In “Our Time” by John Wideman, Wideman writes about the life journey of his younger brother, Robby. This story is told from Robby’s point of view with direct responses to the audience from Wideman. He begins with the life that they lived while growing up, and develops the story further into Robby being in prison for robbery and murder. Robby being the youngest child felt as if all that he did was never enough in comparison to all that his siblings had achieved. He decided to live life differently, but he never imagined that he would get so caught up in the lifestyle that there would be no way out. Listening to Robby tell his story, Wideman hoped to be able to understand the choices that his brother made and to better relate to the problematic life that he lived. It seemed impossible for Wideman to fully understand how coming from the same environment they grew to be so different. Robby “couldn’t fall too far,” Wideman believed that he would regain his composure and instead make positive decisions. John failed to realize that someone can be raised with the same standards in the same environment, but yet, they may still grow up differently. Robby chose the streets to make a statement proving that he was different from his siblings. The different paths of life that the brothers chose were distinguished as Wideman began the story in …show more content…
the prison setting. The prison was a representation of the entrapment that Robby felt towards the streets, and John’s visitation symbolized his being able to come and go as he pleased. One is not solely a product of their environment, but their personal mindset also influences who they will become. The two brothers viewed life differently, and this changed their beliefs concerning how things would be. Robby, feeling as though he was bound to the streets, had no problem accepting being “ghetto” because he believed that in life your future is inevitable. “Out of nothing, out of pain, fear, the certainty of death gripping them both, Garth’s voice had manufactured the grin(Wideman 424);” instilling in Robby that despite the situation consistency is important. On the other hand, John’s mindset allowed him to see beyond his environment, and he found a way to be better while doing something better. “Places inside myself where truth hurts, where incriminating secrets are hidden, places I avoid, or deny most of the time” depicted Robby’s mentality concerning his personal being. These different mentalities allow the reader to question whether a life is predestined or if one is in control of their future. Although they both did wrong throughout their lives, the wrong doings in which they enacted upon were viewed as incomparable.
Robby’s crimes and delinquencies were based upon his emotional reactions to situations in his life, but John seemed to do wrong without consciously knowing it. “We’d taken advantage of his generosity by not offering the check as soon as we received it” (Wideman 454). The environment still took an internal toll on Wideman that he often did not recognize. Others viewed them as incomparable because Robby’s mistakes caused him his entire life, but Wideman’s mistake was not wide known since it affected others
individually. The influences of the environment were not only Homewood, and friends, but of course their family, most importantly their mother. While growing up, parents become mindful of their children. Although their mother had love for all of her children, she often faced difficulties with Robby. Robby’s mother knew that he was “wild, hard to handle” ( Wideman 443). As his parent, she understood that no two children are exactly the same; therefore, she was able to cope with the differences in her children. “She could love her son, accept his guilt, accept the necessity of punishment, suffer with him, grow with him past the stage of blaming everyone but his troubles, grieve with him when true penitence began to exact his toll,” and this made his choices in life tolerable for her. John being the more settled child, her relationship with him did not run as deep as her relationship with Robby. She came to the realization that children will make mistakes, and that they must find their own way in spite of you leading them along the right path. “Our Time” highlighted the life journey of John and Robby to depict environmental effects on individuals. The story tells the journey of the brother’s lives from childhood through adulthood, and it highlights the differences of their outcomes. Wideman illustrated how as brothers, they were just the same, but yet, still so different.
In the poem, “My First Weeks” by Sharon Olds, Olds makes an ordeal for her storyteller, gives her the recollections of this time we all might want to recall. The foundation of this piece has various pictures depicted so well they turn out to be outwardly captivating, and an all-inclusiveness of human experience. Regardless of whether the elocutionist’ owns particular experience was as delicate as the speakers or not, every one of us was conceived and (more than likely) can't remember our first weeks.
