You’re a creepy one, Elf on the Shelf
CC licensed. tubesox_family via Flickr
When Christmas nears, Elf on the Shelf appears in families homes across the country. The Christmas tradition, while very common, is not exactly normal when one mentions it aloud. A family has an elf that watches over them, to report to Santa any wrongdoings. Is that what Christmas cheer is all about? No. Elf on the shelf is not “fun”, it is creepy.
Elf on the Shelf may be a little children’s toy, but it’s appearance is not safe and happy like what typical children’s toys convey. On most toys they have a big smile, showing that the toy is safe and will not make the children uncomfortable; however, the elf’s smile could be seen as a smirk or a sly grin, causing uneasiness. The smirk portrays that the elf is spying on the family. Similarly, the elf’s little squinty eyes seem to constantly be searching for bad behavior to report to Santa. Even when the elf may not seem to be looking, he always is, even if it is out of the corner of his little eyes.
The elf is supposed to be watching over families and their children as the “eyes and ears” for Santa; however, with a constant feeling of eyes following and judging it is threatening. When parents place their Elf on the Shelf up on the mantle at the start of the holiday season, children begin to act oddly well behaved. Majority of children still believe in Santa, thinking and believing that Santa is checking his list twice to find out who has been naughty or nice, and it makes the kids strive to be the perfect child as Christmas nears. Having children who still believe in Santa, knowing there is an elf watching their behavior constantly is a vexatious thing to sit with for children. One minute the kids are seeing the elf in the living room, and the next thing they know it’s sitting in the kitchen. It gives the child an unsettling feeling, the kind of feeling that comes straight out of a horror movie.
Despite the uncomfortable and strange appearance of the elf, families all around the country still use the elf as a Christmas tradition. It is mostly used by adults who believe that when the holidays roll around they can place the elf out in their home and then they can use it to keep their children’s behavior in line. When the children see the elf they immediately begin to behave, knowing that Christmas is coming soon. That premise alone for some families can create the image that the elf is a fun tradition; however, that is not the full story of the elf. In many instances, parents continue to use the elf simply, so their children will behave better. The children then get anxiety, feeling that they will get in trouble if the elf catches them doing something wrong. For majority of families, Elf on the Shelf is now being used to fix behavioral issues to benefit the parents, rather than being fun for everyone in the family. Families should have a better way to improve their children’s behavior than using an elf to scare the kids.
Christmas traditions should be warm, welcoming, and enjoyable for everyone in families. Using an elf to create anxiety in children to improve their behavior is not what a Christmas tradition should be like. The elf doesn’t give off a “fun” idea. It watches your every move; with its little eyes and sly grin it is clear that Elf on the Shelf is not used for happy purposes. All in all, Elf on the Shelf is threatening and creepy.
I thoroughly enjoy the attitude throughout. Nice diction, it’s uniquely used. Also I like that the punctuation is varied. In the third paragraph, 3third sentence place an “A” before “majority”. This is really really good. You did a spectacular job with word choice and you took a position and stuck to it with good evidence. Really nice job!
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I agree with Olivia, you used great diction In your article, the word choice is very strong, and I love how you tackled this article. In your conclusion maybe change the “all in all” to make your conclusion paragraph a little better. Overall I love your essay.
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I agree with both Olivia and Dane. Your word choice was very strong and I really liked how your essay was set up. I also agree with Dane about changing the ending form ¨all in all¨ to something else that flows a little bit better. Overall you did a really great job!!
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Let me start out by saying I love your clever title! Your article is very well written. You used pathos and logos effectively throughout your article, and the method you used for pathos enhanced your writing. For instance, when you questioned, “Is that what Christmas cheer is all about?”, you demonstrated pathos to make the reader question their views on the argument. Your evidence you used to back up your argument showed a usage of logos. A suggestion would be to add more ethos to prove the credibility of the author. A way you could do that would be to incorporate a quote which would also add to your logos, or another method would be to use an article that contains facts or statistics about your topic and mention it in your refutation (or anywhere else in the article). You did a great job on this; I enjoyed reading it!
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@cfackler3 Thank you so much for your feedback and thoughts on my article! The detail of your comment really helped me understand my strengths such as my use of pathos and logos, and your explanation for me to add more ethos was very helpful and I will continue to try to add some to my writing in the future. Thank you for taking the time read my article!
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@dmysel @sofsuri thank you for reading and commenting on my article!! all your feedback and tips really let me know what to continue doing and what to work on!
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I really like your style and voice in this essay. The word choice is varied and interesting, as is the evidence that you provided. Even the title was funny and unique. The detailed descriptions of the Elf on the Shelf go a long way to support your claim and create the wonderful voice. I would suggest that you try to include some facts or something other an pure opinion to support your claim.
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The first sentence was both playful and brilliant, so that was a fantastic start to your essay. There were only a few grammatical errors (such as an it’s instead of its), but the overall impact was not diminished due to small details such as that. I enjoyed both the mood and tone, as it was consistent until the very last word. Also, avoid contractions (don’t, won’t) in order to make your writing feel more mature and developed. The title is clever and cute, so it pairs nicely with the essay. I loved it!
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I agree that your descriptive parts were the strongest aspect of your argument since they appealed to our pathos–feeling that the elf was not fun or Christmasy. Watch for the dead word “thing!” Awkward phrases were much improved since the first draft! ~Mrs. C
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