oOnyaOo

The face
By Brian McCabe


“The face” by Brian McCabe is a short story about a young boy’s fear of a coal face where his father works. I intend to show how McCabe intensifies the feeling of fear that the young boy feels, by analysing his use of language.
The story shows how the young boy misunderstands what the face of a coal pit is. The world in which we live can be at times a frightening place for them, As the story shows. However, it also shows how perceptive children can actually be.
The story’s name “the face” gives us an uncertainty as to what it could mean. When first reading the title it definitely has a sense of mystery to it as we are not sure what it is. The word ‘face’ is also repeated on several occasions throughout the story and it makes the reader more curious as to who or what the face actually is. Another word that is repeated often is the word ‘black’. This stirs up fear in the reader as blackness is usually associated with death, fear and sinister creatures.
McCabe uses various different techniques to describes the setting around the boy, Such as onomatopoeia such as when the boy and his father are walking through the “dripping darkness”. The word dripping helps us imagine the sound of the water echoing through the darkness. It may also help us relate it to the smell of dampness it must be causing because water is also “trickling down the wall” This Will intensify the fear in the boy as the water will make it feel as if he is being closed in and is drowning in the darkness. Other than water sounds there is the “scrape and crunch of his fathers boots” which also must be echoing and when everything is very quiet and it feels like “the darkness is listening” this makes every little sound louder than it actually is. It must have been extremely dark down there almost like it was “pure dark”. This is another clever technique of using word choice. The word pure is usually associated with cleanliness and clarity but here it is followed with the word that represent everything evil and bad which completely changes the meaning and instead of being clean and clear it is dirty and so dark you cant see and gives it a more sinister feel to it. This will let the boys imagination play tricks on him and make him think he’s seeing things causing more fear in him.
McCabe uses a lot of imagery in the story to help us see and here what the boy does. When the boys father is talking to him he enjoys hearing his voice to comfort him but “it sounded too loud” as everything else was very quiet “and crackly like a fire” Which could hold connotations with the warmth of a fire and comparing it to the warmth in his voice. The dripping and foot steps which I analysed earlier are also uses of imagery.
At the end of the story when the boy is out the pit his view on it has changed, It is no longer a scary place where John Ireland had been killed but a place where people actually worked an there was a coal face in every pit. He begins to ask questions about it in a more normal manner instead of being afraid of it. On the way home he shocks his father by saying that the face “looked like the man who ran the gym”. this shows the father that he is more knowledgeable and perceptive than he had first thought.
In this essay I looked at Brain McCabe use of imagery word and word choice in his short story “the face”. I also looked at how it intensified the fear in the young boy as well as the reader and how he made us wonder about what the face was. And also how he proved that children can be more perceptive about the world about them than we originally believed.
By Emma Wilson.

