The Toughest Bar to Cross
The protagonist of “Crossbar'; has had his life altered violently and is now trying to cope with the effects of this great change. Aaron Kornylo is a champion high jumper until a piece of farm machinery severs his right leg and changes his life forever Now Aaron lives in anger, bitterly denying the inevitable: he must learn to accept his loss.
Until a farm accident changed his life forever, the young man of this story enjoyed the life of a world-class athlete. Before he was injured, Aaron Kornylo was one of the best high jumpers in Canadian sports history. He enjoyed the attention his victories brought him. Aaron recalls, “standing proud on the dais... being vested with his Commonwealth Games gold by Prince Charles himself'; (Gault 61). To Aaron it was a perfect life, or “his personal vision of the best of all possible worlds'; (Gaul 62). He was an accomplished athlete, “the best... Willow Creek had ever produced'; (Gault 62). Then people revered Aaron, and he was completely satisfied with his life. All of this changes abruptly and violently when a farming accident almost kills Aaron and necessitates the amputation of his leg. With his leg severed by a harvester, driven by his father, Aaron is continually haunted. He relives the incident through a nightmare of his: “first the noise- the machine’s noise- would have to come, closer and closer and... then the pain, so terrible that the brain in it’s mysterious wisdom shut down the system... just after the scream'; (Gault 60). Forced to have his leg amputated, “the surgeons in Saskatoon had done a fine job, very neat... but he didn’t feel like giving [any] thanks'; (Gault 62). Looking down at “the rounded stump that had once been his right leg'; (Gault 62) Aaron would have no choice but to “get used to... that hated wooden leg'; (Gaul 62). The physical part of Aaron’s injury is the only visible sign of his problem, for this young man is now struggling with the prospect of life as an amputee.
His life drastically altered by the loss of his right leg, Aaron will have to learn acceptance and place hope in his future. Aaron is presently having a difficult time coping- both physically and mentally. He does not and will not accept the loss of his leg. By thinking of his lost high jumping career Aaron is saddened: “wiping at his eyes, [he] opened them and returned to his room, to everything he had been and would never be again'; (Gault 61).
The plot of the story, “Ride the Dark Horse”, was very interesting. In the beginning, the character didn’t think that he should do anything so that he wouldn’t have to “face facts”. However, one day he went on a fishing trip with his father. On the trip he met a boy, Jean Paul, whose father offered him a job picking up logs from a river. As they were collecting the wood, Jean Paul decided to go fishing. Jean Paul then cast his line when it accidentally got caught in a tree. The lure hooked onto his face and sliced at his chest, hurting him severely. The other boy then pulled Jean Paul into his canoe and paddled them all the way to the doctor, despite the boy’s original intention to avoid doing anything. A thought-provoking storyline transpired throughout the text.
In the story My Left Foot, Christy Brown was diagnosed at the age of three with cerebral palsy. Many people began to give up on him, but his mother did not. She told everyone that they were all wrong and that he was a normal child. She worked with Christy every chance she could get and tried to teach him how to write and read. One day his mother’s perseverance finally paid off. Christy was playing with his sister and saw her playing with the chalkboard. He wanted to play with it also so he picked up the piece of chalk with his foot and tried to write on the board. He could not get it at first but on th...
Paul E. Johnson, with the help of painstakingly thorough research, tells the story of a drunken, deviant, death-defying daredevil that would create his own fame from his many daring stunts. This daredevil, Sam Patch, would become an American icon through folklore and storybooks for his magnificent jumps from the tops of waterfalls into the waters below. The book begins with a look into Sam Patch’s lineage. The most important of Sam’s ancestors’ was his father, whom was a drunkard and ultimately a failure to the family. He lost everything and left the family to fend for themselves. As a young boy, Sam began working in a mill, where he eventually became one of the best “mule spinners” in the town of Pawtucket. It was there that he and a group of other young boys his age began jumping over the Pawtucket Falls, a large waterfall in the town. They treated it like an art, and eventually became known throughout the town for their refined “style.”
In A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the main character, Finny, is in the infirmary room for a “shattered” leg. “...One of his legs, which had been shattered”(60). This happened when Finny and Gene were trying to jump off of the same branch into the river. Finny and Gene had been very good friends and would always hang out. Finny was very athletic and Gene was known as a nerd who tried to hang out with Finny to become popular. Gene had always looked up to FInny but as they hung out more and more Gene started to become jealous. Finny suggested that they both go and jump off of the same branch together. Suddenly Gene started to shake the branch and Finny lost his balance and fell off the branch “shattering” his leg. Gene didn’t try to save him
To begin with, as I described the first thematic pattern, I mentioned that Gene was the cause of Finny breaking his leg. When Finny broke his leg, the doctor told him he would never be able to be the athlete he once was, and that piece of information was heavy-hearted for him to hear. Finny basically lived as an athlete. He would always play games, make up new ones, as long as they weren’t competitive, and as long as there wasn’t a winner. Finny liked games where no one won and lost, just like the game he made up, “Blitzball”. In “Blitzball”, you would catch a medicine ball, and everyone else playing in the game would try to run and tackle you down, so you either ran away, or passed the ball to someone else. Now without a healthy leg, Finny would never be able to do that again, and he would never be able to be the way he wants himself to be. When Finny began to train Gene, it wasn’t because that he was a good friend and that he needed someone to take Finny’s place. The main reason Finny trained Gene for the 1944 Olympics, was because he wanted to share his dream of the 1944 Olympics that he would originally train for. In fact, Finny trains Gene as if Gene were a part of Finny, giving Finny an immense amount of joy and satisfaction when looking at Gene, or basically looking at himself. As mentioned in the first
The story follows Leroy; a thirty-four year old truck driver collecting temporary disability after his tractor-trailer was jack-knifed in Missouri and twisted his left leg in its socket. He is frightened and doesn’t want to go on any more long hauls. He could get another job where he is not on his feet all day but seems to feel that he needs a break from work and enjoys building crafts and dreams of building a cabin.
