Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class.
Who is Doris and why is she so important? Doris is the main character in the stray by Cynthia Rylant, and she is the one who found the stray dog. Doris is kind and likes to help animals because she brought the puppy in her home. Doris also has a kind heart toward animals because most people would just leave the stray dog outside to freeze and starve which is not very kind. In the stray Doris’s dad is starting to be giving because he let the Doris keep the stray puppy. Here is a riddle - Who is cold and hungry? The stray dog! The stray dog is cold because it is out in the winter with no food and no shelter and it is in need of someone like Doris to help the dog. Doris likes to help strays, that is an interesting fact because not all people like animals it Ties into the stray because Doris is helping a stray animal get home. (It is her home, you will find that out if you read the story)
In Chapter 9-14 Holden Caulfield leaves Penecy Prep and heads to New York City. Where he will stay for a couple days before winter vacation starts and he will head home. Delaying breaking the news to his family he got kicked out of school for as long as possible. These chapters are where Holden’s loneliness becomes abundantly clear. The reader is subjected to many long rants by Holden about the company he wants, though he attempts to settle several times. Betraying the strict rules he appears to had made for himself on not interacting with ‘phonies’. This is the type of person he has made clear he hates and never will become.
Girl, Interrupted, written by Susanna Kaysen in 1967, is a thought provoking memoir following her and fellow parents’ tragic and twisted experiences in McLean Mental Hospital. As a young adult Susanna Kaysen tried to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of pills and following it with a bottle of alcohol. Her parents were very worried about her and suggested her to go to a doctor that her dad once knew. Kaysen visited the doctor who, after talking to her for a while, requested that she be sent to one of the best mental hospitals in her area. She had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She voluntarily left her parents, her boyfriend, her job; Susanna had to completely leave behind her life as she knew it. Once arriving at McLean the reader is quickly introduced to the patients that live there with her. Susanna introduces the patients that she became close with during her stay. For example, Polly, a young girl who was described as courageous and having a fiery personality. Another girl, Lisa, she was never predictable and always entertained the other residence with her imagination and her want to escape the ward. Susanna also introduces Georgia, her roommate, Daisy, a seasonal patient, and Cynthia, a patient with serious depression. Lisa Cody shows that even in a hospital girls can still be very cruel. Lisa Cody quickly became friends
The Perks of being a Wallflower is a story about a high school freshman named Charlie. Through the entire novel Charlie is writing letters addressed to an anonymous friend. In these letters, he talks about his journey throughout his first year in high school. Where he experiences everything for the first time – first dates, family drama, drugs and new friends. In other words; growing up.
“Virgins”, by Danielle Evans, is a tragic story narrated by a young girl who places what she views as “inevitability” into her own terms. The protagonist of the story is Erica, a young, physically well-developed girl who has her own view on men and what exactly they want from her. Throughout the story, a constant battling environment surrounds her, and one side of her keeps pushing her to the verge of giving up everything - even her virginity. Evans uses the title of the story to question the importance of finite as virginity in relation to the value of a woman’s body. Through the use of character development, plot, themes, language and style, setting and figurative language, she is able to come up with a true proposal of the both self-value,
From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.
