She stared at the glowing screen with deadpanned eyes. Angeline Dyer mindlessly flicked through the endless text conversations on her phone. Her green eyes, used to be full of cheerful life but now drained of any happiness that she once had and remembered so agonizingly clearly, were glued to the old memories that made her heart wrench. Her other hand was on a page of a neglected, open book called The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Her fingertips touched a passage from the chapter: “I thought of all the others who had tried to tie her to the ground and failed. So I resisted showing her the songs and poems I had written, knowing that too much truth can ruin a thing. And if that meant she wasn't entirely mine, what of it? I would be the …show more content…
They all circled around one person who had once been the center of her life: William Arlert. It had been three long years since they went to separate high schools, the memories of a once-cherished friendship fading, little by little, into nothing. The two slowly lost touch among the months, until the end of freshman year when they had completely lost contact with each other. Will was completely oblivious of her feelings for him, merely thinking that it was simply friendly fondness when it was actually her hinting her affection for him. Angeline couldn’t figure out what was worse: being turned down by someone she loved or having the loved one be completely unaware of her feelings for him. She was a disregarded shadow in his lively life; he lived as she began to die a little every day. That little shred of hope, that little piece called chance that lived in the dark pool of doubt and disbelief from the treacherous depths of her heart, shriveled to nothing when she saw the picture: a brightly-smiling pair of lips belonging to a familiar honey-skinned boy against the lips of a pretty …show more content…
I finally found a girlfriend! Who knew someone like me could find one?” Will texted her out of the blue one day. Each word had sent a bullet through her heart, word by word, as she stared at the picture blankly until the truth dawned on her. The pain finally came like a cold, hard slap to the face. As usual, Angeline masked her suffering with jokes and sarcasm. “Oh my goodness, William Andrew Arlert! That is PDA! My eyes! My EYES!” But while her nonchalant, lively demeanor might’ve convinced her friends or family that she seemed fine, she was dead inside. Of all the people my heart could’ve chosen, it decided on a boy who didn’t have enough room in his heart to love someone like me, she thought. Different emotions punched her in the heart: bitterness for when he never made the effort to at least continue being friends with her; anger for his lack of concern for her; and sadness for knowing that he’ll never look at her like she had always looked at him. Every effort, every restless night, and every tear that was shed were wasted upon a boy she knew she could never love and who could never love back. He was her greatest source of strength, but he then became her fatal flaw that eventually led to the her greatest downfall. She had been endlessly chasing a dream that was too good to come true, until she realized that “happily ever after” doesn’t really exist in
The speaker illustrates her poor state and questions whether or not to shoplift the book to keep the work that has inspired her to unimaginable measures. This feeling is conveyed through the writing “I had no money, no one was looking./ The swan posed on the cover,/ their question-mark necks arced/ over the dark waters./ I was asking them what to do” (lines 40-44). This element of confusion strengthens the tone of passion and reveals how deeply the book has affected her. The moral battle the speaker goes through depicts the strong, positive, inspired feeling they wanted to hold on to; to “own [that] moment” (line38). Ultimately, the speaker replaced the novel which portrays her discovery of who she was and who she was capable of being. The simile: “I held the book closed before me/ as if it were something else,/ a mirror reflecting back/ someone I was becoming” (lines 46-49) convey’s her discovery of herself and the her will power to become a more disciplined individual. It also illustrates the strength she has found from the discovery of this book and the passion it
knew that she didn't love him, but still proceeded to commit the rest of his life to her. Consequently, a story of forbidden passion, hatred, and jealousy unfolds.
...was sick and dying, but because she needed to know and understand for herself why Sula betrayed her in such a manner. Armed with the information that Sula was sick and may be in need of assistance since no one else in the neighborhood was willing to help her, she visited Sula for the last time. Nevertheless, Sula had not changed, she still considered herself to be above reproach for whatever deeds she committed. Nel finally understood her friend for who she really was and realized that even though she did not like some of her way, she liked the good parts of her enough to forgive the bad. She is finally able to not only cross the chasm that was created in their friendship by Sula’s betrayal but she realized how much she really loved her as a friend, albeit a little too late since Sula was already dead. All in all Sula was a mean self-centered person whose only emotional outlet was in the person of her best friend Nel. They compliment each other in many ways and paint a myriad picture of what true friendship is all about. In friendship, one has to take the good with the bad, and the thick with the thin, and Sula and Nel were the best of friends in that respect.
High school sophomore, Samantha Baker woke up on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, hoping for an overnight transformation. While on the phone with her best friend, she stares at herself in the mirror, praying she had grown a few inches and a set of boobs. Much to avail, she has not and her day goes on just like every other one. She has the added pressure of being a bridesmaid for her older sister Ginny’s wedding, the next day. After being felt up by Grandmother Baker, Samantha deals with the ridicule and torment of her annoying little brother and takes the bus to school. During her study hall class she takes a silly quiz another friend had given her. The quiz ends up in the hands of her crush, Jake Ryan! The anxiety sets in.
closest to her. After her only brother died she tried to please her father by
Mrs. Mallard’s repressed married life is a secret that she keeps to herself. She is not open and honest with her sister Josephine who has shown nothing but concern. This is clearly evident in the great care that her sister and husband’s friend Richard show to break the news of her husband’s tragic death as gently as they can. They think that she is so much in love with him that hearing the news of his death would aggravate her poor heart condition and lead to death. Little do they know that she did not love him dearly at all and in fact took the news in a very positive way, opening her arms to welcome a new life without her husband. This can be seen in the fact that when she storms into her room and her focus shifts drastically from that of her husband’s death to nature that is symbolic of new life and possibilities awaiting her. Her senses came to life; they come alive to the beauty in the nature. Her eyes could reach the vastness of the sky; she could smell the delicious breath of rain in the air; and ears became attentive to a song f...
