Reflective Essay (Final)

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Reflective Essay

Memories, washed away

By Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Published on 3/14/11

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/opinion/15marie.html?scp=1&sq=memories%20washed%20away&st=cse

This reflective essay is about a woman comparing her memories of World War 2, when her grandfather told her that he was spared from the atomic bomb that the United States dropped on Nagasaki to recent tsunami that devastated Japan. She seems to create a moody and sad tone for this subject. She does this by using literary techniques such as diction, language, and syntax. She stated that the tsunami “eviscerated” the Japan. The term “eviscerated” creates negative and powerful feeling, thus emphasizing the fear the power of tsunami. In addition, she stated that the tsunami “crash[ed]” the Japan. The term “crash” is active and effective at creating powerful feeling. The word “Catastrophic” is also used to describe potential nuclear meltdown crisis in Japan. Mockett used the diction well to create scary aspect of nuclear meltdown, thus creating moody and sorry feeling toward the tsunami. Language is used by Mockett to construct her tone in this essay. For example, she described to her worried mom that she would know when the tsunami come by observing when “ocean starts to disappear”. By using personification, she gave life to the ocean, thus let people feel how ocean will strike Japan once “it starts to disappear.” By doing this, Mockett was able to make her tone moody and sad.  At last, imagery is used to create the moody and sad tone. For instance, She described the event of tsunami by stating that the tsunami “rag[ed] over the farmland and crushed ferries”, which creates vivid imagery. By reading this, readers can feel the impact of the powerful wave and feel sympathy toward the people who were hit by this terrible wave.

Because she used some literary techniques effectively to create her moody and sad tone, I felt sad about Japan being devastated by the powerful and enormous tsunami. I also feel sympathy for those who lived in Japan on 1945 when the atomic bomb struck Nagasaki. This essay’s tone is appropriate for AP essay for it is formal and that it conveys speaker’s attitude toward the subject effectively, which is tsunami, by using literary techniques such as diction, language, and imagery.  Good job, Mockett.