Dally Robs the Store Johnny is dead. Those three words seemed to cling to my very essence, turning my eyes into waterfalls. Why did it have to be Johnny? Why him of all else? The gang needed him. Heck, I needed him. He was—is—the only thing in this god forsaken world that I loved. He was the glue that kept the whole gang from falling to pieces. Without Johnny, life just ain’t the same. Without Johnny… life is meaningless. As I drove into the night, I saw dozens of colorful lights, blazing into my eyes as if intending to make me blind. I realized it was Tom’s, the ol’ convenience store that looks as if the owner forgot to take down his christmas lights. I came to a halt at the side of the store, slipping out of the car and slamming the car door shut. I squinted up at the bright neon lights of the store, all twinkly in their disgusting joyful theme. I scowled, “It ain’t right for it …show more content…
Especially not tonight.” Turning away from that, I jogged towards the entrance of the store, my feet noisily thudding against the pavement in the silent night. I got a hold of the door handle and stepped in, the dingle of the shop keeper’s bell in my ear. I ambled through the store, the low murmurs of the few customers chatting and the constant “ka-ching!” of the cash registers all moving past my senses. I sauntered up to the aisle full of candy, all glorious in its eye-wrenching rainbow colors. I hesitantly elevated a king-sized Hershey bar, lightly tossing it in the air, grasping it in my hand as it dropped. For a moment, I did nothing but gaze at the chocolate, pondering my thoughts. This kind of stuff makes kids happy? Maybe Johnny would like it… At the thought of Johnny, I snapped my head up, aggressively shoving the Hershey back into its place, my hand in a tight clench. I didn’t care if I crushed that candy. Nothing mattered anymore. Johnny
The author illustrates the “dim, rundown apartment complex,” she walks in, hand and hand with her girlfriend. Using the terms “dim,” and “rundown” portrays the apartment complex as an unsafe, unclean environment; such an environment augments the violence the author anticipates. Continuing to develop a perilous backdrop for the narrative, the author describes the night sky “as the perfect glow that surrounded [them] moments before faded into dark blues and blacks, silently watching.” Descriptions of the dark, watching sky expand upon the eerie setting of the apartment complex by using personification to give the sky a looming, ominous quality. Such a foreboding sky, as well as the dingy apartment complex portrayed by the author, amplify the narrator’s fear of violence due to her sexuality and drive her terror throughout the climax of the
This short story, first published in 1961, stirs up controversy and still continues to be debated today. Although Updike intends for his writing to be simple and enjoyable, he also includes literary and cultural knowledge of the time period for readers to analyze more deeply (Saldivar N. pag.). As with A&P, Updike injects religious faith, which few Non-Catholic writers attempted during this time, in a seemingly effortless way. The supermarket A&P, the main setting of the story, was positioned “right in the middle of town” (Updike 983); a prime position accessible to all, although, generally this position was reserved for the town’s place of worship. In a way, Updike implanted this detail to be ironic. The supermarket in his story represented a “temple of modern consumerism” and was replacing a temple of worship (Wells N. pag.). To create a story that was relevant to the 1960’s, yet still encompasses issues society currently faces, demonstrates Updike’s genius ability to engage in the enthralling world around him.
...andy’s flirt with independence, society has acted in the same animalistic way that was expected of it. Through this treatment of Candy, Steinbeck exposes humanity’s failures and inhumanness. He does this not out of disgust for mankind, but rather because he believes in the “perfectibility of man.” However, he does remind us that we, as humans, have the power to destroy as well as the power to perfect. After all, only “Man himself [is] our greatest hazard and our only hope” ("John Steinbeck - Banquet Speech").
Even though Johnny was faced with death, he faced death with courage. Johnny showed that, by keeping a positive attitude through this whole ordeal. Johnny’s hope, positive attitude, and courage kept his death at bay, even in the face of terrible pain and incurable illness. " But later that day he developed an excruciating headache, the only fierce and intense pain he suffered during the whole course of his illness-a small mercy, perhaps, but one to be devoutly grateful for"(p24) Johnny was faced with unimaginable pain throughout his illness; yet he maintained a level of hope and determination to live. At the young age that Johnny was at, and to face death, it must have took a lot of courage to stay positive. Johnny kept fighting, determined to recuperate, even if he had to do things himself. "I watched him give himself a hypodermic injection of liver extract on the side above the hip, an awkward place to reach. I could not possibly have done on anybody, let alone myself." (p77) Johnny, had to ta...
Before Johnny died from his severe burns and broken back he gave Ponyboy a book, Gone With The Wind, he found a note from Ponyboy saying “stay gold”. Ponyboy’s friendship with Johnny is so strong that he is persuaded to write an English assignment about his experiences. Johnny mentions that saving the children was worth sacrificing his own life. Johnny thinks sacrificing his life for the children is worth his life, because they still have their whole life to live and Johnny was going to get arrested if he would have lived. Johnny wants Ponyboy to do better for himself, and he believes he can achieve anything because he is strong.
