1. Simon Lin<br />English 12<br />Period 8<br />Mr. Augustine<br />September 29, 2010<br />Smell of Happiness<br />Every school morning I wake up at five thirty, the sun is still hidden behind the dim sky, while the streetlights are still bright; my eyes are falling back to sleep and my body is moving like a sloth. The mornings are too early to have any breakfast, no appetite at all. And school starts as soon as I arrive there. Without being able to grab any delicious food, off I went to class.<br />During class my stomach pains to have food to consume, but there are nothing but papers in front of me to absorb. Teacher lecturing and will not ever stop, it is like how a song is put on reply, enough that it gets boring. After a while, all of the information comes into my right ear and goes out from the left. Class ends with nothing learn, only thing that crosses my mind is the grains of white soft rice with both red spicy topping and chunks of fresh meat.<br />The first class ends and comes the second. My stomach yet keeps on roaring. From a distance towards the cafeteria, an overwhelming wind blows by, carrying a sense of smell that melts my soul. The smell of hundreds of meat grilling, meat juice leaking out and hearing it sizzle as soon as it touches the burning pan. I immediately glance toward where the scent starts. As I progress in closer, I see freshly cut up salad: the juicy tomato, the green lettuces and cabbage, the thin shred orange carrot, the mix with full of chicken, the toast bread crumbs, and the sweat and sour sauce.<br />The scent and the sight of cuisine fulfill the desire inside of me. The happiness of just being able to eat that piece of meat soon with a bowl full of fresh salad creates a world of satisfaction. The sensation is just like how a cheetah captures its prey and right about to dig into the corpse. <br />I start imagining myself walking out of the next class, walking toward the cafeteria, walking toward the food I long desire for, walking toward the cashier with my plateful of meat, and walking toward the table where I may peacefully sit down and enjoy my breathtaking food.<br />That is the happiness I have everyday in school when I smell the delicious food that comes from the cafeteria. However the happiness does not last long, if I cannot get the food. After imagining myself with all that food, the next thing is that I still have one more class to go. Without caring whether or not the teacher takes a long time lecturing, all that comes across my mind is the marvelously cooked meat and freshly cut up veggies in front of me.<br />As time goes by, the beast inside of me desires for food more and more. The desire becomes so bad that the whole class can here my own stomach growling. The sensation soon becomes suffering, the suffering of not being able to have food. The piece of meat is so close to me, but yet it is so far.<br />In the end, even before it is officially time to end class, I myself packed everything up and ready to invade the cafeteria. The feeling is like how someone for long time been craving hamburgers, and in the end that person receives a burger and ready to devour it. This time I do not need to imagine myself getting the food and imagine sitting down to enjoy the food, this time I am actually getting that piece of meat I have long desire for.<br />That is the happiness I have everyday in school when I actually got my food and not by imagining. This time the happiness last for a long time.<br />Smell of Happiness Commentary<br />Tone<br />Throughout the vignette the tone of the story goes from tired and unsatisfied to happy and satisfied, then repeats again from being unsatisfied to being satisfied. The first paragraph the tone is a tiring tone; a tone that someone will wake up in the early morning and the mind is not yet fully functioning. The second paragraph’s tone is a mixture of frustration and boredom. The third paragraph’s tone goes into desiring and suffering. The forth paragraph’s tone is hopeful and becoming happy. The fifth paragraph’s tone is again hope and the happiness. The sixth paragraph’s tone changes from all the hope to nothingness. The seventh paragraph’s tone goes back into suffer and desire. The eighth paragraph’s tone suddenly goes back to happiness and satisfaction. The tone changes to show how badly I desire for food, and showing the hungry inside of me, then in the end showing how happy I am to just be able to cherish food.<br />Theme<br />The main theme of this vignette is anticipating the satisfaction of unfulfilled desire. The use of hunger and food clearly shows the satisfaction and the unfulfilled desire. It is common in daily life to have this feeling; therefore this vignette is to correlate it with people’s life. Having the reader able to feel the hungry and the satisfaction after reading is the purpose of the vignette.<br />Structure<br />The structure of the vignette starts from the early morning, and then to the time school begins, then to the time lunch starts. There are many paragraphs to separate the timing of the day, in the same time; the paragraphs are to separate the description or the tone. The beginning has a long sentence to make it sound long and tiring. Around the middle paragraphs the short sentences makes it sound fast and excited. Then in the end, the short one sentence sums up everything that is being point out throughout the vignette.<br />Imagery<br />The imagery in the first paragraph, the early morning, shows how early giving the reader able to imagine how early the morning is. The second paragraph shows an imagery of the white rice, describing the delicious food, making the reader feel what the writer is imagining. The third paragraph yet again gives imageries of food, the meat sizzling and the look of the salad, see, smell, and sense the food. The fifth paragraph gives an imagery of the action that the writer is going through. Then in the last paragraph before the sentence the repeats the looks of the food and the action taken to be ready to consume all of the food.<br />Literary Devices<br />In the vignette personification, and simile are in use. The use of personification creates a sense that my stomach is alive, the stomach has its’ of mind of itself. To give the stomach a human-like characteristic shows that it really needs food and it is in real pain. Also simile uses other examples to relate to the hunger that the writer is going through.