Preview

Two Friends with Different Lifestyles

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
461 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Two Friends with Different Lifestyles
Stacey Jones
Barbara Schiffler
Composition 1
01 Sep 2007

Two friends with different lifestyles

I have heard on many occasions that “opposites attract.” There may be some truth to this statement, if opposites did not attract, what could bring two people with different lifestyles together? My good friends Shaneka and Carolina are perfect examples, “very different lifestyles,” but their friendship is inseparable. May be they developed respect and trust for each other, and that made them inseparable. My question, is what brought them together? Which leads back to, “Does opposites attract?”
Carolina has no siblings, she grew up in a wealthy neighbor hood; her father is a Judge and her mother is a Physiologist. Education and religion were the main priorities for Carolina at a young age; she went to church with her parents every Sunday. Shaneka, on the other hand, was the oldest of seven children; and she lived in the Projects (low-income housing) with her six siblings, and her mother in a two-bedroom apartment. Shaneka’s priority was to take care of her younger siblings. The opportunity for her to go to school or church was difficult; she did not have the clothes to wear or the time to attend. Shaneka’s mother worked two part time jobs, and still could not provide the basic things Shaneka needed.
Carolina attended the best private school in town; her wealthy parents provided her with everything she required. Carolina was happy with her life. Shaneka, however, stayed at home learning to cook, clean and baby sit. This made Shaneka discontented with her life. Carolina and Shaneka’s lifestyle was different when they were young: now they have developed into mature adults with different lifestyle.
It has been over five years since Carolina and Shaneka first met. Shaneka have four kids, all her children attends public school. Being unable to complete high school, Shaneka now works two jobs and one of them is part-time. Shaneka’s priority is to provide for her

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Naomi and Owen both attend the same school, Buena Vista Elementary. At their school, they are constantly made fun of their last name, “Outlaw.” During their free times, Naomi loves to make lists of topics and carve many figures out of soap while Owen loves to simply play checkers. Naomi and Owen aren’t growing up living a rich life, yet they cherish the little things they have, such as their family;…

    • 1517 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raeanne and Kaeleigh Gardella are the teenage daughters of two successful parents: their father, Raymond, is a district-court judge and their mother, Kay, is a successful woman politician. While Kaeleigh acts as a typical school student that is involved in a school play, her identical twin sister, Raeanne, is the opposite. Raeanne spends most of her free time with her drug dealer, smoking pot, drinking and being extremely promiscuous. At home, both girls drink their father’s alcohol, and take his prescribed oxy-contin but still manage to keep their lives completely separate from each other. Raeanne begs for her father’s love and affection, while Kaeleigh gets too much of it; Kaeleigh is raped by her father regularly and is afraid to seek help……

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Castle Summary

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even though, the authors all portray lives in poverty they explain it in unique ways. Jeannette Walls describes her life in poverty; however, she also teaches life lessons throughout her memoir. For instance, when the Walls family moves to Welch, West Virginia the brick buildings are crowding in close on both sides of the street. Welch is shabby and worn out with a film of black coal dust covering store signs, sidewalks, and cars (Walls 134). Regardless the fact that the town is dirty and needs some improvements, the family is just happy to have somewhere to live end enjoy life together. On the contrary, Mark R. Rank also depicts lifestyles in poverty, yet he clarifies the causes and effects of poverty. To illustrate, he informs that events like losing jobs, having work hours cut back, experiencing a family split, or developing a serious medical problem all have the potential to throw households into poverty (Rank 2 of 3). In spite of the fact Mark R. Rank describes poverty stricken families, he does it in a contradictory way than Jeannette Walls. Furthermore, Jade Walker’s purpose of writing this report is to describe the deprived people’s living conditions, but also to encourage ways to improve homelessness. In particular, she says remedies for child homelessness should include: an expansion of affordable housing, education and employment opportunities for homeless parents, and…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Then the story starts to talk about each of their own lives, including family, school, and friends. Each of them came from a troubled area and had a tough childhood. They each had their own personal family problems and also had money problems that made their family lives harder. Each of them did not think they would go to college because of the fact that college costs money and they did not think that they had enough money to get that far in…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In every culture and in every corner of the world, individuals are constantly faced with life obstacles that affect their lives tremendously. In comparing two different characters that come from very different backgrounds and places, there are also significant similarities in the way they handle their everyday struggles. In these two stories, both characters are young, but they have distinct goals when it comes to how they want to live the rest of their lives. As both of these individuals are presented with difficult life changing decisions somehow, they both manage to successfully make the right decisions that will lead them to a better, prosperous, and happy life. Through the topical…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jeannette Walls and her siblings went through a rough childhood with moving frequently, struggling with finances and other various issues with their parents. However, Jeanette and her siblings wanted to overcome their childhood problems and…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    She "was living a life based on [them]," (277) much like many other kids. We all are bogged down by what we can't do. It depresses us and thwarts our progression. It wasn't her incapacities that stopped her, it was those around her. She didn't provide "any reasonable explanation for these refusals," and perhaps that is why it drew so much attention. If she had told them why then maybe they could justify her feelings. But not doing so only perpetuated questions and suspicion. The reader can relate to this indecisiveness because we have all experienced a time in our lives when we just didn't care about anything. The quintessential teenager is characterized by a chronic indecisiveness towards life. By exploring this aspect, Kaysen is able to draw the reader closer to her and makes this technique an effective strategy in her…