In today 's society, how do we describe someone as "a good person". The judgment falls to other people and how they compare or contrast themselves to the person, who falls under questioning morality. Another problem can lie within the imperfections of the normal human and the few that see through and fix their problem can only improve. Here we will analyze and reflect the comparison between the author Wes Moore’s life pictured within his story of The Other Wes Moore, where Wes categorized his differences between his doppelganger, the Wes Moore in prison for a life sentence, and my life. Each step in the book concludes the beginning of early childhood to early adulthood stopping at the present of the book’s conclusion. Still, we are left questioning the perfection of “good” things in the author’s life, through his schooling, sports, neighborhood and household influences, and opportunities.
Every one is scavenging for the next big gadget- the future is a standard that society strives to have in their grasp. However, Joel Achenbach a former humor columnist solves the mystery of the future in his article, “The Future is Now: it’s heading right at us, but we never see it coming” .he presents a sense of urgency describing that the future is not something that society needs to wait for it happens behind closed doors. He argues that the future is a fast pace entity that occurs all around us. Achenbach proves this point by sticking to his humorous style, with the use of witty allusions to Sci-Fi films.
The Europeans changed the land of the home of the Indians, which they renamed New England. In Changes in the Land, Cronon explains all the different aspects in how the Europeans changed the land. Changing by the culture and organization of the Indians lives, the land itself, including the region’s plants and animals. Cronon states, “The shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes well known to historians in the ways these peoples organized their lives, but it also involved fundamental reorganizations less well known to historians in the region’s plant and animal communities,” (Cronon, xv). New England went through human development, environmental and ecological change from the Europeans.
Moreover, Wideman ends up having difficulties trying to represents what his brother is “saying” because he ends up writing his own personal opinions and thoughts. Although it was something he was trying to avoid considering it would be a manipulation of the story. Throughout the essay, the reader can observe how Wideman analyzes his past experiences with Robby, and how their relationship has transformed over the years. For instance, the author conveys the bonds he had with his brother in order to express that after all this years they still shared “common history, values, and style developed within the tall stockade of family, and that was enough to make us care about each other” (Wideman 674). In addition, he tells the reader how he wanted Robby to know that he was thinking about “Our shared roots and destiny” (Wideman 674) and how that thinking was getting him closer to Robby.
In the book “The Mad Among Us-A History of the Care of American’s Mentally Ill,” the author Gerald Grob, tells a very detailed accounting of how our mental health system in the United States has struggled to understand and treat the mentally ill population. It covers the many different approaches that leaders in the field of mental health at the time used but reading it was like trying to read a food label. It is regurgitated in a manner that while all of the facts are there, it lacks any sense humanity. While this may be more of a comment on the author or the style of the author, it also is telling of the method in which much of the policy and practice has come to be. It is hard to put together without some sense of a story to support the action.
In “Our Time” the difference between John and Robby started to from John got out of Homewood and Robby stayed and he was sucked into the Homewood experience. They not only lived in different places but they had different experiences. Wideman was trying to figure out how he and Robby got to be so different. It is like an example of my sister and I, we lived in two different places most of my childhood and when we were actually living in the same place it was like we were stranger, we knew our friends more than we knew each other. So it is like that with
Wideman’s writing is uniquely phrased. It changes voices along the way to explore different sides and perspectives, leaving the readers wondering about basic concepts. When I finished reading “Our Time” I was confused about a lot of its aspects. Because Robby is displayed as the main protagonist as well as the main antagonist of the story, I was confused about Robby’s standings. Is Robby a criminal or a victim? What was John trying to say when he shared this story? Can someone be a criminal and a victim at the same time?
In “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” written by Wes Moore the author writes about two boys growing up in Baltimore that share the same name and similar backgrounds but end up taking drastically different paths in life due to many varying factors. The author goes on to earn a college degree, become a Rhodes Scholar, a veteran and more while the “other” Wes cannot avoid the inevitable fate of dealing drugs and ultimately spends his life running from the police and in prison. This reflects how both Wes Moore’s became products of their environment as the way a person is shaped and guided in their developmental years does unquestionably play a large role in the type of person they will become as adults. A lot of elements come into play that help to determine a person’s success or failure, but at the end of the day the most important factors are family, education and opportunities.
