Log in

View Full Version : Need help with a hook


Mirage
September 11th, 2012, 10:15 PM
Hey all, this is a school assignment. I need a hook for the beginning of my essay and it can't be a question or an "Imagine you are blahblahblah". Can you guys help? Thanks :)

---

“Here There Be Tygers” is a strange little story by Stephen King about a small child named Charles. The majority of the story revolves around Charles’ full bladder. Miss Bird, his teacher, notices him squirming in his seem and asks him if he needs to “urinate. Is that what you need to do? Urinate?” Her word choice especially embarrasses him and he leaves the room with everyone else’s eyes boring into his back and his teacher with arms crossed and a smug grin on her face. He stomps down the hall (“Basement, basement, basement IF I WANT!”) and enters the serene bathroom. He glances towards the window and a tiger with “venetian blinds and dark stripes laid across its pelt”. In the story many things relate to the old phrase used on some maps: “Here there be dragons”. This phrase was used on old maps to mark the edges of the cartographer’s known world or places that are not frequently visited like Asia. The boys bathroom represents unknown territory which Charles feels nervous in. The “tyger” represents Charles’ wild imagination and his blatant hatred for Miss Bird and Kenny. Kenny eventually ends up within the belly of the tiger, and Miss Bird simply disappears. This chain of unfortunate (fortunate in Charles’ case) events leads Charles’ to walk slowly, free of care, back to his classroom.

---

Thanks! Any other advice would be appreciated also.

~Mirage

Noirtier
September 12th, 2012, 03:28 PM
I did notice a few grammatical errors in there, or some things that could be worded a bit better, but then realized "Max is only in the 8th grade." :P As far as a hook goes, I see you have none whatsoever. You could try to do a descriptive lead, and describe the "tyger" that the child witnesses with some detail if you so desired. I will let you know if I remember any other types of hooks! :)