Jerry Renault in The Chocolate War appears to be “going with the flow”—trying out for football, checking out girls—but his inner character drives him to differ. He fights to grasp his feelings and lacks self-confidence when he needs it most. As Jerry begins to unearth his inner-self, other obstacles and ideas dealing with certain emotions arise. As he progresses and reaches a level of comprehension, he grows closer to his goal—a sense of self-rule. Jerry seems to be a typical freshman, in a period of experimentation—trying out for the team, dreaming about girls, reading “girlie magazines,” but he also appears to be a dazed and confused one. He is “stunned by his mother’s recent death and by the way his father sleepwalks through life.” Jerry is experiencing an identity crisis and needs some self loyalty which can only be gained by reaching a level of understanding of himself and his feelings. Later, preparing for bed and sleep, Jerry looked at himself in the mirror, saw himself as that guy on the Common must have seen him the other day: Square Boy. Just as he had superimposed his mother’s image on his father’s face, now he could see his father’s face reflected in his own features. He turned away. He didn’t want to be a mirror image of his father. The thought made him cringe. I want to do something, be somebody. But what? But what? (p.53) As Jerry continues to search for himself, he is faced with a “Vigil assignment”—refusal to participate in the school fund raiser, ...
Throughout the novel The Chocolate War, the story was told in a third person point of view from various boys attending Trinity High School. Most of our narrations come from the main characters — Jerry Renault (who is our main character). “He's got Renault there, pale and tense as if he's facing a firing, squad…”(34.19) , Archie Costello ( leader of the school's hidden club that goes under the name of the Vigils), Obie ( another member of the Vigils; mostly seen as Archies servant), and Roland “Goober” Goubert ( Jerry’s best friend). Every person's points of view create the emphasis on the story and how life around them influences a situation that takes place.
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13-year-old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path, and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
As part of an assignment from the clique of school bullies, Jerry is supposed to refuse to sell chocolates for the school for a few days. However, when those few days end, Jerry realizes he does not want to blindly do what others' tell him and continues to refuse to sell the chocolates. This causes a backlash from both the school bullies and the man in charge of the school. The bullies start to orchestrate violent attacks against Jerry to try and get him to submit to selling the chocolates. The man in charge of the school keeps blackmailing the group of school bullies into tormenting Jerry (although the bullies are not really that opposed to tormenting the poor kid who they had given this mission to in the first place). Despite these attacks and threats against him, Jerry stands his ground and does not budge in his conviction to not participate in the school chocolate sale. However, it is difficult for one student to fight off not only a group of bullies but the man in charge of the school. In The Chocolate War, Cormier demonstrates the reality that plenty of students face on a day-to-day basis. The story shows how administrators can easily let their power for to their heads and how bullies can attack and threaten their way into power. In this novel, Cormier does not give an easy out or an inspirational underdog story. The Chocolate War is far from the typical high-school-is-the-best-time-of-our-lives fluff
In modern society, the rules for school are simple and straightforward. To do well in school means to do well later in all aspects of life and guaranteed success will come. Sadly however, this is not the case for Ken Harvey or Mike Rose. Author Mike Rose goes to Our Lady of Mercy, a small school located deep in Southern Los Angeles where he meets other troubled students. Being accidentally placed in the vocational track for the school, Rose scuttles the deep pond with other troubled youths. Dealt with incompetent, lazy and often uninvolved teachers, the mix of different students ‘s attention and imagination run wild. Rose then describes his classmates, most of them trying to gasp for air in the dead school environment. On a normal day in religion
The unpolished floors and graffitied lockers with pictures of the Beatles glued to them indicated to me that no summer cleaning had been done at school, for what seemed like several years. As I walked, a neatly folded piece of paper, which I placed in my pocket earlier this morning, grazed my outer thigh was not letting me forget its purpose. My palms were sweaty and all I could think of was that on the first day of school, I had decided to tell my crush that I liked her. What a stupid decision. I decided to wash my hands and then put my plan into action. My walk across the hallway continued till I reached the guy’s bathrooms. Just as I was about to push the door, it opened and out ran a blonde and petite girl. My crush. Her face was surprised and her hazel eyes were
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.
After he uncovers Teddy’s paper world, the uncle reacts in a manner of ignorance and derision, mocking him for his decision to occupy himself with paper dolls. The uncle dubs Teddy as a “great big lummox … playing with paper dolls”, insulting Teddy for his hobbies with a tone of amusement and hysteria. In spite of Teddy’s agitation, the uncle prefers to make a mockery out of Teddy rather than accepting his unique hobbies, suggesting the uncle’s belief that Teddy’s activities are unfitting of someone of his age. In addition, Teddy’s uncle further aggravates Teddy by continuously ridiculing him, leading him to eventually destroy his treasured paper world. Despite Teddy’s attempts at validating the reality of his paper dolls, the uncle “burst into laughter, his cheeks the colour of a tomato.” Teddy’s uncle persistence in mocking Teddy implies his disapproval of Teddy’s world, believing that his world is ludicrous and absurd for someone of his age to be occupied with. The sustained laughter of Teddy’s uncle is explicit and deliberate, intended to warn Teddy against his immature hobby, an evident symbol of society’s expectation of
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13 year old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
Ron Jones' maturity level rocketed after he became a camp counselor at Camp Wiggin and he also had a major attitude change along with that. Ron had placed himself in the camp counselor position merely for a good-paying job. In college he was an athlete, and playing with kids all day, swimming, and taking long hikes had also drawn him to the job. Little did he know this session of camp, was for the handicapped kids. Ron, along with the other counselors, were not trained for these kinds of tasks that they had to deal with, with the disabled kids and by the end of the first afternoon- Ron wanted out. His attitude was negative towards the situation he was put in and he felt that he would not be able to get close with these kids. The next day was better for him and throughout the next few days he slowly got to know and love the kids.
