Summer Break Daniel disembarked from the train at Naga station, following a ten-hour journey from Manila. The sun pierced his bloodshot eyes, beneath his long dark hair, as he stumbled to the platform with a heavy leg, carrying his luggage and a knapsack. A cool morning welcomed him, but clueless what was in store for him. His heart throbbed as he contemplated on this summer break. After a quick dog walk, he hurried up to a calesa waiting for passengers. The driver whisked the horse, and the wheels of the carriage wriggled to a rutted road much narrower than he remembered. Four straight semesters and two summers of a full load of classes, subsisting on milk and ramen noodles, transformed him into a lean, but tall, young man. His calm demeanor projected a serious spirited student. The long absence made him a stranger to his hometown. Before the trotting enervated horse, the …show more content…
“I must replace this worn tire in front.” Bobby added. When Daniel got back to his house, he inspected his bike at once. The frame and handles appeared to be in good shape; brakes worked fine. The tires only needed air and its gears a bath of oil. The unexpected summer breeze averted a blistering afternoon. They climbed up to the foot of the mountain, hurdling 20 kilometers of winding road, paved with gravel and sand. When they reached their favorite spot in the foothill, they quenched their thirst with the last drop of water left in their bottles. Drenched with sweat, their shirts and shorts stuck to their skin leeching. In high school, they used to spend the whole day biking, swimming in the lake, lying on the grass, and communing with nature. Their love of outdoors bonded their friendship in an idyllic fashion. They graduated from the same high school, molded in Jesuit education, sharing common values. By the time, they returned to their homes darkness fell. The church bells pealed for Angelus, in time for
It is often said that the setting of the story can change the character’s mentality and personality. In the classic vignette, A Summer Life, Gary Soto addresses his childhood to adulthood in Fresno in the course of a short vivid chapters. Born on April 12, 1952, a year before the Korean War ended, Gary experiences his life in Fresno of what he describes “what I knew best was at ground level,” and learns what is going on around the neighborhood with his religious background behind him. Later, when he realizes his father passes away, he undergoes hardships which cause his family to be miserable. Growing up in the heart of Fresno, Gary Soto, the author, explains his journey as a young man to adolescence through his use of figurative language and other adventures. The settings of this book revise Gary’s action and feelings around his surroundings.
One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte, is a very good book for teenagers that feel insecure about themselves and have low self-esteem. In the book they will read about a young boy name, Bobby who overcomes his fears of being fat and being bullied by Willie, one that is much stronger then him physically, but not emotionally. The basic theme of this story is to stand up for yourself no matter the situation.
Back in 1990, a man named Gary Soto decided to write an autobiography about himself, titled A Summer Life. One of the more interesting portions of the book was when Mr. Soto described a summer day back when he was six years old. On that day, young Gary found out what it felt like to be a true sinner, as he stole an apple pie from the local bakery. Some readers found this as one of the more interesting parts, not because of the plot, but because of the literary devices used, such as detail, imagery, and pacing. The three aforementioned literary devices are almost a backbone to the story, because without those three, the story would be shortened and fairly bland. The following three paragraphs will each describe a literary devices used by Mr. Soto to enhance the quality of his story.
Imagine a teenage boy who is isolated on a faraway island, without food or water. The hot and sticky weather is intolerable, but the rampaging storms are worse. He quickly develops malaria and diarrhea, and on top of that, blood-sucking insects and menacing reptiles lurch beneath his feet. He has no idea what is coming, but he needs to survive. This is the story of a young boy who has to travel to the other side of the world to realize that everything can’t go his way.
cold, harsh, wintry days, when my brothers and sister and I trudged home from school burdened down by the silence and frigidity of our long trek from the main road, down the hill to our shabby-looking house. More rundown than any of our classmates’ houses. In winter my mother’s riotous flowers would be absent, and the shack stood revealed for what it was. A gray, decaying...
