The Janitor In Space - Literary Essay Example

Tim woke up and looked around. His room had a sweet natural smell of his favorite small white roses. Another distant smell was in the air - pancakes. He could also hear birds inside his room yet they sounded so far away. His eyes, however, appeared to deceive him. Nothing seemed unreal. The only thing that seemed to be real was his bed. Unfortunately, everything else was new to him. His bed was in the middle of a dense forest that consisted of pines trees that had colors ranging from red to yellow. Indeed there were birds above him. Again, the birds too seemed unusual. They did not appear like birds but sounded like them. To him, they looked like bats or cats with wings. He didn't like cats. He felt like a mouse at that point. The ground, on the other hand, was covered with long green grass.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Tim could hear the trees whisper as if something was coming. Suddenly, the forest started changing. The pine trees began drying up. The cat-like birds flew away, and the purple grass started drying up. From a distance, he could hear noises. Noises that indeed terrified him. The sounds made him restless and scared. His 'paradise' was dying, and the only thing he could do was sit there and watch. Was this the end? Was this his death? Tim slowly closed his eyes and awaited his end. "Timothy Stevenson Junior! Don't make me come up there and wake you up!" said a familiar voice from deep in the dying forest.

Elements

The first element that stood out in the short story was the vivid description. "The janitor makes her way through the hallway with purpose, suctioning space dust and human debris from crevices of the space station," (Sparks 63). With the help of this element, we can visualize the space station. I have imitated the same in my first paragraph in the description of Tim's surroundings.

Another element that is visible in the short story is alliteration. This refers to the repeat of the initial consonant sound. "Like the lady astronauts who leave bloody tampons unsecured," (Sparks 64). I have imitated this line in the following statement, "His room had a sweet natural smell of his favorite small white roses."

The writer also utilizes anaphora in her work where uses the same word to begin consecutive sentences. "She almost never sees anyone except the night watchman... She wouldn't say anything, though. She wouldn't even know who to say it to," (Sparks 27). In the imitation I imitate this as follows, "He didn't like cats. He felt like a mouse at that point."

The writer also uses personification on several accounts. "The dark hurts in the veins," (Sparks 22). I imitated the same by indicating, "Tim could hear the trees whisper as if something was coming." She also uses simile in her work where she indicates, "She dropped it like a snake," (Sparks 49). The same is imitated in my work where I indicate, "He felt like a mouse at that point."

Lastly, she uses several rhetorical questions in her work. "Was there a right way to take in so much sorrow it burned clean through the lungs and heart? Was there a right way to atone?" (Sparks 24). In my imitation writing, I indicate, "Was this the end? Was this his death?"

Work cited

Sparks, Amber. "The Janitor In Space -." American Short Fiction, 2014, http://americanshortfiction.org/2014/07/01/janitor-space/. Accessed 25 Oct 2018.