“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brothers was worth a pocket watch.” This quote from Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys was the beginning of a changing moment in my life. I never knew that at the age of 15 a book would change my life so much. Between Shades of Gray followed the story of a young Lithuanian girl and her family being ripped away from their home and being forced into a concentration camp in Siberia by the Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin. Up until that point of my life the only genocide we had ever been taught was the Holocaust which specifically targeted Jewish families at the hands of Adolf Hitler.
Although the chapter mainly focuses on Solomon Northup’s journey to Washington and kidnapping, Solomon’s actions and thoughts reveal a lot about him. An example is how the chapter conveys how innocent and optimistic he is and how he tries to see the best in people. Despite only seeing one performance from Merrill Brown to a scattered crowd, and never seeing the circus, Solomon still believes Brown and Hamilton to be who they say they are. His desire to find “present employment until the busy season should arrive” also shows his work ethic and what a hard worker he is. In addition, throughout the chapter, Solomon exhibits behaviour that reveals how observant he is.
His characters are usually ordinary, everyday people with problems readers see in their own lives. King uses his own life in characters as well, showing the hardships he went through before being famous. Thanks to Stephen King’s works, writers all over the globe have improved their own writing, creating a more enjoyable experience for readers everywhere. Stephen King is one of the most influential authors from the late nineteenth century to present day through works such as Bag of Bones and Full Dark, No Stars which has largely impacted American culture and continue to inspire people today. Stephen King once lived in a trailer barely getting through life, yet now is a multimillionaire as one of the greatest horror authors to ever live.
I can physically name the three biggest things in life he has taught me; hard work does pay off, there is never a reason to be down in the dumps for too long, and that when you’re happy you should never lose yourself in the pursuit for more happiness (that’s how you self-destruct). He more or less passed on the family business to me and my brother a couple of years, we all work around in the auction business. He won the world championship of “ringmanning” in 2008, 23 years after he started working in the business. He stayed humble, kept at what he was doing and developed a passion for it. He then turned that passion in to this world championship, when he created a name for himself he did it with me and my brother in mind.
Prior to the transformation, Gregor had always only been living for his family, due to his complete absorption in familial duties, bringing money “home every month – he had kept only a few florins for himself” (Kafka, 36), trapped at a job “he wished he could be rid of” (Kafka, 36). The extension of his alienation from the society is symbolized by the “picture…cut out of an illustrated magazine”, where he has a deeper attachment to the picture than an actual person. Hence, the transformation has freed him, which can be said to be a rebirth. From initially wanting to be “completely concealed” (Kafka, 38) to not frighten his family, to his aggressiveness in protecting the magazine cut-out, as “he squatted on his picture and…would sooner spring into Grete’s face” (Kafka, 44), the change can be observed whereby his familial responsibilities, for the first time, were not prioritized with his usual guilt towards his family being replaced with “sheer anger” (Kafka, 52). Yet, the “violin recital” (Kafka, 59) serves as the catalyst where “it was as if the way to the unknown nourishment he craved was revealing itself” (Kafka, 58), reigniting his “deep feelings of love” (Kafka, 64) for his family.
George continually sacrifices his own happiness to take care of Lennie. In the novel George and Lennie have a special friendship different from anyone else's. They go everywhere together, whereas most men travel alone and don’t have any friends. In the book Lennie says, “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family.
“[He] was able to escape the worst of [his] culture’s inheritance. And uneasy though [he is] about [his] new life, [he] cannot whine about it,” (253). The Hillbilly culture is full of poverty, however it explodes with family values and support from those who don’t battle with addiction. J.D. claims that, “the life [he] leads now was the stuff of fantasy during [his] childhood.
But then what was the evidence that was used to lock Adnan up for his whole life, there was no physical evidence that Adnan killed Hae and secondly none of the stories that Hae's friend make are really truthful to what actually happened mainly referring Jay at this point. Adnan and Hae broke up on November 3rd, and after a couple of days of broken feeling they went back to being really good friends with no hatred or sadness for each other. Adnan was also known as a "great guy" from around town and was really loved by friends and family, he was going to live up to everyone's expectations that he
I never really knew what suicide really was, or I would joke about it all the time not knowing what it could do to a whole family. Jaime was a big part of my life. We grew up together and he was basically my brother. We spent almost every waking moment together but at fourteen he ended his life. Suicide changed my whole outlook on life, how I see people.
Nick starts the book out as a loyal non-judgemental man and continues like this for the whole book. With every twist and turn he gets in the book, he never fails to stay to himself because that's the way he was raised. “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone,” he told me, “just remember that all of the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had.” this quote is in the beginning when Nick tells us that his dad said this to him and it has stuck with him ever since. This quote defines Nick and who he is and wants t be as a person. Nick has some ups and downs throughout the book but he never gives up on that motto.