After reading Caroline Sacks’ story, I deduced that it is better to be a big fish in a little pond, rather than a little fish in a big pond. It is easier to become lost in the chaos of a big pond but little ponds “are welcoming to those on the inside. They have all of the support of the community and friendship” (73). Community and friendship are things that may be found in a big pond, but this seems rare due to Sacks’ experience in a big pond. “’They didn’t want to share their study habits with me. They didn’t want to talk about ways to better understand the stuff that we were learning, because that might give me a leg up’” (75) Sacks’ found competition instead of comradery. Although big ponds are seen as more prestigious, it is better to
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
What would you do, if you had a friend that always got in trouble and prevented you from being where you want to be? In the novel, “ Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, there are two great friends George Milton and Lennie Small who travel everywhere looking for work and chasing their dream. While taking care of Lennie, George demonstrates being kind and caring, which shows how people who are inspired to push harder to achieve their goal. Throughout the novel, George demonstrates kindness towards Lennie. At the beginning of the story The boss questions George for looking out for Lennie so much, “‘ Well, I ain’t never seen one guy take so much trouble for another guy.’” Furthermore, The boss observes that George is taking a lot of trouble to take care of Lennie. After this, George denies this statement by claiming that he is his cousin. The readers do not know if this is true, but not to mention it leaves us to believe that he is lying. When this occurs, it gives the readers clues that there strong friendship may not go unnoticed. The author does this to make the readers think that their friendship being recognized, likewise may happen later on in the story. Again, someone recognizes their friendship and how kind George is to lennie to go through all of this trouble with him. While George meets slim for the first time, Slim says, “‘ Funny how you and him string along together’” then George replies “‘ What’s wrong bout it?’” (39). Again, someone recognizes their friendship.
Is the love of your friend unconditional? Would you care for them if they were mentally retarded? What if they had unpredictable behavior that could be lethal to others? This was the daily life and burden of George in Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. George and Lennie are great friends that are two migrant workers in California during the 1920s. George is physically a small man that takes care Lennie. Lennie is unaware of his largeness and strength that has a gentle heart and likes to pet soft things. The story begins when the two men are dropped off by a bus two miles away from the destination of the farm they are going to work at. George and Lennie stop by a river to get a drink of water before they walk to the farm. When George takes a sip of water, he notices that Lennie is hiding something in his pocket. So George asks Lennie what it is, Lennie pulls out a dead mouse. Lennie says that it feels soft and he likes to pet it. George, out of fear, takes the dead mouse and throws it into the river. George tells Lennie that he could get really sick from the mouse.
Happiness is only real when shared” it’s a passage in the book Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer) wich is about Christopher McCandlessa who had given up everything and moved to Alaska to live by himself and took refuge in nature. However, Cristopher behavior’s is uncommon. As human being we company is needful, have friends is necessary to share the bad things and especially the good ones, like Cristopher figured out. But, what traits should have a person in order to be considered a real friend? How do recognize na inadequate person to avoid whatever relationship?
"Of Mice and Men" is a book about two men and their struggle to achieve their dream of owning a small ranch through their companionship. The two men are completely different, one being a retarded fellow (Lennie), and the other, a typical ranch hand(George) who travels with him. On the path to achieving their dream, they run into obstacles, but stick together, stressing the importance of true friendship. Steinbeck wrote this book to tell us how important it is to have a friend to share your life with.
Individuals have had to do something they do not want to do at least once in their lives. It could be something small, or something to a bigger extent. In the novel, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, many characters struggle with loneliness because the novel is set during the Great Depression when many people found it difficult to make a living. This is one of the reasons why many readers find it odd that Lennie Small and George Milton travel together in these desperate times. George and Lennie look out for each other at every place they go. At the Tyler Ranch, Lennie’s disability causes him to get into trouble, big trouble. George has to make the toughest decision of his life: kill his friend or let him die a painful death. George decided to kill Lennie because he would not be able to allow Lennie to experience misery. George Milton did not kill Lennie Small out of hate, but out of friendship.
