Thirteen-year old Brian Robeson, the sole passenger on a small plane from Hampton, New York to the north woods of Canada, boards the aircraft excited at the notion of flying in a single-engine plane. After the novelty of the experience passes, Brian returns to his thoughts of his parents' recent divorce. Brian recalls the fights between his parents and his hatred for the lawyers who attempt to cheerfully explain to him how the divorce will affect his life. What Brian calls "The Secret" also enters his consciousness, and at this point we do not know to what "The Secret" refers. Brian feels the burn of tears come to his eyes, but does not cry, making certain to guard his eyes from the pilot, whose name Brian cannot exactly remember. He suspects it is Jim or Jake, a man in his mid-forties who has been virtually silent during the ride. Seeing Brian marvel at the complexity of the control panel in front of him, the pilot offers him a chance to fly the plane himself. Initially reluctant, Brian declines the offer. Upon the pilot's insistence, he takes the wheel and for a few minutes has complete control of the plane. The pilot remarks on some pain in his shoulder as Brian once again recalls the details of the divorce. Brian's father knows that his mother wants a divorce, but his father has no idea why nor does he favor the split. The court has decided that Brian will live with his mother during the school year and with his father during the summer. The plane jerks, awakening Brian from his thoughts. He notices the smell of body gas in the plane and assumes the pilot had a stomachache. He also seems to be experiencing increasing pains in his shoulder and arm. The divorce one month behind him, Brian is heading north to visit his father and to bring him some special equipment from New York. A mechanical engineer, his father has perfected a new drill bit for oil drilling. Brian recalls the long ride from the city to Hampton to meet the plane, during which Brian's mother had tried to convince him to tell her what was wrong, but he felt he could not tell her that he knew "the secret." When they had arrived in Hampton, his mother gave him a hatchet to use in the woods during the summer. Sensing that his mother felt particularly vulnerable, Brian had humored her by attaching the hatchet to his belt, where remained for the duration of the plane ride.
Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it's about deliberately choosing to be different.- Micheal Porter. In wednesday wars by Gary D. Schmidt you can see Holling transform from a boy to a man. He was insecure about himself and didn’t want to end up like his dad. But then he found himself with help from his friends and family You can be your own person, you don’t have to be the person you are told to be, you have your own choices.
Something effective in “First Flight” is the personification used to emphasize the misery of Gregory’s isolation. When Gregory seeks company at a café, its emptiness “[dampens] the buoyancy” (482) of his mood and “[dulls] the sharp edge” (482) of his happiness, astutely depicting how forlorn Gregory feels. Additionally, the torment of isolation is evident in that winter “[freezes] all spontaneity and [seals] off all relationships” (483).
Tom is a very ambitious person when it comes to his work. He is caught up in getting a promotion from work by doing a project. Tom just focuses on the “big picture,” which is his future, rather than the “small picture,” which is what his wife is doing. This trait changes at the end when he decides to go to the movies with his wife. When the paper flew out the window for the second time, he realized that he can do the paper over again but he can never take back that one specific night he could have spent with his wife.
Rash uses Jared's character to show why he cannot give a trustworthy, objective truth. In the story, Jared's actions show that he does not understand death when entering the plane after discovering the dead bodies of a pilot and passenger. Rash writes, “Jared placed the knife in his pocket and climbed into the back seat and closed the passenger door” (281). He does not fully understand the seriousness of death and it does not frighten him. Jared has a big imagination and tries to help by bringing tools and repairing the plane. After he meddles around with the tools, Jared says, “I fixed it so it’ll fly now” (287). He sees what he wants to because he ca...
... father, turned to alcohol to make the pain less noticeable. It is important to understand stereotypes because they often have a deeper meaning than what is seen at the surface. In addition to the stereotypes, it is also important to understand that the more things seem to change, the more they stay the same. History repeats itself, and Flight takes that statement literally to develop a coming-of-age story that is deeply rooted in Native American history. The story of an orphaned child who has to live through vivid tales of murder, mutilation, suicide, and alcoholism from the past to come to a point of self-realization shows the reader how important it is to have knowledge of the past so that they can apply it to the present and eventually guide what course they take in the future. Hopefully, this cycle that often begins and ends with alcoholism will soon be broken.
T. Coraghessan Boyle’s “Friendly Skies” is the story of Ellen, a woman who is trying to get to get to New York to be with her mom, but has trouble doing so due to several delays. First, the plane has mechanical problems, this is followed by a pilot claim that they have lost their slots for takeoff. When the plane finally leaves LAX, the engine catches on fire, so emergency landing is required. When back at the airport she is only able to get a non-direct flight that stops in Chicago. While on this flight, Ellen reminisces about heartbreaking details of her past, so she takes prescription medicine with alcohol to try and diminish her pain. Eventually, a nervous man who had annoyed Ellen for hours, threatens to kill everyone because he is not happy with the airline service. With her built up frustration, Ellen picks up a fork and stabs the man repeatedly, which helps in restraining him long enough to land in Denver. The central idea of the story is that even a calm and constrained person can have an irrational outburst of emotion if his/her feelings are repressed.
...his father had acted the way he did, which caused him to be committed. He was facing the same experiences and the same side-effects his father once felt. However, faced with this dilemma between acceptance and equal power, Baldwin looks to the only man he can trust to help him, his father. He trusts his father because he knows that his father went through the same dilemma he is going through, he has seen the same affects in his father’s rage and hate. However, his father already passed away, and what help that could have been gathered from his father is gone; Baldwin can only piece together his memories of his father’s character and life and compare it to his own to see how the two are really alike.
Seventeen-year old Patrick Farquhar in Flight #116 is Down by Caroline B. Cooney takes on a challenge to prove himself in a real emergency. Patrick Farquhar is described as determined, confident, and a hero.
Nothing hurts more than being betrayed by a loved one, Christopher’s father has no trust in Christopher and tells him that his “Mother died 2 years ago”(22) and Christopher thinks his mother died of a heart attack. When Christopher finds out his father lied, he runs away to live with his mother and his father despritally looks for him and while looking for him realizes the importance of telling the truth. When someone betrays one’s trust, they can feel morally violated. Once Christopher finds his mother, she begins to realize how unfit her living conditions are for Christopher and brings him back to his father, bring him “[..] home in Swindon”(207) Christopher feels incredibly hurt and distressed he does not want to see his father. Whether a relationship can be repaired depends entirely on whether trust can or cannot be restored. Christopher’s father works very hard to regain his trust, he tells his son “[..] I don’t know about you, but this...this just hurts too much”, Christopher’s father is dealing with the result of being dishonest with his son and himself.
To begin the novel she tells us the story of Robert Smith's first and last flight. He had "promised to fly from Mercy to other side of Lake Superior..."(1); although we later learned when "he leaped into the air"(9) he leaped to his death. Smith's flight was a way for him to escape a life he could no longer handle. Milkman discovered later in the novel that his great grandfather, Solomon, was a “flying African," (321). Susan Byrd, a distant relative Milkman had just met, told him why people around the town thought Solomon was a flying African. Solomon was a slave and had about twenty-one kids. One day he just "flew off"(323) and left his family behind. He escaped his slave and fatherly duties to supposedly fly back to Africa. To end her novel, Morrison describes Milkman's own flight. He finally discovered the key to flying was “If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it,"(337) and he did.
In the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, multiple themes are presented. One of which is hope, never giving up and something is always there to help you are the alternate themes. All the themes are presented at the climax of of the story and showed mildly at the start. The Hatchet is a real story that Brian Robertson experienced over the period of forty-five days. The Hatchet is a meaningful book with multiple themes.
As child Wright contends with hunger. Before he reaches elementary school his father abandoned him, his mother and brother, leaving them penniless. His mother could never pay for much food, causing him
Any capable man can be a dictionary definition of a father, but it takes more to be a father that truly cares for their son.However, man who puts his own desires and ideologies over the safety and mindset of their child has failed to be suitable to be a caring father figure.In the chilling novel After the First Death by Robert Cormier, a school bus full of young children heading to a summer camp, has been hijacked and taken over by a group of terrorist, but unknown to these terrorists, the normal bus driver has been replaced by a teenage girl. It’s now up to Mark Marchand,a brigadier general, and his son Ben Marchand along with the government to rescue the hostages from the hijackers with minimal casualties.The author gives us the perspective of multiple characters on the bus, such as the the teenage driver Kate and the 16 year old terrorist known as Miro and the important role they play. This book delves into the relationship of father Mark Marchand and Ben Marchand and the ever increasing divide between them due to the incident of the terrorist hijacking. Mr.Marchand has betrayed his son Ben time and time again in multiple
Tommy scuffles through the front door, drops his book bag on the floor and plops down on the couch with a scowl across his face. As his PlayStation fires to life, he replays scenes from the day in his head of being shoved into the lockers by Billy, unable to form the words to impress Sussie, and sitting alone at lunch listening to the popular kids laugh and joke, ignoring him as if he did not exist. No one understands him. No one cares about him, because he is not strong, charming, or popular. All that is soon avoided as Tommy dives into a world where he controls everything and everyone either fears or loves him. If he fails, all he must do is reset. Here he can be anything he wants, and he can do and have it all.
Have you ever dreamt of flying? Well these young kids are living the dream, but the only problem is that they are being hunted down by wolves. These two books give three good examples of life lessons that can be learned from the characters throughout the books. The three lessons being, family is a huge part of your life, giving your own time to help someone out even if they are a stranger, and to never give up on a situation.