Jerry Renault Fourteen-year-old Jerry Renault is like your typical skinny or thin teenager in his freshman year at Trinity, a boys' Catholic high school. He tends to dwell on depressive emotion, sexual frustration due to hormones, and loneliness from his mother as well as asking his own existent in the world. He is has no mother and had recently died in a few months. He often remembers and recalling times of his parents lived together in a house with a large backyard and front lawn which his father never got tired of mowing it. He's trying to make quarterback and to do well in school despite that fact weighing him down. As well as being best to be a good son to his widowed father but Jerry is beginning to freak out of his father’s boring life style. He worries about ending up like his dad and being stuck in the same routine as his father. Realizing this factor, Jerry decides to make a change in his life out of impulse saying "No" to chocolates but, he's really saying "no" to the entire “universe” that The Vigils and Brother Leon created at Trinity. The random guy out from the streets accuses Jerry of being a "Square boy. Middle aged at fourteen… “. Disregarding the guy’s aimless lifestyle, he begins questioning all the routines in his life. It’s not like he doesn't love and appreciate his father but Jerry becomes more worried that he'll grow up and be trapped in the kind of boring life as his dad. He comes to the realization that his father is stuck living a dull, almost unhappy life as he looks in the mirror and "sees his father's face reflected in his own features." We can see also in the story, Jerry tends to waver in the border lines of excitement and boredom by isolating himself and not being isolated. In the beginning of t... ... middle of paper ... ...r as well as president of The Vigils. He doesn’t care or mind the fact of using his physical force to command respect. He's the only one who can stand up to Archie and doesn't hesitate to put him on probation until he gets all the chocolates sold. He wants the chocolates sold because he knows that Archie made an agreement to help Brother Leon plus he likes to avoid conflict with Brother Leon. Obie Obie is secretary of The Vigils and does whatever Archie wants him to as well as keeping Archie stocked with Hershey's chocolate. He admires Archie like an idol and Archie's deviousness yet he despises and resents him of Archie’s cruel plans. His most wanted and to be fulfilled desire is to see Archie pick a black marble out of the infamous black box since Archie never seems to pick out the black. Obie also takes part of beating and punishing Jerry for defying the Vigils.
In a restaurant, picture a young boy enjoying breakfast with his mother. Then suddenly, the child’s gesture expresses how his life was good until “a man started changing it all” (285). This passage reflects how writer, Dagoberto Gilb, in his short story, “Uncle Rock,” sets a tone of displeasure in Erick’s character as he writes a story about the emotions of a child while experiencing his mother’s attempt to find a suitable husband who can provide for her, and who can become a father to him. Erick’s quiet demeanor serves to emphasis how children may express their feelings of disapproval. By communicating through his silence or gestures, Erick shows his disapproval towards the men in a relationship with his mother as he experiences them.
The father, Guy struggled for work he wanted his son Little Guy to work as well but his mom Lili wouldn't allow it. This family was not well off, “The rattling door of his tiny shack. His wife, Lili, was squatting in the middle of their one room home, spreading cornmeal mush on banana leaves for supper.” (Pg.45) This quote represents how poor and desperate this family is, they have fallen to eating off banana leaves in a one room shack. Guy begins to really be affected by the family's lack of money and poor living conditions, “ I just want to take that big balloon and ride it up in the air. I’d sail off somewhere and keep floating until I got to a really nice place with a nice plot of land where I could be something new. I’d build my own house, keep my own garden. Just be something new” (Pg.61) Guy has become so desperate he wants to run away from everything. Later on Lili was out for her morning water run when, “On her way back, the sun had already melted a few gray clouds. She found the boy standing alone in the yard with a terrified expression on his face, the old withered mushrooms uprooted at his feet. He ran up to meet her” (Pg.63) At this point in the story, after all of Guys reactions and things he has said begin to unfold,”’It’s Papa,’ he said finally, raising a stiff finger in the air. The boy covered his face as his mother looked up at the sky. A
Parents are always supposed to look out for the best interests of their child. Anne Tyler authored the short story “Teenage Wasteland” which depicts the strained mother and son relationship between the character Donny, and his mother Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who is struggling with his grades at school and is exhibiting poor behavior. His mother Daisy is concerned with her son’s grades and behavior, however, she fails at getting her son the help that he requires. Told through a third person point of view through the character of Daisy, Tyler uses irony to tell the story of a teenage boy who is failed by the adults in his life who are supposed to help him flourish, including his parents, a psychologist, and his tutor.
