Nirankna Camilo Inconsistent Inconsistency at any age is difficult to deal with. Especially when the constant changes involve schools, friends, and locations. Growing up I was known as the girl who was always moving. I’ve lived in various places from Massachusetts to Dominican Republic, Georgia, Texas and California. There’s no specific reason to why we were always moving, we just did. The memories of all the cities, schools, and apartments we've lived in begin to fade. Moving was very challenging, I was trying to develop my social skills while trying to find comfort within all these new places. Nothing was consistent. The worst was never being able to form a secure friendship. I never noticed how much of a toll this left on me until 6th …show more content…
I wasn't in school long enough to know the materials that were taught in Georgia compared to the ones being taught in Massachusetts, but I was still required to take the standardized test that determined whether I would advance to the next grade or not. The image of my classmates being happy when they received their test scores is still fresh in my mind. I was crying in the back of the class with my scores thinking I wasn't smart enough to go on. My teacher made me stay after school and explained to me that because I had just moved here I was able to proceed to the next grade. However the fear of being unintelligent and not good enough was always going to be with me. After all the constant changes in my life, I finally reached a point where I had consistency. My family had moved back to the Bay State where I attended The Frost. This was until my mom hit me with the heartbreaking news that we were going to move during my 8th grade year. Something in me changed, I no longer had the desire to succeed in school or make friends. This was the hardest move of all because I finally made friends, and finally had a feeling of
In A Separate Peace, John Knowles carries the theme of the inevitable loss of innocence throughout the entire novel. Several characters in the novel sustain both positive and negative changes, resulting from the change of the peaceful summer sessions at Devon to the reality of World War II. While some characters embrace their development through their loss of innocence, others are at war with themselves trying to preserve that innocence.
“Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb. Finny, his balance gone, swung his head around to look at me for an instant with extreme interest, and then he tumbled sideways, broke through the little branches below and hit the bank with a sickening, unnatural thud, It was the first clumsy physical action I had ever seen him make. With unthinking sureness I moved out on the limb and jumped into the river, every trace of my fear forgotten.” (Knowles 59-60). Gene Forrester, one of the main characters in John Knowles' novel A Separate Peace, describes his best friend Phineas' fall from a “tremendous tree, an irate steely black steeple beside a river,”(Knowles 6) at their all boys boarding school, Devon. Gene is an introverted young boy who is very academically gifted. Finny, however, is an extremely extroverted childish young boy who is very athleticaly gifted. Finny's fall eventually leads to terrible things, such as death and guilt. Throughout the novel Knowles uses Phineas' fall from the tree to symbolize his loss of innocence, to show Gene's guilt, and to develop Phinea's death.
The setting of a novel aids in the portrayal of the central theme of the work. Without a specific place and social environment, the characters are just there, with no reason behind any of their actions. The Age of Influence centers around the Old New York society during the 1870’s. Most of the characters are wealthy upper class citizens with a strict code to follow. The protagonist, Newland Archer, lives in a constant state of fear of being excluded from society for his actions. Archer’s character is affected by standard New York conventions as well as the pressure to uphold his place in society, both of which add to Wharton’s theme of dissatisfaction.
The day I moved away, a lot of things were going through my young mind. As I took my last look at my home, I remembered all the fun times I had with my family and friends through out my life. Now I was moving 800 miles away from all of that with no insight on what lied ahead for me. As my family and I drove away from our Michigan home, I looked out the window wondering what Virginia would be, and what my friends were doing. A lot of things were going through my mind at the time. At the time my main worry was if I would make any friends, and how I would adjust to everything. During the whole drive down, my mother would often let me know that everything would be all right and I would like it. Trying to be strong and hold back my tears, I just shook my head no, wondering why we had to move so far away. Life would be different for me and I knew it would.
To begin with, my life five years ago was very swell. I was fourteen years old and in the eighth grade. I hadn’t got a job yet, I didn’t have very many friends, I was very shy and antisocial and was always on the computer. I was getting excited about my Washington D.C. trip with my school but I was also very nervous about having to share a room and a bed. I was even more nervous because I knew what shorty was going to follow; which was me going over to the high school to become a freshman. I was only so nervous because it was going to be a new place, a new school and a bunch of new faces around me. Then again I was very happy in life because I had set goals but I am also very happy in life now.
Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct. It is also bounded by different religious beliefs. Still, no matter which culture or religion is at hand, there is always more than one way to lose one’s innocence, and every member of that particular culture or religion experiences a loss of innocence at least once in their lives. In addition, the individual’s loss of innocence will impair him or her emotionally and/or physically.
