TONE ASSIGNMENT: DAY AT THE BEACH
TWO SUBJECTIVE PARAGRAPHS
Subjective: Negative Remembered with Amused Irony
When I was a child, a family trip to the beach was an anxiety-ridden event. On the morning of the dreaded occasion, we would waken to my mother screaming, “This is your last warning, now get up,” where upon my siblings and I would fly out of bed and grab every clean towel in the house. When everyone was accounted for we would cram ourselves and ninety pounds of beach equipment into our old ’57 wagon that leaked exhaust and shook like a paint mixer. But, before we would pull out of the driveway, our mother would turn in her seat, give us that look, and threaten to put us up for adoption if we acted up one time on the twenty-five mile ride out to the beach. So for the next forty-five minutes we heard the blaring of Bob Seger on the radio so my mother could politely ignore my brother and sister plotting to drown me in the gulf. When we eventually arrived, we all ran to the surf, dived into the waves and my sister was immediately stung by a jellyfish. While my mother was ministering to my hysterical sister, my brother thought my mother might need the offending jellyfish, so we hunted for a sturdy stick, impaled the little creature and proudly presented our prize. My sister threw up and my mother turned a funny shade of green before she burst into tears. Next, it was decided that a little lunch might help calm down the situation, unfortunately, it was still sitting on the kitchen counter where I had left it. Subsequently, the announcement was made to pack up, another glorious day at the beach was over.
Subjective: Positive-- Sentimental and Nostalgic
When I was a child, a family trip to the beach was an exciting excursion. On the morning of the great event, my siblings and I would fly out of bed, scrambling about to collect all the necessary items for a fun-filled day. The drive to the beach took about an hour, so while my mother hummed to a tune on the car radio, we entertained ourselves with word games and predictions of the great aquatic stunts we would perform. When we finally arrived, my brother and sister ran to the surf to throw themselves in, while I used my facemask to contentedly float in the quiet stillness of another world, marveling at the variety of sea-life. Then, after a hearty lunch of chicken potato salad, we set out on our own treasure hunt, combing the beach for the perfect shell. Our mother always treated each of our findings like a grand prize in a game, examining each one carefully and exclaiming with wonderment at their uniqueness and beauty. Out next adventure involved the intricate, detailed art of building sand castles, and although out architectural talents were limited, our imaginations were not. We would carefully craft a majestic structure, complete with a moat and drawbridge to keep out fierce enemies. But too soon, our mother would call us from that land of knights and dragons, and our day at the beach was over for until the next time.