Both younger brothers feel the weight of their older brothers’ legacies. Joey feels pressured to live up to Mike’s (modest) football success after his death. He even quits the soccer team and plans to play high school football. He wants to be like his brother. Paul also grapples with his older brother’s legacy. In this case, however, he wants athletic success in a different sport. Given that Erik’s football success completely monopolizes his parents’ lives, Paul struggles to make a name for himself in soccer. He wants his parents to treat him like they treat Erik, and he wants the respect that his soccer success
...nce can often lead them to new dangers as they have to face the troubles and conflicts of adulthood even if they are not prepared for it due to their vulnerability of being a youth. This is easily supported by Connie’s influence on her choice of sexual music, the idealistic simulation of being an icon, and her incapacity to fully comprehend a situation as she gets exploited and mistreated from an adult. Ultimately, the short story indicates the evolution of Connie and her interaction with Arnold has shaped the way she viewed the world as she is calling out for her mother and stepping into a realm that is beyond her awareness. Joyce Carol Oates reminds the American culture that without regulations, support, and a sense of role models when crossing the threshold of maturity, it can often lead to many crises and imminent grief because of the imprudence of teenagers.
The movie begins with the family and parenting styles concept of child development by introducing the audience to the main character James and his parents. James lives in a two-parent household with his authoritative parents who are providing him with warmth, love, and encouragement (Levine & Munsch, pp. 521-522). This concept of parenting styles is shown as the movie begins and James is seen spending time with his parents. Then suddenly, James’ world changes and he is abandoned as a result of his parents being killed. This causes James to become orphaned and forced to live with his authoritarian aunts, Spiker and Sponge. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are very controlling towards James and expect him to obey their rules without allowing him to express his feelings. This authoritarian behavior is seen throughout the movie. Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge are also uninvolved, neglectful, and abusive, using verbal and physical punishment on James when they feel it’s necessary, which is also seen throughout the movie (Levine & Munsch, p. 522). These behaviors cause James to develop lower self-esteem, show less intellectual curiosity, and feel lonely and afraid, which are typical outcomes of an authoritarian parenting approach (Levine & Munsch, pp. 521-523). Although James’ aunts’ authoritative parenting style has an effect on his emotional and social behaviors, it is his parents authoritative parenting that plays a...
John Singleton’s view of social problems in South Central Los Angeles happens in a tale of three friends growing up together. Doughboy and Ricky Baker are half-brothers and have opposite personalities. Ricky is a football player who hopes to win a scholarship and spends most of his time playing football. On the other hand, Doughboy is a young man who looks upon his environment for guidance. He is involved in violence, abusing drugs, and participates in violence. In between is their friend Tre, who actually has a father to teach him what is right from wrong. Furious Styles, who is Tre’s father in the film does everything in his strength to keep his son from becoming another startling statistic. As you can see, it is always important for parents to be a part of their child’s life because it can make a big difference not only in their life but also their child’s future.
Every person reaches a point in their lives when they must define themselves in relation to their parents. We all come through this experience differently, depending on our parents and the situation that we are in. For some people the experience comes very early in their lives, and can be a significant life changing experience. In William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning” Colonel Sartoris Snopes must decide either to stand with his father and compromise his integrity, or embrace honesty and morality and condemn his family. This is a difficult decision to make, especially for a ten year old boy that has nothing outside of what his father provides. Sarty’s decision to ultimately betray his father is dependent on his observation of Abner’s character and the conflict he feels concerning Abner.
