Symbols In The First Part Last By Angela Johnson

Another symbol that we see in this story “Young Goodman Brown” is the pink ribbons that faith uses in her cap. “He looked back and saw the head of faith still peeping after him with a melancholy air, in spite of her pink ribbons” (Hawthorne 137).This seems to symbolize the ribbons as having a sort of positive emotion in this case towards the presence of Goodman Brown. In this story there were quite a few symbols that symbolized important events or ideas through the entire

Bobby, a young troubled man, Was raised by his father, a professional con artist after the death of his mother. From a very young age Bobby was exposed to the criminal acts of his father and was taught to lead the same path. When he turns seventeen years old, Bobby meets and falls in love with a girl called Gwen. She gives him a sense of identity and belonging he missed his entire life. During the same time he learns

In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger uses a variety of symbols to support the thematic idea that maturation and the loss of innocence are an inescapable rite of passage for all of humanity. Three significant symbols that signify the importance of alteration and losing one’s purity to become more suited to live in the real world are the ducks in the lagoon of Central Park, the “Catcher in the Rye”, and the carousel and the gold ring. Furthermore, these three symbols hold a significant meaning for the main protagonist, Holden Caulfield as well.

In the beginning, Nia decides to give Bobby a red balloon on his 16th birthday. While doing this, she says, “Bobby, I have something to tell you.” With this, some conclusions that are drawn are that the news is not positive, and it could mean a drastic change in Bobby’s life. Also, the red balloon has the potential to symbolize many other objects, including Nia’s childhood, innocence, children, and change that is yet to come. For example, since the news is likely about pregnancy, the balloon could represent Nia giving up her innocence and childhood to Bobby, since she has to give up her old life for new responsibilities that come with being a

In the novella, The First Part Last Angela Johnson uses the book to influence and inspire change. The book shows how bobby is finally coming of age, by providing symbols of childhood and symbols of a grown up.

Bobby’s childhood, the basketball, rolled away. It left, leaving Bobby with only responsibility and hardship. If Bobby’s childhood left, then would there not only be the older ages. This shows Bobby has come of age by the end of the book.

Hiding near the lake, the narrator is consternated and his true self – the good side of his character – is stimulated: "He is more shaken by guilt than by fear that Bobby's friends will hurt him. He is, in fact, later overjoyed to hear the sound of Bobby's voice" (Vannatta 1636). He, as well as readers, finds that even though he call himself "bad", deeply within his heart, he has many good personalities (traits?), such as sympathy for other people (is sympathy a personality?). After he encounters the corpse of the motorcyclist and experiences what Bobby's friends do with his mother's car, the narrator further more distinguishes the difference between one's appearance and one's inner self: a truly bad character does not have a "label" on his face. At the end of the story, "when the young woman says that the three [teenagers] look like ‘pretty bad characters', the narrator's reaction is hardly one of pride: ‘I thought I was going to cry'" (Vannatta 1638). Finally, the narrator completes this significant step towards maturity. He does not try to act like a bad character any more because he is not born to be bad. All he wants is to go home and start his new life.

A symbol that is shown is the symbol of the arcade, and children playing games. Bobby will see these children, or talk of what his friends are doing in the arcade; furthermore, it shows that Bobby wants to be a kid again. A symbol that is also shown is the symbol of the bubblegum. The bubblegum found on page 108 shows that he feels the temptation to leave Feather behind, and to just have his life be easy and simple. These symbols all show his longing to be a kid again, but he doesn’t follow these promptings. Bobby always seems to only glance at these symbols, but not put them to action. He doesn’t want to leave Feather all alone, even if it is hard. Another thing that Bobby does throughout the book is he censors himself. Instead of speaking out loud, he stops himself. On page forty-two, Bobby thinks to himself while the teacher is talking, and doesn’t try to contradict what the teacher is saying. He tries his hardest to just listen and keep the situation from getting worse. Throughout the book, Bobby says that he sometimes wants to be like Feather. He even acts like he is Feather’s brother on page 82 saying, “Yeah, she’s easy to deal with, my sister,” in order to get out of the responsibility of being a parent, yet he still has to take care of Feather at the end of the day. “This must be what made my mom’s eyes narrow and nasty words come out of her mouth. This must be what helped give my dad an ulcer and that look on his face that says-what next (Page 33)?” Bobby is able to realize that what he has done has changed the lives of his parents, and it has made the situation harder for his family overall. He feels bad, saying, “I feel worse because I’m taking my dad’s smile and probably some more things he’ll never talk about (Page 74),” and he sees that he might have taken his dad’s smile away. He feels guilty, and therefore decides that he will do as much as he can without his parent’s help. This

