy, frightening, bloody, stringy horror is a sign of high quality---lots of meat.”
3. “Rather, it looked--- and felt---like a single long, extruded piece of redness that had been chopped into segments and formed into a patty.”




2. What do you think Hodgman’s purpose was in writing this essay? What overall message/meaning do you take from the essay?

Hodgman’s purpose was to allow us to gain insight on every day food that our dogs eat. Our dogs eat a variety of food that we just buy without even knowing what is in it or even if tastes good. We just listen to the advertisements and buy what sounds good. But really, dogs don’t really discriminate upon foods it seems. Any type of human food you give them they gobble up and everything dog food they do the same. I think Hodgman’s message is on the false advertising dog food companies seem to do. ‘Oh your dog needs the best liver and the best meat’, but the meat they use is not even real meat.

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 different moths are the different approaches to life. The moths in the bathroom are dead and empty, but the moths in the fire are still burning and alive. These moths are still burning to live with passion, but the ones in the bathroom are the ones who are not motivated.




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

If the students wanted to be writers, then they need to be dedicated and put their lives into it. She talks about the courage of being a writer and how you write when it seems like you do not have anything to write about. ‘You can’t be anything else. You must go at life with your broadax.’ Attack your life head on and be the one that goes all the way.




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

The fire is a symbol of the desire to learn and to achieve. The fire always burns, so you need the burning desire to be successful and give all you have.



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


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

These quotes go with the story because they are each saying you shouldn’t waste your life away. You need to go out and work hard and not be a bystander. The desire to learn is needed and to not waste your time.

Journal #1

Narrative Story
I hated working at this horrid place. The manager was a slimy, angry man and the food was not even that great. Truckers were the only men that sauntered in to demand food and hit on the other young waiter. I could not wait to get out of this small town and to serve fancier things than yesterday’s hot dog and French fries. Since it was Christmas time, the nicer of the truck drivers would tip more and I could add it to my savings. I needed about a three hundred more dollars to have enough money to finally leave. My big dream since I was a little girl was to work in a five star restaurant and serve celebrities like Marilyn Monroe.
Two weeks had passed and I was finally packing my bags, kissing my parents and two brothers good bye, and off to my new life. My long awaited dream was finally going to come true in about two hours. The rain poured down outside and created large puddles along the street. I walked with my family to the bus stop, kissed them one last time and jumped up the steps. I walked down the long aisle to an empty seat next to a handsome gentleman. He smiled at me and introduced himself as Channing. I smiled and thought to myself, “New York is going to be life changing.” The time flew by and we had finally reached New York and I did not look back once.