Esmeralda's POV – 3:30pm I knew that I would have to pick someone soon. I could feel myself getting weaker by the minute. That was one of the major drawbacks of being one of “The Living”; when your youth source started fading, it drained most of your energy. By the end of capturing your next source, you were exhausted. Luckily, I had Destresce and Sorge to help me. “Just hurry up and choose one already!” Sorge whispered into my ear. “Be patient, dear. Good things come to those who wait.” I replied. It was just barely 3:30pm and teens were already crawling the sad excuse this town called a mall. “People are gonna start noticing us soon,” Destresce muttered underneath her breath. “If you’re really that concerned about it, go somewhere else.” I hissed back. I didn’t understand what the rush was; we didn’t have anywhere to be. I turned towards the store behind us, scoping out the crowd. That's when I saw her. She had a lean, athletic build and a fresh face. She couldn't have been older than 15. “I've found her! That one in the red sweater with the blackish-brown hair.” I said, pointing towards her. Sorge nodded in approval. “She's perfect. How are we doing this one?” Destresce asked me. I paused, turning over ideas. It was probably the smallest town we’d been in for over a century. “Our usual tactics would fail here.” I thought. Small towns were usually tight-knit, looking out for each other and getting into things that didn't concern them. That was why we'd been hopping from city to city these past years. A homeless child or runaway wouldn't be missed. The hustle and bustle of the city covered our tracks, but the city life tired Destresce and Sorge. That was how the three of us had ended up in the town of Lawnhill. A small town was j... ... middle of paper ... ...n need of some youth so I’m taking yours.” “My youth?” she asked, skeptically. Before she could further delay the process, I grabbed her hand and squeezed. Immediately, I felt her youth pour into me, bring a surge of energy. I continued to hold on until she crumpled to the ground. She was a good source, and was worth the trouble. -------------------------------------- Phee’s POV -??:?? In my last moments alive, I realized that I had taken my youth for granted. If I could’ve turned back the clock, I would’ve stayed home and watched the movie with my parents. I would have forgotten about Esmeralda. Sadly, I didn’t have that power. Dying didn’t hurt. There was no white light. My life didn’t flash before my eyes. I guessed it was probably because I didn’t really have a life to see. When I woke up, they explained what had happened. I had been accepted as one of the Dead.
In the passage “The Heartland and the Rural Youth Exodus”, the authors Carr and Kefalas both describe the different changes that happen to the youth. They depict the issues that arise when the youth leaves in search of bigger things that are outside of the small towns. Throughout the article, the issues of change in small towns is addressed and emphasized as a catastrophe for the future of these towns. The talk about the youth and towns fading away is not the only thing one thinks about when reading this article. The youth are not the only people being affected; the older generation parents of the youth are having to face the biggest change because they have the option of leaving or staying. This change can
Small towns, quaint and charming, ideally picturesque for a small family to grow up in with a white picket fence paired up with the mother, father and the 2.5 children. What happens when that serene local town, exuberantly bustling with business, progressively loses the aspects that kept it alive? The youth, boisterous and effervescent, grew up surrounded by the local businesses, schools and practices, but as the years wear on, living in that small town years down the road slowly grew to be less appealing. In The Heartland and the Rural Youth Exodus by Patrick J. Carr and Maria Kefalas equally argue that “small towns play an unwitting part in their own decline (Carr and Kefalas 33) when they forget to remember the “untapped resource of the
The essence of community life was prevalent, so I agree with on of the town’s people who said, “You have to live in a small town to know how it is to live in a small town.” Doc pulls you in and makes you one of the community members within Centralia with his atmosphere exposure through not zooming.
Growing up in a small community can be hard, I won’t be the only on to tell you that, but living in one in the 1800’s was tougher. This is especially true when there’s a murdering robber who wants revenge lurking about. But it’s got its good qualities too, I mean, there’s the picnics and the adventures and everybody knows everybody so no ones threatening anybody with their strange presence. This is why The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain display such a realistic life; it portrays both the Good and Evil in a little society.
I walked into the room on New Year’s Day and felt a sudden twinge of fear. My eyes already hurt from the tears I had shed and those tears would not stop even then the last viewing before we had to leave. She lay quietly on the bed with her face as void of emotion as a sheet of paper without the writing. Slowly, I approached the cold lifeless form that was once my mother and gave her a goodbye kiss.
We arrived at the A&P and I realized that the store was almost devoid of any human life, but it was mid Tuesday morning most towns people were either working, or at the beach.
...y also realize that their town is not a paradise and that isolation will never make it a paradise. The citizens must take "this prison calling itself a town" (308) and rebuild it in order to form a "paradise" within themselves rather than without, just as the four women rebuilt themselves through the teachings of Connie.
