"Ocean At The End Of The Lane" and "The Garbage King:" Comparitive essay

"Everybody wants to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down” Oprah Winfrey once said. In the books “The Garbage King” by Elizabeth Laird and “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane” by Neil Gaiman, a similar universal truth is explored, relating to the quote above. One of the themes both books explore is pertaining to the effect of money on relationships. That it is not the money that affects you negatively or positively, but rather how you let yourself get affected by money.

In “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane,” we spectate a fight between a husband and a wife over money. The husband accuses the wife of doing illegal things when he sees her purse stashed with money. “She says she doesn’t know where they [the shrilling notes] came from, and he doesn’t believe her. He doesn’t know what to believe.” This particular scene shows how money can affect your relationships negatively and shatter existing trust. Here, the money was the catalyst for their fight, but the couple could have taken it forward another way instead of fighting, even though some may think otherwise.

In “The garbage King,” by Elizabeth Laird, we notice how the two main characters, Dani and Mamo, bond over time because of the lack of money. “He was completely dependent on Mamo, for food and water and everything. If Mamo deserted him, he’d either have to go back outside and get picked up by the police or stay, a prisoner, right here in this cemetery until he starved to death.” In this particular example from the garbage King, we understand how reliant Dani is. After living a life filled with money and material, he realizes the true meaning behind friendship because of Mamo, which just becomes stronger everyday because the lack of money.

Even though these two scenarios are very different, we can find similarities between them. In both the books, it is up to the characters whether they will use the stick or not after the author gives them the carrot. For instance, in the garbage King, Mamo and Dani’s relationship could have ended [the stick] the moment Dani gave Mamo money [the carrot] to buy some food for both of them. Inspire of finally being able to hold a 10 birr note, Mamo was true to his word and came back to help Dani. After this, both boys trusted each other with their lives, instead of letting the money ruin their relationship.

Some may counter this by saying that it is not the people who chose to be affected by money. They may say that instead of the money being the one affecting you, it is the situation you deal with. While both of these might be valid, many situations in life are challenging. The authors chose to show money as a greater threat, even standing on it’s own, instead of just being a mere factor in a situation where someone's relationship is affected.

In conclusion, both “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane” and “The Garbage King” explore the theme of money and it’s important in our lives. Without money, we wouldn’t be able to do much. Readers might conclude that ultimately, it is up to us to chose how we are affected by money. Like in everything in life, there is a reaction. It is up to us whether we chose for that reaction to become a positive or a negative factor in our lives.

By Ananya

Parents these days commonly frown upon children sitting in a dark room, eyes locked on their screen, backs hunched and thumbs consistently slamming against a clicker playing video games as they believe that it is a waste of time. A sight that would make any parent worried especially when the games promotes cruel behaviour. There are also cases where parents absolutely isolate their children from any sort of violence as they feel like it is a bad influence on their kids, but does the violence in games contribute to youths violence? Although lots of parents disagree with video games, there is always two sides to a story.

As has been mentioned, playing video games do come with a price. Studies have shown that too much gaming can be linked to addiction, depression and more acts of violent behaviour. The players learn to associate violence with pleasure like in the “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out”, winning by shooting people. This undermines moral sensitivity. These games also influence players to behave like a criminal and to intentionally hurt others, as the players practise these violent behaviour hundreds and thousands a time.

Similarly to anything, their are also pros. Yes, video games do have a light at the end of a tunnel. Video games aren’t all that bad for adolescents in fact, it is shown that games can be brain-training tools which can improve skills of critical thinking, problem solving, quick thinking, multi-tasking, collaboration, task switching, accuracy and memory. An example of collaboration and creative thinking is in the “High-Jinks: Shoot-out” by Guy Martin, a group of innovative seniors, with “Walgreens-Issue water pistols”, waited outside of their opponents house, with the help of teamwork, used a cell phone to pretend to be one of his teammates. This was a way for them trick him in coming out of the house so they can shoot him in order to win the game. Unintentionally, when playing games, it is often a frustrating learning experience that requires you to repeatedly problem solve learn new strategies in games. James Paul Gee, an author who wrote about the impact of video games, suggests that you even learn “the scientific method” through the necessary trail and error of figuring out how to meet goals in the game. Believe it or not, even the kind of controller, whether being Wii remote, X-box remote, keyboard or mouse, it helps with multi-tasking and hand-eye coordination. The use of having to keep eyes on the screen while using the remote to control the game with accuracy, helps children learn how to use both hands and eyes cooperatively. It is also said that surgeons were faster and more efficient at an operation- like surgery tests after playing video games. On top of that, studies have shown that video games help improve reflexes and quick thinking as players are repeatedly on a lookout for something attacking them.

Contrary to popular belief violent video games are not the cause of the increase in violence in the world. As a matter of fact, from 1990 to 2008 studies have shown that while violent video games sales increased, violence around the world has decreased. Violent video games make up about 11.7 of the world’s economy, if people were to ban video games, it would put about 32,000 people out of jobs.

Playing games with a friend, may be better then playing alone. The positive from teamwork, is that multiplayer games is likely to counterbalance some of the negative effects of virtual violence. To avoid negative effects cause by gaming from happening, it is advised for children to have a balanced life with real-life face to face interaction with people in a good environment. The violence in games doesn’t have to influence kids, as long as children have a balance of game time and having real life interaction being able to use the positive skills they learn from video games. We don’t want kids to develop a “game brain” where all they associate life with are games. 

Due to the popularity of video games, completely eliminating them from your child’s life might be difficult. However, you can decrease the negative impact that they could have on your child, like knowing the rating of the game, not installing video game equipment in his or hers bedroom and supervising the amount of game time a child spends. 

Banning violent video games as a way to “protect”kids, would not make a difference. Violent videos have actually decreased crime rates and are teaching kids skills such as problem solving. Banning violent video games would put thousands out of work. It may seems like a good idea, but it wouldn’t shield children from violence. Many parents blame the video game manufacturers for violence, but it’s actually the parents responsibility to monitor.

By Elizabeth

Literary Essay: Aristotle and Dante, Speak

For most people, conversations about rape and homosexuality are ones that are commonly avoided. Most kids are not educated about these topics and this might lead to them struggling to seek for help. This could be because of a community's belief of it being sinful. This would leave people feeling isolated or like an outcast. This message came clear in the books “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson and “Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe” by Benjamin Alire Saenz. Both authors use inner thinking as a tool to effectively show emotions and to prove that people we frequently interact with would shape a part of who we become.

In “Speak” an outcast called Melinda was introduced. She starts 9th grade alone with no companions by her side. During the summer of the previous year, she was sexually assaulted during a party. This act sealed her lips and turned her into an outcast. Melinda belongs to a busy family. Her family rarely talk, they “communicate with the notes on the kitchen counter. I write when I need school supplies or a ride to the mall. They write what time they’ll be home from work and if I should thaw anything. What else is there to say?” Melinda rarely talks to her parents so she doesn't know how to go up to them and talk about what happened last summer. “I don’t have time for this Melinda” was the response that Melinda got the night after she harmed herself. She was left speechless after this. If her family doesn't care about her, who will? Melinda’s family is a part of the reason that she couldn’t open up to anyone about the event that occured last summer. Melinda’s parents seem to overreact over the smallest things: grades, room decorations, seasons. This could be another reason why she didn’t tell them about what happened because of the fear that they might take drastic measures to ensure their daughter is alright.

The story “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” revolves around the friendship of two boys, Aristotle and Dante. Dante frequently interacted with were his parents and Aristotle. His relationship with his parents is like one with friends. He is aware of the fact that his parents trust and respect him. Even when he is treated this way, he is still afraid to talk to them about his feelings towards Aristotle. He did this because he was afraid of disappointing his parents because of who he was becoming, as he was an only child. Also, the act of kissing another of the same gender in a public space got him into a hospital ICU. This proves that people and rules that are set shape parts of who we become.

