Mistakes can seriously impact the people who make them; however, the effects are not always negative. In the book, Whirligig, by Paul Fleischman, a teenage boy named Brent is the new kid in town and he faces some major problems with his peers. After being pushed around, treated like a pawn, and utterly rejected, Brent tries to commit suicide by taking his hands off the wheel of his moving car. Although Brent’s attempt is not successful, his actions still have a tragic ending- Lea, a young, kind, beautiful girl, is unlucky enough to be in the car that Brent crashes into. The car accident results in Lea’s death, but also the start of Brent’s magical journey of redemption. Brent’s task is to travel to the four corners of the country, build …show more content…
Brent and Emil’s relationship is so strong that Brent is willing to put his entire journey on hold so that he can spend time with Emil, despite the fact that he and Emil are almost total opposites when it comes to sociability. Something else that makes Emil and Brent different from one another is their various likes and interests. Emil will soon be studying Biology in college, and when the two boys visit the zoo, Emil takes much pleasure in informing Brent about every animal they meet. However, Brent is more interested in other things such as woodwork, like his whirligigs, and music, like his harmonica. Yet, these variances do not stand in the way of the friendship at all. This is clearly displayed when “They [Emil and Brent] ...spent two hours in the natural history museum. Brent had never known anyone his age who went to museums voluntarily. He was strictly Emil’s sidekick” (71). Although Brent is not a fan of museums at all, he still stands faithfully by Emil’s side the entire time, proving that two people do not need to be exactly alike in order to be friends. However, Paul Fleischman does not just emphasize that personality type doesn’t matter in a friendship; the author also portrays that race isn’t important when it comes to forming relationships.
In another part of Brent’s journey, Brent meets and interacts with seven or eight young African-American children who, in time, create a powerful
Friendship describes the mutual pledge to help reveal the innermost workings of a person, bringing out the hidden attributes and validity of one’s characteristics. Subsequently, the bonds and struggles of friendship are a central cause for unveiling identity as the relationship one makes contributes to long-lasting change. The acceptance of a person’s differences conveys an importance for the development of strong bonds. Moreover, hardships accompanying relationships establish times to reflect on oneself and lead to positive outcomes for growth. Furthermore, the memorable journeys embed an area in one’s mind that will change the way self-perspective is seen. Through the characters of Lewis in If I Ever Get Out Of Here by Eric Gansworth and
“Most of these people one doesn’t know, and some of them one doesn’t like; doesn’t like the color of their skin, say, or the shapes of their noses, or the way they blow them, or don’t blow them, or, the way they talk, or, their smell, or their clothes, or their fondness for jazz or their dislike of jazz” (Forster).
Furthermore, this essay gives a perspective on what a Black man goes through. Brent wanted to enlighten his readers about daily life as an African American man. This meant explaining his view of the public from his perspective. By bringing these issues to light, he
However, all those narratives made by Du Bois before visited back the hill many years after are just foundations he build to emphasize the sadness and hardship those African Americans living in the hill suffered when he was not there. In paragraph 16, Josie’s family fell apart because of poverty and the mistakes made by her brothers. As the centre of her family, Josie takes all the burdens, she “grew thin and silent”, and she eventually “crept to her mother like a hurt child, and slept-and sleeps”. Du Bois uses narrative first leaves the audiences a positive and bright impression about Josie’s strong personality and great potential as a hardworking young woman, making them have a sense of hope about the future of Josie. Later on, he draws a sharp contrast about the Josie he knew when he was teaching and the Josie who eventually became when he came back, creating a sense of sadness about the tragedy of such a great girl. Due to the use of narrative, Du Bois’ presentation becomes more vivid and believable, and the transformation of Josie and her family becomes even more impressive since those are reality that has actually happened in our
People are considered to be social beings, yet, again and again, they seek to falsify the claims of civility, and show themselves as the detached individuals they tend to be. In his novella, “Of Mice and Men,” John Steinbeck designed several faulty pairings that display the true disparity and detachment that are proven to be a part of every relationship in the story. Through the associations of the main characters, Lennie and George, along with several other characters within the narrative, Steinbeck exposes the root of 1930’s relationships in promises, loneliness, and a basic need for companionship, rather than any true fondness- a junction that can easily be nullified.