Lara and Andy’s hand fasting



“This ones for you,” my mum said as he handed me a sparkly pink envelope. “don’t get glitter every were!” she added.
“Kay!” I groaned as I opened it over the sink. Inside was a piece of hand made paper with very fancy calligraphy on it. “Dear Emma,” I read “you are invited to Lara and Andy’s fairytale themed hand fasting...” Re-reading the page I thought ‘Fairytale….Sounds kinda lame.’ Then I noticed there was writing on the back “P.S we have a surprise for you.”
The next day I made my way into town to look for an outfit. I had fifty pounds in hand and was bubbling with excitement. I loved to make wacky outfits and knowing Lara’s personality the whole hand fasting was going to be wacky. Two hours later and I felt depressed and frustrated. A hand fasting was a magical event where two people declare there undying love for one another and I couldn’t find any thing that didn’t look cheesy! Then suddenly I got a text from Lara.
“Come to Moto!”
Moto was a trendy little restaurant just round the corner from where I was standing. “That’s pretty vague.” I murmured “I should be used to this sort of thing by now.” I sighed as I walked down the street crunching crisp autumn leaves as I went.
When I walked into Moto I suddenly felt hungry as I was bombarded with lots of delicious smells of Italian food. Lara and Andy where sitting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. I smiled as I walked over and sat down suddenly aware that they had the scariest smiles on there faces. “What?” I asked.
“We have a surprise for you!” Lara giggled her bright bubbly self again. “We would like you to be the ring barer.” They both chorused.
I froze in shock. The ring barer is a massive part it’s more important than a normal weddings ring barer. In a hand fasting a ring barer is like a flower girl brides made and ring barer all rolled into one! I was so moved that they chose me!
I was in shock when suddenly a horrid realisation came to me. “Now I definitely need to get a good outfit!” I cried standing up.
“No need!” Lara smiled handing me a massive bag. I gave her a puzzled look before taking the pink and silver fluffy bag and taking out the contents. I could feel my face go fuchsia red as I pulled out a frilly black and pink Alice in wonderland outfit with stripy tights to mach and black buckle shoes. There was even a big pink bow! I just sat there with opening and closing my mouth a couple of times but not saying anything. ‘Me? In a dress? You’ve got to be kidding me?’ I thought so I just smiles sweetly instead. If you cant say anything nice don’t say anything at all.
A week later I was sitting in my friend Emily’s car with my outfit on. She kept giving me sideways glances and going into massive giggling fits. She was wearing a slinky violet princess’s dress with a crown on her head. That simple and not a frill in sight. After two hours of Emily’s giggling fits and hitting her with my shoe, which proved to be the most effective weapon, we were finally there.
“Are you sure it’s here?” I asked getting out the car and looking into the forest and suddenly thinking of the movie “The wrong turn”. Emily’s mum just smiled at me and handed me my bow. I gave a low growl as I snatched it out of her hand and adjusted it in my hair.
Fifteen minutes of playing ‘lets jump out at Emma and scare her’ later we finally arrived at the spot that it was taking place and what I saw took my breath away. The main alter was set up under a weeping willow tree. There was a burning brightly to the side of the tree with a circle of stones around it so it wouldn’t get out of hand. There were beautiful smelling autumn flowers dancing around our feet. I became aware that I could here the sound of water near by as I broke away from Emily and walked over to the edge of the clearance were there was a slope down to a massive water fall. The whole place was so picturesque, just like a fairytale. The rest of the guests were all gathering firewood and my aunt, who was already here, told me to go and help them. I gave a last nervous tug at the bottom of my dress and I made my way to greet the others but before I even got there a red faced Emily met me.
“Emma I feel so under dressed!” She exclaimed I cocked my head to the side the looked past her and I saw what she meant. Frills everywhere! There were princesses from various time periods, fairy’s, dragons and witches, I blended in perfectly. I wasn’t the only one Lara had obviously got to.
Finally with the firewood gathered the ceremony could begin. Lara’s sister Karin started strumming a guitar as we all gathered round the willow tree. I made my way to the alter and joined the priestess. I fumbled about in my apron and produced an embroidered pillow me and Emily had carefully made and I placed the two silver rings on it. Andy appeared in a kilt and walked up to the alter with the biggest smile on his face.
The music dramatically changed and Karin started singing ‘Under your spell’ by Amber Benson. Lara stepped under the willow tree and my heart skipped a beat. A audible gasp came from the guests. She was wearing a gorgeous red and cream medieval looking dress. Her pale skin was like porcelain and her red lips were like cherries. Her black hair was up in a bun and she had a gold tiara with a red ruby that hung down on her fore head. She was like something out of a story book. She walked up to the alter and gazed into Andy’s eyes. The ceremony could now begin. The priestess started her rights as Lara and Andy placed there right hands together and then there left hands together to form an infinity symbol as the most important part of the ceremony began, the ring exchanging. I gave Andy Lara’s ring and Lara Andy’s ring praying I didn’t drop them. I didn’t want to mess up. They smiled at each other as they placed the rings on each others fingers (which believe me is hard when your hands are bound together!). They were now man and wife! I looked out into the crowd as they were kissing and I saw that many of them were crying I looked over at Emily and she gave me the thumbs up which made me give a huge proud smile but her sister pointed to my bow which was about to come undone.
After the knots of were undone we all gathered around the fire as it was getting dark. Every one was laughing and smiling which made me wish the night would never end. I helped light some candles and I sang along to Karin’s songs. I gazed up at the moon and sighed the first happy sigh in days. That was all the preparing and worrying over with. I laid back and looked directly behind me and froze. There was a light moving around through the forest. My heart started to pump really fast as I jumped up and ran over to Emily
“Emily there are other people in the forest!” I hissed into her ear. She gave me a clueless look. By now my heart was in my throat as I ran over to my aunt and pointed to the lights. Her eyes narrowed “Who is that?” she asked. The light were getting closer and by now every one was looking. Awful images were flashing through my mind of horrid mutants who collected other people’s body parts just like in the wrong turn. The light went out and a ripple of murmurs were cast out through the guests. Then suddenly some one jumped out behind me and cried “RAWR!” At the top of there lungs. I almost had a heart attack. Screaming I whirled round and saw Emily’s older brother, Mark, in hysterics.
“That was not funny!” I cried grabbing my shoes that I had taken of earlier and chucking them at him. Every one was laughing and I could tell my cheeks had gone several shades of pink.
“Whoa there Alice!” He grinned. “I’m just here to tell you and Ems it’s time to go!”
With that we said our good byes and made our way back to the car with Emily’s mum and her brother.
“That was amazing! Emily said for the eleventh time. I nodded aware that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.
“I think Alice it tired!” Her brother remarked.
I managed a scowl at him and no more because as soon as I got into the car I fell fast asleep.
Lara and Andy’s hand fasting will forever remain in my heart as one of the most memorable day of my life. I got a thank you letter from the a week later and again had to open it over the sink. In side were photo graphs of me and Emily. I smiled as I flicked through them but I gasped when I saw the last one. It was of me in the car fast asleep with a drawn on moustache and beard. “MARK!” I shrieked in horror. “You’ll pay for this!!”
Oh and he did!





