Analysis Of Lives On The Boundary

Mai Lor-Cerda

English 1A

Essay #4

Lives on the Boundary

He himself had gone through difficulties in the American educational system like the students he mentioned in his book. He talks about the struggles that he had gone through as someone who was not American. When Mike Rose was a child, he had problems with math and grammar and was not very fond of it. Then, when he was put into a remedial class because of a mix up, he experienced how the American educational system treated students in remedial classes. After they corrected the mistake, it was too late to go back and learn what he should have been learning. When he got to high school, one of his teachers, Jack MacFarland became a role model for him. MacFarland got him to be interested in reading and writing and later on even helped him get into a university. In the book, Lives on the Boundary, Rose basically writes about his experience with the American educational system. Along with his own experience are stories about the students he had come across at the University he was working at. Rose accomplishes to engage his audience into the reading by telling his own story and going back and forth between him and his students. In this short book, Rose’s writing style is more like an autobiography which reflects the theme “hope” by using his students’ and his own experiences and outcomes to say that there is hope for people who have obstacles in their way.

At the very beginning of the book, Rose starts out with a short chapter about a few students. He introduces the problems that he sees about the American education. Teachers are not seeking to solve the true problem a student is having. Many students just need someone to help and understand them. Sometimes it is more than just gr...

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...ven what they need to be prepared for college and school. He explains the obstacles that he had gone through when he was younger. The way he had written this book which is in first person connects with the audiences and pulls in their emotions and psychologically makes them think about the struggles they may have or are going through. His autobiography reflects “hope” because he talks about his educational experience and then how he was given hope. On top of that, he mentions his experiences with students he had help to have hope in their education. MacFarland helped give him hope by teaching him how to become a better reader and writer. He taught him how to analyze and understand the true meaning of a text. Just because you’re a slow learner, does not mean you are not intelligent. Intelligence is only measured by a number. There is hope for lives on the boundary.