Formal Diction

This morning I awoke to a voice, one belonging to my father as he pulled me from my slumber. I groaned inwardly at the thought of climbing out of my warm bed, my dog curled up next to me. I had just finished getting ready for the day when my aunt arrived to take me to school. I had not had the chance to eat my breakfast which resulted in me eating my toast in the car. Upon arriving to school I had to drop off my soccer equipment in the locker room.  Fortunately for me I still had time to converse with my fellow classmates. Unfortunately the time went by too quickly and we all had to walk to our first period class. Through the course of the day I received multiple homework and project assignments, most due on Monday.

After school I had my last soccer practice. This practice was a time used for our coach in which we received our player evaluations. Meanwhile the rest of my team instructed our coach’s son’s team. They are all young boys who love the sport. There were nine boys but at times it felt as if that number doubled in size. During this time most of my team conversed with each other. Just enjoying the time spent together. This last season has been an amazing experience. My friendships that I have begun I believe will last for a long time.

Extra Credit Blog

Last year when I was in eighth grade I was a part-time homeschooled student. I had the opportunity to meet with a group of eighth grade homeschooled girls every Wednesday and do schoolwork together. We would work on science and then our creative writing projects. We decided to follow a year long curriculum called The One Year Adventure Novel by Daniel Schwabauer. He taught us different aspects of literature and how it all comes together to create a fiction novel. What was funny about this study was that all of us started to realize when we watched movies or read books; we were able to identify certain elements of literature we had not seen before.

The plot line that I chose for my novel was about a princess Lynea who lived in a castle and one day her father, the king becomes deathly ill because of poison.  This caused the kingdom to fall apart and her uncle, who is enemies with her family, planned an attack on their kingdom. It was then Lynea’s mission to make peace with her uncle and find a cure for her father.

I found that doing a creative project like this was difficult for me at first, but I began to switch into creative mode faster every time I sat down at the computer to type. I also realized how important detail and depth of characters development is to a story. This experience helped me appreciate even more the adventures I have enjoyed and the works we are studying this year. I am proud of the work I accomplished because I learned how to write in a different way and entertain readers.

Wuthering Heights

The novel that I chose to read is Wuthering Heights. This novel was, in the beginning very confusing. The author Emily Bronte gave the characters very similar names. For instance, Mr. Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Hindley, Edgar Linton, Hareton and then there are two different ladies named Catherine.  The beginning was hard to follow but I realized the longer I have read, the plot begins to unfold, and the more I find myself wrapped up in the story. The story tells of a forbidden love between Catherine and Heathcliff. They love each other, but because of certain ties they are unable to go through with marriage. Catherine has now married Edgar Linton and Heathcliff has started to make advancements on Edgar’s little sister Isabella Linton. This is causing friction between key characters.

                One literary element I would comment on would be the setting and characters. The novel takes place during the early 1800’s in the moors. The way the author describes the surroundings and characters adds a mysterious feeling to the novel. In the house where most of the characters grew up together was a twisted evil household filled with secrets and deceit.

                One novel that I would compare this to would be House by Frank Peretti. The novels setting greatly reminded me of Wuthering Heights. Both books start mysteriously, challenging the reader to think and try to understand what is happening. Also, both novels focus on a house setting that has many secrets, not known to many people. This element adds intrigue, confusion and a sense of suspence.

                For a creative project I was thinking of doing a creative poster with Catherine and Heathcliff.  The style of drawing would try to convey the mysteriousness of their forbidden love and the setting of this novel.