In every culture and in every corner of the world, individuals are constantly faced with life obstacles that affect their lives tremendously. In comparing two different characters that come from very different backgrounds and places, there are also significant similarities in the way they handle their everyday struggles. In these two stories, both characters are young, but they have distinct goals when it comes to how they want to live the rest of their lives. As both of these individuals are presented with difficult life changing decisions somehow, they both manage to successfully make the right decisions that will lead them to a better, prosperous, and happy life. Through the topical…
The importance of working and family is always facing one another. Working parents tend to spend less quality time with their children because of work demand. In modern America there’s more responsibilities that have to be taken cared of. Now, there is no time to time to waste. Gopnik worries about his daughter’s imaginary friend by writing, “I was concerned, though, that Charlie Ravioli might also be the sign of some “trauma,” some loneliness in Olivia’s life reflected in imaginary form” (154). Olivia who is just a three-year-old child is seeing the effects of capitalism. Her older brother is busy with his activities and her parents are busy with work. Olivia’s mimicking of her mother created this imaginary friend called Charlie Ravioli. She would constantly hear her mother talk on the phone with friends about work and Olivia would mimic that. Her imaginary friend who is too busy to play with her bounces between work and meeting, leaving no time to play with Olivia Gopnik. Mr. Ravioli’s character is a suggestion to the busyness she sees in her daily life. Therefore, Olivia is just creating and mimicking everything that she sees. The way Olivia rushes when she speaks on the phone is learnt from her mother. Parents take up a huge role in their children. Likewise, Hochschild argues how children as creating a similar lifestyle as their parents. She writes, “In other families, parents seemed to encourage children to develop schedules parallel to and as their own” (190). Due to the increase of the working demand, parents are trying to make their children’s schedules similar to theirs. Parents are constantly lacking time and cannot do certain activities with their children, by having parallel schedules everyone will be able to enjoy time together. Creating a parallel schedule is going to keep children busy as well. Eventually they will develop a similar lifestyle…
The Wes moores were both surviving in the position of low income and lived in a perilous neighborhood. The Wes Moores both had no father in their life for long after growing up, which is mainly hard for a maturing boy. The boys were in tricky situations which eventually steered them down a path including them getting into lots of trouble. For example, the Other Wes Moore was looking so hard for a father figure in his life he turned to his brother for motivation. The author remarks, “Wes wanted to be just like Tony. Tony wanted Wes to be nothing like him” (Moore 72). Tony was not the best role model for Wes, but he had no one else to look up to. The Wes’s upbringing impacted their lives greatly but it’s their own choice in how they want…
The book is based on a true story about the author’s life. He used to work with J. Walter Thompson (JWT) - the largest advertising agency in the United States of America - as a successful advertising executive. He devoted most of his life working hard for the agency and sacrificed most of his time with his family to contribute in making the agency successful. He had spent long hours working with his clients instead of being with his family. The author thought of himself as a pillar of his family. He thought that sacrificing his job was worth all the times he had not been there for his family as he desired to provide a good life for his family. In fact, he was so loyal to his job that he was willing to surrender spending Christmas…
In Coben’s story the narrator is seeing his father as an unpolished, confident and family-oriented man whose whole life is second to that of his families. “He could feign charm and warmth, but there was coldness there. He cared only about his family and he cared with a ferocity that both frightened and exhilarated.” His father was a charming man who people liked and he would have many friends but choose to only keep his family his priority.…
In addition to learning about Christopher, I learned about Christopher’s father, Ed Boone, and Christopher’s mother, Judy Boone. To compare and contrast these two important characters; Ed Boone is overly emotional because of what happened between his mother Judy Boone and therefore becomes irritated by small issues in his life, on the other hand Judy Boone is loving but is impatient and is frustrated because she can’t help Ed Boone cope with his emotional issues. Both the characters share a common trait of being overly emotional. The important difference between the characters is the fact that the father has an irritable personality style And the the mother has an self-critical personality style.…