Jerry is a very individual kind of person, likes to be alone, find out things by himself, and
There are many factors that cause Jerry to act the way he does. The main reason is he forced by the vigils to refuse the chocolates. "When he returned to the school after practice, he found a letter scotch-taped to the door of his locker. A summons from the vigils. Subject: Assignment."(Cormier 62) He is now forced to refuse the school chocolate sale. He now has to face Brother Leon and tell him no which soon gives him insight in to the teachers’ feelings. "His eyes gave him away. His face was always under control but his eyes showed his vulnerability."(Cormier 92) Jerry realizes that Brother Leon is struggling with the candy sale and that he is trying to hide his anger for Jerry’s’ refusal. Jerry knows Brother Leon’s hate for him and his fear of failure with the chocolate sale. "He had met Brother Leon in the corridor late one afternoon after football practice and had seen hate flashing in the teachers eyes. More than hate: something sick." (Cormier 92) Jerry knows that Leon hates him for refusing the chocolates but he doesn’t want to give into Leon and take the chocolates. This is what motivates Jerry to become a rebel
Adolescence is the stage in life when you are no longer a child, but not yet an adult. There are many things that still need to be explored, learned and conquered. In the film Thirteen, the main character, Tracy Freeland, is just entering adolescence. While trying to conquer Erikson’s theory of Identity vs. Role confusion, Tracy is affected by many influences, including family and friends that hinder her development. Many concepts from what we have learned in class can be applied to this character from identity development, to depression, to adolescent sexuality and more. In this film Tracy is a prime example of an adolescent and much of what I have learned this year can be applied to her character.
This novel illustrates the power and importance of community solidarity. For example, Sethe receives help from members of the Underground Railroad to exorcise Beloved’s ghost. Morrison writes, “Some brought what they could and what they believed would work. Stuffed in apron pockets, strung around their necks, lying in the space between their breasts. Others brought Christian faith--as shield and sword. Most brought a little of both” (303). The town bands together against the ghost. Critics discuss many examples about the universality of community solidarity in Beloved. Wahneema Lubiano writes, “This novel is, finally, a text about the community as a site of complications that empowers, as much as its social history within the larger formation debilitates, its members.” This statement relates well to the fact that the community binds together to fight the ghost.
Otis sat at his tattered corner booth, the pale pink and teal upholstery ripped and worn by all those who had rested there before him. His charcoal-grey hair was oily and unkept as if he hadn’t known the pleasure of a shower or a comb since his early days in the war. His once green army jacket, faded to a light grey, covered the untucked, torn, and sweat-stained Goodwill T-shirt under it. He wore an old pair of denim blue jeans that were shredded in the knees and rested three inches above his boney ankles; exposing the charity he depended upon. His eyes, filled with loneliness and despair as if he had realized a lack of purpose in his life, were set in bags of black and purple rings two layers deep. His long, slender nose was set above a full crooked mouth with little lines at the corners giving his face the character of someone who used to smile often, but the firm set of his square jaw revealed a portrait of a man who knew only failure.
In a flea market, a shoe box filled with photographs. This is all we have. Whose lives might be recovered, if only the box had been labelled? I found it laying in a corner of the street, near an old manor where we live, my brother and me. There were men and women neatly tucked in pressed suits and fine linen dresses. They are our family, I imagine. Nameless faces attentively listening to our stories, witnessing the cold lifeless concrete of a flea market; it’s parched landscape that otherwise looks beautiful in the orange twilight. We have more money than it can last us a lifetime, but it cannot buy us our family back. I stare enraptured as strangers scurry down their separate ways, unknown to the solace they and the nameless faces in the photographs provide me, but my brother, he hates them. A single conversation with him, and one would say he hates the face of humanity itself. “Never trust anyone,” he constantly warns. “They leave you when you need them the most.” Our parents leaving us had scarred him deeply. He does not like coming here, but I know that there is a small part of him, albeit hidden away, that craves for company. On this particular day, the sun bathes me in sunlight from behind my brother’s head making me squint up at his silhouette. My thoughts are interrupted by a loud crash of porcelain china doll falling of our stand, its pieces damaged beyond repair. Dozens of dolls lay on our stand that my brother bought from a rather expensive antique store, in a futile attempt to blend in with the rest of the commoners.