“The end depends on the beginning,” says Headmaster Woolbridge in the film adaptation of “The Palace Thief” by Ethan Canin. Is this true? Does the end really depend upon the beginning? In “The Palace Thief”, history teacher, William Hundert, meets a new student, Sedgewick Bell, who challenges his authority, and because of his self-importance, this challenge manifests itself until the end. In the beginning, Hundert has a job he is passionate about, a happy and uneventful life, and a moralistic view of himself. Hundert loves St. Benedict’s. “That school was my life,” (Canin, pg. 155) he says. He believes that his job at the school is of utmost importance. However, a boy walks into his classroom one day that does not fit his ideal picture, Sedgewick …show more content…
Bell. This moment changes Hundert’s life. Sedgewick is a hellion and disturbs Hundert’s existence and morals. He takes the center of attention from Hundert in the most obnoxious way possible. The faults in Hundert’s character leave him vulnerable to Sedgewick’s manipulations and prove his morals to be weak. After observing Sedgewick’s antics for a while, Hundert becomes concerned and arranges a meeting with Sedgwick. Sedgewick continues to disrespect Hundert, rendering him speechless at first. However, Hundert suddenly realizes that the only way to Sedgewick is his father, Senator Bell, and suggests a meeting with him. Sedgewick immediately corrects his behavior, much to Hundert’s delight. Despite Sedgwick’s improvement, he decides to meet with the Senator. When meeting Senator Bell, he believes he has found the reason as to why Sedgewick is such a nuisance. “My heart warmed somewhat toward young Sedgewick” (Canin, pg 164) he says. The senator forces a gift of a gun upon Hundert, revealing just how open to manipulation he is. Hundert tells the senator “‘It’s my job, sir to mold your son’s character,’” (Canin, pg. 163) showing how arrogant he is about his job. Per contra, the senator tells him “‘I’m sorry, young man… but you will not mold him. I will mold him. You will merely teach him.’” (Canin, pg. 163), leaving Hundert with the pressure to prove him wrong, and prove himself to the senator. Soon after, the annual “Mr. Julius Caesar” Competition begins. This competition is immensely important to the boys of St. Benedict’s school as well as their families. The competition provided Hundert the perfect opportunity to prove his worth to Senator Bell as well as to himself. Sedgewick has continued to improve which Hundert accredits himself to. Thusly, he chooses to reward himself and Sedgewick, and then “broke one of the cardinal rules teaching,” (Canin, pg. 165) and changed Sedgewick’s grade on one of the quizzes from a B to an A. He allows his feelings of pride and self-glorification to get in the way of the morals of his teaching. At the competition, Hundert favors Sedgewick. He feels a roller coaster of emotions as the competition progresses. At first, he feels pride for Sedgewick for being in the competition, then disappointment when he seems to struggle, showing how Sedgwick truly is his pride and joy. During the competition Hundert realizes that Sedgewick is cheating. “At that moment i felt an inexplicable pity for the boy. Was it simply the humiliation we had both suffered at the hands of his father?” (Canin, pg 168) he says. After some deliberation, he decides to turn Sedgewick in, and tells the headmaster. Headmaster Woolbridge tells him to ignore it, or he will lose his job, and so, in his selfishness, he ignores his morals and continues the competition. He feels the presence of Senator Bell and feels the burden to allow Sedgwick to win, again, to prove the worth of both Sedgewick and himself. As he ponders this, he hears Deepak Mehta, another competitor’s, mother and brings him forth out of his deliberation. He asks Sedgewick a question he knows only Deepak will be able to answer, to prevent Sedgewick from winning, while still keeping his dignity. After the competition, Hundert has a conversation with Sedgewick, in which Sedgewick confronts him about not turning him in for cheating. Sedgewick believes that “It’s because my pop was there,” (Canin, pg 171), yet Hundert refuses to admit that. This conversation sparks yet another beginning to Sedgewick’s puerile behavior. This, of course, upsets Hundert, because it negates the progress he had made on Sedgewick’s improvement. Despite his frustration, he continues trying to improve Sedgewick’s behavior, and even talks to his father again. Senator Bell accuses him of being an unfair master of ceremonies by asking a question that was not on the outline of the competition to which Hundert replies “how deeply the viper is a viper,” (Canin, pg. 173) showing his utter dismay with how lowly Sedgewick has sunk. As the years continue, Sedewick continues his mischief-making habits, and when he finally graduates, Hundert hands him his diploma “with a sense of failure” (Canin, pg 175) which does not seem to affect Sedgewick at all. While Sedgwick continues his life and career, Hundert remains at St.