<br />Smell of Suffering<br />It is around 4 pm and it has been quite a while since lunch. I have been walking around the mall for quite a while as well, buying new gears for my road trip next weekend. I start thinking about having a coffee break at a relaxing and cozy coffee shop. Then, in the corner of my eye, a glimpse of a brown-colored, pleasant-looking, quiet-sounding, and delicious-smelling bakery shop grabs my attention. The smell draws me towards it, the appearance magnetizes my focus on it, and the atmosphere appeals to my senses.<br />As I cross from mall to bakery, the dimmed incandescent yellow light shining on to the behemoth brown leather sofas overwhelms my senses. Right at this point, I feel like I am in a world just for me; only I am in it, and only I get to enjoy it. Reality has been removed from me, enough that I do not give any attention to the outside world. As I sink into the soft silky chaise longue, a cup of coffee is set in front of me on the spacious table for me to sip. When I look up towards the counter, rows of donuts, cookies, ice cream, candies, chocolates, cream puffs, jellies, cakes, muffins, éclairs, and brownies suck me into a trance. It felt like when you cannot keep your eyes off of a beautiful woman or man who walks in front of you…until you get a taste of him or her. A scent of bakery air immediately wafts up with the sweet smell of rising muffins, tender chocolate cakes, and the distinct aroma of blobby oatmeal evolving into a luscious tray of sugary-brown cookies. I call for one delectable piece of cake, and I am addicted; I order another one, then another, then again one more. I gulp down the cold coffee that I abandoned while I was munching down the astonishing treats. My stomach is satisfied by the late afternoon cuisine. With every single part of my body fulfilled, reality comes back to me.<br />By the time I fully recover from the trance, I realize that I have a huge family dinner to attend in a couple of hours. With my stomach full of baked soft sweet cake, I cannot bear to imagine food anymore, especially all of the food coming later that night. I panic, start thinking to myself, “how can I work myself out enough that I will be hungry again?” Then ideas come into my mind: walk around the mall to work off all the food; run a couple of miles on the treadmill; just force myself to think that I have not eaten any of those magnificent baked treats. However, the cakes were so filling that all of my physical and mental tricks do not diminish my satiation, even a little.<br />8 pm, and I arrive at the family dinner all dressed up, thinking to myself that I am one fine looking man. However the thought does not last long after I realize that I have a tableful of food in front of me, taunting me to consume it. My eyes do not even want to glimpse the table, full of steaming grilled beef, crispy chopped pork, white tender chicken, freshly sliced raw salmon fish, juicy stewed lamb, and colorful mixed vegetables. My mind knows that those foods are the most remarkable foods I will ever devour, but my stomach is so full that it turns those foods into the world’s most unappetizing meal. The beef, pork, chicken, fish, lamb, and vegetables instantly become food that not even rats would touch; all I can see is vast chunks of greasy meat that have been left out in the sun for decades, the vegetables turned brown and rotten, reeking of a garbage disposal.<br />The worst part is not looking at the food; it is when my parents and relatives start jamming all of it into my empty ceramic bowl. They all say that young people have the potential to eat anything they want and not get full; ironically, it is not true; my stomach is about to burst open. I cannot reject, or people will know that I consumed thousands of cakes right before a family dinner that I knew about in advance. One bowl of greasy meat followed by another rotten vegetable then another and another; all of the foods being jammed down my throat are killing me. I know how a goose feels when it is stuffed with tons of food down, non-stop, forced to swallow everything.<br />This is the feeling I call suffering; there is nothing more unpleasant than forcing down food into you stomach, and trying to ignore the fact that you are going to explode.<br />Smell of Suffering Commentary<br />Tone<br />Tone in this vignette changes from relaxation and satisfaction to frustration, then to suffering. The introduction starts off with a sense of relaxation with coffee and the atmosphere of the afternoon break that is after a tiring day. The tone while in the coffee shop and eating the cakes are satisfaction. Then after realizing that I have dinner later on in the night, the tone became frustration. Then it develops into suffering when I am having dinner.<br />Structure<br />The structure separates by the time and the tone. First paragraph serves to mainly introduce the timing and the setting of the vignette. Second paragraph serves to describe the feeling and to exclaim the tone. Third paragraph serves to describe the frustration, making a transition of happy to anxiety. Then the forth paragraph serves to show another time and express out the tone of torture. Fifth paragraph points out another support to the “suffer”. Last short sentence serves to summarize up the main theme that the vignette talks about.<br />Imagery<br />The imagery in the first paragraph illustrates the setting of the story. Then in the second paragraph, imagery serves to point out the look of the coffee shop, bakeries, and the actions of myself. Then the use of imagery for the part when it is dinnertime shows the extravagance of food. Imagery in this vignette mostly exclaim out the image of the food to let the reader be able to relate them self to it. <br />Literary Devices<br />The literary devices that are use in this vignette are simile, repetition, and personification. Similes that are use in this vignette serves to compare on situation to another situation that does not relate to the topic at all, creating another example for the reader to fully understand. The use of repetition cause the reader to know that the person is frustrated or hinting that it is important to the story. Last of all, personification gives more characteristics and interest to the story. It creates another different feeling when an object is replacing the role of a human being.<br />Theme<br />The theme of this vignette is that sometimes the best offering in life may not bring a better life compare to not having the offering at all. The use of high-class gourmet to symbolize as the good offerings in life, and the suffering symbolizes that not every gift in life would make the person happier.<br />