Tony is waiting for his day
Tony was really confused. When a dog gets a full plate of meats, eggs, and fish in the presence of his beloved one, it is natural to be confused. All members of the family were standing around him to watch whether he was comfortable with the food or not. He could see the smile of love in the face of his beloved Roslyn. He became very happy when he saw his greatest enemy Lucy, the Indian cat. She was standing in a corner watching the royal treat he was getting from the family. He was making sure that it was his day. But the kick of the small boy in the house-made him awake from the dream. He became really disappointed when he understood his day was yet to come.
Tony could understand that some guests were coming home as the family was celebrating the birthday of the youngest kid. Early morning some people came from the market carrying bags of meats. He then ran to the kitchen, where the meat was being prepared for cooking. He was trying to show the servants the pieces of meat which should be ready for him. But no one heard his words; indeed, they were shouting at him as he entered the kitchen. Seeing it, Lucy was laughing, standing closer to the leg of one of the servants as she always did. Unfortunately, it was not his day. He whispered himself.
When the guests were received at home, he noticed a stranger among them. He started to bark at him using all his energy and stood across the stranger’s way biting his trousers. He didn’t understand that it was an official friend of his boss. That time he got a painful kick from his boss, and he was chained. He felt like his loyalty was questioned. Unfortunately, it was not his day.
He was sure that Roslyn, who was in the next home, would come to the party. He could definitely get some time to spend with her. She came with her boss, but a German shepherded was also with them. She looked very happy being with that new fellow. Even though Tony tried to attract her by making some noise, she even didn’t care about him. Unfortunately, it was not his day.
Tony expected good heavy food in the afternoon, but that was the day he realized how much food human beings could take at a time. He got only some pieces of bone. Lucy was belching, looking at him. She wanted to show she was full. Unfortunately, it was not his day.
After the party, when all guests left home, the family was getting ready to go out. Tony prepared to accompany them but was not allowed to get into the car. All family members took food from outside. So, he didn’t get any food in the night too. Before going to sleep, he made sure that it was definitely not his day.
Analysis of ‘Tony is waiting for his day’
The story ‘Tony is waiting for his day’ is written based on another story, ‘Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day’ by Judith Viorst. The style of writing used in ‘Tony is waiting for his day’ is taken from ‘Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day.’ But the contents and characters are entirely different from the original work. Tony, a domestic dog, is having a very unfortunate day. On that particular day, nothing is coming in favor of him. The story deals with the hope and disappointment Tony is having on that day. The story with the dream of Tony and narrates the incidents till he goes to sleep. In this essay, my intention is to analyze the writing style of ‘Tony is waiting for his day.’ Certain tools have been used to explain the way the writing style of ‘Tony is waiting for his day’ has mimicked that of the original one. The main tools are repetition and conjunctions, conjunction patterns, punctuation, arrangement, lexical choice, beat, tropes, and scheme, etc.
We cannot find very long sentences in the works which are written for children. ‘And,’ ‘while,’ ‘but,’ etc., are the most used conjunctions in the story. Usage of conjunction has been reduced in the story to reduce the length because my main intention is to convey certain ideas, not to show how to use certain words and phrases properly. In line no. 18, ‘and’ is used to explain the actions of Tony while he notices a strange face among the guests. He just stood in the way of that man and byte his trousers. This is one of the main responsibilities of all domestic dogs to identify strangers. But he gets punished by his boss even though he tries to show his loyalty.
There are two actions in this context. The first one is the kick of his boss, and it is depicted as a ‘painful’ one any loyal dog can ever get. After that, the dog is chained by the same boss. These two actions, which are connected with the conjunction, are very important in the story to show the depth of the pain that the dog had suffered.
‘But’ is the most used conjunction in the passage. The story narrates an unfortunate day in the life of Tony. As nothing comes in favor of the desires of Tony, usage of ‘but’ is inevitable in the passage. This conjunction is used in line no.6 for the first time in the passage. The story starts with a dream of Tony, which is about his ideal day. All his ambition in life was in that dream until he was wakened up. This dream explains the most pleasing things Tony can ever get. Here, ‘But’ is used between the dream and reality. This conjunction is also used in line no.16 to narrate the incident that happened in the kitchen. He was just trying to show his choice, but what he got was pure negligence, even from the servants. In that way, ‘But’ is used in almost all incidents in the story to show the break in the dreams Tony. There are many words and sentences in the story that are repeated frequently. I used these kinds of features to make the story more attractive and ensure the continuity in the incidents and emotions of Tony.
Tony was always expecting that day to come. The sentence, unfortunately, it was not his day, is a sentence that is used most frequently. This sentence is derived from the saying ‘every dog has day’ as the entire story is connected to that saying. Tony is such a domestic dog who expects some love from the family and the female dog next door. The story narrates the incident of a particular day, but we can understand the kind of consideration Tony gets from his surroundings. He is not satisfied with the food every day he gets from home. He also doesn’t get much consideration from the female dog. Indeed the Behavior of Lucy is also making him disappointed. That is the reason why he saw such a wonderful dream. But everyone in this world is driven forward in life by certain dreams. All suffering individual is waiting for their days to come. Sometimes the things happen against us only because that’s not our time. All these thoughts are there in the sentence ‘unfortunately it was not his day.’ This sentence was used first time in line no.16 after the disappointing incident in the kitchen. After that, it is repeated after all the unfortunate incidents on that day.
Some acts Lucy is repeated frequently as her intention is to make fun of Tony (lines no. 15 and 30). She is a witness to the unfortunate things that happen to Tony. But she wants to show he is having a happy time with the family.
Different kinds of punctuations are used in the story ‘Tony is waiting for his day.’ Usage of commas is the important one in the story. Commas are used to separate different things. In the story, commas are used in the first line itself to tell about different food items served to Tony. Lots of commas are used in the original story ‘Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day’ also. There are three commas in the title of the story itself.
In the story, the incidents are narrated in a certain order. I have started the story with a dream of Tony, and it narrates the main unfortunate incidents in that day. The first incident happened in the kitchen when people came from the market. The second incident happened while he tried to prevent the stranger he found among the guests. The third unfortunate incident happens at lunch. Tony expected better lunch as there was a party in the home. But unfortunately, he got only some pieces of bones. In the evening, the family goes out without him, and he misses his lunch too. After all the main incidents, I have used the sentence ‘unfortunately it was not his day.’ This would be the thought that consoles him whenever unfortunate things happened to him.
The lexical choice is made very carefully in the story to keep the humor which should be very important for such a story. Accurate words are used to show dog also has feelings and emotions like human beings. In line no.24, the word fellow is an example of that. The word ‘fellow’ is used to show the dislike towards the male who came with his beloved female dog.
There are certain words and sentences and incidents in ‘Tony is waiting for his day’ which are deliberately used for imitating the style of original work. In line no.5 and line no.15, incidents relating to Lucy are explained in that way.
Conclusion
The writing style of ‘Tony is waiting for his day’ shows how work can adopt the style of another piece of work very creatively. I have tried my level my best to mimic the writing style of ‘Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day,’ which was written by Judith Viorst. There are many differences between these two works as one is about a boy, and the other one is about a domestic dog. But the themes of both stories are similar. The arrangements of the sentences and certain words are made very close to that of the work of Judith Viorst. But the main intention of the story is to describe an unfortunate day in Tony’s life to reflect his entire life.