Power of Tradition
Advice to a Younger Writer

A Child’s Christmas Essay

The Unexpected Becoming a Reality

C583078D-ED66-432F-B90F-6477B26C2E30“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” - Charles Dickens 

 

Throughout our lives, the unexpected somehow happens to become a reality. In A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, this happens throughout several different situations including a fire on Christmas Eve as well as fears coming to life.

In the book, A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, an unexpected fire takes place on Christmas Eve at the Prothero's house. This brought an unexpected excitement towards the kids playing in the street because it gave them something to throw their snowballs at. 

 

"The snowballs in our arms, toward the house; and smoke, indeed, was pouring out of the dining-room...This was better than all the cats in Wales standing on the     wall in a row. We bounded into the house, laden with snowballs, and stopped at the open door of the smoke-filled room." A Child's Christmas

 

This unexpected excitement made the kids day and allowed them to have fun putting out. Another unexpected reality at this moment was the fact that the fire brigade wasn't working. This was an additional struggle as their house was about to burn down. However, with the fire in the house becoming an unexpected reality, it caused people to have to think quickly in order to save the Prothero's house.

 

Another example of an unexpected reality that was shown in the book A Child's Christmas was when Jim and Jack thought they encountered a ghost while exploring. They had to use their bravery while they were scared to get out of the darkness and go back home. 

 

“We stumbled up the darkness of the drive that night, each one of us afraid, each one holding a stone in his hand in case.” A Child's Christmas

 

At this moment, the unexpected really did become the expected of their fears. However, as they overcame their fears with bravery they ended up safe and sound by running home.


Another example of an unexpected reality that was shown in the book A Child's Christmas was when Jim and Jack thought they encountered a ghost while exploring. They had to use their bravery while they were scared to get out of the darkness and go back home. 

 

Comments

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Henry I really liked this post, you did a really good job describing the scene before your quote. I think you chose a good theme in the unexpected excitement. One small thing you should do next time is indent at a new paragraph.

Henry, you were able to capture the meaning of this writing piece. In this writing you were able to put yourself in the shoes of others. While I think you did a great job identifying the theme of this story, you did not talk about the writing styles Thomas uses to enhance the story. The beauty of this story is not just the power of imagination and childhood, but also the unique writing style Thomas uses that adds to the story. Overall great job!

Henry, this piece was a great piece that captured scenes from the book that turned expectation into a reality. You proved what you said in your thesis statement, which for a reader if you say something that your going to do and don’t do it it is not as exiting, but you did fulfill what you said and it made the story exiting. One small pint I have for you that you could maybe and try to improve on is your conclusion. I feel like the conclusion didn’t leave me wondering more. Other than that I though the piece was great.

First thing I noticed when looking at your piece was that the paragraphs were not indented, and the paragraph breaks were double sized. Despite this, I was quite impressed with the content of your piece. The opening paragraph wastes no time and gets to the point, and your opening paragraph does the same. I have not seen someone else analyzing the random nature of scenes specifically. Again your second body paragraph gets straight to the point, and lets us move on. Your conclusion, however, seems more like the start to a third body paragraph. You did a good job analyzing what helps make the piece feel like it comes from a child’s perspective, but you missed out on the sentence structure. I think your piece needs some more detail, but all throughout it gets straight to the point without wasting time, making for a quick and informative read. Good essay Henry!

Your title is very interesting and pulls the reader in to want to know more. A lot of titles don’t seem very intriguing but yours does a great job of pulling the reader in to want to read about your views on a child’s Christmas in Wales which is very good and displays themes and quotes from the story and bridges your paragraphs well.

Great work Henry! I really enjoy reading it. You have great organization on the structure. I was impressed by our ability of writing indent paragraphs. Great work!

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