I viewed Howard Korder’s “Boy’s Life” on June 4th, at the Glenn Hughes Penthouse Theatre. The play follows the lives of Jack, Don, and Phil, three young professionals trying to figure out their love lives (played by Tim Moore, Nathan Wornian, and Denny Le respectively). The new college grads are all in different places in terms of relationships. Jack is married with a child, but seemed dissatisfied, most likely because his large personality could not handle the fact that his wife wore the pants in the family. Don is looking around, and finally finds Karen (played by Emma Brocker), an eccentric woman who puts Don is his place and forces him to grow up. And there’s Phil, a lost soul, with seemingly no chance to maintain a real relationship with
In the 1930's, Germany was overruled by an a tyrannical regime known as the Nazis. The Nazis believed solely in the racial superiority of Normadic-Germans, and used control over the flow of information through the country to keep these harmful views relevant and accepted. They did this by limiting allowed media intake and censoring any non-propaganda content. Anyone who spoke out against them or their philosophies was captured and killed or tortured. Despite rejecting these intentions, many citizens of Germany were forced to stay quiet for these reasons.
In the story “Growing Up” by Gary Soto, the message trying to be sent is to not take anything for granted. “‘Dad im not going this year’, Maria said to her father. He sat at the table with the newspaper in front of him”. Maria had the impression that she is too mature to go on their trip, so she decides to decline. The climax is at that time since her dad takes it wrong.
A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer is a biography about Dave Pelzer and how he managed to survive one of the worst child abuse cases ever reported in California. Dave’s life was full of starvation, torture, and cruelty from the age of four but it all came to an end at the age of twelve when his school officials reported
Maria is a teenage girl that does not want to go on vacation with her family. Maria says to her father, “Dad, I’m not going this year.” Resentment is not being thankful for or going against someone or something. In “Growing Up” Gary Soto conveys that one should not resent what one has using tone and mood, symbolism, and characterization.
In the book This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff, the author tells his story about growing up in the 50s. Toby had an unconventional life, with his mother always dating abusive boyfriends, he never had a normal family. Toby had many adventures throughout this book and his personality traits lead him to the army in the end. "Then I went into the army. I did so with a sense of relief and homecoming...
In a person’s childhood, most of their major decisions that they are faced with in life are made by their parents or guardians. Parents make the decisions for them because they want the best for their children, and want them to have a good chance to survive in the real world when they reach adulthood. After childhood however, they must make decisions for themselves, which will eventually lead them towards their dreams or the life their parents were afraid of. In the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, the decisions that were made for the author Wes Moore, led him away from living the life of a criminal, to living the life of a very successful man. In his life, Wes’s mom (Joy) made most of the important decisions that led him to success.
In the poem “First Grade” by Ron Koertge, the writer uses diction and symbolism to reveal his meaning: school can kill one’s imagination. “Until then”, or before the present, the author had creativity and believed that “every forest had wolves in it”. He extends on this idea by saying that he loves to “wear snowshoes all the time” and “talk to water”. Yet, when he enters first grade, he witnesses the woman with the “gray breath” assigning the students’ seats. He describes the teacher’s breath being gray to show that the teacher and the school lack liveliness and imagination.
Boys to Men In the essay What Does “Boys Will Be Boys” Really Mean, the author Deborah Roffman explains how people perceive and classify boys to be extremely messy in their actions and continuously receive passes for their unacceptable behavior. In the essay How Boys Become Men, the statement “Boys Will Be Boys” expresses how the rules boys set for themselves in their childhood unintentionally effects the decisions they make in their adulthood. The two essays focus on different situations but they come together with the same opinion about men and boys; of whom they focus on the most. One essay focuses mainly on how boys behave and the reason why people classify them the way they do, whereas, the other essay focuses on the effects of how boys learn to behave a certain way and grows into adolescents with the same behavior.
Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme. First and foremost, in “Growing Up,” Gary Soto’s theme is how society acts older than they are and that they just want to prove they are mature. Maria wants to stay home instead of going
Black Boy Book Review Richard Wright begins his biography in 1914 with a story of his never-ending curiosity and need to break the rules. Although this biography only extends through the early years of his life, Wright manages to display the harsh world that a black member of society faced in the South during the time of the Jim Crow laws. Wright explains the unwritten customs, rules and expectations of blacks and whites in the south, and the consequences faced when these rules are not followed strictly.
The road to manhood is not an easy road to travel on for many boys. Junior in my opinion does not follow the Code of Conduct outlined in the "How Boys Become Men" article by Jon Katz. In Katz' article he has a specific set of 6 rules to follow in order to become a man. Some of these rules are things such as "don’t be a snitch" or "let boys fight their own battles". Junior from "The Absolutely True Story of A Part-Time Indian" does conform to some of the rules highlighted by Katz but for the most part he does not.
Upon completing A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer for a second time, I am completely convinced becoming an educator is my purpose in life. The first time I read this book was in middle school and although the book did stir up a lot of my emotions and was a difficult read, it does not compare to the effect it had on me as I read it for a second time as an older woman. Dave Pelzer wrote a memoir that highlighted the horrific abuse he received from his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother, all while living with his father, siblings, and attending school. The book expresses the torturous, unpredictable games his mother would play with him. These games took a physical, emotional, and mental toll on Dave’s life and this is all evident through his description of the abuse and his desire to no longer live.
Reaching the American Dream is frequently portrayed as requiring individual effort and tenacity. This narrative holds that everyone can prosper in America if they put in the effort and seize the opportunity. The memoir "Growing Up" by Russell Baker, however, provides a different viewpoint on the difficulties and complications of realizing the American Dream, particularly during the Great Depression. Baker's own experiences highlight the effects of financial stress on people and families.
The book I have chosen to review is Boy 21, a fictional read that is written by Matthew Quick. Quick is a New York Times best-selling author debuting in novels such as The Silver Linings Playbook and Love May Fail. To best describe this book, it is a captivating read that is comforting for the mind, as it canvasses the raw and unflinching life of a high school senior who displays love for basketball and life relationships. Furthermore, set in a troubled Belmont city of Philadelphia, Quick incorporates the presence of mobs and violence which is captivating towards the reader and audience. I was intrigued about how the novel was written through Finley the main protagonist, which was Quick’s childhood perspective of life in Philadelphia and his passion towards basketball.
Book review – Boyhood The novel ‘’ boyhood ‘’ (1997) is written by the author J.M. Coetzee and is about a young boy and his childhood in South Africa in the town Worcester. The boy in the book is the author Coetzee and his life between the age 10 to age 13 and his way to adjust to the society and to find himself as a person. The book describes the love and the hate that Coetzee has for his mother, and the shame that he feels for his father combined with the isolation from his classmates. Boyhood is not only about Coetzee himself but also about South Africa and the apartheid.