Preview

Before and After

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1360 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Before and After
Before and After
It is Death that consoles yea, and causes our lives.
“The Death of the Poor”
Charles Baudelaire
What was a firm stone before magically transformed into two birds that immediately flew away. They had been caged in the stone for years and could finally obtain freedom. The old one immediately fell dead and got rid of all the sufferings she had had before. The young one flew away searching for a new life. But sometimes life plays bad tricks; a stone fist is always stronger than separate fingers. Was it freedom the bird got or helplessness?
They say people don’t change, they just find their inner selves they had lost or never known about. And sometimes there is a push needed, a stressor that will pull the trigger and start the process of finding the real “you”; even if the trigger is a tragedy.
When Alice was five she had a doll she had spent all her time with since birth; it had the same name, the same outlook (light brown curly hair, plump cheeks, awkwardly fat legs) and was a little fake Alice; but it was more than real to the girl. One day Alice’s mom got mad at her and tore the doll apart. It died and the whole baby’s world died with it. That’s when hatred to the one who gave Alice birth and the doll settled down in her heart. Al spent hours sewing her ruined friend together; the needle was too big for her tiny fingers and she kept pricking them, but she never gave up. Sixteen years later Alice is sitting on her bed with her little friend and a pair of scissors; her eyes are full of tears and her heart is full of anger; she is cutting the doll into pieces, hundreds of little pieces without even noticing little cuts on her fingers. Her world has just been torn apart just like years ago: death took away her mom.
When a person dies, his face becomes perfectly symmetric. Alice has never seen her mom so beautiful. She was lying peacefully in a coffin, she had obviously lost some weight (Alice was not around and there was nobody to cook for); her

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Half Mummy Case Study

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To begin, just at age three Jeannette was considered self-sufficient completing tasks such as cooking her own meals. While in her trailer home in a southern Arizona town, Jeannette wearing a pink ballerina like skirt, cooked hot dogs happily until her skirt caught fire. Struck frozen with fear Jeannette watched as the flames began to eat her skirt and raise to her face. As the fire crackled, Jeannette finally screamed for her mother, who was painting in the next room. Once Jeannette’s mother, Rose Mary, buried Jeannette in a surplus of itchy blankets which swallowed the flames, took Jeannette and her younger brother, Brian over and received a ride from a neighbor to the hospital. Immediately, once Jeannette, Rose Mary and Brian arrived at the hospital, Jeannette was placed on a stretcher where the nurses cut her pink skirt to shreds then covered her burned body with ice. After the doctors performed a skin graft on Jeannette, her entire right side was covered with bandages and with this Jeannette called herself a “half-mummy”.…

    • 377 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    By the time I finished reading this short story, I did not understand the reasoning behind these emotions. It was not until I took a few moments to myself and understood I was placing my own experiences into the story. I would place myself in the perspective of the child I once was and know that regardless of whether…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Like almost other kids, she was trying to follow whatever her older brothers do. But because she is a girl, so instead of getting a gun, she could only play with her bow and arrow. This is the turning point of the story, when the “accident” happed and completely changed Alice’s life. She was shot in the eye by the BB gun of her brothers. The doctor said that Alice would likely to be blind, not only one but both eyes. She was terrified but what she care the most is not about whether she could see or not. It is her beautiful that she cared about. She scared how people would look at “the glop of whitish scar” on her eyes. She was no longer the prettiest and the cutest girl. For six years, Alice did not raise her head and stare at anyone. The scare took everything from her: her beauty, her pride and her person from inside. Alice asked her mother and sister whether she changed. What does she really mean by the word “change”? Her beauty or her personality? The answer was “no” but this was because Alice’s mother and sister did not want to hurt her or because they really thought that she had never changed? What they saw in her is her personality not her appearance. However, Alice at that time was only a little girl. I do not expect she will care or think deeper about things and people around her. The eight years old girl only cared that people would never admire or applauded her again. To the little Alice, beauty was too…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Isabelle Black Monologue

