Adoration of Jenna Fox How much can you retain of yourself before you're not "you" anymore? Eighty percent? Fifty percent? Ten percent? And if you had only a certain percentage of yourself left, are you still you? In the novel “The Adoration of Jenna Fox” by Mary E. Pearson it is a story of how far parents will go to save their only child, and of how far a child will go to become her own person. Jenna Fox is loved by her family, but their adoration goes too far when they scientifically modify her after an accident to save her life, to the point she is barely human. Jenna struggles to discover who she really is. In this novel, the most important choice was to keep Jenna alive, which was made by Jenna’s parents because this affected many people around Jenna, had an impact on Jenna and her future, and her parents made this decision out of adoration. The choice made by Jenna’s parents had an …show more content…
For instance, the author writes, “If I were to marry, I would not grow old with my husband. I could either die two years or outlive him by a hundred. An interesting prospect. What price did Claire pay to keep her only child?” (Pearson 180). This explains how when the time comes to marry or to have children, she would outlive her family. Here, the author is referencing that Jenna feels that Claire went too far to keep her alive. In addition, Mary Pearson writes, “But I know one day, when Kayla is of certain of age, I will travel to Boston in the winter and I will stay there, taking long walks and feeling the softness of the cold snowflakes on my face once again, because no parent should outlive their child,” (Pearson 264). This indicates how Jenna will have to return to Boston, where it is cold, to weaken and eventually die. She wants to do this when Kayla is older because she doesn't want to outlast her daughter. Given these points, it shows how Jenna’s parents had a great impact on her own
It was times throughout the book the reader would be unsure if the children would even make it. For example, “Lori was lurching around the living room, her eyebrows and bangs all singed off…she had blisters the length of her thighs”(178).Both Lori and Jeannette caught fire trying to do what a parent is supposed to do for their child. Jeannette caught fire at the age of three trying to make hotdogs because her mother did not cook for her leaving Jeannette to spend weeks hospitalized. She was burnt so bad she had to get a skin graft, the doctors even said she was lucky to be alive. The children never had a stable home. They were very nomadic and a child should be brought up to have one stable home. No child should remember their childhood constantly moving. This even led to Maureen not knowing where she come from because all she can remember is her moving. The children had to explain to her why she looked so different is because where she was born. They told Maureen “she was blond because she’d been born in a state where so much gold have been mined, and she had blue eyes the color of the
...ther is losing her daughter to time and circumstance. The mother can no longer apply the word “my” when referring to the daughter for the daughter has become her own person. This realization is a frightening one to the mother who then quickly dives back into her surreal vision of the daughter now being a new enemy in a world already filled with evils. In this way it is easier for the mother to acknowledge the daughter as a threat rather than a loss. However, this is an issue that Olds has carefully layered beneath images of war, weapons, and haircuts.
The dynamic between parents and children condition what the child will think and follow through with. It is important that child and parents establish an appropriate relationship that can guide them through their life.This struggle between parents and children as discussed in In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the life of wealthy Christopher McCandless is chronicled, and what may have drove him away to traverse the wilds of Alaska, which ultimately lead to his demise. Jon Krakauer takes the reader on ride explaining the damaged relationship between christopher and his parents using specific events and words, this shaped Christopher into the person that went into the woods to find new horizons. Krakauer does this by introducing his purpose.
After five years of being raised and living with their grandmother whom they truly loved, the girls had a rude awakening. Their grandmother, Sylvia had passed away. “When after almost five years, my grandmother one winter morning eschewed awakening, Lily and Nona were fetched from Spokane and took up housekeeping in Fingerbone, just as my grandmother had wished” (Robinson 29). This was the final attempt that their grandmother had made in order for the girls to have a normal and traditional life. This is a solid example of how the sister’s lives are shaped by their family and their surroundings. Lucille’s ultimate concern in life is to conform to society and live a traditional life. She wishes to have a normal family and is sorrowful for all of the losses that she has experienced such as her mother’s and grandmother’s deaths. On the other hand, Ruthie, after spending more time with her future guardian, Aunt Sylvie, becomes quite the transient like her.
Death is inevitable to all forms of life. In giving birth to a typical family, Flannery O’Connor immediately sets the tone for their deaths, in the story, A Good Man is Hard To Find. O'Connor’s play on words, symbolism and foreshadowing slowly paves the way for the family’s death.
Throughout Jack’s entire life, his mother was never really there for him or his family, she was always in Europe to buy the latest fashions. On the other hand Jack’s father was there all time. When Jack was twelve, his father bought a large summerhouse in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Ja...
