Divided: A Short Story

Parenthood was a factor in the boy’s life, this ideas gives you an insight on what he wanted the reader to convey. here are two different emotions running through this story from both the boys. In the author Wes Moore the emotion you feel while reading it is hurt and compassion.

They’re always about something bad happening” (McCarthy 269). So by this statement, we know that the boy while empathetic, still feels negative emotions for himself. We feel as if the boy is what keeps the book going, the fire; he is the only one who can and will keep the story going because he is seen as something greater than all. After the father dies, we see that the boy finds a group of wanderers and joins them.

He turned to the streets, begging for scraps of food or clothing, trying to find some way to support himself. Those years of his life had seemed like a dark abyss in which he was trapped. He could see the sunlight above, but he had no way to reach it. He still remembered the looks of disgust and fear upon people’s faces as he crawled to them and begged for help. They would pull their children closer and cross the street as they neared him, or walk straight past him with their eyes fixed ahead, unfazed by his pleas. After some time, he lost hope. As the rich merchants and fine clothed women passed, he said nothing, curled up in a ball on filthy, tattered blankets, starved and cold, flea bitten and depressed. He had feared for a time that he was on the brink of insanity, and had taken to talking to the stones on the street to while away the lonely hours. He remembered hoping he would simply pass in his sleep during the night to escape his never-ending

John stood there above him and started to feel a tear roll down his cheek. He was crying. He never really got to know the boy but that boy helped him so much and he did not even realize it.

“You live here?” He sounds almost astonished, or maybe just doubtful. His voice is still flat and cold, although there was dozens of questions he probably had. This man clearly wasn’t a team player. On closer examination, I realize he is a man. When he was out, his face appeared much younger, innocent. That was the harsh reality of this world, this man had been through an immense amount of pain, I noticed it in his eyes.

The boy, engulfed with embarrassment, plans to “fix” his brother. During the years a brotherly bond was created, however it was not strong enough from the narrator’s side and he let his pride overtake his love. When the plan failed, the boy abandoned his brother in a storm which concluded with his brother dying. Only at the end of the story, when the brother died, the boy realised how much his brother really meant to him however it was too late. This story has an unhealthy internal conflict with the narrator's pride and childish spite.

"Different emotions battled for dominance in his mind and heart. Confusion. Curiosity. Panic. Fear. But laced through it all was the dark feeling of utter hopelessness." (6)

In a fit of rage and frustration, Daniel Howell shove the unorganized pile of schoolwork and textbooks away from him, resulting in numerous packets and other assignments to collapse onto the floor after falling off his desk. Dan angrily runs his hands through his greasy, curly hair and down his face as he sighs exhaustively. Glancing at the clock, he becomes aware that it reads 3:37 a.m., and he has to wake up and get ready for his classes on campus in less than three hours. As much as he dreams of crawling into his warm, comfortable bed and falling asleep, he knows he must complete every bit of his homework for tomorrow (well, more like today) before he is able to. However, for the past few nights, Dan has been unconsciously sleeping on his

The boy had been with Emily before her demise. He was four, so he would be able to walk and talk and remember his mother. If the boy grows up with infinite love from the people he has remaining, he can still end up full of love, and he can get an education, and live to be a bright young man. This boy has great possibilities for him in his future. He would learn how to cope with life and death so he will be able to get past his mom’s death and live a happy life.

When I regained my senses, I abruptly turned around to see the boy collapsed near the edge of the harbor. My eyes filled with fear as the boy who was gazing towards the ocean had now collapsed on the dock and was covered in streaks of blood.

your life. He held the boy shivering against him and counted each frail breath in the blackness.”

Profound in the love shared between the father and son, their sense of unity kept them pushing through the pain for “each the other’s world entire” (6). In a society painted by shades of grey, one cannot help but at times feel the desire to fade into the world full of suffering. In the father’s perspective “there were few nights lying in the dark that he did not envy the dead ” (230). However, the man is fortunate because he has a spark in his life that motivates him to keep going- the boy. Many others before the man took their own life in an attempt to rescue themselves from the doomed life ahead. However for the father, “the boy was all that stood between him and death” (29). The father possess such love for the boy that no matter what the situation is he will never take the easy route out. He will never put his own needs over the boy’s. He will never leave him to try to fend for his own. Furthermore, if the boy were to ever depart life before him he “would want to die too” (11), thus proving that the boy is the father’s incentive to carry on. With the love for his son in mind, the father is enabled to carry on with his life. During a difficult situation, love encourages one to see it to the

As he stomped down the hall dressed in all black, I timidly stepped to the other side of the hallway with my head down avoiding any type of interaction. When the sounds of boots and chains faded away, I was overwhelmed with relief. Nothing had calmed me more than this instant; nothing had been more soothing than the sound of pure nothingness. The fear that came over me was like being trapped in a small room with no way out. I felt helpless, defenseless, like something was going to happen to me in that hallway with the boy dressed in black.

Santiago and the sea are my only friends but that’s okay with me. They are all I need. My dad thinks that I spend too much time with the water. I like to look at the sea. He says that if I’m down there so much I should be catching something at least. I like to catch fish but I like to let them catch me even more. Sometimes if I stand down there long enough they will come to me. I don’t catch them, I watch them. There’s something calming about the way they look when they swim around. They’re so comfortable in their home. I wish I could be that comfortable in mine. I wonder if I really belong in the water. Maybe I’m like a fish that was taken out of the water. If only I could survive in the water, maybe that would feel right. If I could float in the sea right now without getting in trouble, I would. I would just to know if it felt

The boy who travels with his father finds purpose to survive in believing that they will one day find the good guys. In this he believes that they themselves carry the torch of being the good guys and finds hope in that. Throughout the novel, the boy expresses his heart for helping others several times when he gives an old scraggly man on the road a can of peaches, pleading to help a man who got struck by lightning, and by being worried about a boy who was alone they had passed on the road. The boy evidently through his actions expresses a need to help others. When the boy spotted another little boy from the road, he ran over to where he had seen him and searched for him. When the Father saw that the boy ran off, he grabbed the boy by the arm and said “‘Come on. There’s no one to see. Do you want to die? Is that what you want?’” Sobbing, the boy replied, “I don’t care, I don’t care” (85). The boy sees the little boy as alone with nothing and he feels like it is his responsibility to his own