Aristotle’s relationship with his parents is one that shapes a big part of who he has become. His relationship with his dad is a shallow one. This changes after the car accident where he jumped in front of a car to protect Dante. Eventually, they found some things in common (Bad dreams, books, driving lessons and his brother). He doesn't talk as openly with his father as he does with his mother. Aristotle wasn’t one who had many companions but, his relationship with his mother was one like close friends. They knew each other pretty well. Even if this is, he is really hesitant to talk about his feelings for Dante and to ask questions about his brother, “Thats what I did with everything. Keep it inside”. Aristotle got into a fist fight once and his parents got very worried because his brother got into prison because he had killed someone with his bare fists. “I’m not my brother” Aristotle said and then promised himself that he wouldn’t turn into his brother. Past events, parental pressure and expectations shape who you become.

Even though people say that everyone is different and it is important to be your own original person, but in most cases, our families and the people we frequently interact with make some sort of mark on us. As Anne Frank said once said, ““Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.” As people, we should be committed to care and listen to anyone who might require assistance of any kind. Even the smallest actions can make large impacts.

By Manini 

Ocean At The End Of The Lane: Thematic Essay

Neil Gaiman’s book, “Ocean At The End Of The Lane,” is a dystopian novel narrating the childhood of a man [the narrator]. The seven year old version of the man recalls his past, where crazy magical things happened. In the book, Neil Gaiman explores how money holds the power to alter interactions with friends and family, change it’s own value and peoples personalities.

A particular scene in “Ocean At The End Of The Lane” teaches that the greed and paranoia money causes can lead to conflict between people. One example of this is when an argument breaks out between a couple. The husband accuses his wife of doing illegal things when he sees her purse stashed with money, but the wife claims she doesn’t know where it all came from.This causes tension and paranoia between the two, and the trust in his wife is diminished.

In reality, all this money had been put in her purse without her knowledge or consent by Ursula Monkton, who the Hemstocks call “a flea”, the antagonist of the story. “Something’s [the ‘flea’] causing trouble. It’s giving people money. In their dreams and in real life.” Ursula Monkton believed that the principal reason everyone was unhappy because of money problems. Now, some may argue “everyone wants money ,” and it is what gives them happiness. But as evidenced above, this is not always the case.

Ursula Monkton’s decision to give money to the people, assuming it would resolve all their problems, wasn’t very realistic. Despite her seemingly good intentions, the real problem was the fact that she gave them the money and more so, anonymously. This is significant because the characters and their relationships with each other begin to fall apart with this unknown source of wealth, creating further problems.

The book also has evidence pertaining to how we base our dreams in anticipation of wealth and how these dreams fall like dominoes when things don’t work out as expected. One such example of this is when the main character is told that he’d won the premium bonds, a competition all babies are entered in when they’re born. He becomes greedy and ambitious; “I already knew what I was going to do with it. I would buy a place I could go be alone, like a bat cave with a hidden entrance.” When he is informed that he’d won only 25 pounds, he is disappointed and alters his dreams accordingly.

Money, especially the lack of it, can overpower you with negative emotions like sadness and jealousy. Taken as a whole, the smallest issues can occasionally turn into the biggest arguments relating to money, as is evidenced in conflict in relationships. Being in control of money can make you take drastic measures to keep it in your possession; “A lady in that house has gone mad. [...] She has money in the mattress. Now she won’t get out of bed, in case someone takes it from her.” This shows how money changes it’s own value depending on who possesses it. The lady in that house obviously didn’t have much money before the “anonymous” source gave it to her. That money meant so much to her. If compared to someone very rich, these measures wouldn’t have been taken to keep it in possession.

Some may argue that while this may be true, money can also make people happy, if you let it. Depending on how it is used, money can make powerful changes in the world. Instead of letting money get in the way with people and things, it can be used for a better purpose. It gives people the ability and power to make a difference in lives and give back to society by creating a livelihood through job opportunities.

In conclusion, having money allows us to function more easily in the world, provide comfort in our lives and in the lives of others. However, because attachment to money is based on fear, it always creates insecurity. The desire to have more money, and thereby feel more secure, never ends. Security can never come from money alone. Some of the people who have the most money are also the most insecure. Therefore, it is all about creating the optimal balance.

By Ananya

Authors Craft Essay: 'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson

Most people go through a phase where they feel like they’re voice is unheard. That phase where the words that roll out of their tongue simply vanish into the thin air. Similarly in the story “Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson, a girl found herself silenced because of a rape incidence earlier in her life. Over time, she finds her voice and the courage to speak her mind. The girl, Melinda, enters high school at the start of the book, she starts alone. She is nervous and retreats into a shell whenever she has to interact with people. Author Laurie Halse Anderson used techniques like symbolism and flashbacks to keep readers predicting, so that they could make an effort to understand why Melinda is so introverted and how her character will evolve through the book.

From the start of the book Melinda was introduced as a shy and introverted 9th grader. With every new page, a bit more was revealed about her. This helped build the readers curiosity and made the reader want to keep reading further to understand more about the character. The author would talk about melinda now and then and then occasionally flip back to the summer and to what happened back then. The author probably did this to build up suspense and gradually develop the cause and effect aspect of Melinda’s present character. The author also revealed more information about Melinda and her friends at a slow pace and probably deliberately to keep the reader anxious to find out more.

The dominant symbol throughout the story are trees. Laurie found an easy way to do this, she engraved her symbol into something that Melinda does at school. Art. At the start of the year, Melinda got to pick a chit of paper with her art assignment on it. Trees. In my opinion, the trees mentioned represent growth of this character. At times, Melinda would not be able to draw trees, this probably symbolized struggle. “I can’t bring it to life” she would say and then give up on drawing fauna. Her trees would be ‘lifeless’ perhaps symbolizing her own inability to speak and interact socially with life around her. The act of giving up could symbolize losing hope after trying to do something over and over again and rarely succeeding. Time spent in the art room is described as tedious and challenging. Maybe this meant that change is a slow and a tiresome process. Finally, at the end of the year Melinda was able to draw trees successfully. This shows relief and strength. The symbol allowed the reader to track Melinda’s character grow as the story progresses?

People might have missed this but, another symbol that has been mentioned repeatedly were Melinda’s lips. Melinda often criticized her lips of being cracked and dry. This could possibly symbolize not taking sufficient care of herself or to symbolize something rarely used. She once said that she didn’t recognize her lips, as though she was talking about not recognizing who she was turning into. It might also show confusion or being unsure of how to manage a situation. Melinda really struggled with speaking up, and she often questions if people would care about what she has to say “would they listen?” or “would they believe me?”. Her lips were the perfect symbol that would help us understand that she hasn’t spoken for a while and wasn’t going to speak up any time soon, which is why it was dry and uncared for. This got me predicting about the end, would she finally speak up? would someone help her to find her voice?

Speaking up isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and we should respect that. Some people just don’t know how to or are not comfortable to express themselves verbally and they might end up using alternatives, just like how Laurie was able to use trees, Melindas lips and flashbacks as tools to speak for Melinda’s feelings. The effects of events in the past have large impacts on our present selves, this has come out well throughout the story. I, myself, am going to commit to listening up, genuinely care, and try and help someone in a similar situation. I am hoping, but who knows, if there are more Melindas amongst us in real life?

