In S.E. Hinton’s That Was Then, This is Now, Bryon matures throughout the novel and it influences his choices and actions in the absurd decisions he makes, such as reporting his “brother,” Mark, to the police and in his relationship with Cathy. The “coming of age” of Bryon is in his analysis and recall of everything he did, as a teenager. However, other themes are influenced by this theme, such as maturity, alcohol and drugs. Unfortunately, Bryon is going to have to make a decision whether he is going to surround himself with people who give him a positive influence or negative influence. In the beginning of the novel, Bryon does not know what he wants to be when he grows up; he is only focused about the present. However, as the story progresses, he realizes that there is more to life than violence and drugs. At the end of the novel, Bryon is uncertain whether he made the correct verdicts. Bryon is going to have to make an important decision that symbolizes the beginning of his adulthood.
Throughout the novel, the main theme of the story is Bryon’s “coming of age” as he matures from a twelve-year-old to a seventeen-year-old. Bryon recalls several past events as a thirteen-year-old and he later criticizes his actions. Bryon learns everything on his own because his mother is busy with work and his father has divorced his mother. Therefore, Bryon is forced to learn through experiences he encounters on the street. Fortunately, Mark, Bryon’s best friend, is in a similar situation as Bryon his mother and father both died in a gun fight. Bryon’s mother allows Mark to live with them, and this marks the beginning of their “brotherhood.” In the beginning of the novel, Bryon and Mark do everything together; however, as the novel progresses...
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...l when Angela’s brother beats up Bryon, at Terry Jones’ house because Mark cut her hair while Bryon is in the car. When Mark arrives Terry Jones’ house he finds Bryon lying on steps severely beaten. When Bryon sees Mark he is quickly comforted by him and Mark informs him that he is going to get revenge on the Shepards. However, Bryon informs him to not provoke anything else because then they will be in an endless conflict with one another. Mark is unable to comprehend what Bryon just tells him because it is so unorthodox of Bryon. Bryon recalls his confrontation with Mike and understands what he means by “forgiving them for what they had done.” (62) This marks one of the few moments where Bryon is maturing enough to understand that violence is not the solution to everything.
Works Cited
Hinton, S. E. That Was Then, This Is Now. New York: Viking, 1971. Print.
In the high criminal neighborhood where the other Wes lived, people who live there need a positive role model or a mentor to lead them to a better future. Usually the older family members are the person they can look up to. The other Wes’s mother was not there when the other Wes felt perplexed about his future and needed her to support and give him advises. Even though the other Wes’s mother moved around and tried to keep the other Wes from bad influences in the neighborhood, still, the other Wes dropped out of school and ended up in the prison. While the author Wes went to the private school every day with his friend Justin; the other Wes tried to skip school with his friend Woody. Moore says, “Wes had no intention of going to school. He was supposed to meet Woody later – they were going to skip school with some friends, stay at Wes’s house, and have a cookout” (59). This example shows that at the time the other Wes was not interested in school. Because Mary was busy at work, trying to support her son’s education, she had no time and energy to look after the other Wes. For this reason, she did not know how the other Wes was doing at school and had no idea that he was escaping school. She missed the opportunities to intervene in her son’s life and put him on the right track. Moreover, when the author was in the military school, the other Wes was dealing drugs to people in the streets and was already the father of a child. The incident that made the other Wes drop out of school was when he had a conflict with a guy. The other Wes was dating with the girl without knowing that she had a boyfriend. One night, her boyfriend found out her relationship with the other Wes and had a fight with him. During the fight, the other Wes chased the guy and shot him. The guy was injured and the other Wes was arrested
The story starts off with Scott saying, “we plunged toward the future without a clue. Tonight, we were four sweat guys heading home from a day spent shooting hoops. Tomorrow, I couldn’t even guess what would happen. All I knew for sure was that our live were about to change” (3). Scott was indeed right, his life was about to change when he entered high school. This clearly ties in with the theme of growing up, because entering high school and going through major changes is all part of growing up, and growing up is inevitable. Scott has to grow up no matter what so he has to somehow learn to deal with the changes he will be faced with. It is clear that Scott knows he has some growing up to do when he states, “Freshmen? Unbelievable. Fresh? Definitely. Men? Not a clue” (4). This shows how Scott starts off the year knowing that he has a lot of maturing to do, because high school is not at all like middle school, it is way harder. Lastly, by the end of the book, Scott wrote in his journal, that he plans on giving to his baby brother, “And, wow, I’m not a freshman anymore. I’m a sophomore. Imagine that. ‘Flux rox,’ Scott said, conclusively” (279). This demonstrates how Scott recognizes that changes will still be happening, but he can do nothing than to make the best of those changes and go along with it. Overall, it is clear to see
Childhood is crucial to the lives of teenagers and young adults. The experiences, advice, influences that people receive during their formative years is what they carry with them through the rest of their lives. Any emotional turmoil during this period of growth can have serious implications on individuals as they grow older. The book, The Catcher in the Rye, and the movie, Good Will Hunting; tell about the lives of two emotionally troubled young men: Holden and Will. Both of them suffer from emotional blockades in life that are rooted in their childhoods. They both are afraid to connect with others, have little self-value, and little motivation. These complications that Holden and Will face as they mature and grow up affect them in similar ways. Through the encouragement of unexpected mentors Will Hunting and Holden Caulfield, both capable individuals, learn to dismiss the fear of attachment and overcome their disillusioned youths.
due to weak funding in the educational system. Milloy makes the readers wonder why certain schools do not live up to the standards of others in nearby towns. Although a play ground was built for this school, Maurice may never be able to play on it because he must learn how to walk, talk, and eat all over again. People take forgranted the daily rituals of life and if put in the shoes of a parent of this boy, one would realize how tragic this accident was and even the effects the education system has.