This powerful memoir is a testament to the potential love and determination that can be exhibited despite being on the cusp of a nation's racial conflicts and confusions, one that lifts a young person above
The stark weight of expectation on a person’s shoulders is enough to make even the best man fall to the ground of the ones he worships. A man that stands over six feet and two inches, with the strongest of bones, can be torn down with the shackles placed upon his feet by the environment of higher authority. That man was the other Wes Moore. The book The Other Wes Moore brings to light how two young boys can become sucked into the whirlpool of evil expectations. While one was able to pursue a life beyond his childhood horrors, the other will spend a lifetime paying for the crime of his childhood expectations. People everywhere are influenced by those who surround them and the town they grew up in. Children walk the streets of Ohio doing drugs
This novel actively demonstrates the choices we make in our everyday life, resulting in consequences that ultimately make or break our futures. The fates of two African American
Brent Staples memoir "Just Walk on By" is a short powerful story of what his daily life is like as a black man in America. Staples works for the New York Times as an editorial writer and also an author. He has written two books, the first a memoir named Parallel Time: Growing up In Black and White and second called An American Love Story (wikipedia.org). He is a well-educated man who not only received his BA in behavioral science but also continued his education as far as receiving his Ph.D. in psychology (thehistorymakers. org). Due to his successes, it makes his memoir more shocking to see that despite his life accomplishments, he still struggles in a world that has racial stigmas. Brent Staples is a great example of how to write a memoir due to his organization of the text, literary devices, and his use of rhetorical appeals. In the following essay, these rhetorical strategies Staples uses will be broken down further to show why his essay is a strong mentor text.
The consequences of the past are inescapable and the choices a person makes can influence the rest of his life. There is no way to change the past, so once important choices are made it is impossible to reverse time and change those decisions. Khaled Hosseini explores this idea of having to live with past decisions in his compelling novel The Kite Runner. To enforce the message of how inescapable the past truly is, the main character of Hosseini’s book, Amir, betrays his closest friend and struggles to cope with the haunting consequences of this betrayal. Through Amir’s complex character development and The Kite Runner’s distinctive plot structure, those who read the novel gain a deeper understanding of Amir’s decisions as a result of his past mistakes via Hosseini’s use of foreshadowing and flashbacks. By creating a unique relationship between the past and present in the novel, Hosseini urges readers to ponder the consequences of mistakes and reflect on their own past.
In this novel, Colin Singleton is a prodigy and genius who just graduated from high school. Colin was just dumped by his 19th girlfriend in a row and all of his girlfriends have the name of Katherine - all spelled the same way. After Katherine the 19th dumps Colin, Colin's best friend, Hassan, comes to Colin's room to convince him that he needs to take a road trip to clear his mind and have an adventure. While it takes some convincing on Hassan's part, Colin finally agrees to go on the road trip. Once the boys convince both of their parents to let them go for the summer, they hit the road in Colin's car, which they call Satan’s Hearse. While Colin and Hassan are on the highway, Colin sees an exit, which brags that it has the grave of Archduke
In Wonder,the author[R.J. Palacio] shows us that you can still be friends even though you are different than somebody.When Jack got a call from the principal one day,he was shocked because the` principal asked Jack to be friends with a kid named August that had some facial issues and Jack said “Sure.”During the school year,August was looking
The book is a sort of fictionalized portrayal of the author Claude brown’s adolescent life growing up in Harlem in the 1940’s and 50’s with his own self-narration. He cycles into the street life and gets shot mid-escape from a robbery, then being placed in a juvenile detention center. In the effort to escape the street life, brown then starts carrying several small jobs in order to help himself finish school.
In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” she encourages Sylvia to look society in the eye and change what is expected of her. She exposes the inequality present within the United States’s society through the perspective of young African American children. Often, many are unwilling to acknowledge that they are a victim of poverty, leaving them in a state of ignorance, that will not promote any change. The story revolves around Sylvia, a young black girl, who finally has her eyes opened to her disadvantaged economic status. Real learning often occurs after a state of discomfort and confusion. Bambara takes Sylvia through a journey enlightening her through an uncomfortable juxtaposition of Harlem and Manhattan, her and her friends, and who she actually is and who she wants to be.
The story, for the most part, centers upon an African-American family, their dreams for the future and an insurance check coming in for death of the eldest man. Stirring into the mix later is the hugely oppressive,