The short story “A & P” by John Updike is a corky and humorous read. The casual, self-venting, adolescent depiction of an absurd event that unfolded in a small town grocery store is a peculiar and yet entertaining read for all audiences. The theme of this story has to do with adolescent stressors, choices and consequences, and standing up for what one believes is right. The way the author uses the point of view of the young adolescent sales clerk to describe the characters and setting in the story is simply genius. The author’s use of similes, metaphors, and imagery describes the setting and characters in a way that reflects the narrator’s stage in life. In doing this, the story flows perfectly with the three themes presented above.…
Joey R. Poole presents an intriguing story in “The Hand-Me-Downs.” Simon is a straight shooting kid that follows rules and does not ask many questions. But later in the story, the reader can tell that the violence surrounding Simon erodes his attitude. He begins to stand up to his brother and he begins to understand that he has free will. At the beginning of the story, the reader can tell that Simon is a typical innocent young kid but by the end of the story, the reader is convinced otherwise. Simon changes as the story progresses representing a dynamic character rather than a static character.…
In “Seeking”, Emily Yoffe shares with us her thoughts of what she believes is taking over our original basic desires and being replaced with an obsession for a constant need to gather or receive information with disregard to everything else. I can relate to what she is stating because I see it happening everyday around me; people walking around with their faces looking down into their smart phones. Almost everyone I come in contact with has a laptop, Ipad or tablet carrying around with them. You see them in the parks, malls, bookstore tech-ed out and they are all searching... forever searching forever seeking and waiting for the next text, the Yahoo you got mail or that Tweet alerting them that someone cared enough or too little by sending them a message by such an impersonal means of communication.…
Since the dawn of philosophical thought there has been a desire to find truth. Now exactly what truth is depends upon whom you ask. Philosophers have been searching for truth in various forms for at least as far back as Aristotle in the first century B.C. all the way up to Carl Hempel in the 20th century A.D. To Aristotle and Plato truth was reality; To Descartes truth was found in God; To Hempel truth was found in explanation. None of these are accurate and yet all of them point toward the same truth. Reality, as defined by Plato and Aristotle, God, as proved be Descartes and ideal explanation as modeled by Hempel, all allude to the same thing. They point out that mankind is a finite being and that truth is only attainable in infinite understanding, an impossibility of man at our current stage of development.…
Fundamental principle to all assessments is that such should be valid and reliable. Further, validity and reliability of an assessment tool also include the scoring method employed in it. As an emerging alternative to traditional assessments, Concept Maps should demonstrate similar properties; otherwise its utility as assessment tool may be limited to mere qualitative description.…
Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on February 5, 1985, in Madeira, Portugal to Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and José Diniz Aveiro. Cristiano has an elder brother, Hugo and two elder sisters, Elma and Liliana Cátia. His name was inspired by the former US-president, Ronald Reagan, whom his father was influenced by.…
If you love what you do and do what you love; every man would find his life a joyful encounter and thus would agree to what Helen Hayes says, ‘if we rest, we rust’.…
Raymond was the only child in his family. He was the apple of his parents’ eyes. Born with a silver spoon, he was pampered with whatever he wanted. His parents showered him with all the luxuries he wanted in his life. Raymond’s father was a successful entrepreneur and his mother was a famous socialite. Their heavy responsibilities had given them limited time to spend with Raymond at home. Consequently, he was left alone under the care of domestic helpers and servants. Although, he had all the money in the world, his life was meaningless with no affection, love and attention from his parents. Often, his life was lonely and boring. Whenever Raymond was in dire need of advice and love, no one was there with him to listen to his problems patiently and to give a shoulder for him to cry on. Neither there was anyone to play with him. Raymond started to crave for attention from his friends and peers. Soon he mixed with wrong company. Then, he started to play truant in school.…
About a boy is a novel which follows the lives of two people: Marcus and Will. Marcus is a strange kid who struggles with growing up, he is in need for acceptance outside of his own family, he is searching for his own identity, he is a victim of constant bullying and is suffering with his lack of parental care. Will is the complete opposite to Marcus. He is a 36 year old who is in his own extended childhood, he is searching for his identity not wanting to lose his youth, he ‘prides himself on his cool’ and simply can’t find a way to grow up. It is when these two opposing characters meet that they soon act as catalysts for each other. From their dependence on others they find independence for themselves within one another.…