Throughout the novel the characters are put in these situations which force them to obtain information about the people they thought they knew. The center of finding out who everyone is was brought into play through the death of Marie. The story is told by David, only twelve years old, who sees his family an community in a different light for who they truly are under there cover. By doing his own little investigations, often times eavesdropping, David saw through the lies, secures and betrayals to find the truth.
It is different in the way that Hang grows and reflects from her past memories, as opposed to watching her develop from a child to an adult. This reflection, which includes her relatable intuition and self-discovery because of the people in her life, allows the reader to see how Hang’s mind has matured and refined based on experiences she may not have understood in the past. Ultimately bringing together the theme of coming of age in the novel, in which she truly develops from being a child to an adult because of her ability to look back and conclude life’s
As the book goes on Chief Bromden begins to realize that McMurphy is not actually the monster they claim him to be. He realizes that ...
James Moloney's coming-of-age novel, A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove, illustrates the life of an adolescent boy called Carl Matt. Through the characters of Carl, Harley and Maddy, Moloney demonstrates how every human being needs love and acceptance. Carl and Harley experience similar things because they are brothers and have both received very little or no love, whereas Maddy gained love from her family though she didn’t realise, and so went elsewhere to find love.
... age of Gene Forrester. Because Finny causes Gene to grow up, we are able to realize that one must grow up to move on in life. In that process of growing up, several people impact your life. This novel shows us how our identity is basically created by those who are present in our lives; however we must not measure our abilities against another person (Overview: A Separate Peace 2). We are shown how the impact of one person can make a great difference. The goodness in people is what one should always take away from a relationship. This is shown in the relationship between Gene and Finny. The experiences Finny gives Gene cause him to grow up and become a better person because of them.
The coming of age novel, Atonement by Ian McEwan, discusses guilt, forgiveness, and the complicated nature of love through the struggles of growing up. The novel begins in England during World War II, where 13-year-old Briony Tallis is part of a family with dysfunctional dynamics. Her older sister, Cecilia, experiences true love with the family’s gardener, who is the son of their housekeeper, but their relationship is riddled with many obstacles. Most troubling is that Briony naively imagines their intimacy as something more aggressive towards her sister. Her innocence and shielded view of the world causes an unfortunate series of events that tears the family apart and alters the course of the rest of Briony’s life. In Atonement, McEwan demonstrates the maturation of love and how prosperous, yet destructive love can be between lovers and family alike.
In the essay “Everything Now” Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers, author Steve McKevitt blames our unhappiness on having everything we need and want, given to us now. While his writing is compelling, he changes his main point as his conclusion doesn’t match his introduction. He uses “want versus need” (145) as a main point, but doesn’t agree what needs or wants are, and uses a psychological theory that is criticized for being simplistic and incomplete. McKevitt’s use of humor later in the essay doesn’t fit with the subject of the article and comes across almost satirical. Ultimately, this essay is ineffective because the author’s main point is inconsistent and poorly conveyed.
Major Character: The major character of That was Then…This is Now, is Bryon. He likes to hustle people at pool, get girls, drink and smoke cigarettes, and hang out with friends. He has had his share of good and bad relationships. One of them was with a girl called Angela. In one of the chapters of That was Then…This is Now, Angela sets up a hit against one of Angela’s other ex-boyfriend’s, Ponyboy Curtis. As he is about to get hit, Bryon’s best friend, and adopted brother gets in the way to protect Curtis. He get’s hurt in the process, and Bryon get’s mad at Angela and gets revenge by shaving off her eyebrows and cutting her hair off. Bryon has respect for people, and if people mess with his crew, those people get messed with right back at them though he can mostly be careless of other people and what his actions do. The most important lesson he learns in the book is that everything and everyone changes overtime, just like his childhood best friend who he thought he knew, but as time came and went, he slowly evaporated into an entirely different person.
The events in the novel are predicated upon the death of Joel's mother. The account of his mother's death and the upheaval it caused for him (p 10 ) is more poignant to a reader who has experienced the untimely death of a parent than to one who has not. The reader who has experienced the loss can identify with everyone “always smiling” and with the unexplainable changes in one's own behavior toward others as one adjusts to the emptiness.
Morrison clearly distinguishes childhood from adult friendships by the solidarity that characterizes the first and the problems that make the second fail. Childhood friendships are more successful in Morrison’s novels than adulthood bonding because self-centeredness becomes a larger issue as children grow up.
The novel starts with Douglas embracing the beauty of summer and his young unrestricted life. Almost immediately, the reader is presented with the idea of the magic of life and childhood wonder. At the beginning of the summer, Douglas proposes that he will write about summer rituals and write down his reflections on those rituals. Douglas’ summer is very eventful. Leo Auffmann, the town jeweler, decides to invent a Happiness Machine. Although he fails, he learns from his failure that his family was Happiness Machine all along. Douglas discovers that adults and children are two different races, and that old people were never children although they have a past. Douglas’ friend Charlie takes John and Douglas to meet Colonel Freeleigh, a very old man whom they call a Time Machine because he tells stories that have the power to transport them back...