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Bone Black: Memories Of Girlhood By Tobias Wolff

1726 Words7 Pages

Fighting For Their Lives
How hard would you fight for the life you knew you deserved? This paper will take a look at two individuals who fought hard for the life they knew they deserved and the identity their families tried to suppress. We will talk about a young girl who fought for her identity instead of the identity that her family wanted her to have. We will also talk about a young boy who grew up fighting. He fought against the kids at school, his stepfather, and he fought against the life that is laid out for him. Tobias Wolff wrote about his life in his memoir This Boy’s Life. Toby, who decided to change his name to Jack, grew up without a father. Jack tried several times throughout his childhood to run away, but all attempts were unsuccessful. Jack then decided to escape his life through his imagination. Jack fantasized about being in Paris and walking the cobble stones while exploring the cities. Bell Hooks discussed in her memoir, Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood, her struggles to not only discover her true identity, but …show more content…

Jack fought against Dwight who constantly berated Jack and told Jack that he isn’t a good boy. Hooks fought against her family’s belief that a woman was meant to be a subservient wife to her husband, Hooks fought against cultural and racial stereotypes, and finally Hooks fought against social class prejudice. Both Jack and Hooks fought very different, yet similar, fights. They fought against their families and the social standard, but they also fought against themselves. Their fight for themselves was a long battle, and even though their lives didn’t turn out the way they imagined it would, they both ended up having a life where they could live as their authentic self. Would you be willing to turn your back on your family in order to be the person you knew you were meant to

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