Character Analysis: Hollis Woods

In the book The Body in the Woods by April Henry there is a contrast/contradiction moment where Ruby’s parents don’t allow her to go on the SAR search. The book states that, “Ruby had an excruciating awareness of her own strangeness. No matter how hard she tried, she found it impossible to fit in. Being friends with Alexis had helped.” This shows that Ruby normally doesn’t fit in, but when she joined SAR the only girls were Alexis and her, so she felt she fit in a little bit when she had a friend. Another piece of evidence states that, “ ‘You’ll go to school tomorrow, not the sheriff’s office. And you’ll contact the SAR and tell them you’re going to have to withdraw from the group... Anger made Ruby rigid, locked her rebuttal in her throat.”

This realistic fiction novel, by Edward Bloor, describes the problems and relationships that Paul discovers when unlocking the meaning of truth, no matter the obstacles people put up to block him from it. The motif of “sight”, is what introduces Paul to the universal statement of truth and makes him aware of what the people surrounding him can and cannot “see”. Paul Fisher, the main character, uses the motif of sight to have a new understanding of his friends, family, and himself.

The book Pictures of Hollis Woods is one of perplexity in which the life of eleven year-old Hollis Woods, who was abandoned and a foster child, leaves from house to house in search of acceptance and a home. Throughout the book, she interprets special memories into works of art, impulsively remembering the Reagan family. Hollis had never felt a sense of belonging and unconditional love, until she met the Reagans. Blaming herself for an occuring accident, Hollis flees from them and is taken into another home. Once again, Hollis finds comfort and love when living with Josie, an art teacher. Hollis, afraid that she will no

Being a troubled young man from the slums of Baltimore, the other Wes Moore grew and lived in what was around him. When you grow up in the negativity surrounding you, the average person will become a product of their environment or surroundings. Trouble and habit become all you know and once you’re indulged in that kind of lifestyle it becomes harder and harder to stray away from it. The other Wes’ life ended up negatively because of the poor decisions he made as well as the negative environment he grew up in.

“I love you, and I am proud of you, And, Wes, it’s time to stop running,” (96). In The Other Wes Moore the author shares how he became so successful, and for that, he owes his mother. His mother, Joy, was the most important role model in his life.

The most evident event in Jeanette’s childhood that proves Rosemary’s desire to satisfy her own needs before her children’s when the entire Walls family has little food, Jeannette sees that, “Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey Chocolate bars, the shiny silver wrapper pulled back and torn away” (Walls 174 In an interview with the New York Times magazine, Jeanette expresses her most current feelings towards her mother as she is asked “How could you forgive your mother for the way you were raised?” Jeanette responds “It’s really not forgiveness in my opinion. It’s acceptance. She’s never going to be the sort of mother who wants to take care of me.” Rosemary’s lack of care towards her children’s needs is evident throughout the memoir as she belittles the extremes her children face. After Jeannette’s Uncle Stanley touches her inappropriately, Rosemary tells Jeannette that, “sexual assault was a crime of perception” (Walls 184). Her disregard for a tragic event like this results in deep inner resentment towards her mother. Later in life these events encourage Jeanette to be anything but her mother. She learns to be a giving women who deeply values the needs of others. Her high standards to care for others is exemplified when she finds her mother digging through a dumpster and instantly offers to clean her up and provide her with food. Jeanette was able to put aside her feelings of resentment to care for the needs of her

There is a main conflict that keeps on building through the whole entire story. This conflict messes with Hollis’ brain. After the accident on The Old Man’s mountain, Hollis chose to run away which was completely her fault, she caused the conflict but chose to try her best to solve it. Since Hollis had ran from the Regan’s, Izzy, Steven, and The Old Man, Hollis had to stay with an elderly woman with short term memory loss named Josie. Josie was a art teacher, retired now, along with her long time family friend Beatrice. Beatrice had moved to New Mexico to paint the adobe houses. While Beatrice was gone Hollis decided to move with Josie to the Regan’s summer house. Steven Regan, The Old Man’s son knew that Hollis loved that house but he didn’t believe him. All of the Regan’s were heart-broken when they found out Hollis didn’t

According to The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 7 in 10 black people feel that their race has been a disadvantage in their life (np). This statistic is clearly evident in A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest J. Gaines. Set in Louisiana, the book centers around a black community that was trying to survive in a society set up to defeat them. A young black man named Jefferson was convicted of a murder that he didn’t commit and was sentenced to death, all because of his race. Jefferson was called a hog in front of the entire court, and Grant, a teacher, was given the job of making Jefferson into a man before his execution. Other people of color in their community struggled to feed their kids, get a proper education, and live

The worker contacted Jimmy Stephens who is the father of Wanda Stephens. Mr. Stephen stated “Wanda is a very good mother, one of the best I’ve ever seen she keeps those children clean, her house clean, and my grandchildren are very well mannered and well behaved. “Wanda doesn’t do any drugs or drink, she doesn’t let that stuff around her and the kids. And my granddaughter Briana has never displayed to me she could or do anything inappropriate with other children and Briana has always been open to speak to Wanda about anything if something was wrong she would of talked to Wanda because that how close they are.”

Butler characterizes Dana as a strong black woman to highlight the fear black women had in the past. Dana has traveled back in time to 1815 and is being beaten by one of the patrollers: “I had never been beaten that way before -would never have thought I could absorb so much punishment without losing consciousness”(Butler,42). This is an example how Dana is a strong black women because she was able to withstand the beating of the patroller and was able to defend herself. Dana was able to “absorb” the beating which shows that because of the time period she was born in she was taught not to be afraid and to keep fighting. Dana was being chased by a patroller and needed to hide in a house, “Don’t come in here,she whispered. Please don't come

Reading this line after reading all of the other passages makes me wonder what did she do. What could she have done to possibly get her into trouble? Hollis loved that place and it makes me think about all of the things that I have done in the past when I was younger. I have a strong feeling about what she said, because she is really feeling down about whatever the predicament may be. At this point in the book I am getting the vibe that yea Hollis has had trouble before, but she was really doing well and something must have happened. I question was what happened her fault.

Captivated by the rugged and wild challenges that Alaska had to offer, he set off to have a chance to live like his hero, a novelist, Jack London. In the book, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, a troubled man by the name of Chris McCandless goes on adventurous journey to the Alaskan wild to experience more to life and satisfy his thirst for adventure. Along the way he meets various of different people on the road. He tried to give them advice but failed to follow any, including his own, as his past showed otherwise. McCandless rejected his privileged life, family, and the rest of civilization in order to achieve what he was looking for which ultimately led to his death. Krakauer goes as far as trying to connect to McCandless because of his fondness for the outdoors as well. Life on road for McCandless was thrilling and treacherous and everything in between. Some argue that he was naive and foolish for going on such a dangerous voyage unprepared and lacking survival skills. However, McCandless carried certain characteristics that allowed him to survive as long he did in the wild. At certain points, the nomadic life didn’t seem suitable for McCandless, and on other occasions he seemed dominant of what he was doing. With advantages and disadvantages, life

Royce Peterson was forced to move away from his home, leaving all his friends behind. His mother dragged him to Victoria, British Columbia, to look after her elderly father, who was once a famous cellist. Once Royce arrived in B.C. he was sick with mono and missed a few months of school. At home, Royce felt lonely and isolated, and he spends his time watching T.V and organizing a plan to return to Nova Scotia. His plans were ruined when his grandfather, Arthur Jenkins suffered a minor stroke. Now he is stuck babysitting a grumpy old man.

The character that caught my attention the most out of all the short readings this week was the narrator in the Raymond Carver story “Cathedral”. He is a very flat character; you are not told much about him. There is no physical description of what he looks like, how he is dressed. All of is characteristics are inferred from the reading. Even though he is a flat character I found his to be very dynamic. His development is such a short time (one night) was well done. His development was not a drastic live changing development but a gradual progression.

In Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird,” Mayella Ewell, a young woman as well as the daughter of Bob Ewell, lives a life of insolence and isolation in the town of Maycomb. As a Ewell, which they are familiarized as being vulgar, uneducated, and indigent, Mayella is disrespected by the people of Maycomb as well as by her father. During the court case, Atticus shows courtesy towards Mayella by addressing her as a miss and a ma’am, which is not surprising for his values of equality. Mistaking his manners with sarcasm, she replies with, “Won’t answer a word you say as long as you keep mockin’ me” (pg.181). Harper Lee is demonstrating the amount of disregard Mayella faces in her life, so much that courtesy can’t be identified as just that. Mayella finds that Atticus is ridiculing her for what she doesn’t have, respect from others. With a reputation such as Mayella’s, people treat her like an outcast. Her lonely life can be a reason to explain why she always asked for Tom Robinson’s company, she wanted to experience friendship and perhaps love for the first time. Her loneliness was so clear to see, even Scout, who still has their childhood-innocent mind, can see through it. Scout compares Mr.Dolphus Raymond’s “mixed children” to Mayella because they both don’t know where to stand in their social class, “white people wouldn’t have anything to do with her because she lived among pigs; Negroes wouldn’t have anything to do with her