Paloma Josse is a twelve-year-old girl who lives a lavish life. However, she has developed a plan to end her own life by June 16th, the day she turns thirteen. After close observations to the world and people around her, she comes to the conclusion that people seem to never become who they always wanted to be. She assumes that this is inevitable in the life of every adult’s life. She convinces herself that in order to avoid this fate she must end her own life. In hopes of finding beauty, she commits herself to journaling about moments that she finds to be meaningful to leave behind when she is gone. In Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Paloma experiences youthfulness in an astoundingly insane and isolated world where she feels torment and puzzled. She needs a substitute universe to help and assurance her. For quite a while, Paloma "pace[s] all finished [her] …show more content…
She befriends Renee and their common interest for Art makes Paloma, in addition to Renee, “[forget] even the very notion of trying to hide who [they] [are]” (Barbery 148). When Paloma stays as a guest in Renee's lodge, Renee reveals to Paloma that "[she] ha[s] found a good hiding place" but however, Paloma does not hide away in front of Renee. Instead, they are vulnerable to each other in light of the way that Art bonds them together. Art touches their inward soul. Paloma sees through the "“intuition of disaster in [Renee’s] heart", which gives her hope— the possibility to “change one’s fate” (Barbery 148). Not similar in age, condition and conditions, the dubious alliance—reinforced by artistic solidarity—bonds their souls. By comforting Renee, Paloma discovers meaning for life in a way that can serve others. Life is no longer like solitary confinement for her because Art impacts Paloma in a way that leads her on a quest to find the meaning of her
As people grow up and experience life more and more, their personalities are revealed more. In the story “Barbie-Q”, Sandra Cisneros describes what it feels like to still be searching for one's identity. “Barbie-Q” is about a little girl and her sister that have dolls that don’t compare to others. There Barbies don’t have new dresses, and fancy red stilettos, but instead they have homemade sock dresses, and bubbleheads. This changes when these two girls go to a flea market, and find new dolls that were damaged in a fire. They may have been damaged with water and had melted limbs but it still meant a lot to these little girls. Sandra Cisneros expresses how these girls have struggled with self identity and how they have finally came to be there
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
Sandra Cisneros writes a memoir through the eyes of an eleven year old. Turning eleven happens to be a tragic day for the main character, Rachel. Through various literary techniques such as hyperbole, simile, and syntax, Rachel is characterized. Rachel is a fresh turning eleven year old who finds herself in an awful situation on her birthday. Forced to wear a raggedy old sweater that doesn’t belong to her, she makes it defiantly clear her feelings towards the clothing item, and we see this through use of hyperboles. Rachel describes the sweater as ugly and too “stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.” This extreme exaggeration demonstrates the fire within Rachel. She is a defiant and pouty little girl who out of stubbornness has to defy the sweater in her mind. “It’s maybe a thousand years old”, she says to herself in act to degrade the filthy red sweater even more. The sweater to Rachel has become an eternal battle of ages. She is torn on whether or not to stand up and act bigger th...
On an everyday basis teens all around the world fight and disagree with their parents. In the passages Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun this very thing is clearly demonstrated. Both stories feature two teenage girls that have lost one of their parents. They both now face the daily struggle of agreeing and relating to their remaining parent. In Confetti Girl, the narrator is constantly overlooked and out shadowed by her father’s favorite thing, books and literacy.
The short story Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, focuses around the main character Rachel as an insecure developing girl who lacks the experience to handle everyday encounters. Rachel, an eleven year old girl truly encapsulates the thoughts that are present within an adolescent. The lack of confidence in herself, excessive fear of being judged, and ideas of growing up are ideals that are relevant within each and every one of us. The reader is able to relate to Rachel because her feelings and experiences that are described by the author are similar to what most people have been through and are currently experiencing. The characterization of Rachel is expressed through the author’s usage of point of view, imagery, and repetition.
Holly Janquell is a runaway. Wendelin Van Draanan creates a twelve year old character in the story, Runaway, that is stubborn and naive enough to think she can live out in the streets alone, until she is eighteen.She has been in five foster homes for the past two years. She is in foster care because her mother dies of heroin overdose. In her current foster home, she is abused, locked in the laundry room for days without food, and gets in even more trouble if she tries to fight back. Ms.Leone, her schoolteacher, could never understand her, and in Holly’s opinion, probably does not care. No one knows what she is going through, because she never opens up to any one. Ms. Leone gives Holly a journal at school one day and tells her to write poetry and express her feelings. Holly is disgusted. But one day when she is sitting in the cold laundry room, and extremely bored, she pulls out the diary, and starts to write. When Holly can take no more of her current foster home, she runs, taking the journal with her. The journal entries in her journal, are all written as if she is talking to Ms.Leone, even though she will probably never see her again. Over the course of her journey, Holly learns to face her past through writing, and discovers a love for poetry. At some point in this book, Holly stops venting to Ms. Leone and starts talking to her, almost like an imaginary friend, and finally opens up to her.
