Two Descriptions Essay Examples

“My living room breaths life”

My living room is a haven of life. The aroma of eggs and bacon sizzling in the pan fills my nostrils heralding the new day. I have just taken a seat by the arm of the sofa to count my blessings. The rays of the sun penetrate gracefully through the threadwork of my curtains like long gold crystals of expectation and hope. My wake-up alarm clock is playing “hallelujah” with vigor like it is happy I beat it to the mark today. With every hallelujah I begin to believe that I will achieve all my dreams for the day. My phone interrupts my thoughts. It is my mother as usual missing me and checking up on me. She is speaking so quickly and excitedly. My sister just delivered a healthy baby boy. I can almost hear her ululating and the hoarse voice of my dad in the background. He says there is going to be a party in honor of my sister. I cannot wait.

“My living room breaths despair”

My room is a pit of unfulfilled potential. It is like a dirty list of things I should have done last year. Eggs and bacon are rumbling away in the kitchen. Those were my last eggs. I need to go shopping for more. My sofa provides me with a place to ponder about my life as I look at the books and clothes strewn on my unwashed carpet. A guitar rests on the table unattended. I have been trying to learn how to play it for two years now and I cannot get past the first basic chords. Like an irate parent, this guitar is a constant reminder of my failings in life. My alarm clock starts to sing the monotonous “hallelujah” tune. It almost makes me jump in fright. It’s already time for my meeting. Just as I reach to shut it up, my phone rings. It is my mother. She is always complaining that I am never home. She has good news. My sister is now a mother to a son. Another hungry mouth to feed. My father is rumbling in the background. Something about taking control of my life. My life is a nightmare.

Rhetorical Analysis

I chose my living room for this exercise because it offers many interpretations for positives as well as negatives without changing the time or location. I had never thought of my room in this light before. This fact allowed me to explore the various features and decide how they may be interpreted as positive or negative. My room is welcoming and shows signs of life. However, its untidy nature may also be discouraging or depressing.
My first sentence is a direct statement of meaning. This sentence sets the tone for the rest of the paragraph. For the pleasant description, I wrote “My living room is a haven of life.” This sentence implies that there are vibrant signs of life and hope in my room. On the contrary, for my negative impression, I wrote, “My room is a pit of unfulfilled potential.” The statement implies that my room is a constant reminder of my failures.
My word choice also underlines the intended mood of the writing. For the positive description, for example, I used the word “sizzling” to describe the sound of cooking eggs. I also used “checking up on” to explain my mother’s phone call. “Sizzling” describes an exciting sound, while “checking up on” shows concern. On the other hand, for the negative description, I used the word “rumbling” to describe the sound of cooking eggs and bacon. I used “complaining to describe my mother’s phone call. Undoubtedly, these two words are filled with pessimism and negativity.
The next strategy I employed involved leaving out details in my description. For the pleasant description, I omitted the fact that my carpet was dirty, and that there were books and clothes strewn on the floor. These details would have reduced the positive outlook of my description.
I used similes and metaphors to develop the tone further. They help me to highlight hope or despair for the two descriptions. For example, I wrote that my sister’s baby was “another hungry mouth to feed,” allowing me to show the grim side of child birth. I also compare the rays of sunlight to long crystals of hope to highlight the positivity in facing a new day.
I paid attention to my sentence structure, providing short, tell sentences or longer sentences for different effects. The sentence, “My room is a pit of unfulfilled potential” is short and contrasts with, “My living room is a haven of life” in terms of tone. Both sentences, however give a quick impression of the living room. I have used longer sentences to give detailed descriptions. Example: “The rays of the sun penetrate gracefully through the threadwork of my curtains like long gold crystals of expectation and hope.”

Reflection

In the course of this exercise, I have learned that one’s mood affects the manner in which they would describe different situations. For example, when one is on a good mood, they may describe the act of walking on a muddy road as a pleasant experience. On the contrary, a person in a foul mood would describe the mud negatively. For example, they may opt to see the dirty side of mud or how difficult it makes their walk. The writer may also affect the mood of the reader by dwelling on positives or negatives. Overall, I have learned that effective writing is that which lets the reader fill in the dots rather than filling in all the details for them.