Barkerville is one of the most, if not the most well known historic towns in British Columbia. It was the largest town in the Cariboo, conveniently located on the western edge of the Cariboo Mountains. It grew rapidly, before suddenly becoming almost forgotten, with a ghost town emerging in its place. How could such a thriving town, that was so full of life, be forgotten, to be allowed to die??The tale of Barkerville began with a young sailor form England; Billy Barker. After some time searching, he finally struck it rich in eighteen- sixty two when he uncovered gold in Williams Creek in the Cariboo area. The news of his finding spread like wild fire, and miners flocked to the area, hoping that they too might strike it rich. The miners travelled to the area and found the town newly christened as…
Jo Saunders, a fiery American beauty, arrives in frontier Australia to save her brother’s debt- ridden farm. She clashes with wealthy rancher, Luke Campton, but neither of them can deny the attraction sizzling between them. After Jo is involved in his brother’s death, Luke seeks revenge by forcing her to become his mistress. Branded a rich man’s whore and ostracized by the townsfolk, pride is the only thing between Jo and total degradation.…
I read the book Johnny Tremain as my student selective novel for this essay. I hope you enjoy reading it.…
Johnny’s character arc finally came to a close when Confederate soldiers capture Cush. Like Cush before him, Johnny risked his life for his friend, who was about to be executed. He has begun to realize that there is no difference between…
In hopes to seem more mature, Connie dressed, walked, and talked like she was older than fifteen. To go along with her I’m-so-grown-up attitude, she also got the older boys attention. Connie often daydreamed about the boys she met, however “all the boys fell back and dissolved into a single face that was not even a face but an idea, a feeling, mixed up with the urgent insistent pounding of the music and the humid night air of July.” Connie did not realize how young and immature she was until Arnold showed up at her house and wanted to take her away. It was only then that she came to notice where her rebellious actions made her end…
In the short story, “A & P” John Updike uses characterization and irony to portray Sammy, the main character, as a young individual who struggles with morality and lust. Women dressed in inappropriate clothing causes Sammy’s morals to shift and ultimately leads him to quit his job.…
Throughout this novel, the reader watches John Grady transform from an angsty and rebellious teenager, to a man with more battle-scars than most. This novel illustrates the coming-of-age story with very fine detail and I doubt that this theme will cease to be written…
Jennifer Thompson was a straight-A student at Elon University in Burlington, North Carolina. She had her life all planned out: maintain straight A’s, graduate with a 4.0 GPA, and marry her boyfriend, Paul. Jennifer said frightened “Who is that? Whose there?” I said, “Allowing myself to think it must be Paul, or someone playing a stupid joke” (12). Then suddenly she looked and saw a stranger in her room. Before she knew it, she was getting raped. During her attack, she made sure she paid attention to her attacker’s features and his voice. The rapist began to hiss “Shut up or I’ll cut you!” he hissed, “while clamping a glove hand down her mouth” (12). He proceeded to brutally rape her, with a knife at her throat. “I’m afraid of knives.” I told him, “I can’t relax until you put it down. Can you put it outside? On my car?” (15-16). Jennifer stayed as calm as possible, trying to remember as many details about her assailant as she could, until she managed to escape. She tried staying calm and having conversations with this man and stayed calm the entire time. When she had the chance and knew he wasn’t there she began to run and was shouting for help. As she ran screaming to the top of her lungs a nice family opened the door and let her in. They took care of Jennifer and took her to the hospital. Through an inept summary and analysis of Picking Cotton, readers will be able to understand key points throughout the book, and determine why or why not they should pursue reading the book.…
In this story, Oates writes about Connie who is a fifteen-year-old girl who, like most, notices her good looks in the mirror. Her mother has never approved of her and her actions and compares her to Connie’s older sister, June, who is twenty-four. June lives at home and works at Connie’s high school as a secretary (Oates, 1). Connie and her friends enjoy going to the movies, at least that is what she tells her father. They really go to a restaurant across the street to meet boys. Connie met a guy, Eddie, and has dinner with him. While out with Eddie, Connie sees another guy in a gold jalopy who was watching her. He wagged a finger and laughed and said, “Gonne get you, baby” (Oates, 2). Connie brushes it off and continues with dinner with Eddie. She then met back…
Jess Goldberg is greeted as family within the prevalent middle class bar scene in Buffalo, New York. That is the location where Jess discovers community, love and guidance. As much as Jess yearns to openly express her sexuality that is something that cannot be done in every location. In the labor world, Jess encounters much trouble searching for and sustaining jobs because of her sexuality and being a butch. She is…
Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold reveals that this is only a performance. She has created an attractive adult persona through her clothing, hairstyle, and general behavior and gets the attention she desires from boys. But Connie confuses her ability to command attention from boys with her desire to actually have them pursue her in a sexual way. The love and romance evident in songs she listens to and images of pop culture that surround her are much different from the reality of adult sexuality. Although Connie does experiment with sexuality, such as when she goes into the alley with Eddie, she is fearful of actually becoming an adult. Arnold Friend takes her by force into adulthood, but this violent act represents a shift within Connie herself: the abandoning of childlike fantasy for the realities of being a mature woman.Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold reveals that this is only a performance. She has created an attractive adult persona through her clothing, hairstyle, and general behavior and gets the attention she desires from boys. But Connie confuses her ability to command attention from boys with her desire to actually have them pursue her in a sexual way. The love and romance evident in songs she listens to and images of pop culture that surround her are much different from the reality of adult sexuality. Although Connie does experiment with sexuality, such as when she goes into the alley with Eddie, she is fearful of actually becoming an adult. Arnold Friend takes her by force into adulthood, but this violent act represents a shift within Connie herself: the abandoning of childlike fantasy for the realities of being a mature woman.Although Connie works hard to present the appearance of being a mature woman who is experienced with men, her encounter with Arnold…
Before Janie’s grandmother died, she caught her kissing. From that day forward, she classified Janie as a young woman, and forced her to marry Logan Killocks. Janie had no interest in him. All she could pick out were the ugly features he had on the outside. She didn’t know anything about love, and wondered if she ever would. Logan didn’t treat her like a lady should be treated, so she ran off and married Joe. Being with Logan, Janie learned how it was like to be independent living away from home- her first step to adulthood! This was the first peek to widening Janie’s horizons.…
Many of the modern television shows and movies use similar themes and subject matter as “A&P.” Things like young girls trying to appear older than they are, an awkward young man coming to terms with his sexuality, and the idea of conventional masculinity are all commonly found in the media. The question of how an adolescent girl’s mind works is that one that cannot be easily answered, but attempts are often made. The character of Sammy is virtually clueless about females, and Updike makes this obvious, “You never know for sure how girl’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glass jar?).” When this story was written the dynamic between young men and women was not as readily explored, but today it is a source of entertainment. High school dramas have taken over prime time television. However, this story is not one of drama, but rather ironic humor. The reader anticipates Sammy to act like a typical teenage boy, and mirror the actions of his coworker. Instead, he connects to them on a more emotional level, which leads him to act irrationally. Updike turns what could have been another typical teenage story into a satire of society’s expectations on sexuality and gender.…
High school, the best years of your life with everyday shaping and molding you from a feminine boy to becoming a respectable masculine adult, in truth its surviving everyday without being called a fag. In C.J. Pascoe’s ethnography she examines the dynamics of masculinity carefully exploring gender conformity that’s extracted from a collection of humiliations, fears and anxieties among high school boys. Within the eighteen months that Pascoe tediously studied the students of River High, she opened my mind to reminisce about my high school years at El Capitan. From the pep rallies in the gym to the weight room discussions, however, Pascoe’s research expressed a deeper meaning to the formation of gender identities in high school. Using Pascoe’s analytic methods along with D’emilio, freedman and weeks methodology and terminology I will compare my high school to River High that Pascoe analyzes in this ethnography.…
Connie is fifteen years old and obviously self-conscious because of the love that she never receives at home. Her whole life revolves around attention from boys since she does not feel loved at home. Her sister June appears to be the favorite in the family, as she receives all of the positive attention. Connie's mother doesn’t speak kindly to Connie or about Connie, and Connie doesn't think well of her mother either. Her father does whatever he can to please Connie but doesn’t seek for a good father-daughter relationship. They never talk about what is happening in their lives and act as if they are only acquaintances. Connie wants to appear older and wiser than she actually is and her head is always full of meaningless daydreams to help her cope. Her promiscuity leads to attraction from boys and older men where she becomes terrified and realizes that she is not as grown up as she thought. Connie comes face to face with the harshreality of being forced into adulthood at the age of fifteen because of the special attention of Arnold Friend.…