In “My Favorite Holiday Movie Involves a Giant Rabbit”, Boylan discusses her favorite Christmas movies and how their meanings have influenced her during the holidays. Through the use of allusions, metaphor, and imagery, Boylan argues that the holiday season is really about believing and practicing internal virtues to uplift oneself and one’s life. For example, Boylan makes several allusions to popular Christmas movies, like “The Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and “It’s a Wonderful Life”. However, her most prominent allusion throughout the article is to “Harvey”, which “on the surface… is not a Christmas movie at all but the story of a man whose best friend is a six-foot-tall invisible rabbit”. At first, Boylan’s choice to reference
People become inspired from all sorts of unique things from a play or a quote to a book of poems. Julia Alvarez’s “On Not Shoplifting Louise Bogan’s The Blue Estuaries” conveys the speaker’s discoveries and the passion and inspiration they created through the use of tone, imagery, similes, and alliteration.
It is important to realize that Sammy’s 19-year old depiction of his surroundings might be skewed, but the story still maintains Updike’s basic use of this setting. Updike choses the dull setting of an A&P grocery store as a symbol, a microcosmic example of the societies tendency to conform. Also, the readers can easily relate to a grocery store. This A&P resides in a town where “the women generally put on shirt or shorts or something before they get out of their car into the street,” Sammy explains. Seeing a girl walking around wearing only a bikini in such a public place looks outrageous. “If you stand at our front doors you can see two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store…” The town is a conventional one. Updike turns this familiar, mundane piece of American life, and makes it extraordinary.
Life is bursting with temptation everywhere and based on peer pressure, if you can’t get something you want you rather find another way to get it. Individuals of the community rather act out of action without thinking about it first, which can lead them to the severe consequences of their actions. Then you later think what I did was wrong, I could have prohibited that by doing it differently. Afterward, you feel a great deal of emotions running through your mind; encumbrance, sorrow, and helplessness. These reactions cause you to overthink and make you feel compunction than you already feel. At first you feel calm and assumed you can get away with it, but unfortunately it landed you nowhere but deeper in the grave. Even in its effects in “Shoplifting”
Within the few weeks that composed the busiest shopping time of the year, customers were able to diminish my joy for the holiday season. My first anti-holiday experience occurred when I was learning how to run the registers. At this time, I was also learning that parents tend to feel a great need to please their children by purchasing the trendiest toys and by spending hundreds of dollars on Christmas presents. One such “guest,” as we are encouraged to refer to customers, a thin woman with fluffed brown hair, came through my lane with a cart full of toys.
Two men were working the front end, the cashier at register 3 was helping an older looking woman with a sun hat, Capri pants ,and far too much make up on, the other cashier was leaning on the bag rack behind him, enjoying a break in a slow day . Both of the clerks looked as if they were in their early twenties, definently townies, the townies hated summer vacationers. Townies never said a word to vacationers, and you could tell in their attitude; they all longed for Labor Day to roll around so everyone would go home, bringing peace to their little town again. My observations of the store and town politics were...
...nny passed away a piece of each Greasers heart passed away as well. Ponyboy who usually aced his classes was lucky to get a C on assignments after Johnny deceased. He dazed off during classes and thought about the gang, mainly Johnny. While Dallas completely lost his mind when Johnny died. Dallas robbed a store to make sure the police followed him. He had made the bold decision to pull out his unloaded gun when he was surrounded by police officers. Dally new that once he pulled out his gun, his life was going to end. Dally had no reasons to stay alive since the only person he actually cared about passed away. Johnny spiritually gave Dally the courage and determination he needed to get through everyday when he was still alive. In other words, the loss and grief their group of Greasers underwent was what made all the boys make illogical decisions.
Johnny once was a teen who wasn't cowardly, and stood up for his gang. He was a good man in a rumble and kept his mouth shut around the police, but things changed when he was jumped by the Socs. The assault left him more anxious than ever, and ended up carrying a six-inch switchblade in his back pocket, despite that he was the most law-abiding of the gang. In addition, Johnny didn't do well in school, he had failed a year in school and never made good grades (Hinton 65). But even so, Johnny is more than a quiet, anxious kid who does poorly in school. Notably, when Ponyboy and Johnny were hiding in the church, the pair occasionally read a book called Gone with the Wind in order to pass the time. While they were reading, Ponyboy remarked, "It amazed me how Johnny could get more meaning out of some of the stuff in there than I could--- I was supposed to be the deep one... and I guess his teachers thought he was just plain dumb. But he wasn't. He was just a little slow to get things, and he liked to explore things once he did get them" (Hinton 65). This shows that he is able to comprehend the message and/or significance of a story or concept, albeit it takes him a long period of time. Although he was high-strung, quiet, and seemingly believed to be dumb by his teachers, Johnny is, in truth, quite reflective and
In Gary Soto’s “Oranges,” the speaker is describing the first time he walks with a girl. He is at the tender age of twelve and this simple act of innocence takes place on a cold, grey day in December. As the two walk together, they stop in a drugstore and, being the typical boy, the speaker “asked what she wanted” (27). When she shows him the chocolate and he realizes that he cannot afford it, he then does a quick barter with the shop lady and exchanges his lone nickel and one of his oranges for the chocolate. The...
He had a revolver in his hand, but he did not point it at them.