Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Formative Writing Responces

Overall Author's Note: In English this year, we read the book Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (shortened title). To practice for the sumative, everyone had to write three writing responses. I probably won't post my sumative, because it's just a glorified version of my last response. Here are my responses: 


#1: Behind Closed Doors

Author’s Note: In this writing response, I wanted to do a poem because I haven’t written a poem in a really long time and wanted to uncover my long lost poet self. The motif I chose to write about was the motif of doors, and the fact that people hide behind them just like Mr. Hyde is doing, trying to mask something.

People everywhere

Are really in disguise

Putting themselves away

Isolated from society

Solitary

Torn away

Hidden

Cover up the past

The door acts as a shield

Preventing

Stopping

Pondering

Unaccompanied

Unapproachable

Unattended

Non-existent

Truth kept under lock and key

And careful supervision

Careful contemplation

Never to see the light of day

#2: The Adventurous Fog a.k.a. Fogquhar

Author's Note: In this writing response, I chose to write a poem. I felt it was the best way to get my point across. The poem can be read three different ways, with a little different meaning each time. Any way you read it represents the fog masking up the secrets kept in the novella.

Creeping along ~~~ Silent, crawling, floating

Always there ~~~ Watching, waiting, impending

Blinding the truth ~~~ Blocking, preventing, forbidding

From those who seek it ~~~ Holding, hiding, keeping

Changing it ~~~ Distorting, crafting, diverting

No one will ever know

#3: Of Course He's Evil

Author’s Note: For the third writing response, I chose to write an IITS ITS CLEAR to hopefully get some good feedback so I know what to work on for the summative. I tried to use unique and cogent voice in my piece (especially in the beginning and the end where it is easier to get creative). In the intro, I used purposeful syntax and diction to make the reader feel uneasy to help enhance my point. I used purposeful organization (obviously) because I stuck to the IITS ITS CLEAR format. Some of the components got mixed together, but that was so everything would flow nicer. My depth of analysis can be found in the analysis section. I tried to make my depth of understanding and what I was trying to say well known. I also used proper mechanics. My membean word is belligerent.

Unnerving, unearthly, cunning things sneak around, shadows in the dark, frantically searching for something, anything to feast on. Demons, monsters, and other evil beings silently prowl around, watching, waiting to come out. Although invisible, we can can catch glances at them just by looking at people. The evil things are craving an escape so badly that they shine through someone’s face. In Robert Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a mysterious man of the name Mr. Hyde is obviously hiding something. Whether it be a concealed secret or a deep hatred, Mr. Hyde is definitely evil, illustrated by the use of the motif of repressed evil. This representation is proof that when evil is locked away for so long and it is finally released, it is like a tea kettle, heating up, boiling, threatening to spill, until it does.

Everyone has at least a little evil in them, but sometimes it is easier to see. Right when Mr. Hyde is introduced, he is described as satanic. Mr. Einfeld said to Mr. Utterson after encountering a strange man, “I never saw a circle of such hateful faces; and there was the man in the middle, with a kind of black, sneering coolness- frightened too, I could see that- but carrying it off, sir, really like Satan” (6). Of course, Mr. Utterson didn’t completely believe him right away because no one should be judged without even seeing them. Eventually, after finding out Mr. Jekyll wrote in his will that Mr. Hyde replace him if he dies or is gone for more than three months. Mr. Utterson couldn’t stand not knowing what Mr. Hyde looked like after Mr. Einfeld had described such a horror of a man, so he went out to look for him. After finally meeting him, Mr. Utterson thought to himself, “O my poor old Harry Jekyll, if ever I read Satan’s signature upon a face, it is on that of your new friend” (20). First impressions matter, and the first impressions of Mr. Hyde of both Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson were that he was some sort of satanic figure, giving off an evil vibe. This is where the evilness inside of Mr. Hyde began to seep through his face, but not quite ready to act. Soon, that time came. When the evil was ready to pounce, it caused Mr. Hyde to act out in a belligerent, inhumane way. “He had in his hand a heavy cane… Mr. Hyde broke out of all bounds and clubbed [a man] to the earth” (29). Just like Mr. Einfeld and Mr. Utterson suspected, Mr. Hyde was up to no good. He has an evil side, and it could be easily caught just by looking at him. This emphasizes the idea that everyone, no matter how they appear on the outside, has at least a little evil inside.