ipl-logo

Theme Of Thirteen And A Half

479 Words2 Pages

Maybe lying is not the free key to an open door. Rachel Vail’s Thirteen And A Half and Gary Soto’s Seventh Grade share the same theme of to just tell the truth. While they share the same theme, both stories reach the theme different ways. First off, Thirteen And A Half and Seventh Grade both teach the audience to just tell the truth. In Thirteen And A Half, it has Ashley's mother who is the one lying to her daughter Ashley to try and keep her happy. However, when Ashley finds out, she explodes. For example on page four Ashley says, “Get Out! Get Out of my room! I want to be alone with sweet pea, or who ever this is! Get Out!” ( Rachel ). Even though Ashley's mom was just trying to keep her happy, Ashley went down the angry road, now Ashley is mad at her mom. Also in Seventh Grade, Victor (the main character) has a crush on a girl named Teresa, so he joined a french class with her trying to impress her. For example on page 121, the author claims, “Then he went to the public library, where he checked out three french books” (Gary) Similar to Thirteen And A Half, Victor does not know …show more content…

While one reaches the moral by lying to impress his crush, the other story is lying to keep others happy. For example on page 120 of Seventh Grade, the author says, “he tried to bluff his way out of it by making noises that sounded like french.” this is significant because the teacher called on Victor to answer a question, but he did not know it and tried to say random things. He didn't think he impressed Teresa, but he did. On the other hand, on page four of Thirteen And A Half, Ashley's mom says, “sweetpea was sort of a series of birds”. Even though, Ashley's mom lied to Ashley, she was just trying to keep Ashley happy and did not want to explain death to a three year old. (Ashley was three when she first got the bird). In all things, she just wanted her daughter to be happy, not

Show More
Related

  • The Red Kayak Priscilla Cummings: Analysis

    69 Words  | 1 Pages

    Have you ever told a lie? That lie that you told, did you have a lot of guilt and were you worried that your parents or someone was going to find out what you did or lied about? In the book the Red Kayak Priscilla Cummings shows us that how lying leads to worry, guilt, and shame. Lying leaves you wishing you had never lied it the first place.

    Read More

  • How Does Griffin Make Erick An Outcast In Bellport Forever

    1593 Words  | 7 Pages

    Recently moving into Bellport, 12 year old Eric Hayes needed new friends. Soon, he meets a popular boy who is also 12 named Griffin. They quickly became friends once Eric found out about Griffin’s kind heart after he saw Griffin helping old seniors with their groceries at a grocery store. But, when school started, Eric realized Griffin is not as good of a friend he first thought of, as Griffin is always bullying and stealing. Eric knew that this was wrong and wanted to do something to stop it

    Read More

  • Shirley Jackson's Charles Vs. The Open Window

    282 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Charles” written by Shirley Jackson is a story of a kindergartener named Laurie who lies with his parents in his kindergarten school days whereas the “The Open Window” written by Saki is of a girl named Vera who recounts a story about how her aunt lost her husband and two brothers in a tragic hunting accident. In these short stories both main character tells a lie to an adult. However, in my point of view, “Charles” is better than “The Open Window”. Shirley Jackson’s “Charles” is superior to “The Open Window” because Jackson’s story is that kind of story which every reader can relate with.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Al Capone Does My Shirts

    697 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Al Capone does my shirts” is a book that talks about what life is like for Moose Flanagan on Alcatraz island. Furthermore, Moose has to juggle his friends, his autistic sister, and a wild life with school. Towards the middle of the story we meet Piper and throughout the whole book she is getting Moose and their friends into trouble and putting them in awful situations. We get a feeling that Piper is just not a decent friend to Moose or the other kids. To add on, Moose’s sister, Natalie, has autism and her sickness is not yet known about in 1935.

    Read More

  • Teenagers Do Their Share Of Lying Analysis

    94 Words  | 1 Pages

    In “Teens Do Their Share of Lying”, an article written by Loretta Ragsdell reports why, when, and how teenagagers lie, as well as how we learned to lie so well. Ragsdell expresses her discoveries by gather many teens and questioning them on the situations they have told lies in, how they tell their lies and why they believe it is okay to lie in these situations. In conclusion, Ragsdell believes all teens do their share of lying, however, she now knows when, where, why, what, and how teens do their own share of lies.