    • 2106 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her youth, Jeannette struggled with denial to understand the reality of her family life. When she was a young girl and her family didn't have a roof over their heads she only saw the good in the situation. In one instant Jeannette describes a discussion between herself and her sister Lori “I told Lori how lucky we were to be sleeping out under the sky like Indians, ‘We could live like this forever’ I said,” (18). This quote connects to my claim because it demonstrates that when she was young, Jeannette was in denial about the hard times her family faced. This passage also shows that as a young girl Jeannette had not yet reached her prosperous future. Jeannette was not only blind about her family life but also about her family themselfs.…

    • 1376 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Glass Castle

    • 4823 Words
    • 20 Pages

    Jeannette was sitting in a taxi, when she saw her homeless mother cover in rags, searching through the garbage. Jeannette was felt ashamed of her mother and ended up going back to her home on Park Avenue. Jeannette feels guilty that she is the reason her parents are homeless and she is being spoiled with all these luxuries however, her mother and father reject all of Jeannette’s offers. The only way she can get a hold of her mother is if she called up a friend of hers. The next day Jeanette and her mother met up at a local restaurant for lunch. Jeannette informed her mother that she is worried about her. In all seriousness, her mother asks for an electrolysis treatment and that she should also accept her parents as they are because that is who they were and they were never going to change. This part of the book introduces Jeannette as an adult and her mother who is homeless. I don’t blame Jeannette for feeling ashamed, she is living on Park Avenue yet her parents are living on the street. Her mother’s comments toward Jeannette prove that she is very happy the way she is and doesn’t want to change.…

    • 4823 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diane moved out of her friends house and began going to college, but her ruined childhood impacted her experience tremendously moving forward. “My parents constant struggle to remain in America defined my childhood, but it was…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Check It

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages

    She describes the steps in which her lifestyle turned and she fell in to poverty. in paragraph 10 she continues to allude the cycle of poverty because she explains that her kids will have the same life style as she did.…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cisneros Essay

    • 565 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Being an only daughter in a family of six brothers not only affects her identity, but it also has a huge impact on her future. When she was little her brothers would not play with her…

    • 565 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The book began in a child’s point of view, perfectly told, of growing up in rural Mississippi in the 1940s. She described the landscape, the people, and her own emotions with perfect clarity. While showing racism from the perspective of a child, she included her parents’ divorce following the constant moving of her family due to the fact that her mother struggled to feed the family on her own.…

    • 2029 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    There Are No Children Here

    • 1761 Words
    • 8 Pages

    There are many problems in the neighborhood and even with LaJoe's positive and upbeat attitude, she cannot move her family out of the projects. Luckily, Kotlowitz is able to fund the boys' education to attend a private school. Even though this helps them receive a better education, they are still faced with other problems.…

    • 1761 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In a country like Trinidad with segregated culture, you have people of different races separate and apart from each other. Religious backgrounds (whether Hindu or Christian) can form who you choose to be your friend and some activities are labelled generally white, or generally black, or generally Indian rather than having equilibrium between all races.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays