Mid Term Break

Rationale - Mid-term break

In the unit of ‘Approaches to English’ my class studied a poem called ‘Mid-term break’. We were given a task to produce a creative response, which could be presented in a variety of forms. I chose to represent different themes and ideas by writing a diary entry. I focused the main plot around the mother of the departed child and the overall theme of ‘death in a family’. I wrote the story from her perspective to explore different emotions and struggles mother's have to overcome during this time of their life. I also wanted to give an insight of what the mother's life was like before the incident, and what may have lead to the tragic finale of her son.

I wrote my diary entry as in present form, which took place 2 months after the infamous death. I wrote the entry in a way that described the mother standing where the accident took place, reflecting upon the emotions associated with that area, then coming home and recording it all in her journal. This allowed the character to reminisce all the memories before the accident, which allows the audience to learn more about the character.

The memories began in way that described her son, Patrick’s, first day at pre-school, representing his growth as he is prepared to go to school the following year. We also continue to find a little bit about the mother’s life, and how she is a single parent with a son at boarding school, thus highlighting her potential struggles.

Furthermore in the diary entry, the audience seems to find out about Mary's relationships. She talks about her boyfriend, who was great with kids. However, we later on find out that he is not really prepared to have his own family after Mary seems to be expecting a child. It is only when Brian leaves her that she realizes that she cannot rely on anyone but her kids. However, once she has her third child, life becomes a lot more difficult. However, she tries to attend to both kids along with handling the loss of a job. Like...