Benedicts, climbing the ladder of authority. One day, while reading the newspaper, he discovers that Sedgewick had become the chairman of a large corporation in America. He decided to send him a letter, and reconnect to his past. Meanwhile, he was becoming more involved in the decisions of the school, such as the hiring of a new chair of humanities. When deciding this, he vouches for his good friend Charles Ellerby, however, mainly because the other candidate had the idea that history had “become little more than a relic,” (Canin, pg. 177), which Hundert rejected. Although Hundert no longer worked as a history teacher, he still felt a sense of loyalty and ardor towards the subject, not wanting to let go of his days of teaching. Before long, Headmaster Woolbridge passes away and Hundert applies for the job as headmaster. However, Ellerby does as well and betrays him in order to get the job. He uses the gun that was given to Hundert and remains in his possession, to threaten him. Hundert was willing to do anything in order to secure the job and remain at St. Benedict’s, and therefore throws the gun into the lake at the school, which he quickly regrets because it rids him of the physical memoir he had. Quickly after Ellerby gets the job, he asks Hundert to retire, breaking his
heart. Hundert received a reply to his letter, from Sedgewick, that led him to believe that Sedgewick had matured and become an intelligent, guileless man. Sedgewick had also said that he wished to have a rematch of the “Mr. Julius Caesar” competition and would donate to the school, if he administered the competition. At first, he thought Sedgewick was joking, and dismissed the idea, until he offered to pay Hundert as well. Hundert attributed his desire for the competition, as well as Sedgewick’s accomplishments, to the original competition, saying that “it is precisely this sort of childhood slight that will drive a great figure,” (Canin, pg 183). Although he felt a grudge toward Ellerby, he still felt a sense of loyalty toward the school, and enjoyed the opportunity to return to his past. As he was going through his notes, he felt nostalgic and happy. As this was arranged, Hundert officially retired, and became very melancholy. He went to live in a small house and attempted to keep himself busy. Fortunately, he was able to start his preparations for the competition, and spent his days remembering his past and tenure at St. Benedict’s, and not wanting to let go of it. He used the competition as an escape from the reality of his retirement. The reunion commenced with a ride in a helicopter for Hundert, which introduced a new world of luxuries to Hundert. Yet again, he “was struck anew with how great a privilege my profession had been,” (Canin, pg. 188), showing how highly he thought of himself. During the reunion, Hundert observed the similarities of the men, to when they were younger. He did this with all his former students, except one, Sedgewick, who he observed to be better and more mature, in order to boost his ego and sense of accomplishment. When talking to the boy that should have been in the competition instead of Sedgewick, he reveals the truth yet does not apologize, believing that what he did for the boy was better than what would have happened had he been in the competition. This shows how little Hundert actually cares about others, and how little he regrets the events of his life. During the actual competition, Hundert favor Sedgewick yet again. However this time it is because of all the luxuries and accommodations given to him. As before, he discovers that Sedgewick is cheating halfway through the competition, this time using a small speaker in his ear. Hundert has no one to consult and therefore, despite his morals telling him otherwise, he decides to not turn him in, yet again. As before, he decides to ask a question he knows only Deepak will be able to answer, which does not seem to faze Sedgewick at all. After Deepak is crowned as the victor, Sedgewick comes forward to reveal the true intention of the reunion competition. He tells the audience that he is running for senate, and the audience immediately offers to fund him. This offends Hundert, and makes him realize that he was not the reason that Sedgewick wanted all of his former classmates together. He is no longer the center of attention and is struck with jealousy. He compares himself to a “spurned sovereign in the castle tower, looking down from his balcony onto the procession of the false potentate,” (Canin, pg 197), showing, yet again, how highly he thought of himself. He is in disbelief of how Sedgewick could have stolen his throne without his knowing, and how his favorite student has become the palace thief. Because of this, he avoids