By Emma Wilson

K!

and can you make it like on phtotshop? if not thats okay^^ your making it not me XD

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE OK! COULD YOU DO ONE WITH ME AND THE LEAD SINGER GERARD!? I GOT A PIC OF HIM ON MY PROFILE WITH BLONDE HAIR!^^ COULD YOU? IF YOU CAN ID BE TICKLED TO DO A PIC FOR YOU^^ WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE?

ok WHEEEEEEEEE! do you know of the band My chemical romance?

YOU HAVE VERY CUTE ART! DO YOU DO REQUESTS?

hey there! ^^
I have updated "Dear Little Spark" if you're interested :3

Gotta do it again!!

Lara and Andy’s hand fasting


“This ones for you.” My mum said as he handed me a sparkly pink envelope. “Don’t get glitter every were!” she added.
“Kay!” I groaned as I opened it over the sink. In side was a piece of hand made paper with very fancy calligraphy on it. “Dear Emma,” I read “you are invited to Lara and Andy’s fairy tail themed hand fasting...” Re-reading the page I thought ‘Fairy tail….Sounds kinda lame.’ Then I noticed there was writing on the back “P.S we have a surprise for you.”
The next day I made my way into town to look for an outfit. I fifty pounds in hand and was bubbling with excitement. I loved to make wacky outfits and knowing Lara’s personality the whole hand fasting was going to be wacky. Two hours later and I felt depressed and frustrated. A hand fasting was a magical event where two people declare there undying love for one another and I couldn’t find any thing that didn’t look cheesy! Then suddenly I got a text from Lara.
“Come to Moto!”
Moto was a trendy little restaurant just round the corner from where I was standing. “That’s pretty vague.” I murmured “I should be used to this sort of thing by now.” I sighed as I walked down the street crunching crisp autumn leaves as I went.
When I walked into Moto I suddenly felt hungry as I was bombarded with lots of delicious smells of Italian food. Lara and Andy where sitting in a booth at the far end of the restaurant. I smiled as I walked over and sat down suddenly aware that they had the scariest smiles on there faces. “What?” I asked.
“We have a surprise for you!” Lara giggled suddenly her bright bubbly self again.
“We would like you to be the ring barer.” They both chorused.
I froze in shock. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a hand fasting but the ring barer is a massive part it’s more important than a normal weddings ring barer. In a hand fasting a ring barer is like a flower girl brides made and ring barer all rolled into one!
I was in shock when suddenly a horrid realisation came to me. “Crud! Now I definitely need to get a good outfit!” I cried standing up.
“No need!” Lara smiled handing me a massive bag. I gave her a puzzled look before taking the bag and taking out the contents. I could feel my face go fuchsia red as I pulled out a frilly black and pink Alice in wonderland outfit with stripy tights to mach and black buckle shoes. There was even a big pink bow! I just sat there with opening and closing my mouth a couple of times but not saying anything.
“A week later I was sitting in my friend Emily’s car with my out fit on. She kept giving me sideways glances and going into massive giggling fits. She was wearing a slinky violet princess’s dress with a crown on her head. That simple and not a frill in sight. After two hours of Emily’s giggling fits and hitting her with my shoe we were finally there.
“Are you sure it’s here?” I asked getting out the car and looking into the forest and suddenly thinking of the movie the wrong turn. Emily’s mum just smiled at me and handed me my bow. I gave a low growl as I snatched it out of her hand and adjusted it in my hair.
After fifteen minutes of playing ‘lets jump out at Emma and scare her’ we finally arrived at the spot that it was taking place and what I saw took my breath away. The main alter was set up under a weeping willow tree. There was a fire going of to the side of the tree with a circle of stones around it so it wouldn’t get out of hand. There were beautiful smelling autumn flowers dancing around our feet. I became aware that I could here the sound of water near by as I broke away from Emily and walked over to the edge of the clearance were there was a slope down to a massive water fall. The whole place was so picturesque. The rest of the guests were all gathering firewood and my aunt, who was already here, told me to go and help them. I gave a last nervous tug at the bottom of my dress and I made my way to greet the others but before I even got there a red faced Emily met me.
