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Alexander Rohonczy's 11th Grade English Class Blog

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Alexander Rohonczy's 11th Grade English Class Blog

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These are my thoughts...

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This blog was created to showcase the lessons, morals, themes, literary elements, stylistic devices, and analyses that were explored in my English online class during the summer of 2019. I hope this blog might be of use to 10th grade students, English teachers, potential employers or any others that are interested in this summer course.
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Hi, I'm Alexander Rohonczy. I am 16 years old and heading into 11th grade this Fall. I play several sports including soccer, hockey and tennis and am also a student in the CEAO (Centre d'Excellence Artistique de l'Ontario) program, in the cinematography specialization. The background picture and other photos included in this blog are my creations. Because I have to take two CEAO courses per term, I have very few optional course slots. I am taking this online English class to ensure that I can take all of the science classes offered in high school. This ensures that I keep all my options open in terms of prerequisites for university, since at this point I'm not really sure what I would like to do in the future.

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I recently read the "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". This story was published in 1942 in a collection of short stories by the American writer James Thurber. This story contrasts the failures of an ordinary man with the successes in his extraordinary fantasies. The story held such universal appeal that it was adapted to the movie screen in 1947 and again in 2013.

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This story is about an unremarkable man, Walter Mitty, and the contrast between his mundane real life and his heroic fantasy life. It takes place in everyday situations such as driving or shopping, but in each scenario, Walter escapes from his tedious existence through his imagination. In these exploits, he imagines himself as the key character in some great adventures, such as being the captain of a navy "hydroplane", navigating through a storm, with his adoring crew praising him. These dreams are shattered over and over again by his overbearing wife, who reminds him of his reality as a weak, dull, and completely ordinary man. The story presents a series of vignettes, rather than a traditional story with a conflict and resolution. Each of these vignettes emphasizes the futility of Walter's daily efforts, especially when compared to his fantasies. The story gives the impression that if it were to continue, it would just present yet another ordinary daily event where Walter is a failure, and yet another fantastic imaginary adventure where Walter would again be the hero.
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For my class assignment, I chose to add an ending to this story by James Thurber. Although I thought that the story was very well written and I really appreciated James Thurber's style and theme, I felt that the story had an abrupt ending, and I wanted some closure. I decided to write a resolution that would wrap up the story, and wrap up Walter Mitty's life as well. I did this while still trying to stay as close to James Thurber's style of writing and story telling as possible. Hopefully I succeeded and you enjoyed it - a synopsis is included below!

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As a class assignment, I added an epilogue to the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". In my ending, I decided to follow James Thurber's style and themes, starting with a real scene from Walter Mitty's real life, and transitioning into a fictional world that Walter imagines. My ending takes place around 20 years after the original story. Walter is in his hospital bed, and is near death. He is woken up by his wife, and while she rambles on about his self-care and other matters irrelevant  to him, he transitions into his fictional world. He imagines himself as the captain of a space shuttle called Venus 13. His crew, as always in his fictional worlds, is very fond of him and praises him. At the end, the ship explodes in his fantasy, just as his life ends in his real world. This symbolizes that both in his fictional world and in his real world, he ultimately could never truly escape reality.

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I have read many novels, but out of all of them, Lord of the Flies was one of the most memorable because of its emotional impact, unique story, and interesting characters. Because of this, I decided to write a short essay-type response describing what I thought was the most memorable moment in the story. An essay-type text was ideal for this topic. It gave me the opportunity to describe my impressions of the subject, to elaborate on these impressions, and to provide examples and quotes to support my thoughts. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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In Lord of the Flies, a novel written by William Golding, there were many memorable scenes.

I believe that the most unforgettable scene is the final rescue scene. That scene describes how first Ralph, and then all the other boys, go through an emotional roller coaster as they realize what has been happening to them since their arrival on the island. At the beginning of the scene Ralph is in despair, “crouching with arm up to ward off, trying to cry for mercy,” (Golding, 222). as the other boys descend upon him. This changes to relief as he is saved by a navy officer, and Ralph dutifully answers the officer’s questions. Finally, as he recounts the events that occurred on the island to the officer, Ralph breaks down completely. “The tears began to flow and sobs shook him” (Golding, 224) This scene was memorable because it described the range of powerful emotions that Ralph and the boys felt, and left the reader with detailed, carefully described images of the young savages slowly turning back into relieved castaways.