“Oh, you want too much!” she cried to me. “I love you now-isn’t that enough? I can’t help what’s past.” She began to sob helplessly. “I did love him once-but I loved you too.”
When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton, the protagonist of the story, is into girls with the name “Katherine.” And when it comes to dating a Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Ironically, the day that Colin graduated high school, Katherine XIX had dumped him. Colin was beyond upset. Katherine XIX was the only Katherine he had truly ever loved out of the other eighteen he had dated in the past. Just as any other dumpee, (the person being dumped), Colin spends his days locked in his room, doing nothing, but think of Katherine XIX. One day, Colin’s best friend, Hassan, comes over to visit him since he last saw Colin on graduation day. He sees that Colin is depressed and Hassan does not like the idea that his best friend thinks his life is over just because of a break-up. While trying to cheer Colin up, Hassan says that there is one simple solution to solve his sorrow. But before Hassan could say anything, Colin interjected “What about a road trip?” Hassan found it to be a great idea, but his parents were not liking the idea. His parents had tried to talk him out of him by saying that if he wanted to become smarter, he needed to stay home. Colin still didn’t budge and before he knew, he was already packing his stuff and heading to Hassan’s car. Hassan too, needed to inform his parents about the road trip. Hassan was afraid that if he tried to persuade his parents to let him go, they would still not allow. Colin insisted that he just lie to them and say that he was g...
She knew that she would weep again when she saw the kind, tender hands folded in death; the face that had never looked safe with love upon her, fixed and gray and dead.
“This isn't fair,” I sniveled, “I don't understand. I can't lose her. I don't know what I'm going to do if I lose her.” Thursday, December 11th, 2014, the only source of warmth within my body came from the pillows and blankets that surrounded me. Tears streamed down my face, creating puddles on my pillows as I gradually felt my body start to tingle. Having lost control of my body, I was completely consumed by shock. Family and friends were trying to be comforting, but I hadn't interpreted words for hours. A distant ringing clogged my ears while my brain was conscious of only one thing, Morgan. In this split second my life changed.
Mrs. Mallard is an ill woman who is “afflicted with heart trouble” and had to be told very carefully by her sister and husband’s friend that her husband had died (1609). Her illness can be concluded to have been brought upon her by her marriage. She was under a great amount of stress from her unwillingness to be a part of the relationship. Before her marriage, she had a youthful glow, but now “there was a dull stare in her eyes” (1610). Being married to Mr. Mallard stifled the joy of life that she once had. When she realizes the implications of her husband’s death, she exclaims “Free! Body and soul free!” (1610). She feels as though a weight has been lifted off her shoulders and instead of grieving for him, she rejoices for herself. His death is seen as the beginn...
Odette awoke to the sound of knocking at her door. "Princess?" A soft voice called from the other side of the door. Odette kept silent, closing her eyes. Perhaps if she pretended to be asleep she could get out of going. Last year had been her first year to visit the prince and she wished it would be the last. Neither Odette nor Derek took a liking to each other, but it wasn't up to them. Their wedding had been promised before she was even born.
Like most teenage boys, girls overtook his thoughts and captivated his body. His mind raced with ideas, and he began to lose himself in the smell of their hair or the wonder in their eyes. Their eyelashes brushed against his cheeks, no longer red from wind but from the delicate girls’ breath. He appreciated the curve of their hips and imagined his hands holding her steady. Their lips, soft and coercive, unraveled him, and he experienced the same thrilling high he once knew in kindergarten. Until one night, when his newest girl parted her lips and spoke the words “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore”. As he contemplated her realization, her lips suddenly seemed chapped, distant, and numb to him. Jackson wondered if his entire persona was built on others’ perceptions; if the idea he had of himself was a lie. These words rooted inside his heart and wore on his mind until he no longer was the “cool kid”. Jackson quit track the next morning. High school shattered the persona he fought to build during his childhood, but he eventually looked to these memories to find the valuable, innocent, and authentic parts of
The first reader has a guided perspective of the text that one would expect from a person who has never studied the short story; however the reader makes some valid points which enhance what is thought to be a guided knowledge of the text. The author describes Mrs. Mallard as a woman who seems to be the "victim" of an overbearing but occasionally loving husband. Being told of her husband's death, "She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same, with a paralyzed inability to accept its significance." (This shows that she is not totally locked into marriage as most women in her time). Although "she had loved him--sometimes," she automatically does not want to accept, blindly, the situation of being controlled by her husband. The reader identified Mrs. Mallard as not being a "one-dimensional, clone-like woman having a predictable, adequate emotional response for every life condition." In fact the reader believed that Mrs. Mallard had the exact opposite response to the death her husband because finally, she recognizes the freedom she has desired for a long time and it overcomes her sorrow. "Free! Body and soul free! She kept whispering." We can see that the reader got this idea form this particular phrase in the story because it illuminates the idea of her sorrow tuning to happiness.
Three years ago he had been so much happier, and three years on, he still missed her more than anything. The last time he saw her he hadn’t wanted to let go. Some days he felt that his heart was slowly being chipped at by a chisel, making it smaller, harder to function. She’d meant too much to him and he had lost that. She had fallen out of his grip and he wasn’t able to hold on.