In the short story “The Threshold” by Amy Frazier, addresses an abusive relation between Ricardo and Vanessa. Alcohol converted the high school sweethearts into enemies. Unfortunately, domestic violence is a common problem in Hispanic families. There are three types of abuse that predominate in this story, physical, verbal, and psychological. Due to Ricardo’s frustration and unsuccessful life, he starts beating Vanessa which is a clear example of physical violence. Although, Ricardo shot her in the middle of the story . The worst physical aggression, it is when Ricardo beats Vanessa while she was pregnant with her second son Thomas, causing the loss of his defenseless baby. This is the most severe type of physical abuse…
Johnny kills Bob Sheldon (Cherry’s boyfriend) because he was drowning Ponyboy and Pony passed out, Johnny acted in self defense, he didn’t kill Bob on purpose. The effect on Johnny is that he feels guilty about killing Bob and becomes traumatized by doing this to Bob. Johnny said this “ I killed him, I killed that boy.”…
But when it comes down to the enemies side, helping someone that is your enemy usually never crosses your mind. Unless youŕe Cherry Valance. Ponyboy and Johnny, two boys from the Greaser side, are convicted of murder against Bob Sheldon, a Soc who was also known as Cherry Valances boyfriend. When Cherry hears this, she knows that the two boys are innocent, and they were only using self-defense. She starts spying on the Socs for the Greasers so she can tell them what they are going to say in court and how they are fighting. When telling Johnny and Pony this, a friend of theirs, Dally, states “Hey, I didn’t tell you we got a spy. That good looking broad I tried to pick up that night you killed that Soc. The redhead Cherry what’s-her-name” (Hinton 84). Helping the enemy definitely shows just how helpful Cherry Valance can…
Taylor in The Bean Trees and Peter in A Walk Across America encountered many interesting people. Taylor met Turtle and Peter met Mary Elizabeth and her family. Turtle has a significant and positive impact on Taylor as well as Mary Elizabeth’s family’s impact on Peter. Both of the main characters were on a journey to find themselfs, and through it they met people that helped them do just that.…
Everyone at some point of their lives will experience a Chicxulub. Something that will change your entire life for the better or the worse. It’s what you choose to do with that change that will build your character. Take Maureen and Ted for example. Late, one rainy night, they get their Chicxulub. A call that delivered the heart-wrenching news of their daughter, Maddy’s accident.…
Friends do not stay forever, but family, the family would never leave. Dead or Alive, blood kin or not, the people that you share the mutual feeling of love with will always stay in your heart. For Taylor though, one of the main characters in the book, The Bean Trees, she never really had much to lose. So when she starts to get more and more loved ones in her life, Turtle, Lou Ann, Estevan, she starts to get scared because there is a more of a risk of losing them. In which, one she does lose, and the other two would stay but she very nearly loses one of the more prominent “family” members of hers.…
Unlike McMurphy, Chief Bromden is a follower and is also stuck comfortably in the safety of the ward’s fog. McMurphy on the other hand is a leader and is not in the stuck the fog in the mental ingestion, but is trying to get the others out of the comfort of the fog. An instance of such event, is when McMurphy refuses to clean during the afternoon and pulls up a chair, waiting for the baseball game, staring at a turned off TV screen. Slowly one by one the patient's pulled a chair up, waiting for the game, including Chief Bromden. Showing that McMurphy can or could lead the other patients out of the fog, and the Chief is slowly following. Another example of this is still relating to the baseball game, but when McMurphy is trying to get the patients to vote to watch the game. He strived to get one more vote…
There is always a beginning and end to everything. Where there is death, there is also life. In the brilliant novel The Cold Sassy Tree by Olivia burns, death causes a shadow over the lives of the characters in the small town, Cold Sassy. This shadow of death causes many new experiences among the townspeople. Most people may choose to see death as something that only brings sadness and despair. However, that is not always the case. Death also brings new light into the characters’ lives.…
Johnny was protecting Pony and stabbed and killed Bob, a soc, who was also Cherry’s boyfriend. Johnny and Pony were scared and ran away to an old abandoned church to avoid going to jail. Dally came and picked them up to get something to eat since they were starving. As they were eating, Dally told the boys that the “good-looking broad from the drive-in”, otherwise known as Cherry, was now a spy for the greasers. She also told the truth about what actually happened during the court case. Johnny was dead at this time, but it proved that Pony was innocent.…
Change. It’s a scary word. At least that's what Taylor used to think. Because it meant new beginnings. New beginnings with a future unknown. But change is necessary. Necessary for her to learn, to grow, and to better herself. Being fearful of something is normal, but not common when someone is fearless. In The Bean Trees, Taylor is faced with many challenges that she has to overcome. These challenges will test her strength and ability to be true to herself.…
Cherry Valance may be fearless, but her taste in boys may start some trouble. Throughout the book, Cherry grows as a person, gains friends, losses relationships, and gain some good and bad traits, but in the end, she leaves the gang by themselves with no support from Cherry. I think Hinton was showing Cherry as one of those “hit and run” type of friendships, that sometimes friends will leave you by yourself, only to teach you independence with…
Quince never had much, growing up in a financially unstable family. The family’s earnings came from his father’s carpentry business where Quince developed the skills of his father’s. His father’s strict and tough demeanor enforced Quince’s leadership and managerial qualities. However, growing up, he took responsibility of taking care of his ill mother and younger brother. As a child, he was feeble and naïve and was often picked on by the kids of the slum for his unattractive appearance and unusual bowl cut hairstyle. During his teenage years, his mother passed away and his younger brother went missing on Midsummer Day. The unknown disappearance of Quince’s only sibling worried him. Had he “gained the powers of a bard” (Midsummer Eve)? Or had he been “spirited away by the fairies” (Midsummer Eve)?…
Grassian realized “these people were very sick.”(Maclyn Willigan “What Solitary Confinement Does to the Human Brain”) Researcher Stuart Grassian who interview many men at Walpole State Penitentiary in 1982. she found that the men talked with symptoms “such as hallucinatory tendencies, paranoia, and delirium”( Maclyn Willigan “What Solitary Confinement Does to the Human Brain” ) Grassian characterize them as “SHU Syndrome” this syndrome has symptoms of PTSD, insomnia and uncontrollable feelings of rage and fear.…
In the novel Schooled by Gordan Korman, Capricorn Anderson’s life has changed for the better. Have you ever heard of a thirteen year old who got arrested two times in less than two months for doing a silly thing like driving, and being underage while doing it? Cap Anderson is a flower child, who lives in Garland Farms with his sixty-seven year old grandmother, Rain, who educates him until she has an accident. Cap is different from other characters because Cap comes from Garland which is a whole different world. In Garland, there is no money, no television and different hobbies from the “real” world. Cap would have never thought he would interact with the world outside of Garland and enjoy it!…
Throughout Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the nameless narrator, the main character develops emotionally through a situation that creates fear in an already introverted man. He does not want to go outside of his comfort zone and he is caught off guard when he is forced beyond his current developmental state. But, through a lesson from the blind narrator finds himself enlightened to the sentiments of the handicapped.…