Day 1
It’s been a little over a year since ol’ Jimmy Valentine was released from jail. Seeing as there hasn’t been any bank robberies reported recently in his handiwork, Jimmy might just be waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. Later that same night I drove into the peaceful town of Elmore and wandered around a bit until I found the infamous man that I had come to loathe at the very sight of him. After watching Jimmy for quite a while I learned that he owned the big – shot shoe store in town. It also seems that he has decided to engage a young woman, the local banker’s daughter at that. Seems like Jimmy is up to his old tricks, and it’s only customary for me to prolong my stay just to keep an eye on Jimmy, or Ralph Spencer I should
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say. Day 2 After finding my old nemesis in Elmore there was only one thing occupying my mind and that was to take down Jimmy Valentine for good. I followed Jimmy “Ralph Spencer” to the bank his soon to be father in law owned. It seems strange that Ralph has not done any misdeeds in the year that he’s been out. Especially since he has the owner of the bank eating out of cunning hands. Come to think of it why, out of all the women in Elmore, did the banker’s daughter catch his eye? To find some answers I continued to survey Ralph and Mr. Adams, the banker. As I watched them I became to even more confused with the genuine sincerity Ralph regarded the man with as if it were his own father. He also spoke nothing but good things about this man’s daughter and even though I was far away I still say the gleam in his eye when she was brought up. Maybe Ralph does care for the banker and his daughter. Day 3 The picture of Ralph and Mr. Adams having such a good time together seemed to preoccupy my thoughts and the next day was no different. These reflections were beginning to alter my opinion about the young man. The day Jimmy left jail I was ready to jump in and arrest him once again for robbing another bank in another defenseless town. However I’ve been slowly witnessing a change for the better. I decided to observe him run his shoe store from another store across the street to see if there was any shady transactions going on. I sat patiently for a good thirty minutes keeping an eye on him as he, get this, helped other people. One man coughed up about too hundred dollars, as far as I could see, for a custom pair of shoes. What really put the icing on the cake is that when he saw that this man was pilling so much he knocked off the price to one hundred dollars. Looks like Ralph isn’t in it for the money and is actually here to make a change, but I'm still not convinced. Day 4 As far as I’ve been seeing these past couple of days Ralph is changing for the better.
Although I still have my doubts that make me remember the detestable man he used to be. Today Ralph is making plans to leave Elmore and go to Little Rock, the next town over. Now why would Ralph need to leave town? I settled to following him and the Adams down to the bank where quite a ruckus began to stir. It became quite boisterous as I witnessed one of the younger children lock the other in Mr. Adam’s new state of the art bank vault. Her poor mother screamed in horror and I glanced at Ralph to see what his next move would be. He obviously knew how to open that vault and surprisingly he did just that, but before he did he asked Annabel, the banker’s daughter, for the rose pin she wore. In one swift movement Ralph went to open to open the door I was too far to see how exactly he did it, but it didn’t matter seeing as he opened the vault in a few minutes. The young girl was freed and Ralph simply got up and left, ignoring the calls for him I followed him out and it seemed that he was waiting for me. He looked at me and something shone in his eyes, something I had never seen from him before. At that moment I could see the transformation that had taken place. Ralph was no longer Jimmy Valentine he was a changed man who deserved to live out his new life with the woman that he loves. I just looked at him and directed him to the buggy that was waiting for confident that I was sending a new man into the
world.
He demonstrates his aunt’s willingness to help writing: “‘I know that things are bad between you and your mom right now, and I just want you to know that I am on your side.’” Her generosity made a great impression on Andrews. He extends this thought further when he writes “‘And in the meantime, if you ever need to get away, my house is always open to you. And to Darian, too.’” The trust his aunt placed in him influenced him hugely in his life. He continues to impress this point recording: “I was grateful but shocked. She and Mom were really close, and for Susan to go behind Mom’s back like that was huge.” He used emotional change in order to exhibit how moved he was by the support he received from his family members even if it was only one ally who was on his side from the start. This abundant amount of assistance from his aunt causes the audience to empathize by relating personal experiences from their own families to the
He has the regular recognition that such a large number of youthful Americans have; the possibility that as a result of the nation they live in, their identity, and where they originate from, there are openings that are legitimately theirs and little can turn out badly in getting what they need for their future. For Ralph and numerous youthful Americans, this dream rapidly demonstrates false as they grow up and encounter life. In the novel, Ralph's impression of New York City and America changes practically as fast as it was initially shaped. He is quickly stood up to with a dialect hindrance, abandoning him lost and separated from his new world. Before sufficiently long, Ralph "was starting to realize what was
He was faced with difficulties. Ralph forgot to renew his visa, the only proof of his identity and had to live without a legal identity for months. Although he stayed in America with Theresa and Helen, he began to show “typical american” qualities such as lying and cheating his way through life. Ralph once said, “Money. In this country, you have money, you can do anything. You have no money, you are nobody. You are Chinaman. Is that simple” (Jen 199), this quote is only the beginning of Ralph’s detrimental
Throughout this novel, the reader is left with the task of putting the pieces together to a highly complex puzzle. While solving this puzzle, the reader learns valuable information about Mrs. Ross’s harsh past, which greatly influences her entire life. The root of Mrs. Ross’s troubles ultimately lies within the shocking death of “Mrs. Ross’s only brother, a boy called Monty Miles who had been killed while walking home…A wayward trolley left the tracks to strike him down” ( ). According to the narrator “The mourning had gone on for years”() and this event truly traumatized Mrs. Ross as “the world was full of trolley cars and Mrs. Ross ...
