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Narrative Essay About Being Homeless

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For the past eight years of my life my family has been homeless. At least that is what my mother likes to say. We have a roof over our heads, but it is not ours. Eight years ago my mother was laid off from her job and since then we have lived with a family friend who is gracious enough to let us share his house that had an address close enough to our school. Not long after we moved, my father was laid off from his job as well and they have both been unemployed until last year. Unfortunately, it is a small house with only two bedrooms. Our friend, John, occupies one room while my parents occupy the other. This leaves the living room for my brother and I to share as our room. Despite the troubles that come along with sharing such a small space, …show more content…

My mother often likes to point out that if my brother and I had doors to slam during arguments we very well could not be as loving as we all are towards one another. Since we share such a small house, there is not much room for hiding when one of us is upset. Therefore, we generally discuss all of our problems immediately when they arise. Our close bonding as a family also stems from that fact that my parents have both been present at home for almost all eight years of our displacement. For my entire middle school and high school education my brother and I have had the blessing of having our parents there to pick us up after school, take us to practice, and know everything that was going on in our lives. I am certain that I would not have such fondness for my parents if I did not have this fortunate experience. While I am grateful for having this unique experience, there is an unfortunate effect of our situation—a lack of privacy. Throughout my entire adolescence I have grown up without a room of my own. I have not had a space to call my own and it has been difficult growing up without a room. Over the years there have been rough times where I did not completely understand what we were going through or why I could not have the smallest bit of privacy. There have been moments where I did not “know/ of love’s austere and lonely offices” (Hayden 13-14). Much like the child …show more content…

In the years that we have all lived together, John has changed drastically. He used to be an alcoholic who smoked three packs a day and had few good friends. Today he drinks literally no alcohol, smokes nothing, and often goes to lunch with his friends from bowling. In truth, his recent health problems and orders from doctors can attribute for the decrease in alcohol and nicotine consumption. However, if my mother were not present to scold him every time he reached for the rum bottle or a cigarette I can guarantee that he would not be doing as well as he is now. As a presence in John’s life I feel that my brother and I have had an impact on him as well; John is a grandfather and does not always know how to relate to his grandchildren. My brother, Brandon, and I help by talking to him about our lives and he really does take an interest. When I see the changes in John’s life, I am reminded of Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings”. Atwood deconstructs the elements of short story and demonstrates the Edgar Allen Poe’s unity of effect. In doing so, she shows that “the endings are the same” (Atwood 329) and that they are relatively unimportant; what’s really important is the “How and Why” (329). The last words of her short narrative remind me of my family’s effects on John’s life. His ending is the same as every other living being’s ending on earth;

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