Wes (the author) has a family who wants to see him succeed. Although Wes didn’t know his father for long, the two memories he had of him and the endless stories his mother would share with him, helped guide him through the right path. His mother, made one of the biggest effects in Wes’s life when she decided to send him to military story, after seeing he was going down the wrong path. Perhaps, the other Wes’s mother tried her best to make sure he grew up to be a good person, but unfortunately Wes never listen. His brother, Tony was a drug dealer who wish he could go back in time and make the right decisions and he wanted Wes to be different than him. He didn’t want his brother to end up like him and even after he tried everything to keep Wes away from drugs, nothing worked and he gave up. As you can see, both families are very different, Wes (the author) has a family who wants him to have a bright future. Most importantly, a family who responds fast because right after his mother saw him falling down the wrong hill she didn’t hesitate to do something about it. The other Wes isn’t as lucky, as I believe since his mother already had so much pressure over keeping her job and her son Tony being involved in drugs. Same thing with Tony, he was so caught up in his own business that no one payed so much attention to
When two siblings are born together, and are close in age, many people wonder whether they will be the same or different altogether. A “River Runs through it” shows two brothers who grew up in the same household, and grew up loving to do the same activity fly fishing. Both brothers were raised in a very strict presbyterian household. Norman is the older brother, and he is much more responsible and family orientated. Paul is the irresponsible younger brother; Paul as an adult was not at home much anymore. Both brothers were loved equally as children, but how they view and use love is what separates them. Paul and Norman differ in behavior and character.
In Alan Lightman’s, “Our Place in the Universe,” he describes his experiences in the Greek Isles explaining how meek it made him feel to be surrounded by the vast ocean with no land in sight except a small strip of brown in the distance. Great thinkers throughout history, have been exploring the visible variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, though the greatest of these are size, from the smallest atom to gargantuan stars. These massive differences in size change the way we view ourselves in the universe. (470) Garth Illingworth, from the University of California, has studied galaxies more than 13 billion light years away from us.
People in their lives may confront different challenges, difficulties, and opportunities; their choices and decisions significantly influence their paths in life. Their abilities to making right choices are determined by many factors, including family, neighborhood, education, personal responsibility, age, environment, religion, media, others’ expectations, etc. Even two people, who have identical names, live similar circumstances, they have two different fates. Wes Moore (2011), in his book “The Other Wes Moore,” tells a story of how and why the other Wes Moore and himself had different lives. Even though the author Wes and the other Wes both grew up in Baltimore, their different choices, which were influenced by their families, friendship,
The book Looking Backward was written by Edward Bellamy and published in the year 1888. Bellamy started off his career as a journalist but then married and decided to devote his efforts to writing fiction novels. Looking Backward was published and Bellamy was famous. The book stirred around the country and had people imagining a world like the one Bellamy created in his book. The idea of a utopia as the one he describes is unbelievable. His book is what people, of even now in the twenty first century, wish the world could possible be like. However, Bellamy’s world of reasoning and judging of people based on the inner beliefs was not what people of then or now do. Bellamy’s book showed a world of rationality being applied to create a world of down right good and generous people. If rationality was every used to create a wholesome war-hearted society than the picture that Bellamy envisioned would be true today. Bellamy built his utopia upon the position that individuals did not compete with one another.
The human being is an analytical creature. From scientists to philosophers to star-crossed teenaged lovers, the human is internally motivated to understand the world around him. That world provides countless puzzles for the human to solve, whether these puzzles lie in the forests of the heart, the laws of mathematics or the annals of history. However, some of the most unfathomable aspects of this world have been entirely created by humans. The Holocaust is one of the most unfathomable events in human history. Countless documentaries, pieces of literature, psychological analyses and films have explored the topic in an attempt to understand exactly how humans could commit such terrible atrocities against one another. Time’s Arrow, by Martin Amis, initially attempts to answer this question by exploring the life of a Nazi doctor. To do this, he separates the narrator’s consciousness from his mind, re-living his life backwards. In doing so, Amis tries to reverse the laws of entropy, to heal by un-creating human destruction. However, as the narrator (the doctor’s consciousness) eventually finds, reversing time’s arrow does not make the Holocaust fathomable. Therefore, in Time’s Arrow, Martin Amis suggests that humans will always manage to increase entropy, despite the reversal of time and the laws of the physical world.