By Manini 

'The Catcher in The Rye' & 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower': Comparative Essay

Selma Lagerlof once said “Nothing can make up for the loss of one who has loved you,” Growing up and discovering oneself is hard enough, without the added trauma of losing someone close to you. J.D Salinger’s “The Catcher In The Rye” and Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” both revolved around confused teenage boys who have lost a lot and are therefore unsure about who they are and what they feel. These two “coming-of-age” novels explore the individuality of pain, and the different ways people must deal with it.

Both books are narrated in first person, creating an intimacy between the characters and the reader. This intimacy creates a connection that makes the audience truly care about the outcome of the characters, no matter how hopeless it may seem. This is especially effective in the audience understanding the motivations of the characters based on their distressing pasts. Holden, from J.D Salinger’s “The Catcher In The Rye,” and Charlie, from Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” both go through very similar traumatic experiences, ranging from witnessing forms of date rape to the loss of a treasured love one. These experiences, though similar, result in two boys with completely different personalities, both going through the same sorrow. Taking their similar experiences in the death of a loved one for example, Holden losing his brother Allie caused him to become angrier and more cynical in his outlook on life. This is portrayed by Salinger’s use of Holden’s harsh commentary, that remained true to the characters, on those around him, constantly using words like “ugly” and “phony”. Meanwhile, Charlie losing his Aunt Helen and best friend resulted in a desperate need for companionship, making Charlie more trusting and forgiving of others. At one point in Salinger’s narrative, Holden states “Everytime you mention a guy that’s strictly a bastard [...] She’ll mention how he has an inferiority complex. Maybe he has, but that still doesn’t keep him from being a bastard,” revealing that he holds people accountable for their actions no matter the reasoning behind them doing so. Charlie, however, has to be taught this lesson by his father, and still continues to be more forgiving than most people would be.

The experiences of these two characters shaped their personalities, but also led to their isolation while they attempted to understand the pain these situations inflicted upon them. “‘Well are you dancing at these dances?”he asked. ‘I’m not a very good dancer.’” Charlie’s desperation for companionship, after the death of his Aunt and his friend, keeps him from participating in fear of looking stupid and repelling anyone who might previously have wished to interact with him. This lack of participation keeps Charlie from interacting with other people, and leaving him stranded on his island of isolation. Though Salinger explores the same idea of isolation, the main character in his book, Holden, is isolated for a very different reason. The audience of this narrative can assume that the loss of his brother changed him. “I know he’s dead! Don’t you think I know that? [...] Especially if [he] was about a thousand times nicer than the people [I] know that are alive and all!” After his brother’s death, Holden began to compare everyone to his brother, in order to fill that gap in his life. When someone doesn’t live up to Allie, his brother, Holden pushes them away, furthering his isolation.

As these books progress, the authors implicitly hint at a gateway out of isolation for the two characters. Salinger makes it obvious that Phoebe is the one person Holden trusts and wants to be around. Slowly the reader can also infer that Holden seeks stability and a constant in his life. From constantly changing boarding houses, he wants familiarity and comfort while he processes and moves on from Allie’s death, something he still hasn’t fully done. He wants “certain things [to] stay where they are.” He wants things to not change while he copes and moves past the tragedy he has faced. By the end of this narrative, Holden is able to recognise this and takes steps to cope and eventually, move on. Chbosky hints at Charlie having a way to cope as well, however it is vastly different from Holden’s. While Holden needed stability and comfort to understand his feelings, Charlie required change to stop mulling over his and seal that once raw pain for good. His “participation” is a distraction, and the friends he makes along the way assist him in learning to live outside his head, and giving his trust to only a selected few. All of this helps him to transition into a new portion of his life, as he has already processed his loss and now needs to move past it, as he begins to do.

Charlie and Holden both struggle with either understanding, or moving past their emotions, proving that grief is handled in many different ways and is not a step by step process. Trying to understand who you are while also dealing with the loss of someone you love is not easy, but as these characters have proven, is possible. The process is messy and long and the progress jumps back and forth, being great at a moment, and as if you just lost them in the next moment. All of this leaves a question to be asked - Is there a “most efficient” way to cope with death? And if there is, why aren’t more people aware of it?

By Akanksha

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Author's Craft

In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky, the protagonist, teenage Charlie, finds himself alone after a traumatising childhood, including the death of his aunt, and the suicide of his best friend, the two only people he trusted. This loneliness causes him to constantly worry about relating to others and forming connections, connections which would be a way out of his isolation. Stephen Chbosky uses flashbacks, first person narrative, and symbolism to show Charlie’s longing for ways to relate.

Chbosky’s use of letters to narrate the story is the first thing that hints at Charlie’s loneliness. Chbosky uses the letters in order to demonstrate his urgent need for companionship. Charlie begins his first letter “I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have,” immediately revealing to the audience that he needs someone to be there for him. Someone to listen, and someone to understand. Chbosky uses the letters to confirm Charlie’s lack of proper attention in his immediate life and therefore his need to write letters to someone he has never met, simply in order to have someone he can talk to. As the book progresses, and Charlie finds real people that know and appreciate him, the letters became a place for him to understand himself. He even states in one of his last letters “how [letters] were better than a diary because there is communion and a diary can be found,” further developing the idea that Charlie simply needed to figure out his feelings in a way where he felt understood, and a part of something. He needed to feel as if someone cared.

Charlie’s need to know that people understood, and cared, seems to have developed at a young age, as expressed by Chbosky’s use of flashbacks. “When I was very little, I remember going to sleep while my brother and sister and Aunt Helen watched [TV Shows]. I could never stay awake when I was that little and I wish I could, because my brother and sister talk about those moments sometimes.” Charlie yearns to be able to relate with his siblings over anything, even something as small as staying up to watch television. This can be linked to both Charlie’s loneliness and the insecurities he has based around his importance in other people’s lives. Charlie’s requirement to feel needed leads to his tendency to “be there” for people, even if they really need honesty. Numerous time throughout the book, Charlie remains in situations most people would not be in, simply because he enjoys the attention. Charlie remained an accomplice in his friend Patrick’s drunken ways to cope with pain, because he enjoyed being the one Patrick wanted around. This has been a trend since his childhood, where people’s trust in him makes him feel like they trust him to understand. “I walked to the kitchen, and I saw my dad making a sandwich... and crying. [...] Then, he walked up, patted my shoulder, and said, “This is our little secret, okay, champ?” When Charlie has meaningful one-on-one interactions with people, he feels as though he is important enough for the other person to share that with him, giving him a sense of importance.

Charlie’s severe, and long term, loneliness is heightened and made more impactful due to Chbosky’s use of first person narrative. This, along with the narrative style, with the use of letters, creates a deep connection with Charlie, and makes the audience feel his emotions almost as intensely. The first person narrative also gives the reader insight into Charlie’s thoughts and motivations, helping to build the connection between his insecurity and his loneliness. He was so unsure of himself, that he was unable to go out of his way to interact with others, leaving him trapped in this inescapable pit of friendlessness. As he learns from his english teacher to “participate” and encounters two friends to help him escape his shell, he is able to easily interact with others, without getting overwhelmed around people he knew cared. “It was especially fun to think that people all over the world were having similar conversations in their versions of the Big Boy.” As his isolation lessened, he was able to not only feel unity with his friends, but feel unity with those his age everywhere, giving him a sense of normalcy. Charlie also gained a sense of communion from this, needing to rely less and less on his “escape”, or his letters, and eventually not needing to write them at all. He enjoyed knowing that he was having similar experiences to teenagers everywhere, without needing to send his thoughts to someone he at one point thought could relate. He could finally relate to those around him.

“The Perks of Being A Wallflower” perfectly captures the need for unity during adolescence, and the need to understand others who feel the same way. Charlie’s long journey to find those who provided him a sense of communion allowed him to understand himself, before leaning on those who cared to build his adult identity. All of this leaves us to wonder - what about togetherness is so appealing as a teenager? Is it the idea that people understand you, or is it more of a way to know you are safe?

