The Bicycle Short Story

The Bicycle Short Story

In the story “The Bicycle” by Jillian Horton, Hannah, the main character, is a pianist who lives with her aunt, Tante Rose. She is given the opportunity to travel to New York so she can audition at a school. Unfortunately Hannah does not take that opportunity and decides to stay. In this case I agree with her decision at the end Firstly, Hannah lived all her life with very limited time for herself. Everything revolved around piano and her Jewish religion. She wanted to live a life where she isn’t controlled by anyone. She has no liberty and because of that Hannah takes a big risk and breaks her aunt’s promise of riding a bicycle “I vowed that I would break my promise to Tante Rose. I would ride a bicycle, just once, to prove that I was at least a little bit like Llana and Leah” (Horton 35). As you can tell from the quote Hannah wanted to prove herself that she was like her friends. She didn’t want to live a life where she was forced to practice the piano even on days when she didn’t practice. Secondly, Hannah wants to express her devotion towards activities beside piano. She spends all her time practising, with no time for friends or hardly any other activities. “I felt lonely and isolated, increasingly aware of the differences between myself and girls like Ilana and Leah” (Horton 35) she feels as if she is trapped and not only does she have freedom but Tante Rose is encouraging her to follow her lifestyle. Lastly, Hannah is given a gift of playing the piano. She thinks that her gift doesn’t give her happiness. As stated “Tante Rose had only ever forbidden me to do two things. One thing she forbade me to do was break the Sabbath in any way. This meant no piano, no homework, no playing with friends. The second thing she forbade me to do was ride on a bicycle” (Horton 34) Hannah thinks that her gift doesn’t give her happiness because she is strictly allowed to follow certain rules from Tante Rose. She want’s Hannah to stay away from bicycles since Tante Rose had hurt herself badly. She can’t do any activities nor talk with friends since she thought it was a waste of time. Now finally, in conclusion I agreed that Hannah did make a right decision for not going to New York mainly because she wouldn’t be that happy. She didn’t want to live a lifestyle of her aunt and be different like the other kids. Nonetheless this story tells us that you should follow your dreams and not someone else’s.