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Essay . . In Prose Format?
Topic Started: Jun 16 2009, 04:05 PM (360 Views)
Celestial-Fox
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Writing prompt for English III: "If you could change any event in history, what would it be?"
I was sick of doing essays in that class, so I did it in prose format. She told us to make our essay original--something that'd make the reader straighten up in their seat after going through a stack of writing.

I'm not sure if I made her sit up, but all I know is that I failed at the generic method of essay-answering.


F a t a l . M e c h a n i c s : :
Silently in a dark, desolate library sat a man at his desk, his face illume with the dusty light that filtered through a dirty glass window overhead. Books—dozens of them—slid off of the desk into a heap at his feet as he rippled through paperwork. He dabbled constantly at a roll of parchment with a feather quill. His dark haired head jerked up upon hearing the grand double doors squeaking open, but his hand still precisely recorded words onto the paper.

The sound of the hinges continuously ricocheted off the immense book shelving that incased the walls. Before the dark haired man stood another male, a teenage boy. He had thin, white hair that caught light and spidered away from his head as he huffed air in and out of his lungs. His voice, quiet at first, raised in intensity.

“Sir! There is something we must speak about.”

The man looked over his reading glasses and stared into the boy’s eyes intently in order to extract an answer from his lips.

“Today is your day, Master Historian!”

The older man parted his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the boy:

“The Divine Orchestrator has spoken! He says that because of all your hard work and dedication, you can open up any of the history scrolls and make edits as you see fit.”

The Master Historian stroked his imaginary beard in thought as the boy took a seat in front of the desk, wading through the fallen documents. The man pulled up another blank scroll and began writing once more, not even ceasing to speak. The words that flowed from his mouth we carefully chosen and articulated. “How long will it take for the changes to take place?”

The young one slid back down in the cushioned chair as a casual gesture. “Immediately, Time.”

The man pulled off his reading glasses and glared at the young boy. His looked down at his papers to regain composure. “You know very well that <I>Time</I> is not my preferred title—”

“But it’s your name!

“That is of no significance, Fate.” The Master Historian paused. “Now about the Orchestrator’s offer.”

Fate rolled his eyes and sighed. “Will you stop writing? I’m trying to talk to you here, and—”

“No,” the dark haired one replied stiffly. “History must be remembered.”

“We in the Upper Rooms never forget.

“It’s good to have,” he stated frankly, recording the happenings of Earth in the Grand Archive. “Back to the subject.”

“What is more to say? Make a change—murders, anything!” Fate began to rotate a tiny hourglass from the desktop in his fingers.

The Master Historian reached across the stack of scrolls and snatched the hourglass from Fate’s delicate hand. “Don’t play with other people’s lives.” He replaced the hourglass on the desk, allowing the sand to continue falling. “I’m under the inclination that this is not a good idea.”

“Why not? Don’t you want to change the murder of that one guy centuries ago—? Eh, what was his name . . . <I>Martin Luther King Junior?</I>”

“No.”

Fate stood up. “What?! The Holocaust? You have to change the Holocaust.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’re terrible, Ti—Master Multitasker.” His passionate voice resonated in the vertically tall building.

The dark haired man threw down his quill and crossed his arms. “You are completely absurd. If you change one thing—<I>one thing</I>—the course of history would change for eternity.”

Fate stopped his pacing and shot an icy glare at the Master Historian. “Know you nothing?!Fate— fate—” he gestured to himself “—will keep things on the right track! Doctor King would still die, just . . . later.” He looked around the room. “Where’s Destiny when you need her?”

“Pity, fool. The Civil Rights Movement of the American states would have been retarded, and the lives of people decades later would have been severely affected.”

“You’re making an immense mistake.”

“Is this your job? You’re destroying the future of all life on planet Earth.”

“For the better!”

The Master Historian rested his chin on a fist. “Dear boy, what’s good for one isn’t necessarily good for another. It’s a waste of time. Let life take its course.”

Fate slammed his hand on the desk in front of the other. “You’re lazy, aren’t you? Blasted lazy!

The man’s eyes widened with disgust. “No. It has too many repercussions!” He huffed a frustrated tone. “Get. Out.”

Fate wasted no time in getting to the doors. He opened one, but looked behind him in afterthought. “You’ll be very sorry when you think back on this.” He exited the library.

Time thrust his papers to the side and ran outside after Fate. He grabbed the boy by the back of his collar and turned him around. “This isn’t our place! You want to know what I would change? Absolutely nothing. Nothing!”

Fate had none of it, and ripped himself away.

The Master Historian returned to the library, infuriated by Fate’s ignorance. He unrolled every last scroll on his desk and sprawled them across the floor. He reached into the drawer and struck a match. Looking intently around the room, he tossed the match onto the paper and shut the door, destroying every changeable piece of the past.

We in the Upper Rooms never forget; if only from pain, prejudice, and hardship, the humans would learn more quickly.




I hate the ending. suggestions?
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+Linden
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I bet it's different from what everybody else turned in. But I'm not sure it answered the prompt completely/directly. But it was good, nonetheless. :goof:

The ending was fine, I thought. What don't you like about it exactly?
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Celestial-Fox
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I think that the ending was really abrupt. Just like some last minute vomit--which is was, but usuall I'm pretty good at masking that sort of stuff.
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kelseyyy.
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hmm, that's an interesting topic, i never would've been able to think of something like that. i like it=]
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Celestial-Fox
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Thanks! I like writing in class, but the higher you go up in the classes, the more you read and the less you write. D:
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kelseyyy.
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yeah, i know, it's lame...i wanna take the poetry class next year, but apparently have to take english III first=[
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Celestial-Fox
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WE HAVE A POETRY CLASS?
I DIDN'T KNOW THAT.

*passed English III already*
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kelseyyy.
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haha. yeah, there's a poetry class.
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Celestial-Fox
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Who teaches it?
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kelseyyy.
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umm....i don't knoww. haha.
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Celestial-Fox
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If it's Hickle, I'm out. DX!
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kelseyyy.
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i don't think it's Hickle...but idk who it IS...
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** Death's servant
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You show an initiative and creativity that I really admire. And you stated your point with a good measure of eloquence and originality. The point you seek to make is a sound. But when your teacher says essay, you gotta do an essay, otherwise they can fail you even for work like this.
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Celestial-Fox
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Thanks, Blake. :> And I asked her if I went crazy with the format if it was okay, and she said yes (surprisingly). So while everyone went off and wrote satires that characterized the error in our ways, I wrote this. X) I'm so happy we didn't read them aloud; I'm kinda shy with my work IRL.
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