I feel when Allen devotes so much time talking about Karen Parker and her children’s story, he is trying to set an example on how hard work, determination, and believe, works out in the future, especially if you are someone who has had a bad past. Usually in his stories about the Parkers, they are not happy ones. His first story about them, is when Karen first started working for him. He noted she was a hard worker, always showed up on time, but one day she was wearing dark sunglass inside, which she refused to take off. He finally mustered up the courage remove her sunglasses himself. To his surprise she had bruises all over her eyes. The second story Allen shares is about Karen’s son DeShawn unfortunate accident. His accident happened when he was three. He was with his grandmother, when he picked up his grandfather’s lighter and started to play with it. This started the fire both his grandmother and him were caught in. His grandmother was not so lucky, since she passed away several hours later, but DeShawn received burn marks, and lost most of his hair. Even though most of his stories are sad, he still tells us about what happened to them and where they are now. For …show more content…
In my opinion, both situations are somewhat comparable. In many ways they are not, but they are both in situations where they have to face something they are not use to or can be not society accepted. Allen had troubles being accepted in another family of a different race, whereas Deshawn had trouble admitting he liked a certain sex, than another. This occurred during a time, where you were going to be judged if were to go out in public and admit it. I also feel Allen can relate to Deshawn on a small level. Even though their situations are not really similar, they can still compare their feelings and relate how it affects
Allen, in the beginning, is very apprehensive about meeting new people. He does not want to get attached to someone new and lose them too. When Maggie discovers his wedding band, she believes it indicates that he is still holding on to the past, and “wonders if it symbolized some lingering attachment to an ex-wife” (13). Later, Allen’s wife, Claire, and daughter, Miranda, died in a car accident trying to get Allen out of the airport. When Maggie and Allen were going to get coffee one day, Maggie was calling for Allen’s attention when she accidentally stepped in front of oncoming traffic.
In the high criminal neighborhood where the other Wes lived, people who live there need a positive role model or a mentor to lead them to a better future. Usually the older family members are the person they can look up to. The other Wes’s mother was not there when the other Wes felt perplexed about his future and needed her to support and give him advises. Even though the other Wes’s mother moved around and tried to keep the other Wes from bad influences in the neighborhood, still, the other Wes dropped out of school and ended up in the prison. While the author Wes went to the private school every day with his friend Justin; the other Wes tried to skip school with his friend Woody. Moore says, “Wes had no intention of going to school. He was supposed to meet Woody later – they were going to skip school with some friends, stay at Wes’s house, and have a cookout” (59). This example shows that at the time the other Wes was not interested in school. Because Mary was busy at work, trying to support her son’s education, she had no time and energy to look after the other Wes. For this reason, she did not know how the other Wes was doing at school and had no idea that he was escaping school. She missed the opportunities to intervene in her son’s life and put him on the right track. Moreover, when the author was in the military school, the other Wes was dealing drugs to people in the streets and was already the father of a child. The incident that made the other Wes drop out of school was when he had a conflict with a guy. The other Wes was dating with the girl without knowing that she had a boyfriend. One night, her boyfriend found out her relationship with the other Wes and had a fight with him. During the fight, the other Wes chased the guy and shot him. The guy was injured and the other Wes was arrested
Susie’s mother opened the door to let Molly, Susie’s babysitter, inside. Ten-month old Susie seemed happy to see Molly. Susie then observed her mother put her jacket on and Susie’s face turned from smiling to sad as she realized that her mother was going out. Molly had sat for Susie many times in the past month, and Susie had never reacted like this before. When Susie’s mother returned home, the sitter told her that Susie had cried until she knew that her mother had left and then they had a nice time playing with toys until she heard her mother’s key in the door. Then Susie began crying once again.
The topic of whether it is in the nature of living beings to be naturally good has been examined by several authors throughout previous centuries, for example, Susan Griffin. Using a humanistic perspective, Griffin’s chapter, “Our Secret”, from her book, A Chorus of Stones, approaches this topic and can reflect on her own life and feelings using other people’s stories about fears and their secrets. Combining her personal life stories, Himmler’s life narrative, as well as two sub stories, Griffin’s chapter allows characters to represent human emotions and emphasize the hidden feelings of living beings. Similarly, Plato’s dialogue, Phaedrus, and Franz de Waal’s, The Ape and the Sushi Master, talk about the topic of living beings being naturally
To live in a world without human connection, is to live an empty and meaningless life. Both Karen Armstrong, and Robert Thurman, highlight the necessity of human contact throughout their essays. In his text “Wisdom,” Robert Thurman shows us the path to discover the selflessness of what we believe is our true and actual self. He claims that no matter how hard one might try to find themselves, they will only find a rigid, fixated self. But when we finally accept our selflessness and turn away from our egos, we can become compassionate and experience the void, which he defines as a free and boundless self. Additionally, Karen Armstrong debates that the universe is driven by concepts such as “Being,” and “Brahman,” which both represent the ultimate
Could it be possible that two people, living so close as if they were brothers, to have tremendous differences as large as their similarities? It happens to two fictional characters from S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders. In the story there are significant differences and similarities between Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston. Some ways one may compare Johnny and Dally are they both have abusive parents who do not provide their children with the proper care or attention. Also, Cade and Winston place minimal values on their lives. A difference between the two characters is how Johnny obeys the laws, while Dallas deliberately breaks them. Another difference is Johnny and Dallas give Ponyboy Curtis different advice about how he should be and act. The book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, has a storyline which includes many ways how Johnny Cade and Dallas Winston are dissimilar and alike.
