In the memoir Year of Impossible Goodbyes, Sookan changes from a scared girl who isn't willing to stand up for herself, to a brave and self sufficient one. When the story begins, she is in a bad position, but doesn't know how to change her situation. As the story goes on, she slowly learns to be more brave. It starts when Sookan becomes angry after the Japanese take the sock girls, the silverware, and Grandfather's tree. Then, while she is at school, she decides to dull the glass and bricks instead of sharpening them By the end of the book she helps get herself and Inchun to safety in South Korea. The Japanese have once again taken everything. They ruined Haiwon's party, and took the silverware along with Grandfather's pride and pine tree. …show more content…
Because of this, she pushes herself to be more brave. Her anger fuels her to want to actually do something instead of sit by and watch. Later, while Sookan is at school, she is forced to sharpen rocks and glass. She and Unhi decide to secretly make them more dull. It isn't a big rebellion, but is a start. "We rubbed the little pieces of glass and rock against the bricks and made them smooth and round"(Choi 79). This quote shows how even though Sookan doesn't feel that she has the power to do anything major, she is still trying to help in her own small way. Sookan and Inchun are alone and scared, but Sookan keeps Inchun safe as they make it across to the Southern side of Korea. "I'll go first and we'll take each step slowly and carefully"(Choi 162). She has become more brave and is willing to go first to make sure that Inchun is safe. She has the strength to take care of her brother and herself and get them to safety. Sookan is now a better person now that she has had these experiences. She is more brave and courageous because she knows that she has gone through many tough times, and she can deal with more. Everyone has been scared or afraid at some point in their
Cara Sierra Skyes has a hard role in Perfect by Ellen Hopkins. Cara is in love with her boyfriend Sean, she describes him as fun, good-looking, adventurous, and a jock. Everyone expects the perfect girl to go out with the perfect guy. Caras mom has always taught her, appearances are everything. So, Cara held onto that. She is a pretty and popular cheerleader. Cara holds a special trait, she is actually really smart and has a scholarship lined up at Stanford. Problem is, Cara has a twin brother, Connor. Connor is super suicidal and has tried many times to kill himself, sadly one day he succeeds and leaves a girlfriend and his family behind in his high school years. So everything is definitely not the idea her parents have of “perfect”. At Least she tries. Cara is in love with her boyfriend Sean but she starts to spark an interest for a girl at the ski slopes one day and she becomes very confused. Between dealing with all her school activities, her grades, and her brother that she worries about all the time, Cara is struggling to keep her life together and be
In these five paragraphs I will be writing about the book “Hotel on the Corner of Sweet and Bitter” written by Jamie Ford and five quotation that important and made up the theme for me. This book gives a feel a lot of different emotions. The first quote was “‘You are Chinese aren’t you,Henry? That’s fine. Be who you are, she said, turning away, a look of disappointment in her eyes. “But I’m an American’’(p. 60). This quote is important because it shows how Keiko believes even if her parents are Japanese she feels more American then Japanese since she barely spoke Japanese.
Smoothing a dozen or so stones isn't going to make any difference in a battle, but it made a difference in their minds. It wasn't that they were helping in the war effort, but in their minds they weren't helping the Japanese against their will. My third example is when Sookan becomes a second mother to Inchun. This took place during the escape, and was after they had been separated from their real mother. "I felt like crying, too, but I told Inchun it would be all right"(147). This quote portrays the relationship that has formed between Sookan and her brother, Inchun. This quote also shows how far Sookan has come, from not lowering her gaze, to making dull weapons, to Escaping her bad situation and becoming a second mother to her brother. Because of these changes, Sookan is now a person who can take charge, and be a leader. She has gained trust, loyalty, and has gained a new respect from her younger brother Inchun. Sookan started off as a shy person who depended on the protection of her family. Throughout the book she was forced to make decisions that were out of her comfort zone, and because of that she become more comfortable in those situations. Anyone can make changes in their life, you just have to want to change or be in a situation that
Because of these changes Sookan is a different person because of the Japanese losing the war, Russians take over, and what happened with the guide. She has become a much braver and stronger person because she had to stay strong for her family during this frustrating time. Also she had to stay brave, so she could risk her life to find freedom. Once she got to the South she let all that show even more than
In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton a teenage boy named Ponyboy lives with his two older brothers named Soda and Darry, and there is some controversy on whether or not his brothers are able to take proper care of Ponyboy. All three of the brothers are apart of the neighborhood gang called “The Greasers”, which is more like a brotherhood of underprivileged boys that have eachother’s backs rather than a gang. Ponyboy finds himself involved with the murder of an egotistical “Soc” named Bob, and is at risk of being taken away from his family and friends. Ponyboy should be able to stay with his brothers, because he is a well-rounded student that obeys the law for the most part, and his brothers are able to provide financial and emotional
The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou are considered a representation of each other in some ways and prove more similar than it is commonly thought. Although the overall persona of each portrayal is quite different, it still illustrates the same message. A good lesson to be learned from this comparison is to contemplate your actions to prevent bleak situations from occurring. The characters in these tales had to understand the consequences by experiencing it themselves. Acknowledging the time period that these voyages took place in, they didn't have anybody to teach them proper ways to go about situations.