" what you thinking about Bobby?"Bobby has always been wondering what Heaven, Ohio would be like.He feels like it would be a better lifestyle not just for him but also Feather. Bobby is the main character in the First Part Last, this novel is a more of a growing up novel and to help kids learn what not to do.The author Angela Johnson used symbols to describe how Bobby is becoming mature.

Before what happened to Nia, Bobby and Nia decided to have the baby get adopted with the help of a social worker. After the problem, Bobby decided to keep Feather right when he saw her and of what happened to Nia, he felt like he should do his part. The author who wrote The First Part Last name is Angela Johnson. As a matter of fact the three reasons of how and why Bobby came of

The author uses symbols to help the reader understand his theme. In the poem, the three most important symbols are the

Many of the symbols in the novel remind Robert of his troubled past. Some of the symbols in the book appeal to both the reader and Robert, exacerbating his struggles. After finishing his training, Robert boards a ship headed for the war zone. When tasked horse injured onboard the ship, he is clearly troubled; as he is unsuccessful in killing the horse the first time, “[a] chair [falls] over in his mind” (Findley 60). The horse is a symbol of Rowena, an innocent person who dies because of her disability. During training, he feels socially obliged to go to a brothel with his peers, and experiences shame associated with the death of Rowena. Instead of watching over her, Robert was “[m]aking love to his pillows” (Findley 16). As a result, he is very insecure about his sexuality and his private life in general. The scene where he is sitting in the bathtub after Rowena’s death is symbolic of Robert giving up his childhood, concomitant with his innocence. The tub represents the womb; his mother tells him a story of his childhood one last time before he joins the army, becoming an adult in some sense. Through symbolism, one can make the connection between Robert’s troubled past, the cruel world he lives in, and his experiences in the war.

Secondly, the characters in the novel, Bobby and Dr. Barney, teach that it is vital to hold on to hope because everyone has a future, regardless of the present and their past. Bobby shows things can change for the better with his discovery of his true home. Bobby announces at Six North that “This kid literally gave me the shirt off his back, the blue one right here and he didn’t know me from the Adam, and there ain’t no questions, without him, I wouldn’t have gotten this home. This new home” (Vizzini 317). Bobby lived in his car last year until a tow truck took away everything he had. Consequently, he loses hope and wants to kill himself. At Six North, Craig helps Bobby with a job interview. Through Craig’s act of kindness, Bobby learns that his true home is Six North where he is and welcomed and appreciated for who he is. Furthermore, Dr. Barney tells Craig about his personal experience with depression. He eventually reveals to Craig the secret to depression:

To stay on that straight path. As kids our parents would make rules or boundaries for us as well as our teachers. Then as we get older and more responsible we have to make our own. Although in some cases,like Bobby's, you have to make them sooner then what you thought and/or some for yourself and another person. Bobby is growing to make rules on his own, he is beginning to understand what he needs to do for Feather and him, for the better. Making rules or goals for life is the easy part, but to follow them or reach them is the process. Bobby goes through ups and downs of life at age 16 and of course there will be more to come but at such a young age to deal with yourself and finding it to take care of another is difficult. I think Bobby realizes though its time to grow up so he does

The last event in this book is when Bobby and his uncle crash on the sled and when they were nutsiest Bobby saw