In his story¡¨Boys,¡¨ Rick Moody narrates the process of growing up of boys. The author mentions every single outcome that most of the boys are likely to encounter in their lives. Boys grow up by experiencing some major incidents. In this case, the writer uses the death of their father as an example of that major incident. In another story¡¨Orientation,¡¨ Daniel Orozco describes the scenario in the office. Orozco brings out the typical office affairs to reflect social structure and human relationship.
After reading the first few paragraphs, I was really amazed in the example that the author was talking about. The situation was almost identical to how I was as a young teenager in high school. When the author mentioned Dre Gambrell, I said to myself he sounds exactly like me. I was a football starting tackle in high school who people did not really think of me as the sentimental type. However, deep down I really was. I never went as far as making a collage of a girl that I had interest
...parents were much more successful in the working world encouraged him to complete many daily activities such as choir and piano lessons. His parents engaged him in conversations that promoted reasoning and negotiation and they showed interest in his daily life. Harold’s mother joked around with the children, simply asking them questions about television, but never engaged them in conversations that drew them out. She wasn’t aware of Harold’s education habits and was oblivious to his dropping grades because of his missing assignments. Instead of telling one of the children to seek help for a bullying problem she told them to simply beat up the child that was bothering them until they stopped. Alex’s parents on the other hand were very involved in his schooling and in turn he scored very well in his classes. Like Lareau suspected, growing up
The father’s character begins to develop with the boy’s memory of an outing to a nightclub to see the jazz legend, Thelonius Monk. This is the first sign of the father’s unreliability and how the boy’s first recollection of a visitation with him was a dissatisfaction to his mother. The second sign of the father’s lack of responsibility appears again when he wanted to keep taking the boy down the snowy slopes even though he was pushing the time constraints put on his visitation with his son. He knew he was supposed to have the boy back with his mother in time for Christmas Eve dinner. Instead, the father wanted to be adventurous with his son and keep taking him down the slopes for one last run. When that one last run turned into several more, the father realized he was now pushing the time limits of his visit. Even though he thought he was going to get him home, he was met with a highway patrol’s blockade of the now closed road that led home.
"Two Kinds" is a powerful example of differing personalities causing struggles between parent and child. In every parent-child relationship, there are occurrences in which the parent places expectations on the child. Some children fall victim to a parent trying too hard or placing expectations too high, or, in the case of "Two Kinds," a parent trying to live her life through that of her child. However, the mother is also a victim in that she succumbs to her own foolish dream that "you could be anything you wanted to be in America." Knowing that her own time has passed, she wants her daughter to succeed by any means necessary, but she never stops to think of what her daughter might want. She strictly adheres to her plan, and her overbearing parenting only leaves the daughter with feelings of disapproval and questions of self-worth. The mother does not realize the controversy that she creates, and she cannot understand that her actions could be wrong. She also does not realize that she is hurting not only her daughter, but also the relationship that should bind the two of them ...
The story provides many sources for the boy's animosity. Beginning with his home and overall environment, and reaching all the way to the adults that surround him. However, it is clear that all of these causes of the boy's isolation have something in common, he has control over none of these factors. While many of these circumstances no one can expect to have control over, it is the culmination of all these elements that lead to the boy’s undeniable feeling of lack of control.
Adam, a corporal officer, starts as man who works everyday to catch the ‘villains’ of society, but is not spending enough time with his family, especially his son. He favors his nine year old daughter over his fifteen year old son. Adam views his daughter as a sweet child, and his son as a stubborn teenager who is going through a rebellious stage. However, when his daughter is killed in an accident, his perspective of family changes. In his grief, he states that he wishes he had been a better father. His wife reminds him that he still is a father and he realizes that he still has a chance with his son, Dylan. After his Daughter’s death, he creates a resolution from scriptures that states how he will be a better father. Because of the resolution he creates, he opens up to and spends more time with his son. By th...