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gather ‘round, gather ‘round children, while I tell you the story of Isabelle Black, the evilest person around. Don’t be scared children, you’re all safe now, but you wouldn’t have been exactly twenty years ago today. On a dark and stormy night, an adorable child named Elle Doucette was walking the streets of New York alone. That poor innocent child didn’t realize that she was about to make a decision that would change her life. As I was saying, as Elle Doucette was walking that night it started to rain, so she ran into the nearest building that she saw. What she didn’t know was that that building was the haunted building where the beautiful young maiden, Isabelle Black was killed ten years ago on that night. Elle was glad that she found a…

    • 1057 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    My father had disappeared before my birth, and my mother never mentioned a single thing about him. Whenever she mentioned him, she did so out of spite and resentment. My mother and I lived happily together, singing and laughing at the things Grover’s Corners had for us. As I grew up, however, my mother changed from the sweet, kind person I had known to a cynical old woman who smoked cigarettes constantly. The mother I used to sing church hymns with had long disappeared, replaced by a vicious woman who considered her son as nothing more than a hindrance.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Night" by Elie Wiesel

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages

    There is a very thin line between the person who you were and the person that you are right now. As humans, we experience millions of events that can affect and change our perspective on aspects throughout the course of our lives. Similar to caterpillars, we cannot be innocent and childish forever. There is a time for everybody to transform into something beautiful, and everybody’s time is different. Change can be good or bad, but most importantly, change helps us grow and become the people we were meant to be. How are we supposed to mature and enjoy our lives if we cannot accept the differences that life presents? For many people, metamorphosing is difficult because sometimes it can be a challenge to let go of something that was always a part of ourselves, such as letting go of a teddy bear, or a blanket, but for other people, it can be almost instantaneous.…

    • 1260 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Demon and Meredith

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “Demonology,” touching story by Rick Moody, portrays the life of his beloved sister Meredith as he reminisces through chronologically fragmented snapshots and photos, recollecting significant moments in her life. Moody pushes the boundaries and uses the conventions of both a short story and a memoir in order to have more freedom illustrating his sister’s life. In addition, not defining the text is a strategy Moody uses to his advantage because it allows him to go beyond a mere representation of the past. Moody narrates vivid, concrete descriptions as if he was right there, when in actuality he couldn’t have been. His style and use of language also contribute to his portrayal of his sister and the overall meaning he wishes to convey. Moody describes his sister’s life in clear, explicit details that have the reader wondering how he might know such things. This is answered by the fact that Moody’s text has some fictionalized aspects, and is not entirely non-fictional. Moody’s sense of style, concrete language, and vivid descriptions allow the reader to make connections with Meredith’s character and lifestyle. Ultimately, Moody’s story helps us recognize the significance of lost family members and the precious memories associated with them.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The writing style brings out emotions that have the power to overwhelm people, not to make them feel pity or sadness, but to help them realize the reality of the innocent kids’ lives, also it discusses the various ways kids endure hurt and no child, teen or even an adult, should have to experience the trauma that lives in the daily lives of the South Central Los Angeles school. Anne Beatty maneuvers powerful emotion with a strong writing style to draw people in and makes them empathize and sympathize with the kids or faculty experiencing the loss of a friend or family member. Furthermore, no one should have to go through the pain of the numerous amounts of death the kids, parents, and teacher see on a day to day…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Amelia Peter Paul

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Page

    Amelia Peter Paul is an energetic girl that attends school and lives a regular life, like most children in our village. She loves and respects her teachers, friends, and her family. She showed her love by saving her grandmother in a tragic event that happened recently. On August the 4th, an 18-year-old woman named Marie Labobe tried to stab Amelia’s maternal grandmother, Mary Jane Jadis. Amelia courageously stood up in front of the attacker and guarded her grandmother . Amelia received multiple stabbings on her back as she acted as a human shield to save her grandmother’s life. This terrifying event leaves multiple marks on her back, but it doesn’t bother Amelia, but instead, *she used these marks to leave an unremarkable lesson about courage…