This book is trying to show the struggle that many young girls experience and the reasons to why the adolescence years to prove to be such a period of, underachievement, anger, and pain in the lives of girls who can be bright and talented girls. A few of Mary Piphers points that she stresses throughout the book are, girls today are much more distressed, anxious, and uncomfortable than before. The society in which they are coming of age is more dangerous, sexualized, and media saturated, the culture is indeed a girl poisoning one.
...en-year-old girl”. She has now changed mentally into “someone much older”. The loss of her beloved brother means “nothing [will] ever be the same again, for her, for her family, for her brother”. She is losing her “happy” character, and now has a “viole[nt]” personality, that “[is] new to her”. A child losing its family causes a loss of innocence.
Rock-A-Doodle was always a childhood favorite movie of mine. I enjoyed the animation and the catchy songs; I could connect with the characters and I cared about what was happening in the story. This 1992 kids’ movie written and directed by former Disney animator Don Bluth stars Chanticleer, a singing rooster who leaves the farm to look for work in the “big city” after the sun rises one morning although he didn’t crow; and Edmund, a boy turned into a kitten, desperate to bring Chanticleer back home and “save the farm”. Of course all of their barnyard friends are along for the ride. As a child, the story made perfect sense and I found myself rooting for the main characters. Now I am an adult and my son watches the exact same old
The character(s) that I chose to diagnosis and treat are the Minions from Despicable Me. I would diagnose them with ADHD or “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder” because they are extremely hyperactive, are constantly being distracted by random objects passing by, and had difficulty in properly carrying out Gru’s objectives because of their disposition to be distracted and wide-eyed at any little thing. In order to treat the minions’ ADHD, i would use behavior therapy which uses learning principles, such as classical and operant conditioning, to get rid of unwanted behavior and reinforced the desired behavior. Specifically, i would use progressive relaxation, despite the fact that it is used mostly to treat anxiety. Progressive relaxation
How can people be so similar and different at the same time? In the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel both the protagonists John and Lorraine have different characteristics.John and Lorraine are both best friends who are sophomores in high school. Although they are very close friends they have different personalities.At the beginning of the Novel, John is more of a troublesome kid whereas Lorraine is calm, sensitive and compassionate.Overall the novel The Pigman by Paul Zindel demonstrate how different good friends can be.
George Milton is a complex man who struggles with striking a balance between love and mercy for his friend and the justice that demands to be served. He is a man who used to be different from other migrant workers. However, he takes action that he deems as morally necessary that destroys him.
Throughout someone’s experience of reading this inspiring novel, he or she can come to realize how important art can be in a person’s life. Mr. Freeman, Melinda’s art teacher, helps Melinda understand that life is like art. When a mistake is made in life, there is a chance to start anew, just like erasing a drawing and starting over. Mr. Freeman introduced his class by saying, “Welcome to the only class that will teach you how to survive.” (10) In art class, some of Melinda’s projects represent her life because they can change from being scary, “dead”, and mysterious, to being beautiful, just like Melinda. Ivy, a fellow student in art class, said to Melinda, “That turkey bone thing you did was creepy, too. Creepy in a good way, good creepy.” (145) Mr. Freeman also plays a big part in helping Melinda, whose name means “I am pretty”, realize her ful...
When you think of the woods and forest what do you think of? Mostly bears and other scary creatures roaming around, looking for something to feed on. That’s not how things are in the 100 acre woods. Yes, there is a bear but he is a friendly bear. His name is Winnie the Pooh and his best friend is a young boy named Christopher Robin. Pooh and Christopher have other friends in these woods that are all friendly as well, such as: Piglet, Rabbit, Eyeor, Owl, Kanga, and Roo. Automatically we portray the woods as a scary place but in Winnie the Pooh the 100 acre woods are a friendly and sweet place to live. Christopher has become friends with everyone in the 100 acre woods and can be free to express him self. He has had many adventures with everyone
There is nothing romantic about taking ones’ life. Yet you can’t deny that it’s happening, and that it’s real. Amy Zhang was able to skilfully weave together the fabrics of physics and the intangibleness of emotional distress that eventually leads to suicide in her novel, “Falling into Place”. Her debut novel, which classifies as contemporary young adult book, tells us the story if Liz Emerson, who is portrayed as a stereotypical queen bee, and at the same time a smart yet depressed teenager who is silently planning her death.