The Best Death Ever – Niall Griffiths
By Christian Steenfeldt, 3.U
Children cannot differentiate between what is fun and what is serious. In the short story “The Best Death Ever” by Niall Griffiths four boys are playing a game where they have to fake a death. The boy whoever fakes the best death wins the game. The four boys do not understand what they are doing and see the game, The Best Death Ever, as a fun game. Until one moment, when one of the boys misjudges the distance to ground and almost hang himself meanwhile his friends where shooting at him with their toy guns.
The story is narrated by a first person narrator who looks back at a specific incidence. The narrator technique is very post modernistic. Niall Griffiths uses a lot of
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The story is a flashback of roughly 45-60 minutes of his life. The narrator looks back at that special episode of his life and he turns all nostalgic.
The boys are strongly inspired by war movies and war stories told by the elderlies. The narrator has received a toy gun from his granddad. He knows a lot about it because of his big interest in war. As almost every other boy, they play games with guns and death involved. The problem is not that the boys play war, but that they cannot differentiate between where the fun stops. In this game Gavin almost killed himself, but it was not on purpose. A problem is, when the mom notices Gavin, she immediately saves him. Then she slaps the narrator. By slapping the narrator she punishes him for something that he does not know is wrong. The narrator is angry, because they have to award Gavin the price of the best death.
“I would shock and shake them all with the violence of my going. But we never played the game again.”
Because his mother hit him and did not tell him what they did wrong, he does not understand consequences. Therefore he still wants to win the game next time and he wants to put even more violence in than Gavin did. Luckily they never played the game again, because nobody knows what would have happened then.
This story is a perfect example to show that taking extra care of your children is highly necessary. If you do not teach your kid what is dangerous and what is not, it will have serious consequences. As in
In a place flooded with war and violence, a school is separated from reality; living within the walls are the boys of the school, shielded from the ugly truths that lie beyond. During this time of adolescence, the boys are forced to grow and mature while the walls that protect them begin to fall. One boy, Gene, lives within this wall and matures into a young man during this time through many events and conflicts he faces. Through these events occurring, he is now able to withstand the violence of the world, war and trauma. This coming of age is demonstrated when Gene causes Finny to fall out of the tree, discovers the reality of war, and Finny dies.
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A little ten year old boy was taken as a prisoner of war. He was snatched out of his life and destined to die while others lived. His death actually happened in history, but also in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead. It is the year 1775, the Revolutionary War is just stirring among the people. The narrator is Tim Meeker, the youngest son in a family that runs their tavern in the town of Redding. The Meeker family goes through many sufferings at the cost of war. His older brother, Sam is a Yale student who goes to war to fight the British against his father’s wishes. Through the course of the book, many sufferings arise in Redding. Life gets tougher and the Meekers experience the hard reality of war. The authors are against war because they
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The assassination role play game played at St.Ann’s private school and other American schools is a fun learning experience for kids. At the end of the school year, high school students in groups complete “assassinations” assigned to them by a judge. The harmless “assassinations” are done by shooting the opponent with a water gun. This continues until only one team remains and they are rewarded with the winner's pot that each team contributed twenty dollars too. This organised and safe game should be allowed to continue and is a great lesson for kids.
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A little ten year old boy is snatched out of his life as he was taken as a prisoner of war. He is destined to die when others lived. His death actually happened in history, but also in the novel, My Brother Sam Is Dead. It is the year 1775, the Revolutionary War just stirring among the people. The narrator is Tim Meeker, the youngest son in a family that runs their tavern in the town of Redding. The Meeker family goes through lots of sufferings at the cost of war. His older brother Sam is a Yale student who goes to war to fight the British against his father’s wishes. As the war goes on life gets tougher and the Meekers experience the hard reality of war. Tim is split between the sides of war, but realizes neither side is right. As Tim goes through story the authors show the reader of the difficulties of war. In My Brother Sam Is Dead although both sides are shown, authors Collier and Collier argue that war is futile.
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The child started to move again. He lied backwards again, repeating the same dangerous movement. When the mother didn't get any positive reaction, she shouted at him. Then she walked over to him and pinched him on his arm. He quickly got up and sat quietly. He didn't cry but his eyes started to tear. He then looked around; I think he wanted to see if any one had seen what happened. He tried not to cry, and did not want to be seen by others. He stayed again in his chair for about fifteen minutes and he then continued to do other dangerous behaviors. He jumped out of his chair. There was a concrete column near the chair, he walked over to it and started to spin around. His mother told him to go back to his chair and he did so. His father then came, as soon as the boy saw him he ran to him, and clung to his legs. The father picked him up and they left.