Sedgewick and throws himself a pity party in solitude, until it is time for him to return home. When Sedgwick comes to see him off, Hundert suggests knowing of his cheating, to which Sedgewick replied “‘And I see that you have not changed either,’” (Canin, pg 198), which demonstrates that even Sedgewick realizes how little Hundert had improved morally. As Sedgewick begins his campaign, his name is all over the news and serves as a constant reminder and excuse to live in the past for Hundert. Left alone to his thoughts, he realizes his obsession for Sedgewick and worries that Sedgewick does not care about him. Sedgewick had a campaign stop near where Hundert was living at a coal-miners’ union hall, so Hundert decided to go. As Sedgewick was speaking, he realized that Hundert was in the audience, and invites him onstage, which greatly pleases Hundert. While speaking, Sedgewick lies about where he went to school in order to relate to the miners, which angers Hundert and makes him realize that Sedgewick truly does not care about him. Because of this realization, he invited Deepak to his house and attempted to get Deepak to give him reassurance and confidence. “I wanted him...to say, ‘You have made a difference in my life, Mr. Hundert,” (Canin, pg 204), he says, demonstrating that he was hoping that Deepak would become who he wanted Sedgewick to be. In the beginning, Hundert is a selfish and egotistical man, that is open to manipulations, and in the end he is the same. He looks for others reassurance in order to survive and gives himself more credit than he deserves. Throughout the story, Hundert does not change, despite the growth and maturation of his students and changes in his surroundings, and thusly the end does depend upon the beginning. Although he claims that his palace has been stolen, it is evident that this palace never existed to anyone but him.
Mark of the Thief is a book written by Jennifer A. Nielsen. This book is the first in the “Mark of the Thief” trilogy and is set in ancient Rome around the year 400 CE. The story itself takes place primarily in the city of Rome and the mines south of Rome where the story begins.
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 main issues of the African people in the book “The Kidnapped Prince” were kidnappers and slave traders. An example of this is in the beginning of the book. While the adults of Equiano’s (main character) village are working in the fields, three kidnappers hopped the wall surrounding his peoples village. They kidnapped Equiano and his sister while they were playing. They are forced to travel with their captors and sold into slavery. Eventually Equiano is separated from his sister, as they both go to different “masters”. And although they do see each other at some point later in the book that would be their last meeting and they never see each other again.
When Hundert notices Sedgewick Bell’s improvement in his class, he makes the decision to raise the B he earned to an A, and place him in the Mr. Julius Caesar competition instead of Martin
Solnit transforms the concrete idea of the schooling system into a concept focused mainly on the well-being of the student and the non-academic growth they experience. She expresses her belief that it’s a place of learning to conform or taking punishment and “one that can flatten out your soul or estrange you from it.” This abstract concept allows readers to have a much more moving response,
...ne in the community warns Baby Suggs family that Schoolteacher is coming. They have all eaten of the ‘fruit’ but it has not brought knowledge, it has dulled it. Stamp paid had “…always believed it wasn’t the exhaustion from a long day’s gorging that dulled them, but some other thing---like, well, like meanness—…” (157). The community will soon confront evil personified by the people’s anger and the Schoolteacher’s hate that has arrived at 124.
“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)
Adolph Myers, a kind and gentle man "[ is] meant by nature to be a teacher of youth"(215), however, the towns' people can not understand that the male school teacher - a not so common phenomenon at the time--spoke soothingly with his hands and voice only to "carry a dream into the young minds" (215) of his students. The young school teacher was wrongfully accused of doing "unspeakable things" to his students, and as a result was beaten and run out of town without being given a chance to explain the his love for the children was pure, and that he had done nothing wrong. Therefore, as young Adolph Myers, whose only crime is of being a good and caring person runs out of Pennsylvania, old Wing Biddlebaum, the lonely and confused victim of a close-minded society walks into Winesburg Ohio.
