Final Exam Essay

Kyle Sebastian
Professor H. Salsich
English 9
6-4-09
Emotional Guidance:
Final Exam Essay
The poem “The Real Work” by Wendell Berry explains that once people relinquish (FAST) their control on life they start their “real journey.” People often give control to their emotions and are led by them all the time. They let how their feeling influence the decisions they make. These decisions make up the different chapters of our lives, and since we each make different decisions, we each have a unique life. Some people try to keep in control of their emotions all the time and try to live life by a schedule. However, it is only when you free yourself of plans and let fate take you where it will when you start on your “real journey.”
Laura, a young girl from the story “The Garden Party” by Katherine Mansfield, is an example of how someone “no longer [knows] which way to go.” (Appositive) Laura was someone who very much liked to be in control. She even was the supervisor for where to put a Marquee for her mother’s garden party. She enjoyed the feeling that everything was going as planned and if something went wrong she would be able to fix it. However, once she heard that a man had died just outside her house she didn’t know what to do. She forgot all about the garden party and focused on the dead man. Her emotions of sympathy for the family of the man caused her to try to stop the garden party, afraid it would offend the family. If Laura was her usual composed self she would never have even thought of stopping the party, but since she was being led by her emotions she made decisions she wouldn’t have usually made. As soon as she let her emotions lead her is when she started on her “real journey.”
Another fictional character, Dexter Green, from “Winter Dreams” by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was also someone who lost control of his emotions. He loved a woman in the story by the name of Judy Jones. She was wild, and interesting, and beautiful, and always exciting (Polysyndeton/Parallelism). He, in fact, never had a dull moment while he was with her. The negative part about Judy, however, was that she was so wild that Dexter had no control over her. She frequently saw other men, which caused Dexter to be devastated and was the foundation his emotions needed to influence him. Since Dexter had no control over the situation with Judy it caused his emotions to be all the more potent (FAST). He “no longer [knew] which way to go” with Judy, which led to the start of his life’s “real journey.”
If people didn’t show their emotions life would be very bland. Everyone would be an emotionless mask and there would be no excitement. Emotions give drama, exude (FAST) excitement, and share meaning to life (3 Action Sentence). We all make decisions based on what we feel is right or wrong and that makes each of our lives inimitable (FAST). Emotions rule who we are and how we live. If you simply live your life by your emotions then you are truly “the [. . .] stream [. . .] that sings.”

Key
Fast Words-(FAST)
Special Terms-Bold