Preview

Everything Will Be Okay By James Lee Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1451 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Everything Will Be Okay By James Lee Analysis
In the story, “Everything Will Be Okay,” by James Howe, the main character tells the story through his eyes and from reading about him it's clear that he doesn't care what anybody thinks of him and he’s like an outsider and the boy does what he thinks is right.
It was undeniable that the boy is an outsider, and doesn’t act like his family and friends. In the beginning of the story, the boy was in the woods and he saw an ill, starving kitten with wood and burs caught in places that the kitten still had fur. The boy was thankful that he was by himself. His friends, or people that he just played with because they lived on the same street, would not have felt sorry for the kitten. If anything, they would have abused it. Their idea would probably
…show more content…
The boy said,” I’m not a man, I don’t want to be.” So after all the commotion, the boy decided he will never act like Paul and his daydream of him being like Paul died. Now Paul motivates the boy to never be like him. So again, the scene shows that he doesn’t act like the people around him because his mindset is different because he decides what the right thing to do is, not somebody else. Not only is he not going to be like Paul, but also he does not want to be like his other brothers and his father. His family’s idea of being “a man,” is being strong, emotionally and physically, and do things like hunting. They also wanted the boy to learn how to play golf, but after the situation about the kitten when it went to the Vet, the boy doesn’t want to be like his brothers and father. At the end of the story, Paul, the boy, their mother, and father were sitting at the table and eating dinner. Paul was talking about taking the boy to the driving range to teach the boy how to hit a golf ball. The boy was thinking,”I won’t go with him. I don’t want him teaching me anymore.” So he gets up from the table and goes into the living room without any hesitation. Their he thinks about how he will never work at the Vet, how he will never go …show more content…
When the boy was walking in the woods and saw the ill, starving kitten, his gut was telling him to take care of the kitten and not to abandon it. Even though he knew his family and friends would not have done that and would have left it or hurt the kitten or abandon it, but he followed his gut instinct and cared for the kitten. This is significant because the boy stays true to himself and what he should do in a situation, not anybody else's thoughts. After the boy got the kitten home, Paul and the boy went to the Vet. Paul wanted to put the kitten to sleep, but the boy knew he shouldn’t put the kitten down to sleep. His brother was telling him that he had to, but the boy knew it would be wrong if he put the kitten to sleep. So he argued with him because that's what the boy thought was the right thing to do. So again, he thought for himself because he stayed true to his instincts. Finally, the boy uses his gut on a very difficult decision. At the end of the story, the boy thought back on what happened that day. He knew he should never just do what his family says is right. He thought that he should choose who he wants to be. He will get to have his own way of life and he says,”I will decide for myself what kind of boy I am, what kind of man I will become.” Even though his family doesn’t support him not being their idea of a man, the boy doesn’t care

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Other kids tormented him because he had been molested. Life at home was also tense due to the fact that he left home a young boy and returned almost grown so in essence he and his family were strangers to one another.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Second slide author: Archimede fusillo ar- chi –mi-di fus-il-o publication 2002 themes in book family, adolescence, loss. Explain summary of book, talk about what happens, who Paul is and who perspective. Add why perspective is bad, because it shows it from Paul’s perspective yet it is in past tense, and the only thoughts of Paul’s are in italic, making it hard to relate to him as a character.…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    I felt that the short story accurately gave life to the theme of choice and its consequences while also giving light to different perspectives. As much as I want to stay mad at the father for choosing to abandon his son not once, but twice, I am able to understand him. While I do not excuse or sympathize, I can say that the author is truly remarkable when he is able to show that there is reason behind every decision a character makes. I also favoured the author’s style of storytelling because I find short stories usually a bore, but this is one of the very rare cases where my attention was captivated by the entirety of the story. I yearned to know what was going to happen next and would read ahead to the temptation.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As result, the boy learned a new lesson from life and it was to never lie to make others happy and to follow your own instincts, principles and convictions, otherwise you will pay a high cost.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During his childhood, the son faces exposure from two very different parents. One of which believes in the preservation of life and moral values, whereas the mother believes in self-destruction and inconsideration towards everyone. Overall, the father has the most profound impact upon the son. Through their southward journey, the father and son share several successful and horrible experiences together. Throughout occasions such as narrowly escaping death from cannibals and plundering an underground bunker, the father and son have grown a strong, loving bond. Unfortunately, this developing relationship does not last forever, due to the father’s terminal illness. After his inevitable death, a stranger graciously offers salvation to the lost son. This salvation comes in the form of a loving, holy community that graciously takes the son in as their own. The 8-year-old boy, manages the unthinkable – survival. The son owes his survival entirely to his father. In a post-apocalyptic world where resources are few and far between, protecting the son from all levels of threats, so that the son can one day become self-sufficient, is nothing short of…