By Akanksha

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Self Identity

In “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” Stephen Chbosky manipulates a coming of age account of a traumatised teenage boy. This is in order to explore how exposure to new people and situations expands a person's understanding of themselves, but can leave them unsure about their identity when these people or situations are removed.

Before the narrative’s meaning comes across, the title, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, itself provides commentary on social outcasts. Charlie, the protagonist, is a character who prefers to observe and understand rather than participate. “‘He [Charlie] is a wallflower [...] You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.” Chbosky’s metaphor is implicitly evident throughout the story, drawing parallels to actual wallflowers and what they require in order to flourish. Wallflowers grow slowly, but with access to pollination from “social butterflies” and exposure to things like sunlight they develop just like the others. Charlie represents this wallflower, slowly drawn out by the new people he meets. At times Charlie, struggles with remaining open when these people are removed, but eventually learns to strive all on his own.

To begin with, Chbosky hauntingly portrays Charlie’s ache for companionship through his desperate letters sent out to a stranger. “I just need to know that someone out there listens and understand [...]” starts Charlie, before he goes on to explain why these letters are being mailed out. From this sentence, and the first few letters that Charlie writes to this person, the reader is able to infer that Charlie doesn’t have much social support and is looking for someone to simply be there for him.

If self-identity is defined as being sure of yourself, your likes, dislikes and your relationships with others, Charlie doesn’t truly develop one until near the end of the novel. He isn’t quite sure of his ability to cope with pain, especially without his friends as a distraction, and is constantly fearful of returning to the bad mental place he was in before the book began. In his very last letter he states “believe it or not, I’m really not afraid of going,” in context of the first day of his sophomore year, even though all of his friends have departed. In comparison to his first letter where he states his fear for his first day of freshman year due to his lack of friends and support system. This shows how as the book progressed his positive experience when approaching someone in an uncomfortable situation taught him to open up to new people and go out of his way to create relationships.

Charlie’s journey and development throughout the book also explores the pressures that society places on the youth to only partake in activities they are well versed in. “‘Well are you dancing at these dances?’ ‘I’m not very good dancer’”. Charlie’s fear of judgment leads to lack of participation which results in a lack of experience and exposure. This lack of experience and exposure lessens his idea of what he likes and dislikes, a great part of any person’s identity. With help from his friends, and his english teacher, Charlie slowly learns to disregard this pressure and steps out of his comfort zone to learn more about his peers and himself. “In terms of participation in things, I am trying to go to school events they set up in my school [...] Things like the homecoming football game and the dance even if I don’t have a date.” Once he starts doing this, he gains confidence in himself individually, even without the support of having someone by his side through unfamiliar circumstances.

As his confidence grows, Charlie begins to value his self discovery and constantly tries new things in order to further discover who he is as a person. One example of this is showcased through his love of certain music. “Before we left the party, Sam played me a few of her favourite songs.” Charlie’s exposure to different kinds of music starts with his sister’s boyfriend and slowly extends to his new friends Sam and Patrick. Soon after being introduced to the power of music, he realises the importance of “belong[ing] to something when [you’re] sad” and how music can unite a large group of people. This exposure is relevant in his journey, as it gives him a coping mechanism, which later allows his to build his independence and teaches him to survive without help from his friends. Charlie’s growth is evident in many different scenarios, but the authentication of Chbosky’s manipulation of Charlie’s growth is showed in the last letter he ever writes. He ends the letter by stating “I’m not sure if I will have the time to write any more letters because I might be too busy trying to ‘participate’”. This not only shows he has grown out of his fear of participation, but also reveals his want for self identity and a diverse knowledge in his likes and dislikes.

In conclusion, Charlie battles through his struggle with codependency to prove that learning about yourself from others helps you build your confidence, but true self identity is knowing that you can flourish without them.

By Akanksha

The Maze Runner: Author's Craft

             This world is full of problems. Some are not easy to solve but none are impossible. We have to solve them because that’s what we live for. There are only two types of people in this world: those who have given up and those who endured and succeeded. In the book “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner, these characters face so many problems. The maze imprisoned them. The Grievers threaten their lives every time they set foot in the maze. Dashner uses the Gladers to symbolize people who are persistent problem solvers.

             In the beginning of the book, the Gladers thought that the maze was impossible to solve. The maze kept changing at night, it’s enormous and dangerous at night. They kept going in but no one ever found an exit before sunset. Dashner also put the Griever in the maze to make it harder than it had to be. The Grievers are terrifying mechanical beasts. Its “stung” give intense pain and extremely dangerous poison; if you don’t get the antidote and go through the Changing, you won’t make it. Every Gladers that face the Griever never even thought of standing up to it, they just give up hope when they see it. Until Chapter 21 when Thomas and Minho was stuck in the maze at night. They ran at first but then they tried to send it off the cliff and it worked. On top of that, when Thomas and Minho returned they told the council their story and Thomas came up with a plan. Forty people agreed with Thomas and came along. They fought with the Grievers and they won; however, they lost 20 people.The rest of them exited the maze. The author is trying to say that if you meet a small obstacle like the Griever, you stand up to it and if you still failed but you don’t stop trying, you will succeed in the end.

             Furthermore, the author let the Gladers be “stung” by the Griever to demonstrate to the reader that no matter what hardship you endure in the time of solving the problem, it will pays off in the end. In the book, Dashner told the reader that every time the Gladers got “stung” by the Griever they get the serum and they go through The Changing and then they heal. When you get stuck with a problem you don’t keep going with the same way; you need to stop and change your strategy then try again. The Changing, in the story, let the character remember their past but also intense pain that have been left by the Griever. Thomas wanted to remember so he got himself stung on purpose and he went through the Changing then he came up with a plan that work successfully. In other word, the author is trying to tell you to endure hardship that is in front of you, it’s always pays off in the end. That’s why Dashner added The Changing to the healing process when getting stung by the Grievers.

             However, some people might argue that the maze, rather than the Gladers, is the main symbol of the story and it symbolizes the whole problem that we face everyday of our lives. The maze kept changing which tell the reader that our problem are changing as well. There are Grievers in the maze that represent people who keep making the problem, or the maze in the story, harder. That certainly can be true; however, it doesn’t account for the way the story goes, it isn’t about the problem itself but about the people who solve it. The maze is created for the Gladers for an experiment by W.I.C.K.E.D(a group of scientist that work together to study the Gladers’ brain and how they react to problems that seem unsolvable and study the brain wave so they can find a cure to the disease). It is about finding people who is truly persistent that will solve the problem no matter how bad the situation is or how many people they lose. From the beginning throughout the end, the author talked about Gladers themselves: how they thrive to find the solution, how some of them being scared and give up and how they succeed in fighting back.

             All in all, Dashner thought that we all need to solve the problems we faced and he encouraged us not to give up, stay calm and act accordingly to guarantee one hundred percent success. If you don’t get it the first time, you altered your approach and try again.

By Sewen

Theme of The Maze Runner: Decision Making

              In society there is constant change everyday. When a problem is solved, new ones arise. Ideally, we all should work to solve the problems and to make the world a better place and to do that the right decisions must be made. People, however, have interesting ways of making decisions and sometimes it’s really hard to know if you have made the right or wrong decision. The book “The Maze Runner" by James Dashner takes place in a dystopian world which is a maze that was created by an organization named W.I.C.K.E.D. (World In Catastrophe: Killzone Experiment Department) that used selected boys to study their brain functions to produce a cure for a disease called The Flare. This disease occurred in another dystopian world that Dashner had created. However, nobody really knows if this is the perfect solution for the problem, but they go with it, even though not everyone in the society agrees with it. So, one theory is sometimes you need to trust your instinct and ignore what your brain or society says in order to solve problems.