One boy with intentions self centered, didn't realize that his consequences could be so vast. He felt he was doing it for his brother, but in reality was ashamed of his own blood. His brother, Doodle, was paralyzed, and this led him to forcefully work on Doodle’s physical strength in order to be freed of the burden.In James Hurst’s short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” the older brother is responsible for Doodle’s death because he forced Doodle to strain his body with an abundance of physical work, showed him no mercy, and left him in a time of need. Doodle’s brother forced him to push his body farther than it could take, consequently, ending in tragedy.
John Quincy Adam’s early life consisted of many lessons. As a child, he grew up with both parents; however his mother was the main figure in his family. She provided him with many teachings such as mathematics, languages, and the classics. However, his father was absent more than he was present, which made Adams a responsible young man. When Adams was 10 years old, he had witnessed the Battle of Bunker Hill with his mother near one of the Braintree Hills. Though the Revolutionary
Ethan tells Mattie that one night he will take her sledding. On the last day that Mattie will be with Ethan, she talks him into going sledding that very night. Ethan and Mattie down the most dangerous, steep icy street with a giant elm tree on the bend. Mattie can only think of how after all this fun that she will have to leave Ethan forever. An idea dawns to Mattie, if she and Ethan goes “’right into the big elm … [they would] never have to leave each other anymore’” (Wharton 63). Mattie wants to hit the big elm tree straight on to commit suicide with Ethan. Ethan and Mattie aboard the sled to their inevitable deaths. Thoughts of Zeena cloud Ethan’s mind, and the sled goes crooked on the path. The crash with the big elm, leaves Mattie paralyzed and Ethan crippled. Mattie got what she wanted, she wasn’t going to be leaving Ethan anytime
IN the early morning light, robert chippendale, English teacher for more than 20 years at Tower High, punches in at 7:04. he will never touch the card again. he is unaware that before this day is over, Tower will be rocked by murder, spotlighted by the ten o'clock news and denounced by the general public. Dressed in a blue jogging suit, he carries over his shoulder his sports jacket and newer slacks- his school clothes- in a garment bag, which he hangs in the teacher's locker room. Lightly jogging down the stairs to the back dorr, he pushes it open to cross the short path to the running track. He lets his mind wander. Is it too late to change his life? Season spent running in circles, starting and stopping at the same point on the track, a metaphor, he thinks, for his teaching career, now rutted like the track itself,in the soft years of familiarity. he bends down to retie his laces and notices that the air is surprisingly
As LAne was excelling in this dangerous sport, even though his parents didn’t like the decision, they still supported him and never put him down. In the year of 1989, after completing the successful 85- point ride on a brahma bull, at the “ Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo”, by the name of “ Takin’ care of business”, he got off and landed in the dirt. The bull horned him in the back as he tried to get away. He rose to his feet, waving to his best friend Tuff Hedeman for help. After a couple of steps, he fell to the ground.
They asserted that the advertisement should be legal if a product is legally sold and they claimed that the government needs to stop production if the cigarette is illegal goods. They strongly raised objections that the advertising ban violates their freedom of expression as well and they denied that they targeted young smokers through advertisement. For instance, the survey from the Indian Market Research Bureau, 49% of respondent answered that they began smoking because of their curiosity and no one said advertising induced them to smoke. This research sympathized with tobacco companies and it verified that the advertisement did not have a serious impact on young people. Tobacco companies underlined that the ban on tobacco advertising will impact on the customer’s brand selection only and that does not result in an increase in tobacco consumption. For example, from the Indian market, the main producer of cigarettes comprised only 16% of the market and the other 84% was accounted for by other products such as ghutka, zarda. The ghutka and zarda are more harmful products and this result highlighted that the ban on tobacco advertising was not likely to have a major impact on the tobacco consumption rate. Moreover, there were weak correlation between cigarette consumption and money spent by cigarette companies on advertisements and this revealed that the advertisement does
Section 6 of chapter 6 in this report focuses on facilities provided by government of India like education on tobacco cessation, counter advertising in newspapers, radio and television. Meanwhile tobacco companies approaching different ways to tackle public by advertising on T.V., posters, public transport, Mobile Smoking Lounge and by giving free samples which is explained in detail in section 5. This report provides important information about the experience of Indians during banning of
The state allows the manufacture band salenof tobacco products and yet bans the advertising of tobacco. The country collects excise revenue to alleviate the financial crunch and benefits from the sponsoring of sports and cultural events, yet they deny companies level playing field through the ban. Throughout advertising the desired to present products or services is achieved. However the aim of the government is to discourage adolescents from consuming tobacco products and arm itself with powers to launch an anti-Tobacco Program. India as a developing country has its consumption growing yet in developed countries it was dropping, hence banning adverts becoming ba first step towards discouraging smokers forgetting the impact of the decision on
The Indian government believes that by banning tobacco advertising, it is protecting the health of its citizens. It is estimated that by 2030, 10 million people world-wide will die annually from tobacco related illness. This puts a strain on the government in added health care expenditures. Advocates also point out that when people quit smoking, they are healthier, live longer, and can be more productive for longer. Backers argue that the ban on advertising for tobacco is comparable to bans on advertising for other “dangerous or potentially dangerous products”. Therefore, companies are not being told that they cannot sell the product, just that they can’t advertise for it.