The Outsiders S.E. Hinton is about two gangs, the Socs and Greasers, who do not get along and are fighting each other as well as society. Both of the gangs are judged by their appearance, social status, and where they are from. One character that stands out in the story is Ponyboy because he is dynamic with many sides to his personality, and he is the protagonist of the story. Ponyboy can be described as sensitive, smart, and brave.
Throughout life individuals face many challenges testing their values and personality one situation at a time. In the evocative novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton themes of growing up and innocence are shown. Ponyboy is not your average 14 year old he is part of a gang known to many as the Greasers. He encounters many situations testing his values and beliefs. Having lost both his parents recently he and his brothers stick together like a true family but this relationship is tested when Darry hits Ponyboy. He also experiences the loss several close friends in a very short period of time. Throughout this novel, Ponyboy encounters many life changing experiences that prove he is a dynamic character.
A character’s tragic flaw plays a key role in deciding whether or not they can be considered a tragic hero. Some might argue that Okonkwo does not demonstrate the needed tragic flaw, as his flaws are less uniform and more disconnected than that of the typical tragic hero. However, this is not so. Okonkwo’s flaw comes in the form of excessive pride, something loosely established through his personality. Specifically, three different aspects of his personality accomplish this: fear, anger, and inflexibility. Okonkwo’s fear is perhaps the most prominent of these three traits due to the fact that it is the most central aspect of his upbringing and, consequently, it “lay deep within himself” (Achebe 13). This deep-rooted anxiety reflects the fact that his pride depends on his ability to be accepted by his peers. Okonkwo himself expresses this ideal when he kills his adopted son, Ikemefuna, for the fact that he is “afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Moreover, his anger and irritability are, simply put, the unfavorable products of his pride. Due to his
How Influence Can Change a Person As someone once said…. “Sometimes people come into your life for a moment, a day, or a lifetime. It matters not the time they spent with you but how they impacted your life in that time.” – Unknown.
A character that was admirable in the novel “we all fall down” is John. John is the father of Will who is the main character, they spend nearly the entire story together looking for a way out of the world trade center during the 9/11 attacks. During the story you learn that John is very smart, brave, and respected. These are all characteristics which play a crucial role in saving lives such as his co-workers and a random lady they find on the way named ting, but mainly in the ending John and Will successfully escape.
This pressure leads him to kill a child that calls him father. Okonkwo doesn’t wish to look weak in front of his fellow tribesmen, so he cuts the boy down despite the Oracle’s message. “He heard Ikemefuna cry, “My father they have killed me!” as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Okonkwo is unable to express a normal human emotion, such as grief, because he is crippled by the opinions of others. Okonkwo does not have the ability to express his true feelings and therefore is enslaved by the sense of masculinity he feels he must portray. His only ability to express his feelings comes only through violence and
From an early age, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, Unoka, who was unable even to feed his family. The unpredictability of receiving enough food at a young age was enough to inspire fear and embarrassment in Okonkwo who associated this embarrassment with his father and was given further justification for these feelings when he went out into Umuofia, discovering that the other villagers held similar opinions of Unoka. When he was old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters […] And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” (25). Okonkwo’s self-reliance was admired, valued in the community where “age was respected […] but achievement was revered” (12); this admiration gave him feelings of security, and the respect of his peers pushed him towards greater self-respect, distancing him from his father. The security and respect became related in his mind as he viewed his acceptance in the community as his life’s goal and Okonk...
In “Freedom from Fear” Aung Sun Suu Kyi focused on clarifying that fear is what corrupts a person and eventually a nation, not power itself. She declared that “Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” Being an activist made her appearance stronger because of the fact that she is writing about how fear is what degrades society while she’s facing house arrest, and she does not allow the obstacles to stand in her way. That added character to her demeanor as a writer, especially in this piece. Through the use of rhetorical strategies such as; pathos, Imagery, organization, and authority, this writing allow readers to be captivated and ultimately agree with Aung Sun Suu Kyi.
Fear of failure and weakness dominates Okonkwo throughout his life. At first this fear motivates him to rise to success by working diligently and doing everything his father did not do. However, even when Okonkwo establishes an honorable reputation, fear of failure continues to overwhelm him and drives him to perform acts that lead to his suffering. One example of this is when the men of Umuofia decide that Ikemefuna must be killed and Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna even though he is told not to partake in the killing of Ikemefuna. Okonkwo panics when Ikemefuna turns to him and cries for help, and without thinking, Okonkwo slays Ikemefuna with his machete. Okonkwo does this because in the split second where Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for protection, Okonkwo is overpowered with fear of being seen as weak and kills Ikemefuna. This is an unwise act on behalf of Okonkwo, and as a result, he suffers emotionally in the next few days. He enters a stage of depression and cannot eat or sleep as all he can think about is what he has done to Ikemefuna. It is at this point that things start t...