Describe a character who changes - Robert Billings, David Collins, Ben Ross Explain why this is important - Three points In the short story “The Wave” by Morton Rhue, the character of ‘Robert Billings’ changes. Robert changes from being a ‘problem’ student, who struggles academically, to a student who improves academically and makes a name for himself. But there are negative effects of this change in Robert, which is important as it helps to understand the impact of a group like ‘The Wave’ on an individual. At the end of the story, Robert Billings is not as strong after his group ‘The Wave’ has disbanded. Robert Billings doesn’t do well academically, but this changes when he becomes involved with ‘The Wave’. From evidence provided through the text, Robert has gotten bad marks in his history tests and possibly his other classes. Robert’s teacher, Ben Ross said “The Billings boy was a real problem.” Robert Billings soon joins ‘The Wave’ where his personality changes quickly. He starts to do well in class and contributes to the class. Elaine, Robert’s mother noticing “Robert is a completely new person”. This change is important as it shows what Ben Ross’s experiment is capable of, dramatic personality change. Although his personality has changed and his attitude towards school has improved, it is not a ‘real’ …show more content…
Ben, Robert’s teacher considered “For the first time in his life, Robert was an equal, a member, part of a group.” This was a positive of being in ‘The Wave’ for Robert Billings, not having to face bullying on a daily basis. ‘The Wave’ shows that there can be acceptance and some ‘equality’ between wave members. But this does create a false dependance on the group ‘The Wave’ as Laurie’s mother says “If Robert couldn’t function in school before ‘The Wave’, he won’t be able to function outside of school, where ‘The Wave’ doesn’t
To conclude, in the poem “Changes” by D. Ginette Clarke, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed the persona in a well-thought out and respectable manner. Clarke was very clever in the way that she had used these elements to not only reveal the persona, but also to make the poem as amazing as it is. The persona started off as a curious man, then came off as serious, only to turn out to be a demanding and vehement person; but in the end, the persona’s special characteristics were clear. Therefore, the use of repetition, word choice, and punctuation revealed and represented the persona and his curious, eager, and desperate personality.
People can change their ways overtime in a positive way. Everyone has experienced change once in their life. Some people have acknowledged change over the course of life in a positive way or a negative way. Throughout the novel “The First Stone” by Don Aker, the main character Reef alters his ways a lot positively. Reef is a teenager who changes his lifestyle and makes a huge impact in his life after he meets Leeza. This novel develops the fact that people can change in a beneficial way, no matter what situation they are in.
Burke intentionally places frequent flashbacks throughout the novel to ignite curiosity in the readers. The novel soon reveals that not only did Daniel’s illegal action cause him to “lose his spirited outlook on life” (Burke, pg 123), but it also uprooted everything Tom once had. Nevertheless, lesson by lesson, the tragic incident succeeds admirably in teaching Tom to overcome his weaknesses. In addition to drink driving, Burke has significantly addressed the common issue of a teen’s sense of insecurity in numerous ways.
Margot goes to school with classmates that resent her. They hate her for having seen the sun, something they wanted so badly. This jealousy led to an overwhelming hatred that they were reminded of any time they saw her. Her classmates let their hatred take over and they locked her in a closet as revenge for the pain she had caused them all. But unlike Wendy and Peter from The Veldt, Margot was affected negatively from her classmateś actions.
Katie’s teacher, Mr. Dubey, puts a very high emphasis on the students at Katie’s school about how important school is. Because Katie starts to feel bad for using David to get into Harvard, his attitude toward the topic changes and he tells that she should be self-serving and not really care what people say and to not "ruin the rest of your life just because you feel a little guilty right now"(74). All of these conflicting messages on what Katie should be like, how she should treat others an...
The author, Sherman Alexie, is extremely effective through his use of ethos and ethical appeals. By sharing his own story of a sad, poor, indian boy, simply turning into something great. He establishes his authority and character to the audiences someone the reader can trust. “A little indian boy teaches himself to read at an early age and advances quickly…If he’d been anything but an Indian boy living in the reservations, he might have been called a prodigy.” Alexie mentions these two different ideas to show that he did have struggles and also to give the audience a chance to connect with his struggles and hopefully follow the same journey in becoming something great. By displaying his complications and struggles in life with stereotypical facts, Alexie is effective as the speaker because he has lived the live of the intended primary audience he is trying to encourage which would be young Indian
During second grade it became clear that Mark was not doing well at his public school, which had large class sizes. He got hearing aids but even though it made everything louder it didn’t help him understand what was being said. People had the expectation and misunderstanding that since he had hearing aids, as long as he sat up front and paid attention he should be able to understand everything being said. That put all the responsibility on his shoulders, that if he still didn’t understand the teachers it was...
