Water, Oil, Flame By Father Gregory Boyle: An Analysis

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“Sometimes resilience arrives in the moment you discover your own unshakeable goodness” (87). When you discover the good you have in yourself, you will have be able to change and can recover from any difficulties. Why is resilience essential in our lives? Without resilience, we would be lost every time something bad or traumatic happened to us. With resilience, we are able to adapt and accept the disfunction and still function. Without it we can create a life of anger, fear, and depression. In Chapter Four, of Tattoos on the Heart “Water, Oil, Flame,” Father Gregory Boyle, tells the story of Andres to demonstrate how much you can stretch and try to destroy someone, but they will ultimately be themselves. Father Boyle met Andres when he was nineteen, but he has been a runaway since the age of thirteen. Running away was his last option, since his mom saw Andres as his father,who was a man who had left her. Andres became his mother's Cinderella, she not only abused him, but she also tortured him. She put out cigarettes on him, and held his head in the toilet until he almost drowned. Andres got taken away by child protective services many times, but always got returned to his …show more content…

Leo was a nineteen year old dropout who would hang out in the projects. Now and then he would ask Father Boyle for job interviews, and he would set them up for him. Once the interview date would come around Leo would leave Father Boyle hanging. This happened a handful of times. One day Father Boyle was with a homie standing in the darkness of the projects archway. In the distance he saw Leo making a sell and counting his money. He walks up to Father Boyle and apologizes for selling in front of him. Father Boyle then tells him he has taught him something tonight. That no amount of wanting Leo to have a job will do anything if he doesn't want one for