    Read More

  • Dead Girls Don T Lie Analysis

    1488 Words  | 6 Pages

    "You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible." --Anton ChekhovIn (Daskal). This quote tells just how are the girls are feeling because it is impossible to know what to do without the girls trusting someone. In Jennifer Shaw Wolf’s books Breaking Beautiful and Dead Girls Don’t Lie uses the same stylistic elements. The stylistic elements she uses to portray her style are flashbacks, characters, and similar theme.

    Read More

  • Stephanie Ericsson The Ways We Lie Essay

    1190 Words  | 5 Pages

    Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims.

    Read More

  • Charles By Shirley Jackson Foreshadowing Essay

    508 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a result of Charles being the main attraction Laurie finds ways to be mischievous at home and at school while not getting caught. Their attention is always on Charles which lets them look past at all the atrocious stuff happening at home. Lying leads to more problems then it solves is the overall theme in the story “ Charles” By Shirley Jackson. When someone is dishonest to their parents and other people they are causing more work for them to clean up in the end.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis: The Ways We Lie By Stephanie Ericsson

    710 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Most people tend to believe that lying is a way of life, that without it the whole world could crumble and fall. While some tend to believe that any form of lying is a sin and there should be consequences. One author, Stephanie Ericsson, wrote “The Ways We Lie” published in 1993 she talks about how we all lie, it has become an everyday chore to make life easier. She begins by trying to strengthen the bond between the reader and writer showing how they are one of the same. She does this by referencing past experiences, adding informed opinions, and using quotes from other well acknowledged authors, her argument is strong throughout the whole article that lying isn’t just evil, it can be used for good when used the right way.

    Read More

  • Brideshead Revisited Themes

    258 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brideshead Revisited, a well-written novel by Evelyn Waugh explores many themes that can be applied to society today. Religion and the struggles that the characters face because of their faith seems to be a prominent theme throughout the book. Waugh appears to have a firm belief that religion can only bring harm to a person by ruining family relationships. For the Flyte family, religion only brings pain and suffering. Sebastian, an important character of this family, tells his friend Charles that he is part of a “mixed family religiously” (pg 98).

    Read More

  • Analyzing Victor's Character In The Story 'Seventh Grade'

    342 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, “Seventh Grade, “ Victor, the main character, learns that with hard work and dedication you will reach your goal, through his embarrassing moments on his first day of seventh grade. In paragraph 24, Victor is asked a question and he answers Teresa, then all of the girls in his class giggled because they figured that Victor has a crush on Teresa. An example of this is, at one point in the text Victor had met up with an old friend he was doing a weird scowl thing he had seen models do, so later on Victor had tried it and a girl looked at him and actually noticed him so he said to himself in his head maybe it does work maybe it really does. When it was lunch it was like Victor was in a maze when he was looking for Teresa, when

    Read More

  • The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime Honesty Analysis

    582 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people wonder is it wrong to lie or are there some situation where lying is the best option? In the book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, Mark Haddon shifts Christopher’s outlook on honesty and changed his outlook dramatically. Many people, including Christopher, believe in the statement “honesty is the best policy.” However while Christopher becomes more independent, he realizes that in some situations being dishonest might be the best answer. When his father lies to Christopher, Christopher follows his father’s actions and starts to comprehend when he must lie.

    Read More

  • One For The Murphys Character Analysis

    396 Words  | 2 Pages

    Do you know anyone who keeps people at a distance to avoid getting hurt? Well Carley Connors, the main character from One For The Murphys written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, keeps people at a distance to avoid getting hurt. For example, in the beginning Carley lies to Toni, her friend, about her life. She lies about Mrs. Murphy being her mother, the boys being her brothers, and Mr. Murphy being her father.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Eleven By Sandra Cisneros

    700 Words  | 3 Pages

    The teacher, Ms. Price picks up a sweater and asks the class if anyone is missing a sweater. A student says that it's Rachel's, and the teacher gives her the sweater without even thinking. Rachel thinks and speaks in a way that is very reminiscent of an eleven year old. There is a youthful, innocent tone in her voice, especially when she says “I wish I was one hundred and two instead of eleven” without actually thinking about the disadvantages of being that age. Throughout the day, she references home and how she longs to go home to celebrate with her family and eat cake.

    Read More

  • Like The Sun Short Story Analysis

    729 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many people would say that “Like the Sun” is about telling the truth is good but also can have consequences. People may say that say that “The Censors” is about striving and truthful living your life. Which both are very great life lessons and morals for anyone. Most would agree that both these short stories are very different, but have great morals behind them. But as the stories they are very different.

    Read More

More about Theme Of Thirteen And A Half

Open Document