True Identities In The Bicycle And Budge Wilson

As people age, they may change due to situations that have an influence on their lives. Through life’s journey, people often face many important decisions in their search for their true identities. During this process, the decisions people are required to make help to define one’s personality and overall character. As people searches for a sense of contentment, other people as well as one’s own internal feelings may alter the path that one takes, unexpectedly leading them to their true identities. In The Bicycle and The Metaphor, by Jillian Horton and Budge Wilson, respectively, both authors use characters who show how internal and external influences such as peer pressure, authority from parental figures, and guilt have the potential to alter

Although control over a child may be seen as beneficial, many attributes of parental figures also suppress the natural essence of children. When Hannah moves in with Tante Rose, her life becomes dedicated to mastering Tante Rose’s piano. Despite previously living far more carefree home, when she moves in with her aunt, her lifestyle begins to change, saying, “Tante Rose demanded of me total commitment and devotion” (Horton, 33). Similarly, when Charlotte’s mother attempts to control Charlotte’s life, Charlotte describes her mother using a metaphor. She says, “my mother is a lofty mountain capped by virgin snow. The air around the mountain is clear and very cold; at the base of the mountain grow gnarled and crooked trees, surrounded by a scrub brush and poison ivy.” As their lives progress, both Hannah and Charlotte are viewed as the unwanted crooked trees, scrub brush, and poison ivy at the base in contrast to her mother being the essentially perfect mountain described. In fact, Tante Rose and Charlotte's mother ultimately become the virgin snow at the top of the mountain unaffected by society, independent to themselves and metaphorically on a higher pedestal. The girls are often subject to the authority of the figures above them and are expected to reciprocate the same attributes as their parental figures, restricting their sense of independence. In

As the girls grow, they begin to act on their desires, making decisions that cause them to feel guilty. After Hannah is caught riding a bicycle, she is filled with shame. When Tante Rose confronts her, Charlotte says, “I had no answer for Tante Rose. I stood staring at her, feeling worse than I had ever felt in my life” (Horton, 38). In a similar manner, when Charlotte is informed of Miss Hancock’s death, she is shocked, saying, “when I heard it, I felt as though my chest and throat were constricted by bands of dry ice” (Wilson, 191). After defying the rules and guidelines placed upon them, the girls are filled with immense amounts of guilt from their decisions. As a result, both girls regret their actions as their outcomes are not favourable and are ultimately irreversible. Only when they no longer have what they took for granted do they feel disgraced by their selfish actions. Although later, it is this same guilt, that causes a renewal of character within Hannah and Charlotte. When Hannah is talking to her father about the plane ticket gifted by Tante Rose, she comes to a realization, saying, “Tante Rose had said one day I would understand how choices were made. I understood as of that moment. I did not go to New York” (Horton, 40). In the same way, after Charlotte’s mother tells Charlotte to stop crying, Charlotte stops with perfect control, gets up, and goes to her bedroom. In her bedroom