Regardless of the impossibility of becoming an entirely different person, many people attempt to model themselves after those they admire. Instead, they develop a fake public persona, which allows them to play the part of their ideal character. In the novel Hate List by Jennifer Brown and Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, characters’ public personas allow them to achieve their inner desires. Whether it is to become a hero, to gain control, or to be loved, each character develops a fake public persona that allows them to become the person they aspire to be. One of the public personas is that of a hero, which is played by Patrick in Nineteen Minutes. What Patrick desires is to be a hero and despite being a detective who has solved all of his …show more content…
In the book Hate List, Dr. Hieler is a psychologist who listens to and heals his patients. To Valerie, he is a hero, who defends her even when her mother will not. Dr.Hieler is very good at his job, and knows exactly what to say in order to get through to Valerie. However, this public persona of a hero and healer, is simply a representation of who Dr.Hieler desires to be. When Valerie is at Dr.Hieler’s office, she gets a glimpse into his private persona. Valerie makes the observation that as he sat, “Dr.Hieler unfolded himself out from behind a desk, taking off his glasses and unveiling a closed-mouthed smile that made his eyes look sad. Or maybe his eyes were always sad,” (Brown 185). Behind the smile, Dr.Hieler is being negatively affected by his work. Dr.Hieler desires to help others but cannot do so in his current mental state. On the inside, he feels the pain of his patients and in order to continue to do his work unhindered by emotions, Dr.Hieler creates a public persona. By creating a public persona with a positive disposition, he is able to continue to be the beacon of light in his patients’ lives and their hero. Without his work, Dr.Hieler would not the hero he desires to be, and so he buries his negative emotions by adopting the public persona of a positive …show more content…
What Jessica desires is to be in control and she sees an opportunity to achieve this within the popular group of the school. Jessica earns her position within her clique by being demanding. She scrutinizes students at school, and her dominant demeanor allows her to control people’s behaviours. Although Jessica plays her part exceptionally well, Valerie is able to see through the facade. During a conversation between Jessica and Val, Val sees the true Jessica. She says, “The confidence was gone, the superiority was missing - all replaced by this weird vulnerability that didn’t look right on her,” (Brown 215). Valerie sees that without her public persona, Jessica is vulnerable. What Jessica desires is control, and without it she feels just as insignificant as those she picks on. By developing a public persona of a confident teenager, Jessica controls people’s lives and makes an impact on others, positive or
In "Shame" Dick Gregory uses indirect characterization to show that being yourself and changing yourself for someone else is a lot more traumatic than it seems. In the narrative Gregory is a young boy at the time who has a crush on a young girl named Helene Tucker. Throughout the story Gregory does a series of actions to look good in front of Helene Tucker. Growing up poor and black Gregory discusses his experience of feeling shame as a
As clever as human beings are, we still rely on social groups for survival. We evolved to live in cooperative societies, and for most of human history we depended on those groups for our lives. Like hunger or thirst, our need for acceptance emerged as a mechanism for survival. But when we don't have that, we tend to become disconnected from society, which ultimately leads to social rejection. Being socially rejected can also be the reason why people commit horrific acts. In the novel Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult shows that being socially ostracized can affect someone's life significantly.
Connie can be labeled as an average teenage girl: vulnerable, carefree, desirous, and curious. She has just discovered the power of her own beauty, but hasn't yet realized that power, in any form, must be controlled. Connie has long, dark blond hair. She is petite and seems confident in her looks, yet "everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home" (par. 5). Connie loves to h...
“But where was Rufus? If he was in trouble inside the house, why had I arrived outside?” (198)
“He who tries to protect himself from deception is often cheated, even when most on his guard” (Plautus). This quote perfectly describes the life of Ariana Osgood, in the book Privilege by Kate Brian. Ariana uses her gift of analyzing people to prevent herself from being lied to or taken advantage of. Although she is especially cautious in her life, she often finds herself being used. She is merely a pawn in someone's game of chess. Even though Ariana has experienced this time and time again, she still continues to let others get close to her emotionally. Throughout all the secrets and lies, Ariana never truly learns how to protect herself from all of the deception surrounding her.
Although in Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, the author is illustrating the points of view of Holcomb, Dick, and Perry after the murder of the Clutter family, he moreso aims to exploit the devastation felt by the community; therefore, he emphasizes the suddenness, sadness, and pain experienced by a loss.
The shadow of hate video shows the big, bad, and the ugly reality of what I like to call hidden history. The video was a true representation of what took place within American history, to my surprised the video showed that there wasn’t just one target of ethnicity but targets a variety of groups and people. The hatred that was evident in Shadow of Hate video had a negative impact on Americans and the different cultures that resided in America. Back than the different groups didn’t know to adjust to the diversity of America, thus because everything was based on hate surrounding them. The hatred the video showed us caused suffering, tension, and confusing. Can you imagine that even the political leaders used hatred to gain the respect of one
High School. As a fourteen year old I couldn’t wait to become a freshman at Vanden High School, I could just taste the freedom. I had seen all the movies and all the tv shows; high school was this magical place full of happiness and fun, and during lunch we would all break out into song with outstanding and seemingly unplanned dance routines. Turns out, high school wasn’t as perfect as the movies and tv shows made it out to be. It was similar to the disillusionment that Rosaura had about Luciana’s mother, Senora Ines, in “The Stolen Party”.
Amanda Calkins is someone that very few people would consider a role model. A twenty one year old girl in culinary school who doesn’t have much to her name other than a beat up yellow volkswagen beetle, a cat named Dinah, and her weekly pack of marlboro red cigarettes that she carries around in her black leather purse. She is always running late, constantly swearing, and has the most unpredictable temper. Her skin is white as the snow, and her edgy black shaggy hair frames her face giving off a very mysterious look. Tattoos and piercings cover her rawboned and angular body, and her baggy clothes make her look all skin and bones. She is a very independent woman who doesn’t let the thoughts of anyone else interfere with her life and has always seemed to have a craving for rebellion and adventure.
In the story "Stolen Party" written by Liliana Heker, a girl’s dreams are shattered by the bitter reality of her destiny. Rosaura spends most of her time trying to convince her mother, as well as everyone at the birthday party, that being an educated girl makes her an equal to everyone at the party. She feels great determination to become a part of her friend Luciana’s lifestyle even though it would be rebelling against her mother’s wishes. Rosaura almost believes she has accomplished this feat until she is harshly brought back to reality and faced with her position in life once again. It will be an impossible struggle to overcome the class status that she was born into with the many factors against her.
Tracy’s identity development is heavily influenced by her new friendship with Evie from that moment on. Evie is so popular, but she makes very poor choices and Tracy follows her lead because she wants to seem just as “cool” as her new companion. This is a type of peer pressure that affects many teenagers daily.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Foster uses Eliza’s personality to push the boundaries of the way women were expected to behave in society. Eliza was faced with the
At work she cares for Sam’s wellbeing and education, she attempts to show Sam that she is important and deserves better. At school Sam’s life isn’t so different, other kids mock her for the job she has as a bus girl and for her lack in feminine clothing. She believes that fantasy is better than reality, she has a hidden relationship with a boy through text messages. The only person that she fully expresses herself with other than Rhonda is the guy she texts. Before the dance Sam is still confused on whether to go or not, but after Rhonda gives Sam a special dress that was her wedding dress, it installs confidence in Sam. The dress was one of the only things given to Sam from a women that made her feel pretty, and it made Sam realize even for a moment that she deserves to be spoiled too. Although, at the dance after having a great time with her guy she fall back into thinking that she would be doing him a favor if she didn’t disappoint him by reveling her true identity. Sam’s is exposed when a popular girl tells the whole school of her story and humiliating her. When she looks to her guy for help he turns in embarrassment, which only reinstalls her feelings of being worthless and an embarrassment and returns to her normal life of taking orders and feeling bad for herself.
To suffer such an inner conflict must surely be a sign of a strong personality. A weak character would rather relinquish the cause and feel at ease. With Rosa Burger, the author amply illustrates this. Even at fourteen years old, Rosa “displayed a remarkable maturity” (BD 3). She, according to the school headmistress, “came to school the morning after her mother was detained just as any other day” (BD 11). Waiting not for a long time, she remains the only surviving m...
Think about these: In the masquerade, Jessica went as a boy. She likes to dress