More handpicked essays just for you.
Example of descriptive writing
Example of a personal narrative about life experience
Example of a personal narrative about life experience
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Fat Kid Rules the World By K.L. Going Pages 1-183 Setting: “I move onto the sidewalk and Curt and I stand there watching our cab disappear into the sea of cars making their way up and down Houston. … He swaggers forward, with attitude, moving the way you’re supposed to move when you live on the Lower East Side- the way I can never move.”(page 17) This story takes place in Houston, Texas, a very big city. As Troy, the main character, describes it, he says that almost the whole school is filled with America’s next Top Models and that makes him stand out like a fish out of water. I know that he lives in a big city because he references the city with toponyms like “Lower East Side” or “Upper North Side”. Small cities wouldn’t be big enough to describe them in subdivisions so I know that this is a big city. This story takes place in present day. Throughout the story, there are many different types of new technology used like light rails and smart phones. The amount of new technology used throughout the story leads me to believe that this story takes place in present day. It is important that this story takes …show more content…
place in the city because if it took place in the suburbs or the countryside, Troy might have not felt so out of place his whole life and he might have never have met Curt or be given the opportunity to join Curt’s band. Troy’s new best friend, Curt, comes from a very harsh family and is addicted to prescription medication and nobody really cares. Curt doesn’t have a home since his parents kicked him out and he is always scavenging for food. The only way Curt survives is by his popularity. Everybody knows who Curt is and will always let him stay with them. Troy's life would have been very different if this story took place anywhere other than the big city Houston. He might have never have met Curt and he also might have never had so many self deprecating thought and feelings. Point of View: “Curt gets up a third time, but I’m too embarrassed to order more pie. I settle for inconspicuously cleaning the plate, but the waitress slides in across from me just as I’m running my finger over the white plastic, scooping up the last of the cherry filling. I’m caught, red-handed, but it’s too late to abort the mission.” (page 14) This story is written in first person point of view. The reader is able to hear Troy's inner thoughts and feelings as well as experiencing his actions. We never know the other character’s thoughts and feelings, we only see their actions through Troy’s eyes. When the book is written in first person point of view, we, the readers, feel a personal connection with Troy because we know all of his thoughts and feelings. It creates more personification between the reader and Troy. I feel like I know Troy personally because I know him very well through experiencing his thoughts, feelings, and actions. Conflict: “It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m standing just over the yellow line trying to decide whether people would laugh if I jumped. Would it be funny if the Fat Kid got splattered by a subway train? Is that funny? I’m not being facetious; I really want to know. Like it or not, apparently there's something funny about fat people. Something unpredictable. Like when I put on my jacket and everyone in the hallway stifles with laughter.” (page 1) This conflict is internal because Curt is very self-conscious about his body and he believes that everybody hates him because of it. He is very self-conscious about his weight and constantly wants to be skinny. He always feels that people are judging him for being fat and he hates it. He thinks that everybody is always laughing at him and he is curious why everybody thinks his fat is so funny. In the very first scene of the book, Troy is standing at the edge of a Subway track, deciding whether he should commit suicide or not. Troy believes that if he was skinny or at least normal sized, everything in his life would be perfect. He wants to commit suicide but then Curt shows up and his whole life changes. This conflict complicates the plot because Troy feel like such an outsider because he is fat and I think that “fish out of water” feeling that Curt and Troy both feel is what brings them together.
I believe that Curt decided to be his friend because he knew what it felt like to be an outside just like Troy. If Curt had not made the decision to be Troy’s friend,, Troy would have committed suicide and never had gotten the chance to feel comfortable in his own skin. By the end of the book, Troy was still overweight but he had the most confidence in himself then he had ever had before and he was so much more comfortable around the people at his school. Troy could even be considered popular. Without the the beginning issues about Troy’s weight and his self-consciousness about it, Troy would have never been in Curt’s band and become this
confident. Characters: Troy: Troy is a fat kid who lives in a big city and he has many confidence issues. He is very self conscious about his weight and feels like everybody hates him. His whole life changed one day when the most popular kid in school, Curt, decided to become friends with him. After they got to know each other a little better, Curt invited him to join his band and Troy was thrilled and scared to death about the idea. Troy said yes and after a few weeks, he started to realize that he didn’t care what people thought of him anymore. Troy is a very hard worker. He put in many hours of practice to become and drummer. Becoming a drummer shoots his self-esteem through the roof and by the end of the book, he is most confident that he had ever been. Curt becoming his friend was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. Troy put in a lot of hard work and it payed off. Three adjectives that could describe Troy at the end of the book are accomplished, confident , and motivated. Curt: Curt is the most popular kid at Troy’s high school. He is anything but self-conscious and Troy admires him very much. Curt dropped out of high school after his parents kicked him out of their house and so he is constantly staying with people and making them pay for his food. Curt decided to befriend Troy one day when he saw Troy about to commit suicide. Curt asked him to join his band and Troy said yes. Curt is very spontaneous with his actions. He makes a lot of split-second decisions and most of the time his plans work out but other times he finds himself in a lot of trouble. Curt was very friendly to Troy and he helped Troy overcome his