    • 2407 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    He was stuck in a bad situation of what to believe or trust. Jeremy had cynical trust for his father, because he reflected more on his mother’s side. The boy went through a lot as shown in the novel, and he isolates himself. I could become friends with Jeremy, I understand all what he is going through. I had a share of bad days and can understand how he feels about losing his mother. Seeking the help from the beginning is what he should have done, it would have been the best thing to do. I would have made good friends with the protagonist, I would not let him feel isolated and help…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    So, at first you notice the man and the boy. There is a cup of spilled milk on the table, so maybe the man is frustrated because the boy made a mess. The man may have an anger problem from being an abused child himself and he snapped at the boy because he accidentally made a mess. Then in the background behind the man and the boy you notice three other individuals. Three people who are dressed the same who seem a little bit older than the last and are all wearing the same clothes. You then realize that it is the boy growing up and going through life ending in the same situation as the man.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The boy Who Could Turn Into Things” we start to see Brian take a new approach to life as he makes a friend. This story teaches us it's okay to be our self and adventually you will not be lonely and hate yourself you just have to get through the tough things that Brian went through and remember that other people around the world are struggling with these things too. We start to see…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aside from a biblical worldview depicted in the beginning a postmodern worldview is shown while the boys are running around and stop to look at some women who are standing outside what appears to be a brothel. The boys are also involved in a scuffle with some other young boys. While Paul and Norman are raised in a religious home with very strict rules it’s clear that they are surrounded by people with different upbringings from theirs. Their day-to-day activities show how they interact with these people. It’s evident early in the film that the younger brother is somewhat of a rebel. In a scene the two young boys are discussing what they would like to be when they grow up. Norman the older brother says he’s going to be a minister or maybe a boxer. The younger brother Paul says he’s going to be a professional fly-fisherman. Norman inquisitively asks “not a minister?” Paul demonstrates early on that he has a mind of…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Seeing the boy in this film made me realize that he takes care of himself. He has grown accustom to taking care of everything for both himself and his parents. All of the cooking is done by him and he takes care of the house chores too. He even woke himself up for school while his parents just slept. I think he still cares about his parents because he cooks them breakfast in the morning. However, I believe he longs for his parents to show him compassion. If his parents are asleep when he wakes up and gone when he gets home, he would never get to see them. He seems like a very lonely boy because of this. Also, the fact that he does not speak English makes it so he could get much lonelier when living in America.…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We start the novel with the narrator getting a kitten from his father after no one showed up to his 7th birthday party. “In the cardboard box was a soft-haired black kitten of uncertain gender, whom I immediately named Fluffy, and which I loved utterly and wholeheartedly” (12). After the pain of no one coming to his party, he is happy with the gift of the kitten and believes that everything is going alright. It seems like…

    • 611 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Burl's Essay

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To Start of the boy is clearing shaken up as the lines between what is man and what is woman blur in mind as a seemingly perfect merger of the two walk by him right before his eyes. The idea of such thing had never crossed his mind as he states “Any woman might be a man. The fact of it clanged through the chambers of my brain. In broad day, in the midst of traffic, with my parents drinking coffee a few feet away, I felt as if everything I understood, everything I had taken for granted up to that moment--the curve of the earth, the heat of the sun, the reliability of my own eyes--had been squeezed out of me.” In this statement he shows us the relevance and impact this particular realization means to him as it was as if his very being had been “squeezed out” of him rather than the mere fact of the realization obviously affecting his personal views of gender and sexuality up to this point his life.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Old Man and the Sea

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The boy acts the old man’s son, remembering the first time the old man took the boy out fishing together. Hemingway states, “If you were my boy I’d take you out and gamble” (13). The boy represents the old man’s son. This shows the old man needs someone to be around and go fishing with, because fishing is a time where you can spend time with one another. The boy is representing what the old man wishes he had. He wishes he had a son he could go out and have fun with, and grow together with, be a role model for. This makes the boy symbolic by representing a son he never had, by spending time with him.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Commentary on Feet

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the story, the child is the main character. The child is in denial of his sister’s death. We can see this from his action and his mind. First, we know that he is hiding himself under the table, this shows that he doesn’t want to face this tragedy. Secondly, in paragraph 4, we can see the child’s flashback of his past life with the uncles. This showed that he is trying to think of other things so not to remind himself of his sister’s death, which is an action of evading. Last but not least, in the ending paragraph, the sentence “Smoky shook under his fur and whimpered when I pushed him away” showed that the child is suppressing and denying his emotions. We can also see that the child is bewildered as he only has partial understandings. We can know this simply by looking from the angle of the child, all he can see under the table are feet only. Also, in the last paragraph, the child asked quite a lot of rhetorical questions which showed his…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Symbolism is used abundantly throughout the novel- the boy often symbolises the good and innocence within society ‘he’s scared papa… maybe we could give him something to eat’, whereas the man represents the foundation of loss- expressing cynicism from the introduction of the novel ‘Sensing the worst, the man fills his bathtub with water’ continuously throughout ‘We have to go… maybe you shouldn’t touch him’ symbolising not only the loss of faith and ever growing pain but the variation of human instinct- that of hope and faith (represented by the boy) and that of doubt and loss (represented by the man. The struggle between these two characters with regards to the decision they make in relation to the old man’s future, and the contrast between these two characters can be interpreted by critics as an extended metaphor continuously highlighting the struggle between ‘Good and hope’ and ‘ Evil and Hopelessness’. McCarthy ensures the man ‘gives in’ to the boy allowing them to feed and comfort the old man. This metaphor is used by McCarthy to demonstrate to the reader that despite the circumstance, the good and innocence of society as a natural instinct will inevitably transcend loss. This technique is continued throughout the novel as- as the novel culminates McCarthy chooses to injure the Man who subsequently dies. Although this could be interpreted as a severe loss of hope for both the boy and thus the reader, in reference to the extended metaphor, we can understand that the survival of the boy represents not only…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics