Should I Or I Not?

Pauline and her siblings lived a life filled with fear. She was taught at a very young age about the challenges that her parents had gone through in order for her and her sibling to lead a better life. Pauline and her siblings faced physical abuse from their demanding and controlling father. Only the letter ‘A’ was accepted on their school report caard… anything below that deserved a wack with a stick from their abusive father.

The reader receives the impression that Nick’s self analysis of his own character tries to influence their opinion of him. Therefore the reader becomes inclined to question his judgements. Nick Carraway’s narration takes the reader into his confidence; he describes significant experiences in an almost voyeuristic way. Nicks narrative style uses elaborate and very mature vocabulary that gives extra depth and description to his account; drawing the reader further into the story. Additionally Nick’s tone creates a sense of authority and immediacy which encourages the reader to read on.

A little boy scavenges in a dumpster in an alley, desperate for food. Separated from his family, he is lost on the streets of Calcutta. After weeks of barely surviving on the treacherous streets, he is taken to an adoption agency and adopted by an Australian couple. Although it seems like fiction, it is fact. This remarkable story is Saroo Brierley’s, and his memoir A Long Way Home, tells this miraculous story of his childhood and how he came to find his birth family. Throughout the memoir, Brierley weaves a tale of his hardships and developing his identity. In his memoir A Long Way Home, Saroo Brierley uses the literary devices of pacing, imagery, and external conflict to illustrate how the hardships one must endure shape one’s identity,

The night air was heavy with silence. Clouds drifted across a calm sky, and a full moon shone in the distance. In a small hut on the outskirts of the valley, an old man lay in bed, awake in the peaceful slumber of the village. His breaths came in rattling gasps, his forehead burned, and his joints felt stiff with pain. He shifted on the blankets, his withered hands clenched in fists as he tried to suppress the wave of bitter memories coming to him. His life had been nothing more than work, loss, tragedy. He remembered all of his hope, his ambition, in his youth, and he smiled bitterly. No one would remember him as the man that he had once hoped he would become. Now, as his breathing became heavier and he felt himself fading on the brink of

“I don’t feel so well” Jan’s father had suddenly said one morning at breakfast. Her father, a World War II veteran, stood up and went to go lie down. The rest of the family continued with their day. Michael went to see how his father was. When he tried to wake him his father didn’t respond or make a sound. The 11 year old boy was the one who first knew that his father was gone. The memory of her father’s loss is vivid in Jan’s mind. It was a substantial shock after he had survived the horrors of World War II and then just passed away quietly at home one morning. Jan now understands how

I didn’t stop running; I kept this up for what felt like thirty seconds at least before the overwhelming urge to cough stopped me. I attempted to grip the side of the wall before I keeled over and violently choked up more blood. Shaking, I stretched my arms out around me, praying that I would find something in this seemingly empty room that could give me some kind of relief. Something that would take away that

Night, with mum and dad huddled on either side of the kitchen table, scribbling on pads of paper, and dad punching in sums on the calculator with his clumsy, blunt fingers. Night, with long discussions in low voices that stopped if we into the room. Night, dad with a fresh beer at his elbow and an empty on the floor beside him, holding onto a flake of chocolate like a cigar, twirling the thing between his thumb and forefinger, crunching onto it and shards flying everywhere. Night, when Mum and Dad had sank what was left of the insurance money and all their savings into a little old town house and a car franchise, signing all the leases, contracts, papers. Night, when Dad was his own boss, answering to no one. And overnight, when the journey abruptly turned its direction. Down in town, a high speed railway station had emerged. But dad couldn’t go anywhere, he was trapped by the crossroads. Juggled a few part time jobs, handy work around town limping in pain. No more notions of independence. All he could do was try his best to make it work. And he did. We even did some paper runs with

Red light floods the room when the only exit opens. My heart stops, but I still stand up. I still stand up and march towards the guards here to escort me, and all the while I can feel my throat refusing to

It was a cloudy day, a mild 78 degrees and Lezley McSpadden was taking a drag of her cigarette outside of the local grocery store where she was employed. She was midway through her shift when a friend of hers called and said that someone had been shot by Canfield Green Apartments. Maybe it’s only a mother’s instinct to recoil in fear, but in that moment Lezley could think only of her son Michael. Michael had recently graduated three months before and she wasn’t sure of his

So this boy by the age of 14, named Tim, lived in the worst neighborhood. There were murders, kidnappings, and even robberies. Whenever Tim witnessed something so tragic as of these topics I have listed above, he started to bawl. He cried and cried and cried until his mother came in with some cookies and warm milk and fed it to him like he was still her little 1 year old. Tim was never allowed to go outside. For 1, there was this gang called, “Victorians”, and whenever someone tries to cross their path, they would rob them of their money and beat the victim up. Tim had once crossed their path, and they tried to rob Tim, but 1 of the members passed out because Tim had thrown a pipe at the member’s temple, which was located on the sides of his

It has been ten years since Fred left for Vancouver. Fred is now twenty-seven, but still in the seventeen-year-old body he was when he was turned into a wretched monster. He still thinks of the day that he left behind Bree and Diego, part of him wishes that he had stayed, instead of going to Vancouver. He also remembers the cold, dreary day in Seattle, walking home on his usual route, not having a care in the world, because everyday was the same, until he saw the man from the newspapers. The man in the newspapers was mentioned everywhere. No one knew where Riley, a nineteen-year-old college student would have went. Fred thought about how idiotic it was to ask Riley if he was okay- maybe he would still be a human. Fred sulked as he walked home from the fifth high school he has went to.

Nick is a World War I veteran who, as many veterans, suffers from emotional trauma that his experiences from the war left him with. Multiple scenes throughout the story, Big Two Hearted River, relates to Nick, the main character’s, journey toward recovery. Nick describes his surroundings in way that parallels to his own experiences and current voyage in respect to his revival.. He takes a calming adventure saturated with calming natural paths over hills, through woodland, and along a river to find peace with himself and to return to his prewar state of mind.

Hunter Powell was one of three kids and he was the oldest. Hunter was a brave, confident, and caring young 18 year old man. He had brown hair and blue eyes. Hunter is tall. He is six foot one inch. His family lived in a village called Millstone. It was a small village in the middle of a bunch of other villages and land plots. The town was a big trading post. They had all kinds of furs, food, and tools. In Millstone everyone had a farm. On those farms they had all sorts of vegetables and Hunter’s favorite potatoes. He did everything he could to provide for his family. His parents went to war a few months ago and came back just last week. He had to take care of his two twin brothers that are five years old and need a parent with them at all times.

Nick’s escape from reality provides brief moments of solitude and rest from his bustling world. Amidst the burned and destroyed town of Seney a river remains untouched, providing a symbol of hope. While Seney seems broken, the possibility of new beginnings and life exists. This binary is parallel in Nick’s life as well. Nick actively chooses to pursue new beginnings instead of dwelling on the memories of his past, but is quickly reminded that he cannot escape the parts of his life that play a large part in his identity.

The focus of this essay will be to analyze Nick's transition as he moves from mental isolation, to physical isolation, to maturation and self-discovery.