The Importance Of Anecdotes In Make Your Home Among Strangers

Had Jeannette never experienced poverty, had she never had to make do with what she had, she would never have thought to create her own braces. Hence, because poverty forces her to manage with the little she has throughout all of her childhood, Jeannette gains resourcefulness. Poverty’s final gift to Jeannette and her siblings is the desire to survive. Throughout her childhood, Jeannette is forced to survive. She must survive burns from a freak accident and cuts from falling out of a car. She must survive constant moving around and repeated incidents with sexual predators. All of these incidents instill in Jeannette a desire to survive. As a junior in high school, Jeannette flees to New York City where she finishes high school and begins college. Jeannette works hard to support herself but eventually runs out of money. Instead of quitting and falling through the cracks, Jeannette works harder; she refuses to give up and continues to live her life in the face of difficult circumstances. Thus, the Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle changed my views about poverty by revealing that poverty can produce more than negative outcomes; it can foster resiliency, ingenuity, and a desire to succeed.

It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. This is evident in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, which reiterates the story of Jeannette who is raised within a family that is both deeply dysfunctional and distinctively vibrant. Jeannette is faced with numerous barriers throughout her life. Despite the many obstacles set forth by her parents during her childhood, Jeannette develops into a successful adult later in life. One of these obstacles is the lack of a stable home base moulds her into the woman she grows up to be. Throughout her life, Jeannette must cope with the carelessness of her

Imagine the life of a nomad, moving around to different place, meeting different people, and having different lifestyles. This is the life of the Walls family. In the book The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, she explains that life as a nomad was never amazing. Her life of moving around and being the same old poor child isn’t what she wanted to be. Throughout her journey, she has been discriminated and stereotyped for her family’s actions, and for the way she looks to the rest of the world. The point of this essay is to tell you that there are obstacles like this outside of the world of fiction. With the school board’s recent sentiments regarding the lack of value that fiction provides, fiction should not remain

In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town,” Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. It shows that true freedom is about being accepted because of the way that the Duvitch family is placed in a community where they are not accepted at first but then do become accepted. Mr. Duvitch didn’t talk much to anyone because of lack of freedom to be who he was, Mrs. Duvitch didn’t have the freedom to also be who she was because people talked about her and the Duvitch children to were quiet ones who didn’t have freedom in the sense that they couldn’t just go out and play with the other kids.

The story “The Strangers That Came to Town” is primarily a story about freedom. In his short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. In the beginning of the story Mr. Duvitch and his family couldn’t walk around the town being judged or feeling uncomfortable. This was also a big problem for Mr. Duvitch’s children. They deal with bullying and not being welcomed as well. Although at the end of the story Andy’s family changes things for the Duvitch’s. The town begins to realize that they aren’t as bad as they thought and weren’t actually that different from them.

James Baldwin was an African American author who grew up in Harlem. In his “Talk to Teachers”, he discusses how society connects to education. He shows that society shapes a child’s education by conditioning and telling them how to view their place in life. According to Baldwin, society shows that there are unfair rules and regulations in a country that is supposed to believe and practice freedom. When the child grows up, they will realize that they do not have equal opportunities as other children and will then question their own identities. To fix these contradictions, Baldwin believes education should “create the ability to look at the world for himself.” He also believed that a child should “examine everything in order to achieve change and a sense of their own identity.”

While reading, Make Your Home Among Strangers, readers are able to see connections between Lizet's problematic life and their own. The main connections related to me while reading was the difficulty to make friends and to deal with our home lives changing. Lizet struggled to make friends at Rawlings because everyone only looked at her for her ethnicity, and not her true personality. Her own roommate made comments consistently saying, "This is my roommate, Liz. She's Cuban" (Crucet 88). Lizet could not relate to many of the

In the research novel, “Keepin’ It Real” written by Prudence Carter, a large group of African American and Latino students are asked questions and are shadowed to better understand the culture and the struggles they face every day. The students are asked questions about their family and their opinions on life. Carter shadows them from time to time to experience what they do to get a better understanding of their life and struggles. Based on the research of Carter, African American and Latino youth struggle to achieve the “American dream”.