...story of AP Frank, Julie, Audrey, Sam and the others can be any number of students they may know. More importantly the book offers readers a chance to also evaluate their own experiences in high school. It is recommended that potential readers of Robbins’ expose’ recall or identify a student in the community or within themselves who are goal driven or preoccupied with success as they read. Perhaps from this perspective the reader may gain an insider perspective to the true culture of academia around them.
“School can be a tremendously disorienting place… You’ll also be thrown in with all kind of kids from all kind of backgrounds, and that can be unsettling… You’ll see a handful of students far excel you in courses that sound exotic and that are only in the curriculum of the elite: French, physics, trigonometry. And all this is happening while you’re trying to shape an identity; your body is changing, and your emotions are running wild.” (Rose 28)
Each character, in some capacity, is learning something new about themselves. Whether it be new views, new feelings, newfound confidence, or a new realization of past events, each character involved in the play realizes something view-altering by the end of the play. Bonny is realizing that she is growing up and discovering how to deal with boys, and to lie to her parents; Elsie realizes that she doesn’t need her father for everything, and eventually overcomes her fear of driving on her own; Grace is discovering that she must let her children think for themselves at times, and that she must let Charlie choose what he wants to do; and Charlie, of course, is discovering that there are more ways to think than the status quo that society presents. Each character obviously goes through very different struggles throughout the play, but in the end, they all result in realizing something about themselves they didn’t at the beginning of the
...s feeling of achievement at completing school is shown. There are close ups of the Tuohy’s with Ms Sue and Sam showing feelings of attachment with Michael. Moreover, the mid-shots of the teacher’s face highlights that he is accepted in the school community too. As such, Michael, like Billy has achieved a new sense of belonging due to connections with new people and places.
grades plummet. He forms the idea that, “Finny had deliberately set out to wreck my
Daisy lacks self confidence which made it harder to raise her fifteen year-old son Donny. There were many instances where Daisy pondered on what she can do better to help Donny in school, but as she put forth an effort, she always resisted. “She remembered when Amanda was born. Donny had acted lost and bewildered. Daisy had been alert to that of course, but still, a new baby keeps you busy of course….”(570) When Daisy saw this happening, she never stopped to reassure Donny that even though he had a sister, it was not going to change their relationship. Daisy should have reassured her son by correcting the problem as soon as it surfaced, then Donny should have understood. When Donny started to have problems in school, Daisy gave up without trying, and let a tutor dictate her son’s activities especially when the teacher questions Daisy about Donny’s actions, Daisy replied, “Oh I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but Donny’s tutor handles these things now…” (572) In school Donny’s behavior changed soo drastically that he started to stay out late and Daisy just sat back and let this happen. “The tutor had sat down so many rules![She] were not allowed any questions at all about school, nor were to speak with his teachers…,Only one teacher disobeyed…”(572) Because Daisy didn’t believe in herself or her word, she let others control and therefore his behavior worsened.
Throughout a lifetime, one can run through many different personalities that transform constantly due to experience and growing maturity, whether he or she becomes the quiet, brooding type, or tries out being the wild, party maniac. Richard Yates examines acting and role-playing—recurring themes throughout the ages—in his fictional novel Revolutionary Road. Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple living miserably in suburbia, experience relationship difficulties as their desire to escape grows. Despite their search for something different, the couple’s lack of communication causes their planned move to Europe to fall through. Frank and April Wheeler play roles not only in their individual searches for identity, but also in their search for
In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the main character Arnold, also known as Junior, has many health issues, and notably stands out in the crowd. It does not help that he is a poor Indian boy that lives on a reservation, and that he decides to go to an all-white high school. Many of his experiences at school, and on the Reservation, impact his identity. Experience is the most influential factor in shaping a person’s identity because it helps gain confidence, it teaches new things, and it changes one’s outlook on the world.