In the short story, “The Intruder”, by Andre Dubus, the main character, Kenneth, experiences changes that affect his relationships with his family and himself. Even though thirteen-year-old boys undergo quite a few changes in this time of their life, Kenneth goes through even more shifts in his world during this story. As Kenneth avoids sharing his imagination with his family, hides his sister, Connie’s, secrets for her, and shoots Connie’s boyfriend, Kenneth’s way of relating with the people in his life is affected drastically. In “The Intruder”, the effect of Kenneth and his family’s actions are shown through the changes Kenneth undergoes. At the beginning of “The Intruder”, Kenneth has to hide his thoughts and desire to dream from his parents. As he escapes into the woods and imagines himself being a hero by fighting Nazis or saving girls, Kenneth hides an entire aspect of his hopes from his family. Kenneth displays how he hides his imaginary fights when he talks with his sister, “‘Did you kill anything?’ Connie …show more content…
said.‘Tin cans,’” (Dubus 5). Through his reply to his sister, Kenneth shows that he has no reason to tell his family that he imagines himself to be a hero, since he thinks his family will view him as silly or will not understand why he pictures these vivid fights. While Kenneth keeps his secrets from his family, Connie trusts Kenneth to keep her secrets because she does not have another option if she wants them to stay unknown to her parents. Kenneth is hurt when Connie keeps her secrets, such as smoking, from him, which begins to affect their relationship.
Connie begins to manipulate Kenneth to get what she wants. Kenneth values his relationship with Connie deeply, and he is wounded when Connie seems to place less importance upon being with Kenneth or confiding in him. Kenneth shows his feelings when he speaks with Connie: “He could not watch her. He looked around the room for a book. ‘Douglas is coming tonight,’ she said. ‘Oh.’ He picked up the Reader’s Digest book and pretended to look at it,” (Dubus 8). Kenneth is trying to appear nonchalant to his sister, but he is stung when he hears he will not be able to be alone with Connie, which he greatly enjoys. (Dubus 5). These feelings cause Kenneth to feel a strain on their relationship, and he feels that he wants to fix the rift. Kenneth’s feelings are all culminated later in the story when Kenneth shoots Connie’s boyfriend,
Douglas. When Kenneth shoots Douglas, his action is an amalgamation of his feelings towards himself and his family. Kenneth kills Douglas, who he thinks is a prowler, because he wants to protect Connie and show his love for her, and he wants to finally be a hero, making both his parents and himself proud. However, after he kills Douglas, the opposite of what he wants is the outcome. After Kenneth yells for Connie, she responds, “‘Get away from me!’” (Dubus 18). By yelling this phrase, Connie shows a complete break between Connie and Kenneth in their relationship. When Kenneth tries to make a change in his life, he receives the exact opposite of what he wanted. Kenneth’s life pivots when he shoots Douglas, and one of the most meaningful relationships in his life is shattered. Through trying to prove himself a hero, Kenneth realizes the reversed side of that title. By being a hero, one also has the chance to be vilified or persecuted for their actions. He also realizes the horrors that can happen because of weapons, or other common human vices, such as sex or smoking. In this story, Kenneth grows up quickly through a startling event and begins to realize the unidealized side of the life that he imagined himself living for so long.
John Edgar Wideman’s essay “Our Time” presents us the story of his brother Robby. The essay is unique because Wideman uses the “voices” of his brother Robby, his mother, and himself to convey the different perspectives of each person. The author uses the three different points of view in an attempt to express his emotions, and what he was going through while trying to understand the motives behind Robby’s transgressions. Wideman articulates that choices in life are often difficult to make, and other people will be unable to understand the reasons behind a particular choice. In addition to telling Robby’s story, Wideman includes the problems he faced as a writer in order to tell the story from his brother’s point of view.
In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.
The narrator and his brother’s bear physical abuse from pap’s which led them to become more violent towards one another and people outside. The narrator and his brothers were abused by their father whe...
John Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, reveals the many dangers and hardships of adolescence. The main characters, Gene, and Finny, spend their summer together at a boarding school called Devon. The two boys, do everything together, until Gene, the main character, develops a resentful hatred toward his friend Finny. Gene becomes extremely jealous and envious of Finny, which fuels this resentment, and eventually turns deadly. Knowles presents a look at the darker side of adolescence, showing jealousy’s disastrous effects. Gene’s envious thoughts and jealous nature, create an internal enemy, that he must fight. A liberal humanistic critique reveals that Knowles’ novel, A Separate Peace, has a self contained meaning, expresses the enhancement of life, and reveals that human nature does not change.
The narrator whose name is unknown finds out that his brother Sonny was incarcerated for the use of and dealing heroin, raised in a society where being afraid of fear is constantly affecting both of their life’s in turmoil. “He was frightening me a little” (Baldwin 19). Fear shaped the older brother in becoming an Algebra teacher, endeavoring to save his younger brother from a lifestyle of street habits, influence specifically on drug abuse. According to the narrator, he expects Sonny to follow his footsteps in finishing an education because “If you don’t finish school now, you’re going to be sorry later that you didn’t” (Baldwin 20), in addition the narrator describes the life of Sonny “weird and disordered” (Baldwin 21). The narrator uses his fear to form a communication with his brother, however Sonny’s decision of freedom in becoming a professional musician, and escaping misfortunate moments is not in communion. Thus, Sonny feels neglected by his older brother’s expectations and judgments based on his own future. “I think people ...