In conclusion, I believe that even in a book full of memorable scenes, this final scene stood out thanks to Golding’s vivid descriptions of the boys’ emotional states.

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Arthur Miller's The Crucible Inspires a Poem!

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Arthur Miller's The Crucible Inspires a Poem!

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Welcome back to my blog! A few days ago I finished reading The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. My poem explores how intolerance can divide us from one another, and contrasts it with the power of standing together and supporting one another.

Below I link to a video of my reading of the poem as well as the actual written text:

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Persuasive text - Current weather patterns are a cause for concern

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Persuasive text - Current weather patterns are a cause for concern

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Hey guys! Today, for my blog, I decided to write about something a little bit different. For class, we had to choose an environmental topic and present our views on the matter. I decided to try to persuade my readers, using logic and emotional appeal as persuasive techniques, that current weather patterns are a cause for concern. I hope I can convince you that this is a problem, and that we need to come together to find a solution. Let's find a way to save the world!
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Thanks to scientific evidence, it is now known that Earth’s average annual temperatures are rising. Current weather patterns created by this change in climate are a cause for concern.

Climate experts on the Canadian Government site climatedata.ca have estimated that in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada the average annual temperature has gradually been increasing, from an average of 5.9 ºC in the 1951-1980 period, to a projected average of 12 ºC in the last 30 years of this century. Global estimates show that worldwide temperature increase is accelerating, which has been leading to long heat waves, intense rainfalls, severe droughts, and floods. (Persuasive technique: logic) Describing the second recent flood disaster in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said:

"They say it's 100-year storms -- well it's a few years later and we're back in the same boat, something is going on and we have to be conscious of it."

Even climate change deniers are now beginning to admit that the planet is being affected by climate change and that the current weather patterns are a cause for concern. (logic)

In conclusion, when it comes to climate change, everyone is affected, from those living in the North where melting permafrost is changing hunting patterns to those in the south, where flooding and other dangerous natural phenomena are destroying living spaces, hurting and even killing people. (Persuasive technique: emotional appeal) Scientists expect that this trend will continue and will require working together to find causes and potential solutions to limit future temperature increases and adapt to the changing environment.

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Welcome back to my blog ladies and gentlemen! Today I was required to choose one of the writing activities that I completed during the summer. I thought it was only fitting to talk about my favourite types of texts to read, one of the first texts we wrote in our English course.
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What are your favourite and least favourite types of texts to read and why?

My favourite type of text is the persuasive essay. I really enjoy reading persuasive essays because it’s always compelling to have access to someone else’s opinion and seeing them try to persuade you into seeing things in their way. This is fascinating because everyone has a different perspective, due to differences in education, upbringing, socioeconomic class, religion and environment. My least favourite type of texts are free versed poems. I dislike these because, to me, they are very difficult to interpret. I prefer poems that are written following a specific structure, for example the more structured poem that I wrote earlier in my blog.

What is your favourite part of reading and why?

My favourite part of reading is being able to immerse myself into the worlds of different characters and being able to see how they grow in very different environments from our own. I read to be able to see people do things that I would not ever have the chance to do, or might not choose to do even if given a choice. Stories also allow me to learn and explore as well as get inspired. The experience of 'trying on' a life of a character has the potential of changing the way I see the world and myself in it. Best of all, before starting to read a new novel or story, all is possible and I am standing on the edge of a new world!

What is your least favourite part of reading, or what do you find most difficult about reading and why?

My least favourite part of reading is getting completely engrossed in a book with a bad ending. While I’m reading a book I constantly think of different possibilities of where the story could go. Many times I’m wrong, but the ending that the author chose is even better than anything I would ever have considered. At other times, the ending to a story can feel rushed or just simply doesn’t fit with the genre of story that was going on up until that point. This really upsets me because the ending can ruin an entire story. This can lead me to wanting to rewrite the ending. I'm sure the author wouldn't be too thrilled though!

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Hey guys and girls, my time in the English 11 summer course has come to an end, and with that, so has my time on this blog. I really enjoyed writing these texts and I hope that I both entertained and encouraged many of you to take action! One day I may stumble upon this blog and decide to read it through and possibly continue it, but for now Alexander Rohonczy's English 11 blog is finished. Thank you for sticking with me right to the end, and enjoy your summer vacations!