              In this book, Minho, who is the leader of the runners and Alby who is the leader of the Glade were going to see the dead Griever (a mechanical beast that was part of the experiment). Minho had reported that Griever was dead, but then later turned out that the Griever was not dead and it “stung” Alby. They couldn’t travel really fast and reach the gate at seconds before sunset. They had to reach the gate before sunset, because it closed at sunset, when the Grievers would come out. Thomas was at the gate but didn’t know what to do but decided on his instinct that he would go out of the Glade and help the two. Later the gate closed right after Thomas had ran out. At that moment Minho was scolding him for how stupid he was instead of working on a plan. Minho was losing hope and still shaking when he told Thomas that they needed to separate so they would have a better chance of survival. However, Thomas didn’t do so, he trusted his instinct and tried to help Alby by tying him up on the trees where the Griever might not spot them. His plan succeeded. Later that night when Thomas reunited with Minho they figured out a trick to send the Griever off a cliff and Minho trusted his instinct this time because he saw Thomas did it and it worked, so he went on with it and succeeded.

              Later in the book, after getting stung on purpose Thomas went through the changing and called a gathering. He remembered everything(everybody’s memory was removed when they were put into the maze) and he had a plan but that plan would take away many people’s lives but he trusted his instinct and told it to them anyway. Later the leader Newt agreed to it and took Thomas and 40 other people to the hole that lead to the exit. In the end, twenty of them were killed but the rest succeeded and exited the maze.

              However, not everybody agreed with the W.I.C.K.E.D’s way of solving the Flare. W.I.C.K.E.D was responsible for putting pressure toward the children by putting them in the maze and even killing them. At the end of the book, a group of people that were tired of the W.I.C.K.E.D’s way, got into the lab and killed the crew and rescued the kids. W.I.C.K.E.D may have been harsh toward children but they were the only scientists that could have been able to solve the problem while the other group were just ordinary people with guns who used their instincts and thinking that by putting W.I.C.K.E.D to a stop the children would be alright, but if they couldn’t find the cure the people will suffer and so will the children. Certainly it could be said that if they use their rational mind they could have figured that out. While that is a good point the author clearly favor the use of instincts for decision making like the critical moments in the book when Thomas ran out into the maze to save Minho and Alby and actually found a piece of puzzle that lead to escaping the maze.

              To conclude, in order to live happily, make the right decisions, and shape a better world, we need to give our instinct more voice, but we need to use our rational mind too. Everything exists for a reason and if we don’t trust our instincts it’s like not using part of ourselves and the same thing applies for our rational mind. You have it, you use it. However, consider doing what your instinct come up first.

By Sewen

Divergent and The Maze Runner Comparative Essay: Decision Making~People and Instinct

              Decisions have tremendous impact. One good decision can save your life; however, just one bad one can also destroy your life. It is made by everyone in their everyday life. How people are making decisions though are very interesting. It had attracted the attention of researchers, scientists, and mostly authors. Two authors, Veronica Roth (author of “Divergent”) and James Dashner (author of “The Maze Runner”), are both interested in the topic but have rather different perspective of the process of decisions making.

              In the beginning of “The Maze Runner”, Dasher illustrated how people make decisions by their instinct. Thomas, the protagonist who lived in the dystopian world of the maze, instinctively ran outside the gate at sunset to help Minho and Alby from the danger that is outside even knowing that he too would be trapped outside in the maze and face the same danger. (The gate closes at sunset and at night in the maze there are the mechanical beast called “The Griever” that can”stung” you to death.) Even while being trapped in the maze, Thomas didn't panic because his instinct told him not to and he even saved Alby’s life by tying him to the ivy leaves on the wall of the maze. He himself also escaped the danger by instinctively working with his momentum and the Grievers’ momentum to escape them, if he just run without deciding to do anything because his rational mind told him that if he failed his own momentum he would tripped and then the Griever would kill him, he would've been killed.

              On the other hand, in “Divergent”, Roth demonstrated that different people make different decisions. She is doing that by categorising the people in the city. The Erudite make decisions based on logic, consequences and the big picture. The Candor make decisions based on the truth and only the truth. The Amity considered kindness, forgiveness, the truth and most of all peace before making a decision. The Dauntless make decisions based on justice, benefit, and reward, even it’s risky they'll take it. The Abnegation don’t think about themselves while making a decision, they think about other people and if the decisions that they are making will benefit people as a whole. The aptitude test also tells the reader that what you are define what you’ll do during the test. In the attack dog part of the test, Amity will pick chess as their weapon because they don’t believe in fighting with the dog, Dauntless will pick the knife because they want to take the risk and will fight for it if it’s justice; however, the Erudite won’t chose because they are curious about why do they need to choose one of the object and when the dog came they would lie down because they know the characteristic of the dog. Also when the dog attack the little girl Dauntless and Abnegation would sacrifice themselves and jump in front of her to save her while other factions would just stand there. One more part of the aptitude test is the bus. There is a man in the bus asking the tester if they know the wanted man that would kill the man on the bus, the tester will feel like they know the man in the picture. The Candor will tell the truth in that situation no matter what and the Abnegation would tell the truth too because that mean they can save the man’s life; however, other factions wouldn’t tell the truth.

Throughout the book “The Maze Runner”, Dashner uses third person narration to elaborate further that everybody trust their instinct. “He knew he should run into the Maze and help, but the rule about not leaving the Glade was seared into his mind.” (Excerpt From: James Dashner. “The Maze Runner.” iBooks.) This line worked very well because it clearly shown instinct is telling Thomas what to do if it’s in first person, it would be like “I should run into the Maze and help but the rule about not leaving the Glade is seared into my mind. However, in “Divergent” Roth uses first person narration because it signified that people are different and so are the decisions they are making. “I am not Abnegation. I am not Dauntless. I am Divergent.”(Excerpt From: Veronica Roth. “Divergent.” iBooks.) this moment of realization clearly had done the job well because If she uses third person narration, it would be: She is not Abnegation. She is not Dauntless. She is Divergent. It wouldn’t have sound as strong as the first person narration.

Some people might argue that in “The Maze Runner” Dashner want to illustrate how people act on their rational instead of instinct because at the end of the book Dashner demonstrated how a group of people act on their instinct and produce disastrous result and if they had just use their rational mind they would’ve figured out that they are not scientist and they can’t solve the problem and they can’t restore the world condition. However, their instinct may also told them that if they rescue the kids they can just let the kids live on with their life and there will be a generation with the immunity to the disease; therefore, solve the problem instead of putting the kids live in danger and watching how they react every seconds. In “Divergent” some people might also argue that people in “Divergent” make those decisions not because they are different type of people, they make those decisions because they are under peer pressure. For instance, when each family want their child to choose the same faction as theirs because they want their child to stay with them and when Caleb told Beatrice “We should think of our family.” “But. But we must also think of ourselves.”(Excerpt From: Veronica Roth. “Divergent.” iBooks.) Maybe Beatrice pick Dauntless because those words that Caleb said push her not to take Abnegation. However, this line “My mother told me to save them. Because of that, and because I am Dauntless”(Excerpt From: Veronica Roth. “Divergent.” iBooks.) clearly stated that she picked Dauntless because she is Dauntless not because of Caleb’s word or anybody’s.

In life, decision is an important aspect. Choosing your job, your school subjects… just because people around you or your friends pick History doesn’t mean you have to pick History. Everybody is different, you make your own decisions, they make theirs. Don’t fall to the peer pressure, be like Dauntless and fight it, be like Abnegation and help other around you to make decisions that they want to make, be like Amity and forgive your friends and be kind to them, be like Candor and never lie to your friends, and most of all be like Erudite, be smart and live your life but don’t ever forget about your instinct.

By Sewen

City Of Orphans Vs. Total Tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet: Comparative Essay

Everyone in this world is hoping of having a true friendship. However, what considers as a good friendship? Probably you are describing it as loyalty, helpful, and grateful. In the “ City of Orphans” by AVI, and in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet” by Erin Dionne, they both are talking about the theme of friendship, and they both start off their two representative characters taking benefits from each other, however both change their directions of their friendship into two different ways.

In the “ City of Orphans”, Willa and Maks are not willing to be friends with each other. For example, when he says thanks to Willa for her help and Willa responds back sure, the author shows Maks’s inner thinking, “ Relieved that Willa ain’t gonna hold on to him, Maks heads down the alley trying to act easy.” This illustrates that he feels happy to get out of that place and specifically, from her, he desire to escape from there as fast as he could, however, he tries to act as cool as possible not to show that he is scared of her. Realistically, Maks asks Willa to go with him the second time, because he wants her-and her stick to protect him again from Bruno. Same thing, Willa goes with him on a purpose of to the promise of Maks giving her food.

Similarly, in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, by Erin Dionne, Dezzie really values her friendship with Saber and Mauri like they are her only child. Why? The reason because they are her first two friends in her life, she sacrifices anything just to comfort them as much as she can. However, Sauri and Mauri are trying to be friend with Dezzie in another purpose, getting good grades. Dezzie doesn’t know anything, but it is Hamlet who knows that the questions they ask her are the homework questions. These two books are the same at the start of the book but not at the end.

“ In the City of Orphans”, throughout the book, we can see that they start to become loyal to each other, they help each other in bad conditions. Maks left very quickly after hearing that Willa is being kidnapped by the Plug Uglies Gang. In contrast, at the end of the book of “ The Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, the relationship doesn’t last long as expected, it turns out to a break-up one at last, because Mauri takes her relationship as a game and pretends to play it as a drama displaying only in front of her face.

With this, we can imagine the two relationship starts off at the same point, but each of them goes to a completely different directions. The relationship in the “ City of Orphans”, is like the river that stills flowing, however, the relationship in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, the relationship has already stopped in the middle of the way, no more chance to go.

While some people might ask that how do you know that Maks and Willa are a good relationship, they probably stay together until now, because they still have advantages from each other, while Dezzie breaks up with Saber and Mauri, because she has no more benefits from them. You have to remember that Willa and Maks take benefits from each other but they are happy together, loyal to each other, and at last, they stay under the same roof like brother and sister. When Saber and Mauri doesn’t truly wants Dezzie to be friend with her, their feeling, their mind are still not accepting that Dezzie is not their true friend, she is just their school homework assistant, which leads them to break-up line.

To sum up, we can make a overall theme of the two books that the friendship is depends on the friends themselves, whether their mind consider each other as friends or not, it doesn’t matter how the relationship starts.

By Khantey

City of Orphans: Author's Craft

Life is hard without having some power of your own and it is even harder if you are a newsboy on the street in New York 1893. You don’t get to do what you want, everything needs to be in secret. You have to be careful at all time, and everything is depending on the destiny. It is like a shell that you are trapped in, no days to pop your head out of it. That’s what happen in the CITY OF ORPHANS, by AVI. Life is super tough for Maks and Willa. On one hand, there’s an ill-sister and on the other hand is a jailed-sister that has to be rescued. Maks is definitely in a huge trouble, he needs money, that’s the reason why he tries to keep every pennies that he made from selling his newspapers. However, the Plug Ugly Gang doesn’t let him do that, if they find him, they’ll beat them up and take all of his money. NO, he could not let that happen, he gets to do something, he needs freedom and power. AVI uses the stick as a symbolism of freedom and power.

In the beginning of the book, when Willa extricates Maks from the Gangs with her stick, the author used descriptive language,“looking hard and nubby” to illustrates the appearance of the stick, its fierceness which is a perfect feature for power and a protection. In addition, the author even addresses Maks’s inner thinking “ he could not asking himself if she-and that stick could help him one more time.”,to convey that he doesn’t want to leave her, he is fearful, he doesn’t want to lose his chance and his opportunities. He needs some protection.

In the middle of the book, whenever and wherever Willa goes, she will always bring her stick with her,“ She stands with her stick in her hand, ready to go.”, from this we can infer that the stick is like her life-long friend, that she just feels secure with it. Amazingly, nothing happens to her. This can be interpreted that the stick has some power to her, no one could do anything harm on her. Until at the end of the book, she just realizes in the middle of the street that she forgot her stick with her. However, it is too late to get back home to get it. At this point of this story, it builds suspense to the readers, readers seem to know more than the character in the book. Readers want to shout their voice out to warn Willa to go back and get her stick because they could predict that something fearful would happen. It builds up the mood of nervousness, scared, and fear. Ultimately, the readers prediction comes true. The Plug Uglies Gang finds her and takes her away, she could not do anything. Without the stick, Willa is like the Fairy God Mother losing her magical wand, losing all the power that could protect her from something horrifying.

In the CITY OF ORPHANS, the stick symbolizes the protection, the security, that could scare the villains away, thing that everyone's wants especially in a hard time. People desire to have power, power of their own freedom so that life could get better.

By Khantey

City Of Orphans: An Exploration of Friendship

AVI’s adventurous story, “City Of Orphans” takes place in New York, 1893, which is full of life, crowded, filthy and dangerous. Maks Geles, a 13 year-old-newsboy needs to watch out for the Plug Ugly gang, or they will beat him up and take away all his money. One day, Willa has saved Maks from the gang, and they go on an agreement together for their own advantages. After a while, they are becoming best friends. A lesson that this story willing to tell us is that even if two people are taking benefits from each other to fulfil their own needs, this could lead to a life-long healthy relationship.

While some might argue that probably Maks actually likes Willa at the beginning and then afterwards wants to be her friends and at the same time getting some benefits from her, which is somehow kind of true. However, the consequences of the story is quite wrong. You have to remember that in the part when Willa climbs up on the fence to show where she lives, the author again describes that, “ Maks gets so interested in her climbing that he forgets to escape.” which can indicates that somehow one part of mind still feel scared of her. Now long after that, Makes says thank to Willa for his help and Willa replies back sure, the author shows Maks’s inner thinking, “ Relieved that Willa ain’t gonna hold on to him, Maks heads down the alley trying to act easy.” This illustrates that he feels happy to get out of that place and specifically, from her, he wants to get out there as fast as he could, however, he tries to act as cool as possible not to show that he is afraid of her. At this point, you can see that Maks absolutely really wants to get out from her, it is just when he thinks what if the Plug Uglies are waiting to ambush me when I step onto the street?, “ He can’t help asking himself if she and the stick might be willing to defend him a second time. He starts to say something, but it ain’t easy to ask a girl for help.” In this scene, he needs help from her again, he just feels he needs it, but as long as he is a boy, it seems not too cool to ask a girl for help, that makes him feel bad for himself. And that when he offers her some food if she goes with him again. To cut down his bad feeling, he just realised that according to the newsies rule, he owes her. So giving her food is actually good for both side-for her and for him.

Why does he choose to offer her food? If we look back at the beginning of the story, when Maks realizes that the one who helps him is Willa, the author really focuses on how Maks sees Willa likes, he uses many short and long, descriptive words and sentences to describe her, “ Her hair is dirty, gnarled, and twisted into greasy knots. She’s wearing a faded green shirt, which must have been some lady’s cause bits of lace, like tattered spider’s web, are curled round the collar…”, which reveals obviously that Maks is studying her by her appearance. He could tell that Willa is much worse than him. She is way more desperate, poorer, and even sadder than his family does. Also, he knows later on that the girl lives on the street and at least he has a home. With that, he can say that the girl might need some food. And he uses food to attract her. Also, it makes him feel like he is offering some benefits to her while he is also getting benefits from her as well.