When the Thief Lord and he’s band of misfit orphans accepts Barbossa’s mysterious job from “The Conte”, he gets a picture of a wooden wing from a magical Merry-Go-Round and an address. He’s set to rob Ida Spavento, a photographer and former orphan herself. Victor, the detective following Prosper and Bos trail, catches onto the Thief Lords plans and follows the orphans back to the abandoned theatre “The Star Palace”, he then searches for the owner of the theatre, Dottor Massimo, a millionaire. Victor makes he way to Dottor’s mansion to buy the theatre, he’s offar is refused. But, there he discovers a boy, who looks similar to the Thief Lord, named Scipio Massimo. “He quickly lowered his head, but Victor had already recognized him. His hair was tied back in a tight little ponytail and his eyes didn’t look quite as arrogant as they had before, but there could be no doubt: This was the boy who had so innocently asked Victor the time, just before he and his friends had tricked him” (Funke, Chapter 17, page 114.) Victor makes his way back to the theatre where he is captured by the orphans and taken hostage. After hearing the boy’s story, Victor comes to the conclusion the boys are better off on there own, and agrees to keep their secret, and sends their Aunt on a wild goose chace.
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is considered the great American Novel with its unorthodox writing style and controversial topics. In the selected passage, Huck struggles with his self-sense of morality. This paper will analyze a passage from Adventures of huckleberry Finn and will touch on the basic function of the passage, the connection between the passage from the rest of the book, and the interaction between form and content.
P encourages Arnold to be better in life. Mr. P is responsible for Junior’s fight against hopelessness and his wish of not giving up hope and realizing dreams. Mr. P, at first, appears to be your average teacher who hates their job, stuck in the middle, and can’t achieve a higher level job. Everyone thought that Mr. P looked really weird. He was only 4 feet tall, had no hair, but had dandruff, there would be food stains on his shirt, visible nose hair, and weighed maybe 50 pounds but only when he’s carrying his 15 pound briefcase. But the strangest thing about Mr. P is that sometimes he forgot to come to school. He tried to start a reservation Shakespeare Theatre Company, but failed miserably. Oftentimes, students would have to be sent down to the housing compound behind the school to wake Mr. P, who is always napping in front of his television. He sometimes teaches classes in his pajamas. He is fairly popular among the students, as not much is asked out of the students. On Junior’s first day back to school, he is given a Geometry book. But on the first page of the book, he sees the words “This book belongs to Agnes Adams.” Agnes Adams is his mother, which meant that the book was over 30 years old. Enraged by this thought, he threw his book at Mr. P. Consequently, Arnold is suspended for a week. Mr. P goes to talk to him. He talks to him about his sister, and how she used to write romance novels, but then suddenly stopped, and telling Junior things about
The Black Prince was the eldest son of King Edward the 3rd. His real name was Prince Edward Plantagenet and he was born in June of 1330 at the royal palace of Woodstock. The Black Prince grew up to become one of the most famous me diaeval warriors of all time. It is not really known where his nickname (the Black Prince) stemmed from, however, it is certain that it originated about two hundred years after his death. There is no evidence to support that he wore black armor, which seems to have inspired the very famous nickname. He did, however, carry a shield of peace which was predominantly black. This is probably the most likely reason for his nickname.
He argues that students “want to be doing something real” (Gatto 23). Also, he explains that they produce a manageable working class and “mindless consumers” (27-28). His point is that students want to learn something new that helps them in their life better than actual books from school which don’t apply their interests and their experience (23). He recommends home-schooling as an option to schools (24). Gatto claims that contemporary schools “adopted one of the very worst aspects of Prussian culture: an educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects.... ...
In the opening scenes that take place in the classroom, you become familiarized with the Gradgrind School and its fundamentals. The Gradgrind philosophy, based on the Facts, Facts, and more Facts of reality, is demonstrated as being not only cruel and destructive to the workers – the “Hands" of society – but is also humanly inadequate to the Gradgrind family it served. Mrs. Gradgrind observed that her husband has missed something in his life, yet, "not an ology at all." Louisa and her brother Tom, "the whelp," are nearly destroyed by the strictly mechanical principles of Gradgrindery. It was Hard Times for everyone.
In his later years at school, Stephen's isolates himself through his "relationship to authority [and conformity] and his rebellion against it" (Ryf 27). In the classroom Stephen is "pandied" (beaten with a cane) and accused of being a "lazy little schemer" by a Jesuit priest for not completing his homework due to his broken glasses (Joyce 50). In rebellion, Stephen reports the injustice to the rector only to later discover that the rector took th...