In-Class Essay - Revised

In-Class Essay - Revised

As most little kids grow up, they lose their sense of imagination. Harrison, or Harri, is lucky. He’s kept it, even though he’s in 7th grade. In the book Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, Harri lives in a poor part of England. There was recently a murder of a boy he knew and now Harri and his friend want to find out who did it. At the same time, Harri has to deal with the neighborhood gang, his annoying sister and her friends, and his first girlfriend. But during all this, Harri shows to have a very lively and creative imagination. He is a very imaginative kid.

Firstly, Harri is imaginative because he pretends people are in certain situations. Near the beginning of the story, Harri is listening to his father on a cell phone on speaker. This makes his father sound, as Harri describes it, “Proper echoey like he’s trapped in a submarine at the bottom of the sea.” Here, Harri is imagining his father in a submarine. He then goes on to say, “I pretend like he has one hour left of air, if he doesn’t get rescued by then it’s all over.” (Pigeon English, 8) By saying “I pretend”, Harri is clearly showing his use of imagination. By using his imagination, Harri can be thought of as an imaginative kid.

Lastly, Harri is imaginative because he pretends to be certain people. Harri’s aunt, Auntie Sonia, burned her fingerprints off, so she can’t feel things with them as well. Harri wanted to know how that feels, so he made his fingers numb with ice and then went around his house feeling things. As he’s doing this, he says to the reader, “I pretended like I was Auntie Sonia and I was in a new country where everything was brand new.” (138) Again, Harri says that he pretended, showing that he’s using his imagination. Clearly, it is now certain that Harri is an imaginative kid.

Overall, Harri has a very big imagination and uses it frequently. This connects personally to me. I like to use my imagination a lot too. I draw fictional characters and give them interests and backstories. I also write many fictional stories in my Google Docs. It’s nice to know that someone else is like me in this way, even if that person, Harri, is just a fictional character himself.