In his short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted.

Additionally, my parent’s substantial economic and social capital was a great asset in my career path of finding a better education outside of my community. Professor Abrego explains that one’s social location shapes an individual’s identity and how one experiences how the world treats them (Abrego, Lecture 01/06/16). In my case, there were not as many resources that my social location offered, for this reason, my mother was determined to find another high school for me to attend, away from South Central. To emphasize, my local high school carried a bad reputation of teen pregnancy, gang violence, and lacked many resources, therefore, due to my mother’s strong social capital she managed to obtain a fake address in order for me to attend a better

Leading a meaningful life meant breaking away from the fear of criticism or rejection; conforming to society limits Illgunas’ definition of life. Illgunas’ suburban upbringing makes the danger of social conformity clear to him. Surrendering to society would consequently cause him to completely lose himself. After graduating from high school, Illgunas and his classmates follow the conventional path towards a higher education. Illgunas explains, “My high school class and I moved like a school of fish: we graduates were capable of going off on our own, in whatever direction we chose, but something demanded we all swim as one…” (6-7). Parallel to the claim Illgunas makes, graduates that do not attend college are stigmatized. Society has created a paradigm: after graduating high school, students should attend a traditional four year university, and then enter the “career world.” In Illgunas’ perspective, people in

Our education system is perhaps one of the most complex institutions in the United States. Students are taught to be their most authentic selves but yet are told to think a certain way. In reality, students really don’t have the freedom to be their genuine identity. Our society tells us that a typical student speaks the language, excels in all areas of study, and loves to read. Children who do not fit this mold are often at a disadvantage and do not attain the same acceptance. In the essay, “Achievement of Desire” Richard Rodriguez was a first generation immigrant from Mexico. His parents spoke little English, and had no education. Automatically, his family is an outcast. Throughout Rodriguez’s schooling career he learned to fit the perfect mold of the “typical” American student. He finds himself to be in an internal struggle between social versus family isolation, authenticity and finding his place in the American society.

Freedom can be expressed in many ways, whether it be from the individual or from the community. One can express freedom from escaping their own barriers from their life. This can make someone’s life more easy to live because they can freely express their ideas and thoughts without being ridiculed. Other people may express freedom from being accepted in society. In Ambrose Flack’s short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, he shows that true freedom is about being accepted. Flack uses characterization of Mr. Duvitch as a catalyst to show that true freedom is about being accepted. Mr. Duvitch wasn’t accepted for the beginning of the story which creates a poor image of himself in his community. Flack also shows that once he is accepted by society, it shows the power of acceptance and how it is transferred to happiness. Once Mr. Duvitch was accepted and free, the whole community finally understood who he really is. Mr. Duvitch’s true personality shined through because he was comfortable within his community.

At times in life there comes something called change. In my opinion, I was not a big fan of change. You cannot imagine how I was feeling when my mother announced that we were moving. It was the middle of my sixth-grade year, I was feeling countless emotions, none that could be explained at the moment of the announcement. The main thing on my mind was school; my friends, my outstanding teachers, and the environment. All things I had left behind. All I could think about was, “How will I ever adjust?” I knew exactly what was to come, I knew exactly what I was going to become, an outcast. There were numerous of ways on why I was feeling this way, but

Man is a product of the culture in which he is born and brought up. For the same reason, no one can negate the influence of the society in forming one’s personality. I am well aware of the fact that my views, thoughts, and attitude have been shaped by the society I live in; hence, any attempt to sketch my personal experiences would be incomplete without referring to the part played by my surroundings. Throughout my life, I have paid utmost importance to initiating and maintaining interpersonal relationships with others. I had to face varied situations out there, both joyous and depressing. However, each instance was a great lesson for me to learn several things about my practical life – I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that I have learned more outside the four walls of my classroom than within them. My autobiography is closely associated with my social connections including my experiences with my family, educational institution, and the larger society I reside within.