‘The perks of being a wallflower’ is a popular book read mostly among teenagers, it revolves around the life of an introverted boy called Charlie. This book is a rollercoaster of human emotions and an excellent portrayal of “misfits” as they struggle to find their place in the turbulent high school world. The readers have greeted this premise with empathy and understanding. Charlie’s haunting letters, addressed only to “Dear Friend,” bring readers straight to the heart of his struggles to fit in, to find the will to “participate” in life, and to cope with the realities of the larger world as he learns how to grow up. ‘the perks of being a wallflower’ is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Stefen Chbosky and published in 1999. It is Chbosky 's most famous work, and it has been translated into 31 languages and has remained on the New York times Bestseller list for several years. Chbosky has revealed in interviews that many of the characters in the novel are based on people he went to high school with or interacted with as a young man. However, he hasn’t identified these individuals, with one exception: the character Bill, a high school English teacher, was based on Chbosky 's mentor Stewart Stern,
He sees things. He keeps quiet. He understands. The Perks of Being a Wallflower’s main character Charlie, is a wallflower: reserved, isolated, and observant. Like a fly on the wall, he stays in the background, and goes unnoticed by many. In fact, he has not felt true recognition since he was a child, when his Aunt Helen visited from time to time. Aunt Helen made him feel loved and wanted, however, as a child, he did not recognize her actions for what they truly were: sexual abuse. Throughout his life, Charlie experiences flashbacks of moments spent with his Aunt, eventually understanding her actions as sexual misconduct, and suffering from the emotional turmoil stemming from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although the typical representation of PTSD in movies can often alienate viewers, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an exception, because Charlie’s flashbacks allow us to be empathetic to his situation, normalizing the stigma around suicidal-depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
The film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, follows the story of Charlie as he braves through the challenges of freshman year. Throughout his first year, Charlies experiences friendship, alienation, love, mistakes, depression, acceptance of past events and newfound motivation. With the help of his love interest Sam, her stepbrother Patrick, and other likeminded individuals, Charlie is able to gain a sense of belonging and a boost of confidence that ensures his survival for the high school years yet to come (Halfon, Chbosky, 2012). This essay will delve into an in-depth analysis of adolescence from a socio-cultural perspective, using events from the film to provide examples and further enhance arguments. Furthermore, topics highlighting what I believe to be the most crucial aspects of adolescence will be discussed. The analysis of hegemonic masculinity, age induced frustration and restrictions, and the discourse of innocence will be defined and elaborated on. Finally, a comparison between the socio-cultural and developmental lenses of youth analysis, the unique view they each offer and my personal experience using the socio-cultural lens, will be discussed.
“The Undercurrent” by Kellie Young is a story of a mother and daughter’s relationship that takes place in Hawaii throughout Young’s childhood. It describes to readers how her mother has influenced her life by becoming an admonitory voice inside her head. The impact Young’s mother has on her is widely due to the amount of admiration Young has for her.
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes. Holden’s obsession stems from his fear that he may become a phony one day. So, he spends the book running from adulthood by doing childish things and struggling to keep his life from changing.
If we were able to make our children smarter, better looking, or more athletic, should we? Amy Sterling Casil had that exact scenario in mind when she wrote her short story, Perfect Stranger in 2006. Written in the first-person narrative that takes place in the distant future, Casil weaves a terrifying story of genetic alteration to “fix” our children’s flaws. What harm can it cause if gene therapy is performed as an elective procedure rather than medical necessity? Gary and Carolyn, expecting parents, find out their little boy will need gene therapy while still in the womb if they hope to spare him from a fatal heart condition. Due to the therapy, their little boy, Denny, is born healthy. As time goes on they are presented with opportunities to make him smarter, thinner, and more athletic. In turn, Gary questions if they have made the right moral decision concerning their son. Furthermore, what happens to the relationship between a father and his son when the son becomes a perfect stranger? Perfect Stranger illustrates how a parent’s decision to change pieces of their son’s genetic makeup cannot only change what makes him who he is but, can also have a negative impact on the people around him.
“So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.” (2). The book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, written by Stephen Chbosky, has a very bumpy storyline featuring a teenager named Charlie. Charlie starts out his freshman year with no friends, but he eventually he meets Sam and Patrick, two seniors at his school. Stephen Chbosky uses many different rhetorical devices to foreshadow tramas that occured in Charlie’s early childhood. The director, Stephen Chbosky, makes the viewer really grasp the depressing and gloomy mood and emotion of Charlie, as he goes through his frightening first year of high school. To transition from the book to the movie, Chbosky uses different types of cinematic techniques. In the book, Stephen Chbosky, makes the reader feel involved in Charlie 's life by using description, imagery, and -------. In the movie, Stephen Chbosky uses dutch-angle, flashback, and tracking-shot to show the mood of the scene.
Kathleen Raine , the author of “Passion” ,manages to convey and portray her journey of thoughts towards happiness using certain phrases and meanings . Overcoming the heartbreak that unrequited love brings ,which she clearly suffered from . But eventually manages to overcome her feelings of depression and realizes throughout the poem that her happiness connects strongly to nature .