Antwone Fisher was an individual that endured so many things. He faced a lot of challenges that may have seemed impossible to recover from. This story was an example of the many things that some children may experience. Antwone was not raised in an upper crust home. He did not grow up in a home in which his mother and father was present. Instead of having positive role models, he had to live with individuals that were abusive to him. When observing Antwone’s personality, one may refer to two different theorists such as Bandura and Rogers.
Loneliness is usually a common and unharmful feeling, however, when a child is isolated his whole life, loneliness can have a much more morbid effect. This theme, prevalent throughout Ron Rash’s short story, The Ascent, is demonstrated through Jared, a young boy who is neglected by his parents. In the story, Jared escapes his miserable home life to a plane wreck he discovers while roaming the wilderness. Through the use of detached imagery and the emotional characterization of Jared as self-isolating, Rash argues that escaping too far from reality can be very harmful to the stability of one’s emotional being.
Progress is seen on the front of Claudia and Carolyn’s relationship. David attempts to reorganizes his relationship with Claudia in an effort to remove the pressure placed on her. However, the battle between Carolyn and Claudia continues to ebb and rise as the family narrows in on the dynamics of David and Carolyn’s relationship. Napier states to Claudia that, “...the family unconsciously agreed to go back to your and Carolyn’s war to rescue your mom and dad from the hot seat” (p. 137). When the family finally breaks free from this structure the exploration of David and Carolyn’s own relationship becomes the most critical aspect in therapy.
The book “This Boy’s Life” by Tobias Wolff is a memoir written about the author’s childhood memories and experiences. The author shows many different characters within the book. Many of them are just minor character that does not affect the author much in his life choices and thoughts throughout his growth. But there are some that acts as the protagonist and some the antagonist. One of them is Dwight, the protagonist’s or Jack’s stepfather. This character seems to be one of the characters that inhibit Jack’s choices and decisions. This character plays a huge role in Jack’s life as it leaves a huge scar in his memory. The author here spends the majority of time in this character in the memoir to show the readers the relationship between Jack and Dwight.
The story of David Pelzer, explained through the book A Child Called It, is prominent and inspirational throughout America. It attracts the attention of countless people, and broke the hearts of many people. David Pelzer was knocking on death 's front door, as a result of his own mother´s physical, and emotional abuse. As a young boy Dave´s mother was exceedingly abusive and an alcoholic. He must escape her evil wrath and grow to be finally be free. David´s goal of a carefree life renders to be a very difficult goal to accomplish, which makes up a numerous amount of his hero’s journey.
The fictional life and death of a twelve year old little boy named Robert is vividly articulated in this moving tale by Thomas Wolfe. The reader learns of the boy’s life through four well developed points of view. The reader’s first glimpse into Robert’s character is expressed through a third person narrative. This section takes place on a particularly important afternoon in the boy’s life. The second and third views are memories of the child, through the eyes of his mother and sister. His mother paints the picture of an extraordinary child whom she loved dearly and his sister illustrates the love that the boy had for others. Finally, an account from the narrator is given in the ending. It is in the last section of this work that the narrator attempts to regain his own memories of his lost brother.
Nonetheless, this really is a tale of compelling love between the boy and his father. The actions of the boy throughout the story indicate that he really does love his father and seems very torn between his mother expectations and his father’s light heartedness. Many adults and children know this family circumstance so well that one can easily see the characters’ identities without the author even giving the boy and his father a name. Even without other surrounding verification of their lives, the plot, characters, and narrative have meshed together quite well.
In This Boy’s Life, there are individuals that does not always from their relationship with other surrounding them. There are five main relationship shown in the book and one person in the relationship suffers somehow. In the first paragraph, I will explain the relationship with Rosemary and Roy, and Rosemary and Dwight. In the second paragraph, I will describe the relationship with Jack and Arthur and Jack and Dwight. Finally, I will explore the relationship between Rosemary and Jack.
While roaming the hills around an isolated home, a young boy named Henry, displayed rather unusual characteristics associated with his behaviors. What seemed like a cute and innocent boy was nothing but a face of hidden evil. Henry was a very free-spirited and often wild 12 year old boy who enjoyed engaging in daring activities while experiencing adrenaline rushes. His behaviors and curiosities seemed to be limitless, to the point where it brought forth a bit of suspicion. At this age, these types of behaviors may seem “normal” for a young boy like Henry; behaviors that display some hyperactivity, and self-exploration. However, Henry’s attitude and behaviors took a quick turn as his real intentions and motives became ever so clear. Henry is a young boy who grew up in a rather large home, set on top of a hill, overlooking the ocean in the state of Maine. He comes from two loving parents, a mother and father, and has a younger sister who looks up to him. He also had a younger brother named Richard, who died a while back from “accidently” drowning in the bathtub. Despite the tragic loss, he seemed to have a stable family lifestyle.
Growing up, I always found sanctuary confiding in my father’s youngest brother, Dean; I had a favorite uncle, as we all seem to have at one point in our lives. Since Uncle Dean was the youngest, I looked at him as the coolest out of the myriad of older relatives. He often bought me ice cream sundaes and showered me with aimless jokes and “piggy-back” rides. Most of the time spent visiting my father on weekends, was actually spent wrestling with Uncle Dean or playing video games until the break of daylight. I looked forward weekends, because that meant “Uncle Dean Time”. I expected to hang out with my Uncle Dean every Friday and Saturday. In fact, I knew for certain he would be waiting at my father’s home with some brand new clothes or any other prize vied for by a 10 year old. Little did I know that over the next coupe of years, I would gain knowledge of one of the most important lessons of life: value those dearest to you, for you never know how long they will be in your company.