Len stood lazily against the metal frame of the bus stop when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. The man answered it quickly, without looking at the caller ID, and found it to be his wife. He greeted her, asked what was wrong, but before he could finish, Len’s beloved wife erupted into a fit of tears. She stammered her news, barely squeezing audible words in between obnoxious sobs and whining. Len immediately hung up the phone. A sharp gust of wind was summoned and dried the tears that had started to form in his eyes. Clouds hung low around the station, the sky threatening to break open and pour down on the residents of Greenfield at any given moment. And just as the first drops started to fall, several tears trickled down his cheeks. It wasn’t long before his clothes were soaked, demolished and ice cold from the lowering temperature. People huddled under the shelter of the awnings of the neighbouring buildings, but Len couldn’t be bother to shuffle his thin frame under the protection of the bus shelter. Buses came and went, and still Len stood there, rain pouring, hands trembling, soaked in the cold October weather. * * * Milo took a cigarette from his shirt pocket, lit it with his yellow Bic lighter and took a long drag. Squinting, he blew smoke out of his mouth with expertise an eighteen year old shouldn’t have. He twisted his head to the left and caught sight of an older man leaning against the frame of the bus shelter. He watched with disinterest as the man answered his phone, an old cell from that had to be six or seven years old. Milo’s eyes narrowed as he, a man who found an odd pleasure from listening to other’s conversations, strained his ears and leaned forward, trying to catch word of what the man said. He hear... ... middle of paper ... ...is father, the big suck, had gone off on his mother (“how could you let our son do this to himself?” and “this is your goddamn fault, Candice!”) while she threw her own harsh, unrepeatable words at him, all with a little white burning stick jutting out from her lip-gloss plastered lips. It was frightening for him, watching the drama ensue, and without an ounce of liquor. It was all raw, uncut, unaltered. Honestly, it was frightening. They ate together, slept together, the norm. The discussed what would happen that weekend, when the wake would be held, usually during meals. But in between, it was a disaster. He couldn’t bear it, so he spent his time at Milo’s. The two spent most of the time in Milo’s room, listening to old Nirvana albums, sometimes talking, sometimes sleeping, but mostly laying on his bed and tracing out images on the older boy’s popcorn ceiling.
In “Westbury Court,” author Edwidge Danticat tells the readers about how one drastic event in her childhood can completely change her whole life. Danticat grew up in an apartment in a seemingly unprivileged area called Westbury Court in Brooklyn, New York. One day after school, she came home with her younger brother and immediately turned on the television to watch her favorite show. Suddenly, she and her show were interrupted by an abrupt knock on the apartment’s door. Apparently, there was a deadly fire coming from the apartment across from theirs. By then, Danticat realizes the importance of the phrase that her mother told her after the tragedy, “Sometimes
“We were getting soaked on an average every three or four minutes. This went on day and night. The cold was intense.” ( Page 182, paragraph 15 )
Mr. Shiftlet continued driving down the road, on his way to see his mother in Mobile, Alabama. The rain was pouring and all he could hear was the pelting on his windshield. His mind was heavy, the questions kept swirling in his head, “Why am I going to Mobile?”, “What has my mother ever done for me in the last few years?” , “Why don’t I just let her die of polio like she let my father do?” “I can’t go see her!
Likewise, Denver indicates that she cannot grasp why her mother would pour the blood out of someone, especially her own daughter. The young girl contends that “All the time, I’m afraid the thing that happened that made it all right for my mother to kill my sister could happen again. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know who it is, but maybe there is something else terrible enough to make her do it again.” (242-243) Though Denver tells of her fears of the memories, she also speaks of her desire to know what the memories truly do hold. Morrison’s use of the nebulous word “thing” points to the reason behind Sethe’s motive of committing infanticide, which Denver can’t name. Chiefly, the “thing” is what causes Denver to be in a state of distraught. Denver believes this “thing” may motivate her mother to act the same way once again. Furthermore, Morrison’s use of repetition “I don’t know” twice—emphasizes Denver’s need to know what that “thing” might be and wants to know not only the objective facts of the past, but to understand the underlying motives that can cause her mother to perform such an act again without a clear understanding of why. Denver does not wish to be confined within boundaries where her “freedom” to live is taken away. One can see the internal struggle in Denver, which raises questions about Sethe’s inexplicable
Summary: Milo is a boy in the fifth grade, who lives in Seattle, Washington. His dad is a college professor who took psychedelic drugs and tried teaching him about philosophies. His mom worked part-time and she taught Milo most of the things he knew, from hammering a nail to how to play football. One day, his parents had a fight and his dad moved out. His mom consulted a life coach and she was going to move to Kangley, Washington so she could go to college and become a dental technician. There was a block party that Milo and his class attended right before he moved away, and his teacher, Ms. Swinford, gave
Throughout his novel, Gary Blackwood poses the question: What if we lost the American Revolution? In the novel, The Year of the Hangman, our main character, Creighton Brown, lives a spoiled life in England, after his father, Harry Brown, had died in the American uprising. Then, after another night of gambling he was kidnapped and shipped off to the Americas to live with his uncle, by order of his mother. As he was traveling to Louisiana with his uncle, his ship gets raided by American pirates, who take his uncle hostage and send him to work for the infamous Dr. Franklin, after he lied to him about his connection to his uncle. Creighton then faces his conscience as the line between right and wrong, good and evil, American or England, gets thinner
A powerful scene that is flowing with anger is when the narrator’s dad’s brother dies in a horrific accident. The narrator’s mom told him about his dad’s brother because she wanted him to understand what the world was capable of doing and to show him how his dad’s anger has prevented him from moving forward in
The night in the city was going to be especially cold tonight. The sky had been overcast for almost the entire day, leading to a brief although torrential downpour in the mid-afternoon. The streets of the Bronx outside the third-story apartment window that Leonard Jefferson Bennings now looked out were saturated from the July rainstorm and shone with a glimmer he remembered seeing from his bedroom window in Massachusetts many years ago. He wondered if he would ever get to see his childhood home again, and, if he did, would the world of his youth still exist even there? Like the final beams of sunlight of the day, his hope was growing faint as he looked out on what had once been the metropolitan heart of his country.
