Star Food Ethan Canin Summary

The father, in Ernest Buckler's short story, "Penny in the Dust" is a hard-working farmer who can never "intrude" (Pg. 136) on his son's imaginative world without feeling "awkward." (Pg. 136) Through Peter's eyes we see that his father is a very capable worker, undemonstrative, yet secretly loving towards his son Peter. First of all, Peter's dad is very busy around the farm. If he is not planting beans and plants, he is gathering hay in the fields. This farmer is also very adequate to perform everyday tasks. He can, "trace loose the hopeless snarl of a fishing line" (Pg. 138) with ease. Or, he can repair a broken wheelbarrow, and make the splice nearly invisible. Next we see that the father lacks emotions. His emotionless nature is clear

Parenting played a big role in shaping the two boys lives. Having a parental mentor is important because they assist and guide children to take the right decisions about their lives. The author had his two parents at the beginning of his life. Also, the author’s parents, especially his mother, tried to raise him in an effective way wanting him to know the right from wrong at an early age. “No mommy loves you, like I love you, she just wants you to do the right thing” (Moore 11). This quote was a live example of the author’s life with his parents. It reflected the different ways his parents used to teach him “the right thing.” Though his mother was upset from his action toward his sister, his father

Conflict was used effectively in the short story to reveal the theme of the story. The boy has an internal conflict about which parent to stay with, and because his father left, he seemed to have favored him. He wanted him back so badly that every night, he watches him on the six o’clock news while wearing his old jackets. He was blinded by his father’s sudden departure that he forgot about what is really important. Additionally, another development in the short story’s conflict has been used effectively to reveal the theme. When the boy went to Macdonald’s to see his father’s true colors, he thought: “I finished my drink quickly, thankful that he had to be back in the studio for the news.” By the time he saw his dad for the first time in a while, he knew he was not the man he thought he was. At that moment, he also realized that he lost sight of what he had all this time: His mother’s unconditional love. If it wasn’t for the characterization of

In the excerpt, Junior employs metaphors and hyperboles to convince readers to not fault their parents when nothing more can be done. After being told they cannot save his dog because they cannot afford treatment, he says, “But I can’t blame my parents for our poverty because my mother and father are the twin suns around which I orbit and my world would EXPLODE without them” (2). By comparing his family to the solar system, readers see that he needs his parents. His world revolves around his parents just as the Earth revolves the sun, and he cannot blame them for their poverty. This metaphor reveals that Junior is feeling sympathetic because he knows it’s not their fault that they’re poor and he doesn’t blame them for that. After realizing

In the short story “Star Food” by Ethan Canin, a young adult named Dade disappoints both of his parents for the first time when he lets a woman steal from the family store. Dade’s parents have always been opposites, and they have always had conflicting plans for Dade. Dade has constantly had to choose between the two, usually pleasing one and disappointing the other in the process. Therefore, when the woman steals and Dade catches her, Dade has to once again choose between his parents expectations. Dade decides to let the woman go to symbolize him essentially choosing his mom in the end over his dad.

How is it possible that two young children from seemingly similar backgrounds could have such opposing futures? Each coming from the poverty of the streets of New York City and yet somehow, one will be successful and the other will commit suicide. This is exactly the case in the novels Ragged Dick, written by Horatio Alger, and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, written by Stephen Crane. Both set in the rough streets of New York City in the mid 1800’s, the novels follow the lives of two poverty-stricken youth, Dick and Maggie. While the two appear similar on the outside, their fates are nothing short of opposites. Upon the reading of each novel, one must ask themselves, what is the American Dream? Is it either of the lives led by these two

He even finds himself wanting to laugh at his situation. After this, he goes into a reminiscing and even happy tone about what he thought life in Canada would be like. He states he used to dream of Canada and of the opportunities of a new life outside of his homeland. He recalled how he planned to get married, have children, begin a family with a house, maybe even a cottage on the edge of the city. Middle class was his goal, he’d provide for his family, a stark difference from the “hard-to-mouth” life he was used to. But then, all too quickly, this daydream is ripped from him as his feet pressed to asphalt, continuing his never ending search for a job. With each step, he finds his sense of revulsion increasing, and thus begins his doubts. He wonders if he was really happy on the island, happier than he even realized before reaching Canada. Again, reality tears him from his regrets and hopes and he knew he needed to find a job or he will starve. His tone quickly takes a sharp turn into humorous denial, perhaps another past thought of what he thought life in Canada would be like; “No one starved in Canada; that only happened in such places as India or Africa. But definitely not Canada!” For a third time, the reality of his starving, growling stomach brings him back to his current, unfortunate situation, in which he becomes slightly panicked at the prospect of actually not getting a meal that night. He suddenly feels out of place,

The universe doesn’t owe you, me, or anyone a thing, except for death. Though as kids most of us were led to believe that with enough effort and hard work were going to become whatever we wanted to be, we were going to have whatever our little hearts desired, and we were going to do whatever we wanted to do. However, as we grew up we realized that this is not the case. There are millions of people who did not become professional athletes, models, or billionaires, people who never got to have the mansions, cars, and fame that they always longed for, people who never got to travel the world, cure cancer, or fly into space. These are all mostly childlike dreams, which were probably imposed unto us by either our parents or society. There’s nothing wrong with children having these sort of improbable dreams, however, there comes a time where we can no longer be children. In the story Tandolfo the Great, written by Richard Bausch, we are introduced to Rodney Wilbury aka Tandolfo the Great, who is a suitable example to demonstrate what life can be like for those who are unable to grow out of their childlike mind sets. In this analysis I will be inspecting how Tandolfo the Great’s childish mind set, from his strong sense of entitlement to his inability to let go of the past events, has almost destroyed his life and how it can destroy anyone else’s.

To give some context to the story, what is currently happening is the Dad and mom have no real stable way of living income wise which has left them with dirty clothes, no food, and depression. How this theme was introduced here was on page 69 in this quote: “...her face was swollen red ‘It’s not my fault if you’re hungry’ she shouted. ‘Do you think I like living like this? Do you?’”. This has shown how the family is paying for the choices that the parents have made and this continues on in the rest of the story with the family still struggling to live free without any from of constraint. The event results in a vicious cycle of depression as demonstrated in Welch when they had to move because of low income and the kids had to go through neglect or abuse from the mother of Rex and when they moved into a broken down house with no heating to try and fend for themselves for winter. This was due to the parents refusal of jobs and wanting easy money, and judging by the context where the mom’s eyes are “swollen and red” she is crying.

How does a child feel when their parents conceive destructive values and manipulative connotations? To any child a parent is the person that they look up to and in most cases look for encouragement. However, some parents tend to value destruction and their own self-gain more than the life of their child. Both William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” and Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” demonstrating a principle that when parents are bound to their twisted, manipulative, and even immoral values that their children will ultimately be the ones to pay the price as they either embrace the similar hollow values themselves or set out to fulfill their own desires through often times self-destructive means.

In the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon, Ed Boone is the father of a brilliant boy, Christopher, who has signs of autism or a similar disorder which makes him very particular, and have extremely rigid standards. Ed constantly overworks himself to please Christopher, and make his son feel as comfortable as possible even though Christopher never thanks him. A similar idea is expressed in “Those Winter Sundays”, by Robert Hayden, where a boy reflects on all his father has done for him even though he and his family never acknowledged all of the effort and labor his father put into making them happy, healthy, and free from these labors. Both the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and “Those Winter Sundays” suggest that a parent will go to great lengths for their children's prosperity and comfort even if their children never say thank you.

Hester Prynne, the main character of the book "The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, commits adultery, is considered a hussy, and has a child as the result of her sin. She cheats on her husband while he is absent from town and receives a harsh punishment for her behavior already. Hester is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom for the rest of her life. It is now on debate on whether or not Pearl should be taken away from her mother’s guidance. This is due to the fact that she is a sinner and might not be a qualified mother for her child.It is true, that no matter what you did in the past, a child is a blessing and parents change due to the love they have for their children. Therefore, Hester

Whether you agree with Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, or Erik Erickson, theoretical approaches to human nature all agree that early childhood years play a major part of our conscious and unconscious decisions we make. For instance, even though both Wes Moore’s were brought up without a father in their home, the reality is that these absences meant something different to each of them. For Wes 1 his father died an unnecessary death due to lack of training of emergency personnel. He remembered his dad as being compassionate, loving, and kind. Wes 1 always knew that if given the choice, his father would have stood by him throughout his life. Wes 2, however, is left with negative fatherly feelings. In the three times they were together, his own father acted as though he didn’t recognize him. What’s worse is that Wes 2 knew that his dad didn’t want to know him, he chose to leave. That left not only a hole where there should have been a very important role model, it left rejection in its place. When Wes 1 was visiting Wes 2 in the jail and asked about the impact his father had on his life, the second Wes said, “Your father wasn’t there because he couldn’t be, my father wasn’t there because he chose not to be. We’re going to mourn their absence in different ways” (Moore page 3). Later in the chapter Wes 1 gets emotional thinking about how he misses his father. He was left,

One item, actually the idea that the item represents, that symbolizes the theme of the novel Ethan Frome is the red pickle dish. That pickle dish symbolizes something different for each person connected to it. The primarily symbolism of the pickle dish is that of Ethan and Zeena’s marriage, it was a wedding present from her aunt (Wharton 35) and one of her most prized possessions. This highly symbolic pickle dish meant different things to the three people involved with it.