Moreover, at this scene, why does Willa accept the invitation? Did she know that Maks try to take her as a protection by convincing her the food? Of course, she knows it, later on, on the street walking to Maks’s house, Willa asks Maks, “ They( referring to the Plug Ugly Gangs) really make you nervous, don’t they?”. In fact she knows what is happening, she knows the reason, but why does she still go there? The answer is because of business. It is like the trending in the market, I give you oranges, and I give you money. The same thing happens here, if Willa goes with him which makes Maks feels safer, than Maks would give Willa food back in a return.

However, this is just a short business only, Maks actually doesn’t want to be with her that much. Another detail that shows that Maks doesn’t want to be with her that much is when they walk on the street and another newsies walks past by and says, “ Hey, Maks mug, find ya girlfriend from the dump?”, and it says that “Maks isn’t too happy being seen with this dirty girl.” Later on, “ Maks wants nothing more than to get this girl in and out - fast.”. Consequently, Maks doesn’t want to be with her that long. He arrives home safely, and the next thing he promises is to give her food, and their goal afterwards is to get her away again.

It is not until the situation again changes when Ema, Maks’s sister was sent to prison because she was accused of stealing a gold watch. And then everyone is suffering. And that’s when Maks truly wants Willa to stay in his house.

From that day, Maks and his family gives love both mentally and physically to Willa, they give them food, bath, and act like she is one of the member of the family as well. On the other side, Willa tries to think of an idea to help Maks’s sister from the prison, she goes to sell the newspaper instead of Maks and takes care of his younger brothers. They show their loyalty on each other. When Willa is being kidnapped by the gang, he hurried quickly to help her. A moment later on, at the end of the story, Willa decides to give her new family her gold ring which she gets it from her dead mother, to sell it for Agnes, Maks’s another sister who is having wasting disease, for a medication treatment.

Sometimes, people are acting like they are friends, not because they are feeling life real friends, but because of there’s something from the other side of you that could benefit both to let us fulfil our own needs. Although, this can lead to a very happy ending relationship. Who knows. This is the nature of friendship. Things could change at any time. Nothing could tell whether this relationship is good or bad at first sight. No one!!!

By Khantey

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: The Exploration of Innocence

“He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” Adolf Hitler once remarked during a speech. During the Holocaust, Hitler targeted the youth to support his cause, as they would be the generation to continue his dream of a 1000-year Reich. Hitler was a role-model and an inspiration to the children of Nazi Germany. Although this was true for most of the population, in ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne readers meet eight year old Bruno, the son of a high-ranked Nazi soldier stationed in Auschwitz, Germany, who does not recognize Adolf Hitler when he joins his family for dinner. In the story the readers see Bruno is curious about his father’s job and the areas which his parents pronounced, “Out of bounds at all times and no exceptions”. Nonetheless, Bruno chooses to ignore his parents and ventures outside his house. On this exploration he finds something unexpected: a boy behind a fence, a boy in striped pyjamas. Unaware that Shmuel, the Jewish boy on the other side of the fence, will die at the hands of Bruno’s father, they become friends. One theme this story suggests is that people try to protect children from the horrors exposed in the world as they are very impressionable in their youth and easily impacted by trauma, but protecting one’s innocence only deteriorates their maturity.

From the beginning of the novel, John Boyne depicts Bruno as a notably innocent boy. His naivete is first conveyed by him mishearing and subsequently calling Auschwitz, “Out With” and the Führer, “ [the] Fury”. From his misinterpretation of words, we can see how untouched he is about the world around him, and the atrocities it is committing. Throughout the story, Bruno’s parents rarely try to correct him about this, which suggests that they may be trying to shelter him from reality. The fact that his only knowledge of these concentration camps is based of mishearings also suggests that he is solely exposed to his parents’ perspective on this issue, and literally only hears of anti-semitism in his parents’ biased words. Bruno likely makes no sense of these words either.

A scene that supports the idea of innocence deteriorating one’s innocence is seen when in the end of the book Bruno as decides to crawl under the fence and help Shmuel find his father. There is no way to blame Bruno as his request to come over is of good intentions, since neither of them are aware of the truth behind a concentration camp. Shmuel and Bruno find they are cramped into the gas chamber Bruno then grasps on Shmuel’s hand and says, “You’re my best friend Shmuel... My best friend for life.” Despite both of them being in such an undesirable situation, Bruno whispers this to Shmuel showing the extent of his innocence. This passage shows how unclear Bruno was to his extremely tragic end was coming for him, the root cause of this was because his little knowledge of concentration camps and the Nazi rule. This further supports the claim as only Bruno’s parents are to blame since they brought the pain upon themselves by not letting Bruno know about the problems around him.

On the other hand, we can see Shmuel and Bruno’s friendship blossoming, they play games together, learn more about each other, and coincidentally even have the same birthday. However, one day, Shmuel is brought to Bruno’s house to do chore work. When Shmuel is in the kitchen he is seen by Bruno who generously offers him some chicken. Certainly this was an act of kindness, but Shmuel was accused of theft and beaten by Lieutenant Kotler, a young Nazi soldier. Bruno later takes Shmuel’s side and begins to despise Kotler. Bruno doesn’t see this situation the same as Kotler, he sees it from an unbiased point of view. He sees a child being beaten for something he did not do. Whereas Lieutenant Kotler, sees it as a Jewish boy who was given an opportunity too great for him (being able to come out of the camp) and disrespecting it. Unaware of their political differences Shmuel and Bruno’s friendship is stronger than the divides that are put against them and the norm of Germany during 1933 to 1945. This piece shows the benefits that Bruno obtained staying clueless to the fact that it was terribly wrong for them to be friends but since he was not aware of that, he met his best friend.

Though some may argue that only because of Bruno’s innocence he matures the most, since Shmuel and his friendship -a consequence of Bruno’s lack of knowledge- is the way he gained the most sensibility. Bruno learns about Shmuel's culture, traditions and beliefs. He learns about what is like to be Jew, and how kind they really are. The side that debates the belief that Bruno’s understanding of other cultures and respecting them has matured him the most, and that innocence has nothing to do with learning he has about the world, as everyone will eventually do that themselves when they are of the right age. Though this a good point, Bruno does not mature by understanding Shmuel’s culture but in actuality he only learns about it, nothing more.

Innocence can shelter one from what is happening around them, as it shelters Bruno throughout the book. This eventually causes him to lose his life, leading the readers to believe that protecting one is extremely bad since you do not allow them to fully experience the world and it will only come back to bite them.

By Mehak

To Kill a Mockingbird Vs Parallel: Comparative essay

Everyone makes decisions. Everyone is put into situations where they have to choose one path and what happens next is unknown. In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee we can see the power of choices when the narrator (Scout Finch) tells the story of her father (Atticus Finch) and how his decision to defend a black man, who was charged with raping a white girl, affected him, his family and those around him. Similarly in ‘Parallel’ by Lauren Miller we see how Abby, the teenage protagonist’s life changes drastically as she makes different decisions in different situations that further leads her to a life she wouldn’t have expected. In both these text’s it is obvious that the decisions made, unravel many unknown consequences that we should be aware of.

A common theme that both these books primarily revolve around is the choice’s one makes. In ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, Atticus Finch is repeatedly seen in a negative light for defending a black man in court. Not only was he disrespected by the neighbours who thought that “lawing for niggers” was a poor decision, but also by the kids in Scout’s school who ran around calling, “Scout Finch’s daddy defends niggers,” Besides that, even one of Atticus’s relatives called him a “nigger lover”. Nevertheless, Atticus was able to push through the insults since he was highly respected and honoured at the Negro church for his stand against racism. From this one decision Atticus made, many different opinions were created, leaving Atticus to settle the consequences.