    • 165 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grief is a process that every individual deals with in different ways. While many variations of handling grief exist, no wrong or right method prevails. Unfortunately problems arise when a person’s approach to coping with the loss of a loved one greatly affects other members of their family. Such is the case in Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones. Susie Salmon’s parents, Jack and Abigail, find it nearly impossible to deal with the loss of their teenage daughter. As evidence proving that Susie has been murdered continues to mount, Abigail holds on to a small shred of hope through the words “[n]othing is ever certain” (Sebold 20), while Jack is determined to find Susie’s killer. During this time, Lindsey Salmon, Susie’s sister, is forced to work through her grief on her own. In situations involving both her family and her peers, as well as herself, Lindsey Salmon indeed suffers the most.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    And Still We Rise - Essay

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Growing up, Toya never knew her biological father. Instead she lived with her mom and stepfather. Toya would often see the two arguing and eventually it came to her stepfather beating her mother up on his drinking binges. Finally her mother getting so tired of this abuse grabbed her two daughters and took shelter. Although, once Toya’s mother could not afford the nightly shelter fee she arranged for her girls and herself to stay with a friend. When she went home one day to get the girls’ clothes her husband strangled her to death. Toya walked in the bathroom to find her mother dead on the floor. After the murder of her mother, Toya and her sister were sent to a group home and later to their aunt’s house. Toya was sexually abused by her stepfather who had a huge effect on her. She later became pregnant and gave birth to a boy during her junior year. This ruined a lot for her in school. She was now going to study at home, return to high school the next year and attend college. “I didn’t have time to think about tomorrow. I had to survive today,” (47). Her plans were completely ruined when both her aunt and cousin kicked her out. She could not graduate from high school but instead got her GED and will attend college with the help of her church.…

    • 889 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Belonging - Short Story

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Screaming in pain, Rebecca was about to give birth to her first baby. She was forced to have a homebirth as there were no hospitals around for miles. Her shrieks of pain had woken everyone in the neighbourhood, many came up to the house to get a glimpse of the situation. One of Rebecca’s friends, Rick, had rushed into the house in a matter of minutes after he heard the screaming. Rick stayed with Rebecca for several hours that followed to comfort her as best he could. His best attempts to calm her down, it seemed, were not good enough.…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After admiring what she had added to the wall she began to continue walking, just at that moment something caught her eye. It was a doll in the shop window of what appeared to be an old toy shop which had once thrived but was now deprived of a decent upkeep. On taking a closer look Alma noticed the doll had a coat just like hers. Looking down at her coat and back up again she noticed something else. Its facial features were almost identical to those of Alma’s. Intrigued, she shuffled towards the door attempting to push it open but it was locked, out of sheer distress due to the fact that the door wouldn’t open Alma kicked it and carried on walking. The door eerily creaked open. Alma smiled, turned around and entered the shop. Upon entrance the first thing Alma noticed was the array of Dolls all lined up along the shelves. Why would they be in a shop that isn’t used anymore? Alma then noticed the doll which interested her had moved. It was now perched on a table in the centre of…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Alice Walker Biography

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When alice was eight she was accidentally shot in the right eye by a BB gun one of her brothers had owned. Because no one in the family had a car Walker couldn't see a for a week but by then her eye had already scarred over leave a white scar over her eye, which made her very self-conscious and shy, thinking that she was disfigured. But, due to her being more self involved she began writing, something that she began to enjoy very much.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Once upon a time their was a girl named Sarah she had a very complicated life. She went to numerous alleviator but, she was not going to communicate with another alleviator. When she was five years old she was adopted from Russia. She was always infuriated although, she did not fully comprehend why she was vexed. She went through many foster homes although, she was aggravated with all of them. Even though her parents idolized her so much they refused to give up on her. Sara could not comprehend that because, why would her parents put her in a hospital and would not let her go home? Her life has been impenetrable and she knew no one would understand what she went through. She knew that people cared about her but, she…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics