ipl-logo

Character Analysis Of Jillian Horton's 'The Bicycle'

856 Words4 Pages

Jenni Buskas
The Bicycle Essay Did you ever rebel as a teenager? Chances are, you did. But why? Was it because you felt so much pressure to conform to the social norms, or to cultivate your own talent? Fifteen-year-old Hannah Golandsky can certainly relate. Hannah is the protagonist of The Bicycle, a short story by Jillian Horton In the story, Hannah struggles between her desire to ride a bike, and her need to perfect her gift for playing piano. Tante Rose, her aunt and piano tutor, refuses to let Hannah ride a bike due to her own experience with the bicycle — an experience that cost Rose her ability to play the piano. Hannah is a complicated character, which we learn through her self-narration and conflict with Tante Rose in the story. …show more content…

She “... practised every day for Tante Rose” (Horton, 2). Anyone with a hobby or job that they perform on the daily can speak to the devotion it requires to not get burnt out or uninspired. Practising every day implies that Hannah is diligent, and the fact that she did it for Tante Rose further proves her devotion, both to her future career and her aunt. In fact, Hannah moves in with her aunt in order to “... devote all [her] free time to [her] studies in piano” (2). Her devotion to piano outweighed her willingness to stay with her family, a quality that few possess. This fifteen-year-old girl was willing to remove herself from her social life, free time activities, and even her family in order to further her piano career and thus earn the coveted respect of her Tante. That requires an immense amount of devotion, likely even more than some adults have. Hannah was so absorbed in her piano studies that “sometimes it seemed that there was nothing else in the world but Tante Rose and me and Tante Rose’s piano” (3). She saw nothing but what was necessary for her goal of becoming a concert pianist. Her devotion to the piano, and by extent Tante Rose, overwhelmed all other aspects of her life. This quality of Hannah’s is more evident as the story

Show More
Related

  • Theme Of Remembering In The Devil's Arithmetic

    450 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Devil’s Arithmetic, a novel by Jane Yolen, is very inspiring to me. It explains the feelings of not only just Hannah, but many others. It lets me know that in any situation, you can always persevere. Although this book can be sad, the sadness is powerful. It takes you to a whole new perspective of the Holocaust, not just through facts, but actually living it.

    Read More

  • Bleachers, By Neely Crenshaw Character Analysis

    282 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the game of life, sometimes people are dealt a deck of cards that start off great but end up awful. Before anyone realizes it the first part of their life is over. Then there comes a choice “what next?” “Lou Holtz once said, ‘How you response to the challenge in the second half will determine what you become after the game, whether you are a winner or a loser.’” In the book Bleachers, the main character Neely Crenshaw is dealt a deck of cards much like that. After Neely takes one hit after another, he does not know what to do until he finds himself back in his hometown for his old coach’s funeral.

    Read More

  • The Theme Of Hope In Roland Smith's The Ghost Bird

    504 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author uses Hannah’s personality traits to show the theme of the story of never lose hope in the most difficult times. For example, the narrator, the speaker of the story, “Early the next morning, Hannah began looking for the ivorybills and quickly discovered what a daunting task finding the birds was going to be. It was no wonder Mr. Tanner has gotten confused. There were no vacancies in the birdhouses”(Smith 27).

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Devil's Arithmetic

    1096 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many times people take things for granted. For example, we think since food is always provided to us we shouldn’t be thankful for it, or for pure drinking water or even for our freedom. Most of society receive this benefits, and we assume everybody gets them too, unfortunately that is not the case. Not all people can afford these privileges. We may not perceive them as that on the contrary, we think of them as needs, and fortunately for us we can afford to enjoy them.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Devil's Arithmetic

    756 Words  | 4 Pages

    What this means is that Hannah knows that she is alive and now knows how the “devil plays” with her mind. The manipulation has not tricked her and this is a point in which she can find light because her

    Read More

  • Oliver Sacks Musicophilia

    929 Words  | 4 Pages

    Beautiful music plays in their head and inspires them. The first patient introduced in the book, Tony Cicoria, described his case of musicophilia as a life-changing event. He had never found music a significant part of his life, but after he was suddenly struck by lightning, he experienced a strong desire to listen to classical music. Soon, he found a way to teach himself to play the piano at the age of forty-two, and a new stage of his life began. He began to compose and perform his pieces, stating that “whenever he sat down at the piano to work on his Chopin, his own music ‘would come and take him over’”.

    Read More

  • The Metaphor By Budge Wilson Character Analysis

    611 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most common, widespread epidemic in adolescent is the lack of self-esteem. If a teen loses confidence, they may engage in self-destructive views. To try to combat the lack of personal confidence, Canada and other individualistic countries emphasize being unique. In the short story, The Metaphor by Budge Wilson, Charlotte lives under the rule of her stern mother. Through her mother’s criticisms, her lack of confidence, and her desire to fit in with the community, Charlotte is shown to be insecure.

