Chasity: A Narrative Fiction

In his book The Promise Chaim Potok leads the reader on a heartbreaking journey full of spiritual conflict and decision. As a sequel to The Chosen, The Promise picks up with Reuven Malter, the main character and a Jewish man now in his mid-twenties, attending Hirsch University, a Jewish seminary in Brooklyn, New York. Reuven keeps his friendship with Danny Saunders, whom he met on a baseball field during his teenage years and later went to college with, even though they now go their separate ways as Reuven becomes a rabbi, and Danny practices psychology. During the summer Reuven dates Rachel Gordon, the niece of Abraham Gordon, a man excommunicated from the Jewish society, and meets Abraham’s son, Michael, a stubborn teen with a mental issue. Also, over the same summer Reuven’s father, David Malter, wrote a controversial book about the Talmud. These people along with Reuven’s ranting teacher, Rav Kalman, form the intricate web of conflicts and friendships in The Promise.

George Bemard Shaw once said, “We are all dependent on one another, every soul of on on Earth.” This incredibly true for the character Sal. She dependent on many people to know how to feel and do. This also relates on how she always depends on people she knows very well. In the book Walk Two Moons, by Sharon Creech, the external forces change Sal’s life dramatically.

“OW!” He exclaims, snatching his hand away from her face- moments after it moves away, she feels a small trickle of blood slide down her neck. She opens her mouth again to scream but stops dead in her tracks. A very cold and sharp object pokes lightly into the skin under her ear- and she realises that blood she felt wasn’t Rhett’s, it was her’s. “ I don’t want to hurt you Peony- but you screaming like that is going to attract an entire bloody swarm of walkers to flood this camp. After that neither of us will have supplies! So I suggest you sit down, shut up and-”

The poem “Making Sarah Cry” and the play “The Watsons go to Birmingham” have the similar theme of being different. In “Making Sarah Cry” Sarah is different from the other kids on the playground. In “The Watsons go to Birmingham” the Watson family have a different skin color so they are separated from whites to do everyday tasks. The texts, both share a similar theme but have different qualities. For example, in “Making Sarah Cry” only two people are excluded from playing with kids because of their differences. However, in “The Watsons go to Birmingham” an entire race is excluded from performing everyday tasks with whites because of their differences.

Jeannette Walls has a very rough childhood. To living in a RV to a car to a house,

I remember it being cold. Numbing. Something wet seeping into the backside of my red South Carolina sweatshirt. The faint scent of smoke filling my nostrils, bring a burning sensation to my eyes. I laid under a full crescent moon, my eyes refusing to stay open, my sight dimming. The once starry night now resembled a cluster of tiny white smudges engulfed by a grim lifeless mass. Just as my eyes were fully shut, I heard a distant yell, followed by a woman 's piercing shriek. My last thought, “What is happening to me.”

Jeannette and her siblings were often abandoned by their father because of his drinking problem. During one night at their new home, a stranger was able to sneak into their house and began to molest Jeannette. The children were forced to deal with the situation themselves due to their parent’s absence. She recounts, “We searched for him for a few blocks, Brian whacking at the bushes with

Jeannette’s family never had enough money to buy themselves a decent house, so they lived out of rugged shacks, old abandoned buildings, and even out in the desert without any form of shelter. The author would describe each new house that her family moved into in such a way that it would persuade the reader to have such strong feelings of hatred towards Jeannette’s mother and father. Neither Mr. Walls, nor Mrs. Walls could keep a job for any decent amount of time, so after living in a house for a little, the family would get behind on the payments and have to pack their things and move on to a new place. The most memorable example of these terrible houses is the house that the family bought in Welch West Virginia. On page 153, “We called the kitchen the loose-juice room, because on the rare occasion that we had paid the electricity bill and had power, we’d get a wicked electric shock if we touched any damp or metallic surface in the room.” This house had a precarious foundation, a leaking ceiling that turned into a deluge of water during even the lightest rains, no source of heat or air conditioning, thousands of bugs, and even filthy rodents. It was a house that would definitely not be suitable for raising four kids if the child protective service had made a visit. The author effortlessly made the reader feel how awful it was to live in Welch by describing her own hatred for

different. And I knew that there is something would happen to Boston. And you can see the people are tension or nervous and some of them were upset and sad.

The book is about Jeannette Walls’ childhood. She is the narrator of the book and the story starts by her looking out of her taxi’s window in New York City and seeing her mother digging through trash. From here, she starts telling the story of her childhood. It begins with her telling the story of how she was badly burned at three years old while trying to cook her own hot dog. She is in the hospital for a few days before her father shows up and takes her out without paying the hospital bills. A while after this, her father comes home and tells them they are leaving town. This becomes a regular occurrence for Jeannette. Her father is an alcoholic who struggles with keeping a job, and her mother is a failed artist. She also has three siblings,

The woman with the long black skirt opened the door, while wiping the tears from her eyes. A man on the other side of the door asked the woman, do you want to save your son. A boy with fair hair came running to the door when he heard the murmurs of his mother. The boy with the fair hair tried to listen but wasn 't able to hear the response the woman gave the man. The woman didn 't know if she should go through the nuclear war together or should save her son.

Being only six months old at the time of such a tragic event, I was not aware of the innocent lives being taken, heartbreaks, or prayers being said for loved one’s to live, with much sorrow in their voices, as I laid there in my cradle so unaware sleeping soundly. As years past, I began learning about 9/11 in school over the intercom for the morning announcements. Later throughout my education, my history teachers began teaching this attack as lessons. The cracking in their voices while holding back tears was heartbreaking to watch and learn as they went on with the lesson. In middle school, a classmate of mine told our class about how her dad’s friend had lost his life from the collapse. She expressed how she noticed that her dad was disconsolate

During the 19th century, women were overshadowed by the men of their household, therefore they had no sense of independence nor dominance. In Mary Freeman’s short story, “The Revolt of Mother,” the author presents Sarah Penn, a woman who takes a stand against her husband. In the beginning, the reader learns that Sarah is a hardworking mother and wife. She maintains the household work and meets her children needs. She is suddenly confused of her husband’s actions concerning their future. Sarah then decides to take charge and confront her husband. Throughout the story, the author presents a realistic view of the domestic power and counter forces within the Penn marriage as she develops Sarah’s role. Her leadership breaks traditions and influences generations to come. To brighten her family’s future, Sarah begins taking charge, altering their marriage and attitudes of her children .

This seriously couldn’t be happening. In the heat of the moment, anyone could’ve made the same mistake he had. It was absolutely ridiculous!

“The girl was running. Running for her life, in the hope of finding a safe haven for her and her family. She never looks back, the only indication her father was still behind her was his ragged breathing above her head, forming puffs of air in this cold morning. She suddenly stumbles on a root, but her mother secures her fall with a small wisp of air.