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Danny Henderson's Future In Being Henry David By Cal Armistead

529 Words3 Pages

In the novel Being Henry David by Cal Armistead, Danny Henderson learns how to cope with what seems to be a nightmare of a past. When he wakes up in Penn Station without the slightest trace of his past life or name, he begins a new life with his only possession being the novel Walden by Henry David Thoreau. As Danny pieces together the clues to his past, it soon dawns on him that his past may not be as happy as he had hoped. The six word memoir “Redemptive futures balance out tense pasts” captures the most meaningful lesson that Danny learns: the past does not have to define the future. When Danny is faced with his past, he discovers that hiding is useless, and living out his life in a better way in the present can make up for his past mistakes. As he unearths his past, Danny encounters many mentors who guide him in a better direction- the most prominent one being Thomas. Danny initially meets Thomas, who works for park commission, after spending a night …show more content…

When Danny reveals the life he knows, Thomas takes Danny under his wing, providing him the basic necessities of life. He also consoles Danny about the incident with Simon with his own troubled past, saying that “When [I] was younger, [I] got on the wrong side of law a couple times and had to learn some lessons the hard ways… [I] even did time… in prison, for breaking and entering.” This kind of understanding of Danny’s situation and relatability with him comforts Danny about his situation, and allows him to realize that the past can be let go of by a new and better future. When Danny goes to Haileys house after meeting her and discovers her beautiful singing voice, he wonders why she refuses to join her school’s renowned Battle of the Bands this year like she had in

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“But for now Danny’s happy right where he is. Sitting on the train tracks. With his best friend. Watching a sunrise.”(de la Peña 247) Finding inner peace and knowing where one belongs brings many new obstacles, relationships, and hidden secrets.

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Readers are in constant interaction and communication through many recurring themes and ideas conveyed by writers to their audience. J.C. Burke effectively opens many avenues for insight in her book “the story of Tom Brennan (2005). She explores many transitional factors on how to deal with the past, and how it presents a barrier to moving forward, also the importance of new communities and its opportunity for new possibilities, and lastly how family, can create powerful influence in crucial moments for character development and a positive transitional process. J.C. Burke effectively engages with readers by employing various elements of transition to underscore the overarching idea that holding onto resentment or regret from the past can hinder

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These quotes show how Danny questions social mores and the idea that acceptance depends on conforming to stereotypes. It highlights how important it is to recognize one's worth regardless of their accomplishments or previous assumptions. It talks about how to gain acceptance by being one's true self rather than caving into assumptions or peer pressure. This relates to my original claim because the quote and context show how his identity is affecting his life. After all, all the kids are making fun of Danny because he does not know what he identifies as and the kids are saying things like prove you’re

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Slowly Thomas starts to learn the truth of what is going on in the world and why he is dealing with the hardships he has been dealing with. The book has trouble with the way it is planned out. With predictable outcomes, and bits of the story that didn’t really lead to anything. The book is supposed to be confusing, and it is, but in all the wrong ways.

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Clearly, Danny is hurt by this silence and searches for a reason for the silence. Also, he wants to renounce his spot it his family’s Rabbinical dynasty, and is thus highly concerned in his brother’s shaky health. When these subjects are brought up, the book takes on a tone of either depression or panic. Danny appears as though he is searching inside himself for answers concerning his father’s silence and his brother’s sickness.

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Throughout The Chosen, Danny’s rebellious nature exposes itself in several places, including the books he reads and his father’s plans for his

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Danny’s lack of parental attention and guidance left him to resort to a life of crime. His father's absence left his mother to raise the two boys alone, in which she did a terrible job. Often leaving the boys alone for days at a time while she is out drinking and partying. This left the boys with no choice but to steal for their livelihood. All of the petty crimes they committed eventually led to the more serious crimes such as drug related offences, weapon offences and

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Dwelling in the past most often results in being held back; your mind cannot think as quickly, forgetting the importance of life, crushing hopes and dreams slowly but surely. Hoping to join in with the fun, Charles is worried about death and by his past and the life to come, “Watching the boys vanish away, Charles Halloway suppressed a sudden urge to run with them, make the pack ... Somewhere in him, a shadow turned mournfully over. You had to run with a night like this, so the sadness could not hurt” (17). Looking forward to the future and back at the past, you have a stretching of you’re life and soul, “You 're the nearest to dead you 'll ever be save dying.

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Stories are the foundation of relationships. They represent the shared lessons, the memories, and the feelings between people. But often times, those stories are mistakenly left unspoken; often times, the weight of the impending future mutes the stories, and what remains is nothing more than self-destructive questions and emotions that “add up to silence” (Lee. 23). In “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, Lee uses economic imagery of the transient present and the inevitable and fear-igniting future, a third person omniscient point of view that shifts between the father’s and son’s perspective and between the present and future, and emotional diction to depict the undying love between a father and a son shadowed by the fear of change and to illuminate the damage caused by silence and the differences between childhood and adulthood perception. “A Story” is essentially a pencil sketch of the juxtaposition between the father’s biggest fear and the beautiful present he is unable to enjoy.

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The comradeship of friendship likely saves Danny from depression. Because Danny is so smart, the only way his father sees to teach him compassion is to stop talking to him and hope that through the pain of silence, he will learn sensitivity and empathy for others. As his father predicts, Danny hurts incredibly from this silence. Danny struggles to process his life without anybody to guide him so when Danny and Reuven meet, Danny pours out his intimate concerns and hurts. Throughout their friendship, Reuven listens and gives advice to Danny as Danny make major life decisions.

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Family is forever and nobody can change that. Through this story, “What’s Inside”, Danny shows us that he should have connected to family and not his peers. Like the narrator showed us that life’s most precious thing is family. This is because he knows family comes first no matter what. -

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