The Glass Of Ice Water

“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire other,” says Virginia Woolf, an English writer. Growing up is preordained. Everyone grows up. When do we grow up? Perhaps, after we graduate school, maybe after our first love, or maybe after our marriage or maybe after the birth of our first kid. It primarily depends on how one looks at it, but irrespective of what we consider the right time or the right situation to be “grown-ups”, we cannot help but admit that it is that moment in time where innocence vanishes. As children, we dream of growing up, getting a job, getting married, living happily but on the contrary it is quite different, we find that reality is completely opposite. More often than we wish, we were still children,

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them”, says Maya Angelou, an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. This quote reflects to Sarah’s journey in the novel Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay, since the main character, Sarah, faces events that affect her well being, as they make her both weaker and stronger. These events causes her to lose her innocence, makes her persistent, and then eventually drives her to be pessimistic. Sarah experiences traumatic events through her journey, which leads her to change both in a positive and negative way.

As teenager, many people say their adolescence is one of the most important phases in anyone’s life. As a teenager, you get to experience many great events like going to high school football games, dating your first boyfriend or girlfriend, getting your driver license, and graduating from high school. As I look back, I believe that getting my first job was the most important event in my adolescence. I was very enthusiastic about getting my first job. I enjoyed that fact that I will be able to earn my own money and not having to ask my mother for any earn. Surprising, there was only one obstacle that was holding me back and that was the fact that I was a

According to McAdams (2009), in their late teens and early 20s, young people living in modern societies face the challenge of finding a place for themselves in the complex adult world and developing an understanding of themselves that provides their life with meaning, unity, and purpose. ("Chapter 9, The Problem of Identity, Adolescence and Young Adulthood"). However, some who will experience many conflicts such as, identity crisis, role confusions, and insecurity of how they will fit into society. I think she is at this stage because she is still in the process of developing her sense of self at the age of 29. She had begun to accomplish many of her goals, but tend to never finish them such as, school, and different career opportunities. At her age she still feel a need to blend in with her social group of younger adults, instead of focusing on herself and her children. I honestly believe that she is trapped in her teenage years, since her mother had done everything for her and the children. Which I feel that it really effected the way she thinks and live her life, which may have caused her to get lost in the mix of becoming an independent adult. The central question that was posed during stage 5, adolescence and young adulthood, is “How do I fit into the adult world”? (McAdams, 2009, p. 351). I believe she has unconsciously sought to answer this question, because she rather be with her friends out in

“We don’t accept handouts form anyone” says Rose Mary Walls, the mother of Jeannette Walls. In the memoir The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls she describes events from her life from childhood to adulthood and how she overcame her struggles. She had to adjust to her family’s situation and comply with how her parents wanted her to act, which was to be independent. Walls’ memoir embodies the theme of being self-sufficient by illustrating scenes that take place in hers and her siblings life that demonstrate the need to become self-sufficient. Jeannette Walls has been learning how to be independent from a young age.

Grace has just woken up from her illness. “Mrs.Kelly looks confused. I’ll explain everything Mrs. Kelly or at least i’ll try, said Tara.”(Mass 244) Mrs. Kelly is blind about what is happening to her daughter and Tara who can see what Mrs.Kelly can not see is telling her what is wrong with her

For the first time, she clearly saw what her life would have been like had her parents didn’t take the risk of leaving their home. Poverty was omnipresent, opportunity was non-existent and educated, hard working professionals were barely scraping by. Even the youth had nothing to look forward to. “Their faces all shared the same expression -- hopelessness. I would only see a small glimmer of hope in their eyes when they spoke of America, and how different their lives would be if they could live there.” says Cameron, “My parents risked everything because of hope. Hope for opportunity. Hope in the American Dream. Hope for their children. The risk they took is unparalleled to any risk I’ll ever have to face as an entrepreneur in America, and I felt so ashamed that I had allowed ignorant remarks shape my life and translate into resentment, especially towards them. The very thing that I viewed as a disadvantage growing up as a foreigner, which I let cripple me with fear and insecurity throughout my childhood and teenage years, was now my biggest blessing. My perception shifter, and it transformed into pride, a strong will, and an unrelenting ambition to succeed. My culture is unique and beautiful, and so am I, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to become anything I choose. My entrepreneurial instinct kicked into

In her famous short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” Joyce Carol Oates shows the transition from childhood to adulthood through her character Connie. Each person experiences this transition in their own way and time. For some it is leaving home for the first time to go to college, for others it might be having to step up to a leadership position. No matter what, this transition affects everyone; it just happens to everyone differently. Oates describes Connie's unfortunate coming of age in a much more violent and unexpected way than the typical coming of age story for a fifteen year old girl.

Connie is like most young women these days. She has an idea of what to do for career just has not yet put enough thought into it to feel good about a decision. Connie is a smart seventeen year old young woman. Her mother is struggling to provide for Connie as a single mother working two jobs and only wants the best for Connie. Her mother is often quoted as saying, “I don’t want Connie to make the mistakes I have.”

The transition from childhood to adulthood is a very essential stage of human development. This stage is when the child leaves their roles as a child and takes on new positions and responsibilities. John Updike, author of “A&P”, writes stories of initiation. In this short story, “A&P” you meet a young protagonist, Sammy, who experiences the change from being a youthful child to the start of his journey to become a mature adult. The story takes place just like any other day for Sammy working as a cashier for A&P. However, after certain events that happen in the store Sammy realizes a major change not only with himself but his confusion of entering adulthood. The two themes I will discuss from the short story “A&P” are power of desire fueled by attraction and the dull conformity of many hometowns.

Although she may be considered insane at the end of the story, I believe the narrator's freedom is a development of the sense of self-identity and a chance for her to begin to recreate a life of her own.

Through these experiences, Lauren helped me understand that young adults have a hard time getting accepted by society. No matter how hard they try to act accordingly it is never enough for adults to see them as responsible

It had been nearly five years since the last time Evan saw her. Life had been good then. Not a care in the world ever crossing his mind, his thoughts floating in and out of existence as if barring no weight. If he had known then what he knew now about how she would change the course of his life, he would never step foot into that library. He would have remained perfectly content with the path he was partaking—a life of drinking and debauchery, wild women, and drugs. A life of doing whatever the hell he wanted, whenever the hell he wanted,

Finnish developer Suomen Hyötytuuli is this week celebrating having completed turbine installation and successfully exported first power to the grid at its 42MW Tahkoluoto wind farm off Finland.

“This made me feel alone, with nobody to talk to. I felt left out. It made me feel sad, very sad and lonely. I hated school. I never wanted to go. I wanted to go home, back to Newcastle. That’s where my old friends are, they all