“Emma I feel so under dressed!” She exclaimed I cocked my head to the side the looked past her and I saw what she meant. I wasn’t the only one Lara had obviously got to. Frills everywhere!
Finally with the firewood gathered the ceremony could begin. Lara’s sister Karin started strumming a guitar as we all gathered round the willow tree. I made my way to the alter and joined the priestess. I fumbled about in my apron and produced an embroidered pillow me and Emily had carefully made and I placed the two silver rings on it. Andy appeared in a kilt and walked up to the alter with the biggest smile on his face.
The music suddenly dramatically changed and Karin started singing ‘Under your spell’ by Amber Benson. Lara stepped under the willow tree and my heart skipped a beat. A audible gasp came from the guests. She was wearing a gorgeous red and cream medieval looking dress. Her pale skin was like porcelain and her red lips were like cherries. Her black hair was up in a bun and she had a gold tiara with a red ruby that hung down on her fore head. She was like something out of a story book. She walked up to the alter and gazed into Andy’s eyes. The ceremony could now begin. The priestess started her rights as Lara and Andy placed there right hands together and then there lest hands together to form an infinity symbol as the most important part of the ceremony began. The priestess held ten pieces of cord and she bound there hands together while saying what colour meant what. Dark blue for safe journeys, light blue for understanding and patience, pink for romance, honour, partnership and happiness, green for health wealth and luck, red for courage strength and passion, yellow for wisdom and harmony, Brown for home help, silver for creativity and protection, gold is basically the same as dark blue and white for peace, sincerity and devotion.
Then the ring exchanging. I gave Andy Lara’s ring and Lara Andy’s ring. They smiled at each other as they placed the rings on each others fingers (which believe me is hard when your hands are bound together!). They were now man and wife! I looked out into the crowd as they were kissing and I saw that many of them were crying I looked over at Emily and she gave me the thumbs up which made me smile but her sister pointed to my bow which was about to come undone.
After the knots of were undone we all gathered around the fire as it was getting dark. Every one was laughing and smiling which made me with the night would never end. I helped light some candles and I sang along to Karin’s songs. I gazed up at the moon and sighed the first happy sigh in days. That was all the preparing and worrying over with. I laid back and looked directly behind me and froze. There was a light moving around through the forest. My heart started to pump really fast as I jumped up and ran over to Emily
“Emily there are other people in the forest!” I hissed into her ear. She gave me a clueless look. By now my heart was in my throat as I ran over to my aunt and pointed to the lights. Her eyes narrowed “Who is that?” she asked. The light were getting closer and by now every one was looking. Awful images were flashing through my mind of horrid mutants who collected other people’s body parts just like in the wrong turn. Suddenly the light went out and a ripple of murmurs were cast out through the guests. Then suddenly some one jumped out behind me and cried “RAWR!” At the top of there lungs. I almost had a heart attack. Screaming I whirled round and saw Emily’s older brother, Mark in fits of hysterics.
“That was not funny!” I cried grabbing my shoes that I had taken of earlier and chucking then at him. Every one was laughing and I could tell my cheeks had gone several shades of pink.
“Whoa there Alice!” He grinned. “I’m just here to tell you and Ems it’s time to go!”
With that we said our good byes and made our way back to the car with Emily’s mum and her brother.
“That was amazing! Emily said for the eleventh time. I nodded suddenly aware that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.
“I think Alice it tired!” Her brother remarked.
I managed a scowl at him and no more because as soon as I got into the car I fell fast asleep.
Lara and Andy’s hand fasting will forever remain in my heart as one of the most memorable day of my life. I got a thank you letter from the a week later and again had to open it over the sink. In side were photo graphs of me and Emily. I smiled as I flicked through them but I gasped when I saw the last one. It was of me in the car fast asleep with a drawn on moustache and beard. “MARK!” I shrieked in horror. “You’ll pay for this!!” Oh and he did!





