The irony

Shannon is busy preparing for her upcoming PSLE and she is struggling, somewhat, with her compositions. You can tell from her writing, that she’s trying to use dramatic prose, with big and fantastic words, stringing them together in an attempt to create tension, excitement and a reason for the teacher to award higher marks. I would say some of her attempts are not only respectable, but quite spectacular in her own cute little way – theatrical, yet innocent in the little mistakes and inaccurate definitions she sometimes assigns to words and phrases.

Here is a sample paragraph from something she wrote recently:

Whenever I see the scars on my arms and legs, the faded lines criss-crossing one another, the purplish hue circling them, a jolt of pain will shoot up my spine. The horrible memories That I had tried so hard to suppress would rush back to my mind. The screams, the blood, the pain and gruesome images would replay in my mind repeatedly. I could never be free of them.

 It sounds like something I would have written during my younger years as well. I was more familiar with the negative words of suffering and distress than those of happiness and glee. Besides, nobody wants to read stories where everyone is happy and contented – more marks seem to be given where there is heartache and brokenness, sorrow and misguided cheerfulness.

Could be the Harry Potter.