self-consciousness without realizing is. Curt made a huge difference Troy's life and I think that Troy also played a big part in Curt’s life too by getting him back on his feet. Three adjectives that could describe Curt at the end of the book are impulsive, outgoing, and talented. Troy’s Father: Troy’s father is a retired military officer who is very harsh on Troy and his brother. Troy has respect for him although he is not always the best role model. He abuses alcohol and is very unsupportive of the friendship between Troy and Curt. He does not help with Troy’s self-esteem issues because he is always putting him down about his weight. Three adjectives that could describe him are rude, unsupportive, and unfatherlike. Theme: “I force my body in across him and catch several men at the counter watching us. They look away and I think this place feels cramped and smells like alcohol at 2:00 in the afternoon. I think, I’m about to eat lunch with Curt MacCrae at Bleecker Street dive. Me and the psycho Elvis of rock, hanging out. Not bad for the Fat Kid, right?” (page 6) A big theme throughout this book is self-esteem. At the beginning of the book, Troy had no self-esteem and he was contemplating committing suicide. When Curt asked Troy to be in his band, Troy was appalled and thought he couldn’t be serious. He was so self- deprecating that he didn’t think anybody could be his friend because he was fat. This changed throughout the book as Troy and Curt became better friends. Troy began to realize that he wasn’t just the “Fat Kid”, he realized that he could have a life and friends and that all seemed so unrealistic to him in the beginning. By the end of the book, Troy didn’t care whether people saw him as fat or not and he had changed as a person. He had much more confidence in himself then he had ever had before and his whole life had been turned upside-down because of it. Another story that displays this message is The Tale of Despereaux. In this book, the little mouse Despereaux stood out from his peers and didn’t conform with his society. At first, Despereaux and the rest of his family saw this as a very bad thing the they tried to “fix” him. What they didn’t know what that one day, the parts of him that made him stand out would help him and he would become a hero. His differences were not bad, they were just different from all the other mice in his society. This is similar to this book because Troy feels very different from his peers and his society sees him as ugly and fat and that he won’t ever be able to do anything with his life. This isn’t true and Troy had to figure this out. Troy could have a wonderful life, he just had to learn how to understand and accept his differences. When he accepted who he was, everybody else did too. Writing Style: “In truth, I want to order everything on the menu but can’t stand the pressure. I’m convinced everyone is secretly watching me and no matter what I order I cannot win. Too much and they’ll nod knowingly. Too little and they’ll think, A bit late for that, now isn’t it?” (Page 7) K. L. Going’s writing style is very descriptive of the main character’s thoughts. We always know that the main character is thinking. It feels like I have developed a relationship with Troy and I can always sense what his next thought or move might be. The writing style has really brought Troy to life. K. L. Going makes this happen by using a lot of different syntax. When you have a thought, sometimes it would sound incomplete to say it out loud but when the story we get to hear these thoughts and it creates a very detailed character. In her writing style, we hear those short and incomplete thoughts and this plays a big part in characterization. Opening and Closing: “I’m a sweating fat kid standing on the edge of the subway platform staring at the tracks.” (Page 1) This opening scene is very important for the book because as soon as it says that Troy is standing at the edge of the tracks, we know that he is thinking about committing suicide. Adding up the facts that he is fat and staring at the tracks at the very bottom of the ledge leads us to believe that he is going to commit suicide. This plants the seed that he is very self-conscious about something and that he believes that his life doesn’t matter. “This time I lead. I slide in behind the drum set and let my huge ass sprawl over the chair.” (Page 182) This is not the closing sentence in the book but it is the most important sentence in the closing of the book. In this scene Troy is leading the band. He has gained so much self-confidence throughout the book and he is more comfortable in his own skin. At the beginning of the book he wouldn’t have done anything this courageous but seeing this helps us understand how far he has come from the beginning of the book. Being friends with Curt may have been the best thing that had ever happened to him because Troy found himself and now knows who he wants to be instead of contemplating suicide on the edge of a subway ledge.
Christa Kurkjian explains in her paper, Is “Fat” the New “F” Word?, that Carver transforms the social norm of being fat—and ugly—to something of a “saving grace” (Kurkjian 3). However, I have to disagree with Kurkjian on her thesis. I truly do not feel Carver’s intent for Fat is to transform the word “fat,” but to elaborate on how people perceive fat.
For starters, Troy grew up in a time of segregation: a time when a Black person had no opportunity. Because of this, he could never become a professional baseball player, despite his talent and success in the sport. So, when Cory says that he has the ability to become a professional football player, Troy immediately shoots him down because he feels the same issues will occur. Troy does not realize that in this newer age, people of color have more rights and opportunity than they did when he was growing up. Ultimately, the generational gap makes it so that Cory and Troy share completely different views on the world, and they can never see eye to eye. In the end, their polar opposite views drive a wedge between them, and they completely despise each
He comments: "Getting you into America is going to be hassle enough, baby, let's not rock the boat. Besides, New York is full of alley cats. And alleys" (Baldwin
We are first introduced to Troy as he comes home from work with his best friend, Bono. The two became friends after Troy went to prison for killing a man. Despite this, Bono is said to look up to Troy, admiring his “honesty, capacity for hard work, and his strength, which Bono seeks to emulate” (1.1). Throughout the play, Troy and Bono’s relationship is relatively good. They often say that they love each other, and they
Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our [his] doorway used to be” (Baldwin...
