Essay #21

Ryan

4/29/10

8 English

Mr. H. Salsich

Multi-Genre Essay:

Friendship

Dear Reader:

This essay is about the meaning of the word "friendship." I will try to explain what this word means by using four different styles of writing. The point of the different genres is to try to give the reader the best understanding of the topic of the essay.

Formal Paragraph:

(TS) Romeo's lack of friendship in Romeo and Juliet is extremely noticeable. (SD) Early in the book, Romeo is found crying, and when he's not outside crying, he's locked up in his room. (C) His best friend, Benvolio, catches him crying outside and Romeo runs. (C) I think that Romeo feels like he can't tell Benvolio what he is so upset about, which is causing a rift in their friendship. (SD) Romeo also does not listen to Benvolio when he is told not go after Juliet. (C) This is what causes a major conflict in the story, which results in Romeo's death. (C) If he had listened to his best friend, then there would have been no more problems to come in his life. (CS) If Romeo had been a better friend to Benvolio, he would have had a much easier life.

Free-Verse Poem:

A true friend

The word friend is just a title.

Anyone can have a "friend" who

Hurts them,

Or even worse,

Deserts them.

A true friend is built off of two things:

Respect,

And most importantly,

Trust.

If you and your friend practice these two significant rules to friendship,

You will taste true friendship.

On the other end,

breaking these rules will cause a rift in your companionship.

A rift so strong,

That it can only be connected again through forgiveness.

That is, if it can be connected again.

Haiku Poem:

Always there for us,

Teaching us what's important,

Always being kind.

Character Sketch:

A man and his best friend, who now lives extremely far away, try to get together at least once every year. Although they are each very excited to see each other every time, they never go out and do much. They always just sit down together, and talk; they are such good friends that the pair do not care what their doing, as long as they are in each other's presence.

One year, they could not get together, and they were both devastated. They talked over the phone, but it was not nearly the same experience for them. This happened again the next year, and the year after that, and eventually, they both just stopped trying, and their friendship started to fade.

A few years later, one of them finally got an opportunity to visit the other, and he decided that he was going to come surprise the other. When they saw each other, a rush of memories came back to them. They remembered everything that they had done with each other, and their friendship came back in a flash.

After this meeting, they started to do this even more frequently than they used to do it, and they became even better friends than they were before. The friends also learned something from this: they learned that no matter what, a strong friendship can never be broken.

Self Assessment:

I feel that I could have done better on this essay. As I read this over, I realized that some parts may be boring for the reader, and that this essay was missing some variety. Although this was not my best work, I do like the formal paragraph. I put a lot of thought into it, and I like how it came out.