In conclusion, this was an awesome story. The above questions were the catalyst to the real truth that would make the brother to that little girl free at last. His son was determined to break the cycle and remedy this generational condition, although the means by which he used were terrible. But, he would get through to his father. He shed light in the dark place by first beating his father into sobriety, so that he could think clearly. He then helped his father to open up to the discussion concerning the secret he had held on to for so long. Then, he also convinced his father to burn the “Shawl” of his deceased sister. And finally, his father realized what the true story was. A story that would in turn loose the tie that bound them all together with generational sorrows.
Reading through the very beginning of Susan Griffin’s “Our Secret” felt like reading Shakespeare for the first time as a sticky fingered, toothless, second grader. It just did not make sense...my mind couldn’t quite comprehend it yet. Nothing in the essay seemed to be going in any clear direction, and the different themes in each of the paragraphs did not make sense to me. There was no flow – as soon as you began to comprehend and get used to one subject, she would switch it up on you and start talking about something else that seemed unrelated. As I pushed forward, it seriously was beginning to feel like she was drawing topics out of a hat as she went. That was until I hit around halfway through the second page. This is where Griffin introduces her third paragraph about cell biology: “Through the pores of the nuclear membrane a steady stream of ribonucleic acid, RNA, the basic material from which the cell is made, flows out (234).” She was talking about the basic unit of
After a basketball game, four kids, Andrew Jackson, Tyrone Mills, Robert Washington and B.J. Carson, celebrate a win by going out drinking and driving. Andrew lost control of his car and crashed into a retaining wall on I-75. Andy, Tyrone, and B.J. escaped from the four-door Chevy right after the accident. Teen basketball star and Hazelwood high team captain was sitting in the passenger's side with his feet on the dashboard. When the crash happened, his feet went through the windshield and he was unable to escape. The gas tank then exploded and burned Robbie to death while the three unharmed kids tried to save him.
In her article “But What Do You Mean” Deborah Tannen, claims that there is a huge difference in the style of communicating between men and women. Tannen breaks these down into seven different categories; apologies, criticism, thank-yous, fighting, praise, complaints, and jokes. With each of these she compares men to women by explaining the common misconceptions that each of the genders do. The different style of communication can cause some problems at the workplace and even affect the environment. The different styles of communication has been around forever and almost becomes a “ritual”(299). Tannen is effective with mainly women and not men. She is primarily successful with women due to the fact that her tone targets women, also the organization
I believe these two stories can be compared because they are both dealing with young black people trying to figure out why they are being discriminated just because of their skin color. They both feel like they should be just as free or equal as white people and not judged so harshly for being born black. They both are attending school during a rough time for colored people. They both just want to make a difference and make people realize that they are not bad people and that they are just as smart as white people. I would say that they both were very unlucky to be born colored during this time period because of the hatred but at the same time they are the ones who could have the biggest impact on changing lives and making it better for colored
In this paper I will talk about some information that I have obtained from reading Mary Piphers, Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls and give my view on some of her main points and arguments. I also will discuss why I feel Mary Pipher’s views on the toxic influence of media are accurate, and that it does affect adolescent girls. This paper will also point out the importance of Mary Pipher’s studies on the problems that today’s female teens are facing and why I feel they are important and cannot be ignored.
The domestic violence he witnessed as a child was hard to read and pulled at my heart strings. His description of his dad bashing his mother’s head with a hammer and the cops doing basically nothing, makes me glad that we have come further in the journey against domestic violence; in the sense that is no longer viewed as a private matter and if his father would have done this know, he mostly certainly would have wound up in jail. No child should ever have to bear witness to this type of
Patricia Hill Collins outlines the existence of three different dimensions of gender oppression: institutional, symbolic, and individual. The institutional dimension consists of systemic relationship of domination structured through social institutions, such as government, the workplace or education institutions. In other words, this dimension explains “who has the power”. This is completely related to a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is the manifestation and institutionalism of male dominance. This means that men hold power in all institutions, while women are denied the access to this power. The symbolic dimension of oppression is based on widespread socially sanctioned ideologies used to justify relations of domination. It reflects inequality
Melanie Smith, whom was seventeen, was an ordinary girl like no other. She went to school, had a sweet sixteen, had friends, had a puppy, even had good grades, but there was a catch. She ended up coming home from school one day, with her mom and her older sister standing in the living room looking upset. “Your grandmother,” her mother, Maria starts. “Is at the hospital.” “Why?” Melanie asks. “She has,” her mother begins, not wanting to finish what she was about to say. “She has cancer,” her sister, Mandie replies. “She does?” Melanie asks, her eyes starting to water. They nod. She swarms them both in to a hug. “I’m sorry, mom,” Melanie says, letting go of them both slowly walking up the stairs to her bedroom.