“Every time I came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd never get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and nobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine what it would be like. I started sweating like a bastard—my whole shirt and underwear and everything.
Losing the respect and company of people was one of the few things that caused him to feel some form of remorse for what he did to Rose. However, Troy did nothing to fix the problems he created, except to drink and pretend he was still respected. It becomes especially clear that nobody respects Troy when Cory blatantly says “I ain’t got to say excuse me to you. You don’t count around here no more” (II iv, 85). Although nobody else says it as obviously as Cory, most characters realize Troy’s failure. Even though he may have provided for his family in the physical sense, Troy neglected them a great deal emotionally. This once again proves that Troy is unsuitable to be a proper father for Cory and a respectable husband for
One of the differences that complicate their relationship is that they have grown up in completely different time periods. A great deal has happened between the times when Troy was growing to the time period that Cory is growing up in. This issue itself causes many other concerns. For instance, Cory is a very talented athlete. He would like to play football in college and would probably receive a scholarship for it. However, Troy does not want Cory to play football, because he himself was once let down by a sports experience. Troy use to be the baseball star for the "Negro Leagues." However, his athletic ability was no longer superior when the Major Leagues started accepting blacks. As a result of this, Troy tells Cory that he does not want him to pla...
He was a product of his era, just like his father before him. Parents can only raise their children the best way they know how, and for Troy, this was all he had. As Troy told Cory “Who the hell said I got to like you?” , parents aren't forced to like their children. Sadly, Cory resents his father even after his death.
Did you know that 35% of the United States population is considered obese? Also, 66% of the population is considered overweight or more? (Saint Onge 2014) Even more frightening, in 2012 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one third of children and adolescents in America were overweight or obese (CDC 2014). The media sources used investigates the political, scientific, historical, and cultural reasons behind the childhood obesity epidemic in America. Obesity is a rapid growing epidemic in America and these sources present the facts causing this epidemic. As well as how the children of the American society are being wrongly influenced by the media, especially advertisments. (Greenstreet 2008).
The disappointment Troy has in this situation impacts his judgment regarding Cory who is the son of Troy being recruited to play college football, creating tension between the two.
Troy used be able to knock a baseball out of the park like it was nothing but he constantly "ends in disappointment" in his personal life. Just like most tragic heroes, Troy does whatever he thinks is right. Troy's relationship with his son Cory is a good example of how he misses the mark. Cory is a 17 year old boy, he’s a senior in high school, a respectful son, and caring nephew to his disabled uncle, Gabriel. Cory was accepted for a college football scholarship. Just like his father, Cory loves sports, and this is his one chance to go to college. Nonetheless, Troy is against Cory going off to play football. One of the
Just look at the quote I gave you earlier: “Brooklyn, New York, as the undefined, hard-to–remember the shape of a stain.” He sees it as nothing but a stain on the map. He goes on to talk about “…the sludge at the bottom of the canal causes it to bubble.” Giving us something we can see, something we can hear because you can just imagine being near the canal and hearing the sludge bubble make their popping noises as the gas is released. He “The train sounds different – lighter, quieter—in the open air,” when it comes from underground and the sight he sees on the rooftops. Although some are negative, such as the sagging of roofs and graffiti, his tone towards the moment seems to be admiration. In the second section, he talks about the smells of Brooklyn and the taste of food. He’d talk about how his daughter compares the tastes of pizzas with her “…stern judgments of pizza. Low end… New Hampshire pizza. … In the middle… zoo pizza. …very top… two blocks from our house,” and different it was where he’d grown up. He talks about the immense amount of “smells in Brooklyn: Coffee, fingernail polish, eucalyptus…” and how other might hate it, but he enjoys it. In the same section, he describes how he enjoys the Brooklyn accent and the noise and smells that other people make on the streets and at the park across from his house. “Charcoal smoke drifts into the
From the identity map I created in class, I decided I would explore my personal connections more. The readings: “The Fat Girl”, “The Bluest Eye”, and “Between the World and Me” were the texts that stood out to me the most because they can all interlink with each other in one way or another. Naturally I would like to explore body image, race, beauty standards, and society’s expectations within the selections I chose. From the selections I chose to write my essay about I think “The Bluest Eye” is what connects the three stories the most because so much is challenged in this novel, though not all is overcome.
Apparently, like his father, Troy doesn’t care about his kids. According to Joseph Wessling, “despite eventually running away from all of this [his father’s abuse], Troy still carried with him his father's virtues along with a considerable lessening of his father's harshness and promiscuity” (Wessling). He became a duplicate of his father, cheating on Rose with Alberta and not treating Cory fairly. Even though he was treated harshly, he learned to respect his father’s legacy like Rose and Cory did for him. Troy says this about his father; “But I'll say this for him.