“Quotes.” Good morning, that was an attention grabber, as you all already know me, I shall continue with the presentation. This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff is a memoir where he recollects his adolescence as his life moves with an ever-changing direction. As Wolff changes his name to Jack in his adolescence, I will be referring to his younger counterpart as Jack and his older counterpart as Wolff for the purposes of this presentation. Jack is brought up by his mother in various places throughout the United States as they struggle to find a stable home. Jack 's development is illustrated through the themes of a lack of empathy, powerlessness, and dishonesty through a variety of literacy devices in order to demonstrate the detrimental effects of a dysfunctional family setting. Wolff looks upon his younger self and lack of empathy he displayed, reflecting upon it through characterisation, structural techniques and amplification. Furthermore, with the usage of characterisation and motifs used throughout the novel, Wolff displays the powerlessness that one experiences in a broken home. Jack’s deceptive and mendacious personality form a large part of the novel, contributing as one of the most important themes. As Wolff looks upon this in retrospect, he employs characterisation, diction, and contrasting …show more content…
As he wasn’t properly looked after and care for properly, Jack reinvents himself as being smart and noteworthy, convincing himself and others. Wolff reflects that he believed in the truth known only to him, believing in it although “the facts arrayed against it”. Wolff writes that he “couldn’t help” but “to introduce new versions” of himself to others. These characterisations of his younger self are applied in the novel to make his intentions to the audience to show the regret he feels from having constantly lied in his