It is the day Cali will remember for the rest of her life, for it is the day Cali Millhouse discovers her uncle was murdered by a family member. It is Two o'clock and half of the town of Rosewood is piling inside the local funeral home. Mrs. Dunham pays her respects to everyone except Cali’s father, Steve, for Mrs. Dunham finds him to be evil. Maybe she is right, and he killed Cali’s uncle? Whether he was or not, it is still a sad day and she needed the comfort of her father. That morning the sheriff came by and informed Cali and her family that someone related to Keith killed him. Surprisingly, her father made a comment that he believed it was her Aunt Audrey. Audrey was a money hungry, mean, gold-digger who dated men for their money, and she knew Keith had a two billion dollar company that would be left to someone if he passed.Steve felt much animosity towards his older sister, and would vituperate her name any chance he got. Audrey blamed Steve as much as her blamed her, nevertheless you could feel their acrimony towards each
Suffering from the death of a close friend, the boy tries to ignore his feelings and jokes on his sister. His friend was a mental patient who threw himself off a building. Being really young and unable to cope with this tragedy, the boy jokes to his sister about the bridge collapsing. "The mention of the suicide and of the bridge collapsing set a depressing tone for the rest of the story" (Baker 170). Arguments about Raisinettes force the father to settle it by saying, "you will both spoil your lunch." As their day continues, their arguments become more serious and present concern for the father who is trying to understand his children better. In complete agreement with Justin Oeltzes’ paper, "A Sad Story," I also feel that this dark foreshadowing of time to come is an indication of the author’s direct intention to write a sad story.
I peered around through the rain, desperately searching for some shelter, I was drowning out here. The trouble was, I wasn’t in the best part of town, and in fact it was more than a little dodgy. I know this is my home turf but even I had to be careful. At least I seemed to be the only one out here on such an awful night. The rain was so powerfully loud I couldn’t hear should anyone try and creep up on me. I also couldn’t see very far with the rain so heavy and of course there were no street lights, they’d been broken long ago. The one place I knew I could safely enter was the church, so I dashed.
“I am full…of two boys with mossy teeth, one sucking on my breast the other holding me down, their book-reading teacher watching and writing it up” (Morrison 70). This chilling quote refers to the scene in which Sethe is essentially robbed of everything she owns. Ironically, the boys with the mossy teeth had the civility to dig a hole for Sethe’s stomach “as not to hurt the baby” (202). However, such a violent act could not occur without a reaction. This scene sets the rest of the story in motion.
The protagonist Hazel in ‘Yesterday’s Weather’ carries the insights of her slightly unhappy marriage and her motherhood. The story illustrates the occurrence of family gathering and how Hazel was affected by this particular trip. In this piece of the story, the readers will pick up on Hazel’s using the third person narration. “Third person limited point of view offers the thoughts and motivations of only one character” (Wilson, M & Clark, R. (n.d.)). That is to say, third person’s usage in the story is only able to give the set of emotion and actions. Therefore, limits the ability for the readers to see the insight of the other characters in the story.
A shrill cry echoed in the mist. I ducked, looking for a sign of movement. The heavy fog and cold storm provided nothing but a blanket, smothering all sight and creating a humid atmosphere. The freezing air continued to whip at my face, relentless and powerful. Our boat, stuck in the boggy water. Again a cry called. Somewhere out there was someone, or something.
Mare and her family lived in New York City. Her mother was a single parent who tried all her best to make sure that her children had all that the need. Sometimes Mara’s mother Shana didn’t have money, so they went to bed without food. Mara’s life was not how she wanted it to be. She wanted a big house, a father, and a happy big family. Instead her life was the opposite. Her dad died when she was only seven. When her father died, it ruined the family. Her father was the backbone of th...