The setting is nearly a character. Lonely, a bit disgusting, not wholesome, but with a semi-authentic dreaminess. Towns are made of people and towns are full of people, this town is no different. The characters could’ve told the story without the ranch girl. We could have read about Carla, or Andy, or Haskell, Suzy or even Lacey or any others, and been left with much the same story. They all live without growing, little things change but their lives stagnate. They don’t grow into greater things than themselves. Their victories are bitter because they are meaningless. Their failures, crippling. Lacey won’t get Andy either. The ranch girl’s father, can’t quit his job. For all his swagger, Andy is dead. Carla’s marriage doesn’t work out. These pieces of quilt, that make this story, may not directly be the setting, but without them the story has no setting. This town is a dead end. It swallows everyone mentioned in the story in one way or another, or rather they all allow themselves to be
“Here’s the grocery store and here’s Mr. Morgan’s Drugstore. Most everybody in town manages to look into those two stores once a day (5.Stage Manager.) A small town without a lot of people, that’s exactly what the line above just told us. In the Play Our Town the stage manager tells us about a small town called Grover’s Corner. According to Professor Willard “within the town’s limits: 2, 640. (23 Willard)” That’s the population of this little town. Living in a small community can have its up’s and down. Grover’s Corner doesn’t want to modernize, nor is there any privacy, but there are some good qualities like knowing who ever you fall in love with in the town has basically grown up like you, or that you know everyone in the community.
Pythia Peay explains that for everywhere that she has resided, each place had a unique effect on her character. Each of the five cities in which she has lived contributed in some part to who she is today. She goes on to point out that each city or town has its own unique sense of soul. Peay believes that in our present day people are beginning to lose their sense of place. A city’s inhabitants lay blind to the fact that in some way their own character is shaped “within the city’s larger reality” (4). The body of her essay consists of six methods to help anyone discover the soul of their hometown.
Upon reading the first paragraph, Shirley Jackson describes the town in general. The town is first mentioned in the opening paragraph where she sets the location in the town square. She puts in perspective the location of the square "between the post office and the bank" (196). This visualizes for the reader what a small town this is, since everything seems to be centralized at or near the town square. This is also key in that the town square is the location for the remaining part of the story. The town square is an important location for the setting since the ending of the story will be set in this location. Also, Shirley Jackson creates a comfortable atmosphere while describing the residents of the town. First, she describes the children gathering together and breaking into "boisterous play"(196). Also, the children are described as gathering rocks, which is an action of many normal children. She described the men as gathering together and talking about "planting and rain, tractors and taxes"(196). Finally, she describes the women of this community as "exchanging bits of gossip"(196) which is a common stereotype of women. She creates a mood for the reader of the town and residents of this town on a normal summer morning.
The setting of the town is described by the author as that of any normal rural
In the opening scenes of the story the reader gets the impression that the boy lives in the backwash of his city. His symbolic descriptions offer more detail as to what he thinks about his street. The boy says “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street [it’s houses inhabited with] decent lives within them, gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces” (Joyce 984). This shows that the boy feels that the street and town have become conceited and unoriginal. While to young to comprehend this at the time the matured narrator states that he now realizes this. The boy is also isolated in the story because he mentions that when the neighborhood kids go and play he finds it to be a waste of time. He feels that there are other things he could be doing that playing with the other boys. This is where the narrator starts to become aware of the fact that not everything is what is seems. He notices the minute details but cannot quite put them together yet. As the story progresses one will see that th...
I would recommend this book to others because it shows the unity and division of small town life. Being from a small town myself, I can relate to how issues are played out in our communities before any official judgments are passed. I feel that I most identify with Jake Brigance because he has a desire to see justice served in the most honorable manner. Even the poorest of humanity deserve to be represented to the best of one’s ability. This novel is evidence of my opinion that small towns are great to live in and the majority of people join together to help their neighbors in time of need.
I stood there in amazement. A tingle surged throughout my whole body. It was a rush of excitement I had never felt before in my life. When my eyes hit her angelic little body, they froze and I couldn't think or acknowledge anything else around me. The world seemed to stop, hold its place in time, just for that perfect moment. While she slept I stared at this precious little angel. My hands quivered as I slowly reached down to touch her little fingers and feel the softness of her skin. I ran the tips of my fingers very gently across her smooth face, and right away, I fell in love. Then my brother said, "I can wake her up so you can hold her." I was ecstatic, I was finally going to meet her! As I held her, I stared into her gorgeous blue eyes and knew instantly that I would love and cherish her forever with all my heart.