Online Lesson #7

War: A Personal Response

1. View the following slideshow at BBC News of war photos taken:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8492000/8492777.stm

2. Select one photo in the slideshow and write a descriptive piece of at least 300 words (min.); focus on mood, atmosphere, and emotions.

Since this is a piece of descriptive writing, you will not write a narrative. Focus specifically on description and sensory details.

3. Post the descriptive piece on your blog.







Descriptive piece :


There they stood, trudging unwillingly, reluctantly, yet helplessly through the crashed debris and rubble that remained; under the elephantine burden of the rusty, soggy, gear suits they wore, bearing under the oppressive heat, which seemed to be lighter than the yoke they entrapped inside; not to mention the suffocation, and the fog that cast a gloomy and glum atmospheric presence over the land. Every step they took, particles of dust strewed into mid-air, stubbornly but forcefully tickling their nostrils; crackles of the galvanized steel below them crunched, and the crisp of that sound seemed satisfying. 


The humidity of the surroundings elevated, the perspiration on their foreheads accumulated dreadfully, their muscles ached and begged them to rest, and all of one's exasperation singularly accrued till almost unbearable. 


The sourness and bitterness of the stuffed air seemed not only to provide oxygen, but choked the freshness of the air which once was abundant. They trudged through the broken pathway, wishing for it to end- not the tiresome journey they have endured since last week, not the cruelness of the burdened heat that never ceased, not the migraines and aches they suffered over days, but the war, and the inclination of deaths. 


The gloom that persisted through the month began to loom and leer, encapsulating the nation into inevitable melancholy. It was not just an omniscient gloom, but a tangible one; one bringing out frustration, despair and helplessness, one that seemed to be the cause of everything. In their hearts, they just tried to shake off this gloom, and battled the urge to retreat. 


Their endurance was put to the test. Their hearts were overtaken, their souls were  overwhelmed by the ever growing suffering this war seemed to result. It was a war psychologically and physically. They heaved an air of confidence, shouted an outcry of bravery, and slowly, gradually, took their first step into the parched and crackled battlefield......