Her parents meet at a social gathering in town and where married shortly thereafter. Marie’s name was chosen by her grandmother and mother, “because they loved to read the list was quite long with much debate over each name.” If she was a boy her name would have been Francis, so she is very happy to have born a girl. Marie’s great uncle was a physician and delivered her in the local hospital. Her mother, was a housewife, as was the norm in those days and her father ran his own business. Her mother was very close with her parents, two brothers, and two sisters. When her grandmother was diagnosed with asthma the family had to move. In those days a warm and dry climate was recommended, Arizona was the chosen state. Because her grandma could never quite leave home, KY, the family made many trips between the states. These trips back and forth dominated Marie’s childhood with her uncles and aunts being her childhood playmates.
The book can be used as a metaphor for education as a whole. For example, Kate can represent modern institutions and companies. Due to education inflation and credentialism, all they look at is your educational experience and what knowledge you have. This can be applied to Kate as she originally believed your educational background will represent your success in life. In comparison to this, you have Kate’s family, who can relate to students in society. Kate’s family understands that there is more to life than education and knowledge. The same applies to students, who argue there is more to people than their education and years in
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
...pport that they require. These events force us to encounter a leap of maturity, in order for us to finally realize our mothers’ need for love. By experiencing these crises, we can see our parents not as helpful objects, but rather as human beings like ourselves.
By doing this, Margaret receives empathy from the audience because the audience may recall a point in their lives where they were faced with similar challenges which were very difficult at the time but now they hold happy associations with those times. For example, Atwood begins her second paragraph with “The year as 1962…It was summer, and I was faced with the necessity of earning the difference between my scholarship for the next year and what it would cost me to live.” This excerpt from her essay is critical to establishing nostalgia because for most young adults, money is a problem and many people can relate to this and they believe that it is the end of the world for them if they cannot make ends meet. However, as one grows older, they come to realize that there will be many more serious problems in life and managing finances as a young adult are among the smallest of problems. Throughout the essay, Margaret continues to retell her challenges such as her uniform misunderstanding, her struggles with the cash register and being harassed by the Greek cook, but she fails to retell any of her successes such as earning enough money or any times when she had dealt with pleasant customers. This helps the author to achieve a nostalgic tone because it reminds the reader that
Grief played a large role in the lives of the Boatwright sisters and Lily Owens. They each encountered death, injustice, and sadness. Grief impacted and left an imprint on each of them. Grief proved fatal for May. August knew that grief was just another aspect of life; that it had to be accepted and then left in the past. June and Lily learned to not let grief rule their lives. Life is not inherently good or bad – events not solely joyful or grievous – it is glorious in its perfect imperfection.
The point of view she expressed through out the whole text, was her own. She was able to keep readers insight of the psychoanalytic theory the story has. The actions the protagonist had in the story showed us how it affected her adult self, and how the issue developed a rebel over time. Even after years from when the recurring events took place, her actions as a child had an effect on both mother and daughter. This theory gives readers the idea that things that happen to people during childhood can contribute to the way they later function as
... is the amount of concern they have for each other, while also putting into perspective the amount of time they had known each other. We all couldn’t accept how close they were from the first hundred, two hundred, or even 284 pages. Once we had set our eyes upon page 285 we see the moment of true sacrifice and friendship that Maddie had for Julie. Maddie did not have to think twice when pulling the trigger on Julie, she knew she was going to be ending her life in a much more peaceful and humane way. My thoughts were strictly on excitement and curiosity if they would all make it out okay, but that all changed with one page.
Kate Brown is the typical middle class, attentive mother who dedicates her entire life to raising her children and being a supportive wife to her husband. She has been a mother for the vast majority of her life, and that is the only role she has known. “Her first child had been born at twenty-two. The last was born well before she was thirty” (Lessing, 18). This novel takes place when Kate is forty- five, so for 23 years, Kate has been a mother and a wife. This has been the basis of her existence. “Kate’s four children have structured her existence, as can be seen in her almost “maternal” responses to young people she encounters in her life” (Lee, 17). All Kate knows how to do is be a mother and take care of other people. This is apparent in her relationships with people at Global Food, (the place where she is hired to be a translator), and with both Jeffrey her younger lover) and Maureen, (her roommate). Her maternal instincts are extremely strong and at the beginning of the novel, it seems that is all that defines her. She comes to the realization that her younges...