Delaney’s vision of perfection is a reflection of the characters in his school stories, which shapes his opinions throughout the text. The teacher, also referred to as the Murderer, reflects bad habits by disciplining the children for pure enjoyment. He uses this as an excuse to torment Delaney, who refuses to live a deceitful life like everyone else. Evidently disappointed with his school and the morals of his classmates, Delaney says, “‘...if this were a proper school he’d be sent to Coventry’” (O’Connor 217). This shows that Delany compares the real world to a more perfect one that he reads about in his books; the other students don’t meet his standards or understand their imperfection. Despite the influences around him and the way …show more content…
These presences shape Delaney’s conscience and guide almost every one of his decisions. Each one depicts a moral that Delaney reads about, such as courage and honesty. He explains, “They were all around me like invisible presences, and I hated to do anything which I felt they might disapprove of” (O’Connor 211). His views are idealistic because he strives to be perfect, especially on a spiritual level where he values the comfort of the presences. Rather than fall into the realistic pattern of dishonesty that most of the students have been encouraged to follow, Delaney let’s his idealism control his life more so than his own mind. When asked where he was after being late to class, Delany considers the typical response; he had been at church. However, he refrains from lying and thinks, “I wanted to say I had been at Mass, but I couldn’t. The invisible presences were all about me” (O’Connor 211). His behavior is strange to the other students, because they are realists that don’t have the ability to be any different. While it seems that he has moments of realism and acts on his own, he returns to his idealistic thoughts by the end of the story. He wanders inside the barracks on his way to school, pushing the Murderer over the edge when he arrives late yet again. Fearing his worst punishment yet, Delaney’s presences tell him that “‘The only good teacher is a dead teacher’” (O’Connor 220) This leads the reader to assume that he reverts to idealism and kills the teacher, especially because Delaney feels he is doing the school the justice they deserve. He is so determined to be like the presences and follow their guidance that he turns his imagination into a reality, writing his own heroic story in an extremely violent way. The presences never flee him in the end, showing the real power they had over
can be traced by to his grandmother who provided him with a powerful moral and
due to the fact that he learns exactly what it means to be committed and
Courtenay contrasts Peekay’s gloomy childhood experience with his courageous young-adult life to emphasize the strong emotional impact of the environment on one’s life. Being someone that often moves around different places, Peekay meets a variety of people and experiences different things. Courtenay uses Peekay as an example to demonstrate the direct effect of environment on one’s life. Peekay's brutal encounter with the Judge and Jury at the boarding school encourages him to revenge by being stronger and more powerful. The Judge and the Jury are Peekay’s bullies at the boarding school, they often “punish” Peekay.
The next chapter sees a mysterious force coming to his aid, bestowing him with strange supernatural powers to murder his enemies according to his darkest thoughts and imagination.
He shows his strength by attaching himself to these things and by keeping himself partly detached from the violence surrounding him. He has the amazing ability to admit to himself that he was just a kid at war, in love. He was twenty-two years old. He couldn't help it" (397). By having the strength to see this reality, he fights against war's power to consume a person's whole identity.
Instead of taking the easy way out of this serious issue, he stood by what he believed in and he never changed his original beliefs to escape his
In a vain attempt to impress his father, Andrew bullies other kids, causing him to feel superior. Again this pressure from parents is shown through Brian, who is pushed to get perfect grades, and decides to react rashly when receiving an F in his shop class On the opposite
.... In his life the restriction by the whites didn’t stop or discourage him from following his dream, which made him unique and outstanding. He was capable of thinking for himself, even though the whites had tried to “guide” him like the other blacks.
The main character, Philip Malloy, the fourteen-year-old protagonist is a talented runner and an average student who tends to says things that are irrelevant (especially when he’s in school). He releases his frustrations in homeroom and English class through small acts against his teacher, Mrs. Narwin. My opinion of Phillip Malloy is that he is a lazy jerk who, throughout the story, lies and lies, developing into a liar—but the lies eventually comes back to bite him. The reason I call him a jerk is because he shows great disrespect toward his English teacher, Ms. Narwin, purposely even though she has nothing against him. I say Phillip is lazy because he doesn’t want to do the extra work to raise his grade so he can make the track team—he decides
He also provides vivid imagery of his bodily reactions as he is walking away from the hospital, alluding to the death of his father. All of these detail
His interactions with the personification of Death allow viewers to directly
his dream come true and he endured many hardships and hard work to attain success. However,
understanding. I am a skeptic. The characters that he incorporates within his story, help to. establish a sense of the conditions and hardships that the country is experiencing. experiencing, and the presence of fear throughout the whole of the populace.
solution to his situation at the close of the novel. He realizes that there is
realizes that his entire existence has been controlled by others and he is now on a journey to