It has struck some leaving a lasting impact while others just let it go by. Some would see it as corruption, and others see everyday life. I see it as the pure loss of innocence in a world of corruption. This new issue has risen in today's generation leaving no one free of it wrath. This has not been the first we have seen of this. The loss of innocence has been referred to over years by many authors, but now we come to see it in our lives a lot more frequently. According to authors like Emerson and Salinger, who although wrote their pieces so far apart, feel everyday in life the American Character is faced upon with the corruption of innocence that takes away from their unique American Character.
Loss of Innocence in Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds A rite of passage is defined as a ceremony marking a significant transition or an important event or achievement, both regarded as having great meaning in the lives of individuals. In Sharon Olds' moving poem "Rite of Passage", these definitions are illustrated in the lives of a mother and her seven-year-old son. The seriousness and significance of these events are represented in the author's tone, which undergoes many of its own changes as the poem progresses. From its title, the tone of the poem is already set as serious, and we know there will be a significant event taking place in someone's life. As earlier stated, a rite of passage is an important ceremony or a life-changing event.
The simple definition of war is a state of armed competition, conflict, or hostility between different nations or groups; however war differs drastically in the eyes of naive children or experienced soldiers. Whether one is a young boy or a soldier, war is never as easy to understand as the definition. comprehend. There will inevitably be an event or circumstance where one is befuddled by the horror of war. For a young boy, it may occur when war first breaks out in his country, such as in “Song of Becoming.” Yet, in “Dulce et Decorum Est” it took a man dying in front of a soldier's face for the soldier to realize how awful war truly is. Both “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” are poems about people experiencing the monstrosity of war for the first time. One is told from the perspective of young boys who were stripped of their joyful innocence and forced to experience war first hand. The other is from the perspective of a soldier, reflecting on the death of one of his fellow soldiers and realizing that there is nothing he can do to save him. While “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” both focus on the theme of the loss of innocence, “Song of Becoming” illustrates how war affects the lives of young boys, whereas “Dulce et Decorum Est” depicts the affect on an experienced soldier.
The one specific moment that I can pinpoint in my life that created a drastic change of who I am today occurred last year in late August. It was the first week of school and all I was really focused on was the football game coming up on Friday. I had spent most of my summer weight training and practicing for the upcoming season and I got drastically better than the year before, and was ready for anything. Little did I know what was waiting for me in the game to come. An experience that I never imagined would ever happen to me. An experience that never even crossed my mind…until Friday came.
During my Sophomore year of high school, the divorce of my parents was sudden. The past few years of living with them together never gave me any hint of what was going to present itself in my later years. That following summer was tough for me when my dad abruptly went back up to Anchorage, Alaska to continue his fishing job catching pollock. I stayed with my mom, 2 younger brothers and her new boyfriend at our old house which no longer felt like my childhood home. This change in my life was abrupt and I couldn’t adjust fast enough to what was happening. That summer consisted of me working at my first job down at Bunnies By The Bay for 6 hours, going home and packing for the next day so I could head over to my grandma’s house, because at the
A life decision I’ll always be proud of is my decision to attend Cranbrook Schools as a border my sophomore year. My choice to attend Cranbrook helped propel me into adulthood much faster than I could have possibly imagined. I will admit I was afraid at first because for the first time in my life I wasn’t living at home and didn’t have the comfort of having my parents at my side to help me with my problems. However, I quickly immersed myself into the Cranbrook community and I immediately felt a sense of belonging. One person that quickly helped me immerse myself in the Cranbrook community was my friend, Caleb Lei. Caleb quickly embraced me as one his friends and instantly gave me a sense of belonging. Unfortunately, Caleb had passed away
It was the second semester of fourth grade year. My parents had recently bought a new house in a nice quite neighborhood. I was ecstatic I always wanted to move to a new house. I was tired of my old home since I had already explored every corner, nook, and cranny. The moment I realized I would have to leave my old friends behind was one of the most devastating moments of my life. I didn’t want to switch schools and make new friends. Yet at the same time was an interesting new experience.
A new experience, a change from the norm, looking out for myself, and living on my own: for me this is college. The transition of high school student to college seemed immensely overwhelming and even a bit scary. The shift opened a can of worms and created challenges, both good and bad, behind every corner. Due to the change of scene, I am now dealing with the everyday acceptance of the greater world around me: the town, the people and my new life.
As a sophomore in college, it is crazy to think back to where I started and how things used to be to how they are now. Even though I am only nineteen years old, I have made mistakes, had struggles, and have learned new lessons. Not only am I to focus on my life, but the different lifestyles around me.