In the book “The Things a Brother Knows” by Dana Reinhardt there are many characters that all possess different traits. Often, these traits can have negative effects on the characters, causing their downfall. In this particular story, Boaz possess the trait of selfishness that is shown throughout the story. In the story, Boaz puts his own interests in front of those of his family, friends, and peers. Often, causing problems for those who care about him and eventually causing his own downfall.
Have you ever wondered how an older brother feels about the younger one? For example, in Tangerine, a novel by Edward Bloor, the main character Paul, had feared his older brother, Erik, for his entire life. In the book, Erik is described as a selfish character that didn’t care for Paul in the very least. Just the opposite, Erik often likes to make choices that would make Paul feel bad. Erik’s choices have caused Paul to be blind, made him think himself as a coward, and weakened the friendships between Paul and Joey.
Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis is an intriguing book about the founding fathers of America. Ellis writes every chapter in his point of view on how he witnessed each event that he in his book. Ellis does not keep his chapters in a chronological order, this reveals the connections between each man discussed in his book. Ellis compose his chapters in a way of informing a person about events from his life. Each chapter give the explanation to why Ellis chose to title his book to be The Founding Brothers even though he discusses events of the Founding Fathers of the United Sates Nation.
In the story The Scarlet Ibis, by James Hurst, I do not blame the narrator for what happened to Doodle. Considering his age, he still is a kid/teenager, and not only kids make mistake but adults as well. The narrator also had mixed emotions for Doodle. Sometimes he would get so angry that he would have a thought to kill him and then on the other hand he would be happy for him.
The Theme of Limiting Expectations The quote, “Expectation is the root of all heartache” written by Shakespeare epitomize the stories of “Brother Dear” and “Boys and Girls”. The expectations set by others transform the characters views on their daily lives and future choices; however, they develop through their given limitations by maturing, and making realizations on their own. Yet, the new found freedom of choice creates conflict within families and society.
The brother was easily the guilty suspect in this case. The question here is whether or not Doodle’s cause of death was his brother’s own pride. Throughout the book, The Scarlet Ibis, Doodle’s brother gives us a plethora of quality examples as to why the death of his brother was surely his to bear. The brother was overly prideful.
Recently I analyzed the memoir entitled, “The Money” written by Junot Diaz. The author describes in his memoir his family’s relationship to money around 1980 which was a time when immigration began to flourish. In his memoir Diaz’s purpose towards the reader is to show struggles and experiences that many immigrants faced and can still be facing today. While analyzing “The Money” I was also able to point out frustration and disappointment Diaz felt towards his mother as well as Mr. Diaz’s emotions as a young boy struggling with what seemed so important at the time, and his reflection on his memories which he shares with his readers.
In the book Gentlehands, written by M.E. Kerr, a sixteen-year-old boy named Buddy Boyle is facing many inferiority complexes as a result of trying to be his best for a rich socialite named Skye Pennington. As a impelled action of this obsession, Buddy starts lying to his family, blowing off his little brother Streaker, and starts wearing a mask by using his wealthy grandfather to impress Skye instead of him. Over the course of the novel Buddy transmutes from an obsessed adolescent teenager to a mature young adult who becomes comfortable being himself as a product of many tragedies that he has faced. In the early part of the novel, Buddy Boyle is characterized as a young, obsessed boy who changes his internal and external self for a girl
One saying that has been passed down from generation to generation is that war is always unjust and cruel. The story, My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, shows how one family was dragged into the war and split apart by it. The Meeker family experienced the unfairness of war by losing friends and family and their business suffering. War is unfair for a number of reasons. One of them is how it drags people into it.
In this story Brother has a cruel streak in his pride. He was not a very good brother and he pushes Doodle to extremes because of pure cruelty. “Doodle studied the mahogany box for a long time, then said, “It’s not mine.” “It is,” I said. “And before I’ll help you down from the loft, you’re going to have to touch it.”
Selfishness drives you to make unorthodox decisions. In the short story, The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst, The author uses figurative expressions and images to make clear the relationship between a handicapable kid and his brother. Brother is extremely cruel to Doodle but he still seems to love Brother notwithstanding this. Brother cruelly pushes Doodle beyond his limits because he is embarrassed by having a disabled brother and is only concerned about his own feelings. The reason Doodle loves brother is because, despite Brother's anger, Doodle wants to impress his brother, Doodle Looks up to his brother, and Doodle doesn't understand the way he was being treated.
Sonny Blues Paul Pearshall once said “Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted”. In this story the conflict of responsibility takes place. A brother, who happens to be the narrator, blames his self for the events that takes place in his life, such as his brother sonny’s crack addiction. The Narrator feels responsible for his brother’s heroin addiction because he believed he shut his brother’s career goals down, felt as though he went against what his mother asked him to do, and because he chose not to believe that the way he treated his brother affected his brother life.
When a person has a moment of realization or understanding from what was seen beneath the obvious, they have just experience an epiphany. Just like “A&P” by John Updike, “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin and “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the narrator's experienced epiphanies that made drastic changes of their perspective on life. Even though each character experienced epiphanies, the outcomes were completely different, positively and negatively. The narrator in “Sonny’s Blues”, who is Sonny’s older brother, being a kind man only sees disappointment through his brother because of his past. It was a sudden change where he began to see how personalities can change as time passes.
Throughout a normal human life one is bound to make a selfish decision or two. In the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Madame Loisel borrows a expensive necklace from her friend only to lose it and spend years of her life repaying the debt. In “The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst, Doodle and his brother spend many months trying to help Doodle walk and be more like the normal kids, but end up making a major mistake. Both “The Necklace” and “The Scarlet Ibis” show that being selfish can lead to unforeseen and negative consequences. “The Necklace” begins with Madame Loisel depressed with her low class in life.
Jacinta Claire Fernandez AGF130008 Dr. Nicholas O. Pagan ACGB 6311 American Literature Paper #2 30th December 2014 Uncovering the Mask: A Jungian Analysis of Anson Hunter from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Rich Boy”. F. Scott Fitzgerald remains to this day, one of the greatest contributors to the vast realm of American Literature. “The Rich Boy”, published in 1926, bares similarities to The Great Gatsby.
