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What Is The Theme Of True Notebook By Mark Salzmans Essay

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“True Notebooks,” by Mark Salzman, is a book about the author’s experience teaching young offenders how to write. According to Salzman, one of Mark’s writing students is Nathaniel Hall. I believe Nathaniel is very smart and streetwise, but he yearns to be the center of attention. While reading, “True Notebooks,” I came across an essay written by Nathaniel, I like how the essay begins, but I don’t like its ending. Salzman continues by quoting Hall, “In my knowledge quest I search for the secrets of the mind. I start with psychology. With a perfect understanding of the way the mind works and reacts to certain situations” (184). I think it’s great that Nathaniel wants to enhance what he already knows, to go on a quest for knowledge. I can relate to this because I’m currently on a journey to enhance my own knowledge through life experience and education. By comparison, the essay’s ending describes Nathaniel’s devious reason to strive for mental acquisitiveness. According to Salzman, …show more content…

Furthermore, the quest for knowledge should be to grow intellectually, not to learn how to be a fake. According to Salzman, when Nathaniel mentions women in his essay, he says, “Understanding their behavior and way of thinking will allow me to seem caring and understanding” (185). Not surprisingly, Nathaniel’s motive in educating himself about women is to learn how to appear as though he cares and understands them, by putting on a pretentious façade. As a concerned parent, I shared this essay with my twenty-three-old daughter, and my fifteen-year-old son, so that they can grasp that some people deliberately pretend to be something they’re not. I read this essay to my children to make them aware that just because someone is smart and charming doesn’t mean they’re good and honest. Who would have thought that I could use a juvenile offenders essay as a teaching

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