By Emma Wilson

This is my essy for english so im saving it on here so i can get it at school!


Mid term break

Midterm break by Seamus Heaney is a poem which evokes real emotion in the reader. I plan on showing how Seamus Achieves this by analysing his use of language. The poem is about the emotions Seamus and his family felt when Seamus’ little brother got killed.
This poem is in a clear, formal structure in three line stanzas this is good because it expresses the feelings and emotions in the order Seamus experienced them. In the last stanza there is a rhyming couplet that softens the fact that there was “no gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four foot box a foot for every year.” This draws the readers attention and creates an impact.
Seamus uses clever word choice, for example the title itself is a clue to the contents and the meaning of the poem, the phrase Mid-Term break can symbolise a life being cut short like a term being cut short by the holidays. In the second line of the poem, Heaney uses the word 'Knelling' (simply meaning a ring as in announcing death or The sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death or a funeral or the end of something) to symbolise the ringing of bells ending lessons, by doing so, Heaney is comparing the ringing of the bells in a school, to the ringing of bells announcing a death/funeral. It also gives a reader a clue to what is going to happen in the poem. Also When the ambulance bring the brother home from the hospital Seamus refers to his brother as a “corpse” this shows he hasn’t yet accepted that the body is his brother. Also I would imagine the brother would be quite unsightly as he is “stanched and bandaged” and he would look different the last time Seamus saw him. There is a simple use of language in this poem it tells the reader as it is. He doesn’t sugar-coat any of the emotions they are all there for the world to see them. This makes the reader feel the raw emotions.
Seamus uses an onomatopoeia in order to create aural imagery so the reader feels that their in that situation. It makes them feel awkward when the baby “cooed and laughed” because he was glad to see Seamus even though everybody else was probably feeling as if it was inappropriate at a funeral. He also uses alliteration to make certain sentences stand out. Some times it a bit of aural imagery as well Such as “Counting bells knelling classed to a close” mimics the chime/ring of the bell. He uses it again in the last line of the poem to symbolise the briefness of the young boys life “A four foot box, a foot for every year.” This makes the reader feel many emotions to the death of some one so young.
In the last two stanzas there is a strong contrast to the previous ones it’s like darkness and then turning to light. It shows the poets change in emotions. Now he softens things about his brothers death rather than the harsh reality of it all. When He walks into the room for the first time he sees snow drops and candles surrounding his little brother. The snow drops hint towards reincarnation as plants die but they always come back again the nest year. It’s as if they are hoping he comes back as something new. They can also represent purity and innocence like the angels they hope he’s being watched by. The candles help sooth the atmosphere from the previous stanzas. Now we see he’s not unsightly and only is “wearing a poppy bruise.” The fact that he’s “wearing” it shows that Seamus knows it’s not part of him and again it softens instead of just saying bruise. Now he is finally referring to him as “him” To show He has finally realised it is his brother.
In this essay we looked at Seamus’ use of language and literary techniques. I personally find this a very emotional poem. If you put all your emotions on one page like Seamus has your bound to pull on peoples heart strings. I felt the pain of the family and the last sentence left me in a bit of shock. I think Seamus did a very good job on this poem and out of all the his work this one is my favourite.


By Emma Wilson.