When you are growing up your surroundings influence the choices you make and how you grow up. The four text I studied are a short story “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” written by Evan Hunter, a novel “The Hunger Games” by Susan Collins, a film “Remember the Titans” directed by Jerry Bruckheimer and lyrics composed by Cat Stevens. These four texts express the theme of “how surroundings can influence your choices when growing up”
In the short story ‘On the Sidewalk Bleeding’, the character Andy displays the theme of “how surroundings can influence your choices when growing up” as he is influenced by his upbringing to join a gang called the Royals. At the start of the story Andy reminisces about how he was accepted into the Royals, and that it was the happiest moment of his life. He joins the Royals to feel accepted. His decision was influenced by his upbringing in a ghetto environment, which made him believe it would be cool to join a gang. He also believed it was the right thing to do. Andy gets stabbed in an alley way and the offender yells out “take that Royal”. Andy was recognised as a Royal because he was wearing his purple Royals jumper with pride. As he is bleeding out on the sidewalk he begins to realise that the only reason he was stabbed was because he was a Royal. He thinks to himself “they didn't stab Andy they stabbed a Royal and now Andy is dying”. Andy then uses all of his diminishing energy to take off his purple Royals jumper because he wants nothing to do with it. This is a very unfortunate story. It showed me that the decisions you make when influenced by your surroundings may not always be positive, as it resulted in Andy being stabbed.
“Father and Son” is a song composed by Cat Stevens. The lyrics are fro...
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...e has been brought up this way. When Gerry goes away on camp there is some initial conflict. He then begins to change his ways and makes friends with one of his African American teammates, Julies Campbell. Gerry changes his ways and starts to respect people for who they are “when I did know you I was only hating my brother” just like when Andy is bleeding out and he realises that he doesn't want to be in a gang anymore. Both Andy and Gerry’s original ways which were influenced by their surroundings where not right and they both realised this themselves.
When you are growing up your surroundings influence your decisions, whether it be family members or your environment. “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”, “Father and Son”, “The Hunger Games” and “Remember the Titans” showed me how surroundings can influence how you grow up whether it is for better or for worse.
Warm air and the sickly sweet smell of the swooning cherry blossom trees. This is the place where I grew up, where I took my first steps, said my first words, and had my first haircut. As much as I hate small towns, without growing up in Madison I don’t know where or what I would be doing right now. In both books The House on Mango Street and Persepolis the main characters had to deal with growing up in a slightly damaged society but they managed to push past it, just like everyone else who has struggled with a past but not brave enough to write it down.
The narrator mentions how he's telling a story from the past by saying, “As a teen, I could’ve beamed / the crown, walked in w/out / the beat down custom,”. The author is describing to the reader's how he is telling a story from his past as a teen. He mentions how he could of been in the gang but, choose not to, which wasn't normal at that time. The beat down custom is usually what is suppose to happen. He dodged the custom and choose to avoid the gang through the pressure of his cousin “who claimed Two-Six, / the set on the next block decked in black & beige.” (20-22). With all the influence on his block and from his cousin, he never gave in and never wanted any part of any gang. The narrator was strong enough to resist what everyone around him was doing. It's hard to try to not fit in when everyone around you is doing what your not. I can personally say I wouldn't have the power to do myself but would fall into the gang life due to my surroundings. If my cousin and everyone around me was joining a gang and was a norm at the time, I would also do so. The narrator stood up for what he thought was right and ignored the pressure. The narrator wasn't interested in what he described but, “preferred games to gangs, / books to crooks wearing hats crooked to the left or right” (23-25). Luckily the narrator wasn't interested in gangs but was in games and books. This not only
The movie shows Bertier kicking Ray off the team because he was making the colored team members look bad, who was one of his close friends. Bertier’s action shows that he is not going to let anyone on the team treat a colored member badly or make them look foolish. Next, Bertier ditched his friends for the team after one of their games they won, for his friends treated him and his team members rude and differently. This shows how Gerry was very dedicated to his team, and he was willing to leave his friends to be with his team of color. This is how Gerry Bertier didn’t tolerate his team getting treated
The concept of belonging and how it’s conveyed is through the connections to people, places, groups, communities and the wider world. For someone to feel that they belong, they must feel the support of friends and family. Barriers also exist for people not to belong to a group or society and can lead to negative repercussions. This is explored both in Jane Harrison play “Rainbows End” and “The Little Refugee” by Anh Do and Suzanne Do. Both texts explore the stages of a physical connection to a place, while being alienated, from the desire of not being accepted for being different of unalike.
Environment says a lot about identity, past, and future. Primary environment has the most effect on shaping a child. According to a US National Library of Medicine research study, ”The physical environment and child development: An international review” it says, “What we do know suggests that the physical environment experienced by children impacts their cognitive and socioemotional development across the lifespan, from the prenatal period through adulthood.” In children this is especially important because a child develops most between the ages of two and five. There are three key elements that contribute to a healthy physical for young children, an adequate standard of living (mainly sufficient food, clothing, and housing), healthcare, and safety from injury, violence, and environmental hazards. In The Other Wes Moore, Wes(a) had
The short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” by Evan Hunter, is about how a boy was stabbed during an alley, sidewalk. Andy, the one that got stabbed was a part of a gang known as the Angels. Before he got stabbed, he was at a Nightclub, He decided to take a smoke outside, moments later, Andy was jumped and got stabbed by another gang called the Guardians. As Andy hit the ground, he pled for help, however, no one heard. Time goes by, people were afraid or didn’t know he was dying, Andy began to lose hope. At this point, Andy knew he was dead and wouldn’t see Laura again. Hours later, he was found dead by Laura, Laura tried to help but she was too late. All in all, I believe the moral of this short story was to be yourself.