    Read More

  • How Did Romare Bearden Influence August Wilson

    1501 Words  | 7 Pages

    In this play, Wilson illustrates the current generation that is struggling to hold on to their ancestry. He exposes the audience to two such characters named Berneice and her brother Boy Willie, who tell the history of the piano. When he saw the painting of Romare Bearden, he was influenced by it to make this play. “The Piano Lesson is a painting of a little girl at the piano with her piano teacher standing over her and in my mind, I saw Maretha and Berniece” (NY Times). The piano is carved with the faces of their ancestors in slavery, the piano represents a valuable piece of history that the family fights over. In Bearden’s collage he shows a figure playing the piano with a woman that is standing above her trying to teach her how to play.

    Read More

  • The Piano Man's Daughter Character Analysis

    1673 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Piano Man’s Daughter executes all of the elements of a great book perfectly. Works Cited Findley, Timothy. The Piano Man 's Daughter. New York: Crown, 1995. Print. "

    Read More

  • The Themes Of Isolation And Monster In 'Zolaria'

    1048 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hanna has what the narrator describes as the perfect life. Her parents are together, her house is friendly and her dad even visits their fifth-grade class. The two best friends were perfectly content with their life and no matter what they would not be separated nor turn against each other. “We were the girls with the wrong school supplies, and everything we did after that, even the things done just like everyone else, were the wrong things to do” (Horrock 473). Hanna and the narrator did not care whether they were doing the wrong thing socially, as long as they had each other.

    Read More

  • Summary Of 'The Bicycle' By Jillian Horton

    816 Words  | 4 Pages

    As said by Louise J. Kaplan, “Adolescence represents an inner emotional upheaval, a struggle between the eternal human wish to cling to the past and the equally powerful wish to get on with the future”. In the story “The bicycle’’, by Jillian Horton, Hannah is going through her adolescent age which brings a lot of emotional changes in her life. Hannah was a very devoted, ignorant and hard working girl in the start of the story. When she was 15 years old she slowly changed and now wanted to be independent and didn 't like to follow the rules anymore. By the end of the story, she broke all the rules and wanted to follow her heart 's desires.

    Read More

  • The Character Analysis Of Renegades By Marissa Meyer

    1998 Words  | 8 Pages

    In the book Renegades by Marissa Meyer, many things happen throughout the book that many will find interesting. This story follows two main characters, Adrian Everhart and Nova Artino/Mclain. In this world, there are these people who are prodigies with superpowers that they either inherit or are born with. There is also a Council that is made of the best superheroes or Renegades, all around the city that this book takes place in and the son of the top two Council members is Adrian Everhart with their leadership skills and the ability to make whatever he draws come to life. There are also villains in this world of heroes called the Anarchists and within these villains is the niece of the formerly ruler of Gatlon City during the Age of Anarchy.

    Read More

  • Edna's Roles In The Awakening

    1386 Words  | 6 Pages

    Mother and wife are also not her will; she feels restrained and loses her liberty of being that. After she heard the playing from Adele, she feels the solitude and loneliness, it seems same as her position in this era, no one understands her and feels depress toward the people, the family she encountered. On the contrary, she is touched after hearing the pianist Mademoiselle Reisz plays. It is full of power and passion, and Mademoiselle is a woman that she wants to be, independent with alternative performance in this society, she is separated and not the one of them. Edna wants to know more about her and try to be like her, but the most essential element that a independent artist should has is bravery, this is what the pianist told Edna.

    Read More

  • Story Of An Hour Character Analysis Essay

    940 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” demonstrates the personal growth of the dynamic protagonist Louise Mallard, after hearing news of her husband’s death. The third-person narrator telling the story uses deep insight into Mrs. Mallard’s thoughts and emotions as she sorts through her feelings after her sister informs her of her husband’s death. During a Character analysis of Louise Mallard, a reader will understand that the delicate Mrs. Mallard transforms her grief into excitement over her newly discovered freedom that leads to her death. As Mrs. Mallard sorts through her grief she realizes the importance of this freedom and the strength that she will be able to do it alone.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader

    1417 Words  | 6 Pages

    Schlink’s narrative uses techniques to enhance the reader’s sympathy for flawed characters through using motifs and symbolism to show Hanna’s vulnerability of illiteracy, characterisation, and imagery to raise feelings of sympathy for Michael, as to how he was mistreated throughout the novel. Narration, tone and juxtaposition were also used to evoke feelings of sympathy for both Hannah and Michael after the tragedy of Hanna ending her own life. Although the narrative is constructed to only see the firsthand perspectives of the protagonists, this induces the reader’s empathy as it allows them to clearly see the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Schlink has used a variety of these literary techniques to appeal to the reader’s sympathy and allows the reader to understand the complexity and the way in which power and authority in certain situations can corrupt a

    Read More

More about Character Analysis Of Jillian Horton's 'The Bicycle'

Open Document