Essay 8

Lonely:

Dill’s Loneliness And My Loneliness

An Essay by Inpyo Hong

8^th Grade English

Pine Point School

December 6, 2010

(Hook) To quote Aristotle, “No one would choose a friendless existence on condition of having all the other things in the world,” this quotation suggests that human interactions cannot be replaced by material objects. (CM) No person would choose possessions over companionship because loneliness is the most horrible emotion to experience. (CM) In To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM), Dill’s parents thought they could satisfy Dill’s desire for their companionship and love by replacing both with toys and books. (Thesis) While objects can temporarily distract feelings of loneliness, eventually the need for human contact must be satisfied.

(TS) In TKAM, Dill explains to Scout that he feels as if his mother and new stepfather would prefer if he were not a part of their lives. (SD) As Dill stated in the novel, “They just wasn’t [weren’t] interested in me… when they were home, even, they’d get off in a room by themselves.” (CM) Dill was lonesome and aching for his parents’ companionship and attention. (CM) Additionally, he felt forsaken and like an outcast within family. (SD) Furthermore, he feels as though his parents buy him materials to occupy his time so that they do not have to keep him company. (CM) Dill explains the situation to Scout by saying, “They buy me everything I want, but its now-you’ve-got-it-go-play-with-it. You’ve got a roomful of things. I-got-you-that-book-so-go-read-it.” (CM) Dill would rather have his parents’ love and attention over material possessions--toys and books. (CS) As a result, Dill escapes his loneliness by running away to the Finches where he knows he will never feel forsaken.

           (TS) Recently, feelings of loneliness in my own life have allowed me to relate to Dill’s feelings of being alone. (SD) This October, I had to leave my first school where I had many friends to attend a new school where I was alone. (CM) I felt like a solitary person segregated from the rest of the world. (CM) To make myself feel better, I had to find a way to relieve my feelings of emptiness. (SD) Like Dill, I tried to replace my need for companionship by focusing my time on objects-- a computer and books. (CM) My feelings of loneliness did not go away. (CM) At this point, I forced myself to make friends. (CS) Therefore, feelings of companionship cannot be substituted.

                  (Hook) Consequently, material objects may not replace our interactions. (CM) By replacing Dill’s hope for companionship and love between him and his parents by toys and books, Dill’s parents could not gratify both Dill’s hope and love. (CM) Like Dill’s parents, I could not satisfy my need for companionship by the computer and books. (CS) We must eventually content human contacts without replacing the contacts by material objects.

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-Self Assessment:
1. The one thing that I am continuing to work on is using wide range of vocabularies, F.A.S.T. words. I sometimes use very simple words such as happy and angry. For me, it is very hard to connect sentences so readers may understand easily. I believe sentences of this essay are well connected.  However, sentences that I wrote for previous essays were not connected. Thus, I need to keep working on connecting sentences well either.

2. One strong point I see in this essay is that I explained Dill's loneliness very well by my memory of loneliness.

3. One weak point in my essay is that I only wrote short sentences. I hope I can write longer sentences than these sentences next time.
4. I would give my self a B+ for this essay.