Love and hope, together are a timeless literary thematic duo, which continue to inspire countless variations and sub-genres of romance literature. For the last many centuries, romance as a genre, is arguably the most popular of all narratives. However, the theme of love often takes presentences and overarches other thematic interpretation of stories. So why then are people seeking romance in the literature they ready? Suzanne Collins wrote The Hunger Games with the intent to introduce her young adult readership to a number of politically charged themes. Although Collins's work is acknowledged for successfully presenting themes of sacrifice, versions of reality, and power, her audience conversely identifies with the debatable sub-them of love. Social forums, such as the Official Hunger Games Facebook Website exposes an insider's perspective of sort, which reveals public perceptions and interpretations of Collins's work. Even though the purpose for the fan-website built around The Hunger games is to provide a discussion space. Participant's discussions however, unintentionally reveal a...
After her diagnosis of chronic kidney failure in 2004, psychiatrist Sally Satel lingered in the uncertainty of transplant lists for an entire year, until she finally fell into luck, and received her long-awaited kidney. “Death’s Waiting List”, published on the 5th of May 2006, was the aftermath of Satel’s dreadful experience. The article presents a crucial argument against the current transplant list systems and offers alternative solutions that may or may not be of practicality and reason. Satel’s text handles such a topic at a time where organ availability has never been more demanded, due to the continuous deterioration of the public health. With novel epidemics surfacing everyday, endless carcinogens closing in on our everyday lives, leaving no organ uninflected, and to that, many are suffering, and many more are in desperate request for a new organ, for a renewed chance. Overall, “Death’s Waiting List” follows a slightly bias line of reasoning, with several underlying presumptions that are not necessarily well substantiated.
Thesis: Growing up in a certain neighborhood doesn’t have to determine where you go in life.
“What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape” directed by Lasse Hallstrom delves into elucidating the various effects of third development concepts: how genetics are correlated to mental disabilities, how environmental influences can affect a person’s lifestyle, and the effects of developmental influences, such as puberty, on young adults and adolescents. Michael Rutter, in his article, “The Interplay of Nature, Nurture and Developmental Influences,” further emphasizes the interplays between nature, nurture and developmental influences to elaborate the multifactorial interconnections effects of influences on childhood development.
Griffin begins her exploration of these external factors through her interconnected “matrix” that connects all individuals to each other and world around them. Griffin states that each individual “is a part of a large matrix of relationship and society…all the lives that surround [them] are in [them]” (Griffin 371). Griffin indicates that there are societal circumstances that a person does not have a choice in at birth, such as military or political presence, cultural and ethnic background, and socio-economic status; these external factors of the “matrix” are molded into the lives of each individual, shaping them to match their surroundings (Griffin 371). At the same time, the influence of relationships on an individual is also a crucial component to the “matrix.” An individual does not get to choose their biological parents or the family that they are born into. The actions exhibited by a person’s family and the treatment they receive from those individuals provides an influential model for behavior; all the lives that “surround [them] are in [them]” as Gr...
Every child searches for individuality; what makes everyone unique? As a child, surroundings will shape who a person becomes. So a child raised in secure suburbs might be more trusting than a child who lives in a large city. Different environments will without a doubt put people in uncomfortable and sometimes unfortunate circumstances. Environment as a whole is what affects how a child behaves, thinks, and reacts to certain situations. In the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou exposes her own struggle to find identity as she endured racial hardships and sexual abuse.
...lopment is contextual and can change by big or small impacts just like people can be changed by good or bad influences. As humans we constantly change due to our changing environment. Because of these changes three major factors can have an impact on us: normative age-graded and normative history-graded influences and non-normative life events. These three factors can either have a biological or environmental influences on an individual’s development. A normative age-graded and normative history-graded influence that has occurred in my life was getting my driver’s license at the age of sixteen and experiencing the legalization of same-sex marriage. A non-normative life event that I experienced was getting adopted from Russia at the age of eight. All these influences have impacted my development and my character one way or another and have made me the person I am today
Evan Hunter suggests that sometimes if a person gives in to desires that affect them negatively, they may find themselves confined in what they can do, be, and how they live, in his short story, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”. An example of how his very essence is confined is when Andy has a chance to be saved but because he is a Royal he is not. Not only is he killed because he joined the Royals, but in a way he is killed again for the same reason. He is left for dead because of his purple silk jacket. Andy believed being a Royal meant something. “There had been meaning to the title” but really all his Royal title meant was that he would never marry Laura, he would never turn seventeen, and the world would never see him as any more than a purple
There are many different aspects of environment that can affect the development of children. One major environmental impact that influences the development of a child is the neighborhood they are raised in. Within the neighborhood there are several other aspect of influence. Where a child is raised can affect their behavior, attitudes, emotions, personality, values, health, and so much more. This can be seen in their personal lives at home to their social lives around others in classrooms. The affects of a child’s development due to their environment can be seen in both a positive and negative aspect. The neighborhood that a child is raised in can be very critical in their development. It may have a significant effect on what he or she becomes in the future.