As he looked at the picture, his eyes welled up with tears. It was a picture of him with his little sister, whom he would never play with again. Being only nine years old, he had not been through the deaths of any family members, except for his grandma he never even met, who passed away only months after he was born. But this tragedy turned him into an emotional wreck, as he would never be with his four year old sister again. It all happened in a heartbeat, he woke up on the first day of Spring Break and found his little sister lying silent in her bed, not breathing. And now, two days later, he finds himself at her funeral. The picture that stood out was of him and his sister showing off the vegetables they had picked in their garden
Richard Rodriguez, in his “Aria, Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, uses imagery to illustrate the major changes in his personal and social life. He does that by telling us a story on how his parents decided that Richard should speak in English more; they had him talk in English at home, because the nuns told his parents that he was uncomfortable in school. The purpose of this passage was to show us that because of what had happened during that talk between nuns and parents changed most of his life.
The story of Summer, by David Updike, is set during that idyllic time in life when responsibility is the last word on anyone's mind. And yet, as with all human affairs, responsibility is an ever-present and ever-necessary aspect to life. What happens when the protagonist, Homer, loses his awareness of a certain personal responsibility to maintain self-control? Homer's actions increasingly make him act foolishly, internally and externally. Also, how does Homer return to a sense of sanity and responsibility? To a degree, I would say that he does.
She sacrificed almost all her personal pleasure for studying, but she did not see the point why she should make such sacrifice since she found the class reading as well as essays hardly arouse her interests. As she finally laid her eye on the bookshelf, seeing all the certificates and awards she had earned, Jennifer suddenly thought of what her father had told her, “school always comes first”. Tiredly and aimlessly, Jennifer signed and looked at a picture of her father. Slowly closing her eyes, she temporarily forgot about all the things like a tough life and overwhelming schoolwork which could make her stressful, and let her beautiful childhood memories of balloons, carousels and her father’s smiling face come into
The plot of the story revolves around a bus trip that Julian and his mother take. Once a week, Julian’s mother goes to the local Y for her "reducing" class. Julian accompanies her on the bu...
As any school-aged child can tell you: spring break is almost here! As any parent of a school-aged child knows: planning a spring break with the kids can be hard! Before deciding on specific things to do in Canton, TX, consider a few ideas to help your family prioritize and make the most out of your spring break time together.
He grew up in this small town and knew he would live there forever. He knew every landmark in this area. This place is where he grew up and experienced many adventures. The new journey of his life was exciting, but then he also had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach of something not right. Three weeks ago John, twenty-four years old, finished his fourth semester of college.
There is not much to do during spring break in Smallville except for going out and making your own fun. Now what I mean by that is you can have good fun. For example, you can go bowling, have a party or just chill out with your friends. Then there is bad fun. For example, go egging or buy paintball guns and shoot stuff. My friends and I decided to have bad fun for spring break. When we first started egging it was only six of us. Earl, David, Charles, Brandon, Jerrid, and myself. As the first couple of days went by we realized that other people in the city was starting to form teams of their own to get us back for egging them. Let me tell you a little bit about my crew. Earl is my right hand man. He was giving the nickname cruel intentions for a reason. David is my best friend. He is a cool, laid back type of guy. Charles is my cousin. If u see David, Charles, and I at once people would think we was all brothers. Charles can be quiet sometimes but he also has a wild side to him. Brandon is my other cousin. He is the live wire out of the bunch. Brandon is pretty much ready for anything. If its fun he will join. Jerrid says one word about once every ten minutes. But his action speak louder than words. And then there is me. I go by the name Marcus. Some of my friends in Springfield call me Marc-d or mc. I am a quiet, laid back, live wire type of guy.
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
I awoke to the sun piercing through the screen of my tent while stretching my arms out wide to nudge my friend Alicia to wake up. “Finally!” I said to Alicia, the countdown is over. As I unzip the screen door and we climb out of our tent, I’m embraced with the aroma of campfire burritos that Alicia’s mom Nancy was preparing for us on her humungous skillet. While we wait for our breakfast to be finished, me and Alicia, as we do every morning, head to the front convenient store for our morning french vanilla cappuccino. On our walk back to the campsite we always take a short stroll along the lake shore to admire the incandescent sun as it shines over the gleaming dark blue water. This has become a tradition that we do every