Good friendships make life easier. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, is about two men, George and Lennie, who go on various journeys in order to get a job. Although George would consider Lennie to be his closest friend, he ultimately ends up shooting and killing Lennie. George did this, not out of hatred, but rather out of protection. A good friend will always want what is best for one another. Steinbeck uses his protagonists’ friendship in order to show that true friendship can help make any of life’s hardships less difficult.
The absence or presence of invidiousness has the potency to strengthen or dismember friendships. In John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, Gene Forrester and his daring roommate, Finny, discover the dangerous impact of enviousness on their friendship. Gene’s jealousy of Finny’s athletic capabilities, Finny’s unenviable thoughts and actions, and Brinker’s suspicions that Gene’s envy catalyzed Finny’s accident were all contributing factors to the ups and downs in Gene’s and Finny’s relationship.
2) Shoes- This word is important because for Kate to become a guitar player, she needs to have the perfect shoes. “When Kate decided to play the guitar, she realized she would need new shoes… All her life, she had worn gym shoes, running shoes, soccer cleats, hiking boots, and red Chuck Taylor high-tops, whatever kind of sports shoe made the most sense at the time… But as a future guitar player, Kate had new wardrobe responsibilities.” (pg 1) She is obsessed with
In the novel, ‘Jasper Jones’ Craig Silvey uses the theme friendship to encourage the reader to respond in a sympathetic way to the characters in the novel. ‘Jasper Jones’ is a story about a teenage boy, Charlie Bucktin, who one night is told to sneak out of his room by another boy called Jasper Jones. Jasper takes Charlie to a spot down by the river and reveals a dead girl hanging from a tree, Laura Wishart. Charlie of stunned and scared but Jasper persuades him not to tell anyone and that they must figure out who did this to her. Charlie is faced with many problems throughout this journey and is forced to grow up and become more mature. He makes many new friends because of this secret. Silvey uses the narrative conventions and language techniques;
Friendship is one of the most important relationships that people form in all of their lives. Children build bonds when they are young and use those skills to continue fulfilling friendships for the rest of their lives. Throughout A Separate Peace, John Knowles displays the good things about close friendships but also the hardships that often occur. Gene and Finny are two boys that attend Devon school. Which is a school that closely reflects the one that Knowles attended while he was growing up. Both Gene and Finny emotionally grow despite their opposite personalities, and they go through several situations that force them to consider the value of their friendship. Through their time at the school, Knowles reveals Gene’s and Finny’s
In “The Limits of Friendship” by Maria Konnikova, social media has significantly changed the way we interact with friends and family. Everybody thinks that using social media is the best way to talk to friends and family, however, in my opinion, they are wrong because it doesn’t give you the face-to-face connections we need as humans for social interaction. On the other hand, the great thing about using social media is you can connect with more people, but in a superficial kind of way. Therefore, we do not get the face-to-face interactions with our friends and family. We, the people that are addicted to social media, learn that without face-to-face conversations we wouldn’t have a normal “social” life outside of social media. The question
Cara and I decided to read the book called “Help! A story about friendship” by Holly Keller. The story was about a friendship between a mouse and a snake. The mouse was scared of his best friend snake because someone spread a rumor about his best friend. Shunk told rabbit and rabbit told mouse that snakes like to eat animals like him. The mouse was so freaked out about it that he wasn’t paying attention to where he was walking. He ended up getting stuck in a hole worrying about what he was told and the only person that could get him out was snake. Snake had everyone tie a stick to his leg so that he could get mouse out of the hole. That’s when mouse relies that he needed to apologize to snake and stop listening to rumors spread by others. So
Maria Konnikova's essay "The Limits of Friendship," analyzes the impact of social media on close relationships, addressing the people impacted by social media use. This essay published in The New Yorker, a weekly magazine with scholarly authors, to inform the public on social media's impact on our lives. She finds that social media has created a dependency on technology and online interactions. Konnikova strives to inform that social media is decreasing close relationships, and persuades that it will impact our future. She argues on the impact of increased dependency on social media on the Dunbar number, hindering the development of future generations. Konnikova succeeds using strong logic and scientific reason as well as appealing to emotions; however, she fails to prove her credibility over the topic and instead relies on the credibility of Robin Dunbar.
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.