Ralph is the novel’s protagonist and tries to maintain the sense of civility and order as the boys run wild. Ralph represents the good in mankind by treating and caring for all equally, which is completely opposite of Jack’s savage nature. Jack is the antagonist in the novel and provokes the most internal evil of all the boys. Jack is seen at first as a great and innocent leader but he becomes t...
Ralph and Amir go through many events that portray their loss of innocence, and their change from immature, to responsible mature character. Ralph goes through events that make him touch reality and take in consideration the seriousness of events; this as a result changes him to a mature, and responsible character. Similar to Amir, Amir goes through changes, which changes him, which make him a more mature character. Amir and Ralph show many similarities in their characteristics, as they both go through loss of innocence and many life events that change their characteristics.
There is something special about human beings. Human beings have the capacity to sacrifice themselves for others. Not all do it and many do just the opposite. In the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’BRIEN, demonstrates that statement. Jimmy Cross, who is 1st lieutenant of his platoon, is a man of integrity and grace which unfortunately starts to diminish throughout his journey. Jimmy begins to fantasize of, “love” which starts to interfere with his daily life, subsequently leading to his excess amount of emotional baggage that he carries, but, ultimately he realizes his fault and he begins to reconstruct his outlook on life tremendously.
A flicker of light caught Ralph’s eye, but he ignored it. Somewhere deep in his mind, though, he sensed something familiar. A feeling of fear enveloped him and sent chills down his spine. He squeezed his eyes shut, and began rubbing the sides of his he...
This is the turning point for Ralph, not only as a person, but as a character in the book. Ralph goes from a somewhat flat character, to a round character, and with this transformation, he completes his dream, a dream which he had with him the whole time. Not only has he come to peace with himself and his accomplishments, he has come to peace with those around him, “Ralph watched the water fight with sadness in his heart, never guessing the scene would one day hearten him, as it did now.” (p296). Some may say that Ralph never achieved his dream. I say that he achieved his dream about half way through the book, he just didn’t realize all he had, and all he could lose until it was almost gone.
A transformation took place during the story and it is evident through the narrator?s character. In the beginning he was lacking in compassion, he was narrow minded, he was detached, he was jealous, and he was bitter. Carver used carefully chosen words to illustrate the narrator?s character and the change. Throughout the story his character undergoes a transformation into a more emotionally aware human being.
As Ralph, “the boy with fair hair” matured to the boy with “matted hair”, his perspective matured from haughty to compassionate. Early on, Ralph believes that “Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and certain disinclination for manual labor”. He rejected Piggy’s “proffer of acquaintance”. He believed “this was [the children’s] island, [that] it was a good island”, that, “until the grown-ups come to fetch [them], [they] will have fun". However, by the end of the novel, Ralph understood that deep down the children fear the island, “the littluns, even some of the others, [talk and scream] as if it wasn’t a good island”. Empathy develops through experience and understanding of truth. Scout thought “Boo was about six-and-a-half feet tall, dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch”. At the beginning of the novels, Ralph nor Scout understood the true nature of Piggy or Boo. However, their respective experiences mean “the end of innocence”. Scout and Ralph begin to differentiate between empathy and authority, good and evil. Scout realizes “[Boo] was real nice, and most people are, when you finally see them”. Ralph recognizes the importance of his “true, wise friend called Piggy”. Yet concurrently, they see “the darkness of man’s heart”. Man discriminates even when doing so harms
first things that Ralph, the central character of the novel, does upon his arrival on the
Ralph shows what the boys need by the way he handles the then. Jack considers the boys lower to him, meanwhile, Ralph treats...
(24 ).  ; The boys are drawn to Ralph because of his physical characteristics and because he had blown the conch. The fact that there are no adults has caused the boys to be attracted to Ralph as a leader. The physical characteristics of Ralph remind the boys of their parents or other adult authority figures they may have had in their old
Further along her dark story, she also gradually descends into madness and as such, losses her sanity. We decided to focus on these three characters as their stories show the greatest deviation from one another. Though their stories begin in the same direction of them being stolen as children, their journeys set them on their own path and resolutions. Jimmy battles with the voices in his mind tearing him down and ultimately loses and gives up on the fight, taking his own life.