In a similar manner, at one point in ‘Parallel’, Abby became a part of a huge fight with her best friend Caitlin in the cafeteria. Out of frustration, Abby told everyone that Caitlin had dated a married man, revealing a subject that Caitlin was very conscious about. Consequently Abby was in such a fluster that she, “a) lost her two best friends, b) failed her astronomy midterm and c) asked out a guy who was already dating someone else.” Repeatedly Abby asked herself, “How quickly can a person implode?” and the answer is simple. It just depends on the choices you make. The power of our choices is immense and we should be conscious of that.

It is quite clear that these two books share similar themes yet both authors use contrasting settings to highlight the theme. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is set in the 1960’s and primarily revolves around a family dealing with the consequences of segregation whereas ‘Parallel’ focuses on a teenage girl in the modern world and how her choices affect her. Both of these setting work well in order to express the theme yet in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ the setting choice seems slightly more effective. This may be because in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ they are dealing with much more mature issues that leave greater impacts on larger communities compared to a teenage girls problems, which usually are much smaller when looked at on a vast scale.

In conclusion, both of these books are able to explain how the choices we make lead to unrevealed consequences, yet ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ uses a more effective setting to convey this theme. After reading these two texts, the reader may believe that only negative results can be created through our choices but this is false. Positives results can also be created as long as the right decisions are made to lead up to those final results. This also doesn’t mean that every single small decision could cause a difference between life and death, but there is that possibility. This leaves the reader with the question of whether there is any way to know the consequences of our actions but that also is unknown.

By Aditi

Parallel: Author's Craft Essay

Everyone in life has expectations. Everyone dreams big and rarely ever does it follow through. In “Parallel” by Lauren Miller, the characters, just like real people, also face many situations where their reality is totally different to what they thought would happen to them. In the book, Abby, the female protagonist’s life is shown from two different perspectives. One being her life and the other, her parallel’s (a copy of herself in another world). Abby, being a teenage girl, often tends to over think simple situations and has great aspirations that don’t carry through. In this book, Lauren Miller uses inner thinking and symbolism to show how our expectations generally don’t match our realities, either negatively or positively.

In the beginning of the book it is mentioned that Abby had a plan. This plan wasn’t just any plan. It was ‘The Plan’. “The one that has informed every scholastic decision I’ve made since seventh grade, the year I decided I wanted to be a journalist.” This plan consisted of Abby going to Northwestern, majoring in in Journalism and landing a job at a national newspaper company, all before she turned twenty two. How she was going to do this; “a perfectly crafted combination of AP classes and total fluff electives with legit-sounding names.” Subsequently, Abby realised that one of the electives she chose, for her perfect resume, was canceled as the teacher wasn’t available. She had the choice of talking Astronomy or Drama instead, but neither would have helped her with her future career. She chose drama but her parallel took Astronomy. Both of these electives lead her to many wild and much different experiences than she would have ever imagined in the way she planned her life.‘The Plan’ in this book symbolises our perfect expectations and later how they can be changed by opposing ideas or our reality.

In addition to ‘The Plan’ Lauren Miller also uses inner thinking to describe how different expectations and reality can be. When Abby was talking to Josh, the guy she liked, about Megan, another girl who liked Josh, he seemed very hesitant about it. “Hope it works out! Obviously not.” She thought to herself as she replayed the conversation in her head. Immediately she expected that her chances with Josh were ruined by the conversation she had with him. Eventually, Josh explained to Abby that he actually did have feelings for her but was just unsure of what to say when she started to talk to him about another girl. Abby jumped to an abstract conclusion without understanding what she needed to understand. How Josh really felt. Without knowing much, she created unreal expectations which just made her more unsettled. This illustrates how the expectations we create in our head don’t seem to match what ends up happening.

When Lauren Miller was introducing Tyler, one of Abby’s first and best friends, she described him as a “walking contradiction”. She used different stereotypes as symbols and each of these symbols contradicted each other making our expectations of who Tyler would be, change by reality of him being something else, in the same sentence. She described him as “The city boy who plays competitive croquet” or “The jock who refuses to Jay walk”. When one hears city boy or jock, they begin to believe that this person is someone at at the top of the food chain. The popular kid. But when you hear competitive croquet and refusing to jaywalk you think of the complete opposite causing these stereotypes to conflict against each other. Each of these stereotypes symbolises a specific type of person that we expect to see but are contradicted by the reality of the opposite, telling us that sometimes our expectations don’t match our realities even in one single person.

In conclusion, Lauren Miller describes how different our expectations and realities can be using inner thinking and symbolism. It is true that sometimes our expectations and realities can overlap but that rarely ever happens. One thing that can cause reality falling short of expectations is overthinking. I personally over think situations too much and create these fantasies in my head which cause me to feel frustrated when the experiences don’t come true. Once we understand the power of our minds creation, we should be aware about what we expect so that if reality end ups falling short we won’t get upset. Sometimes though, our expectations can help us to dream big and aspire to accomplish great things. This leave the reader with the question, whether it is good to create expectations or not? and if so, what is the limit?

By Aditi

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: An Exploration of Innocence (Author’s Craft)

Nazis, concentration camps, Hitler; those are a few words that come to mind when recalling Germany between the years 1933 and 1945. However, all these words were foreign to eight-year-old Bruno, the protagonist of John Boyne’s masterpiece, “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” When Bruno, the son of a highly-ranked Nazi captain, moves to Auschwitz, his parents declare the intriguing forest behind his home “out of bounds at all times and no exceptions”. Nevertheless, his uninhibitedly curious mind sends him venturing into the forest with little hesitation. In the forest, Bruno meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy imprisoned in Auschwitz concentration camp. Shielded by naivete they become friends, without the merest clue about the irony of their friendship. Through the novel, John Boyne uses an array of literary techniques such as symbolism, tone and word choice to convey the extent to which Bruno’s innocence fosters his and Shmuel’s incredible friendship to ultimately portray a sheltered upbringing as an unnecessary evil.

Boyne navigates through the story from Bruno’s childish perspective. The language he uses to narrate is simple and accessible, but not due to the fact that the story is plot driven but because the language is used to foreshadow Bruno’s thoughts. The straightforward language displays how Bruno is simpleminded and does not look deeply into things, he simply sees things as they are. Bruno never describes anything in detail, which conveys to the readers how little Bruno actually knows about what is going on around him. For instance, on page 200 after Shmuel states his father is missing, Bruno simply says, “‘Can’t find him? That’s very odd. You mean he’s lost?’” Here Boyne expresses Bruno’s sinless thoughts using simplistic diction. Bruno does not even acknowledge the possibility of anything bad happening to Shmuel’s father.

From the beginning of the novel, John Boyne depicts Bruno as a notably innocent boy. His naivete is first conveyed by him mishearing and subsequently calling Auschwitz, “Out With” and the Führer, “ [the] Fury”. From his misinterpretation of words we can see how untouched he is about the world around him, and the atrocities it is committing. The fact that his only knowledge of these concentration camps is based on mishearing. John Boyne uses these uncomplicated words to create a tone throughout the book to show the extent of Bruno’s innocence, as Bruno cannot even pronounce the name of his country’s leader, and also his father’s boss.

In “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas”, a recurring symbol is the fence between Bruno and Shmuel. In the story the fence is what keeps Bruno and Shmuel apart, and represents barrier which all the adult problems create because of polar opposite worlds they live in. Bruno’s existence is tokened by indicators of carefree, privileged childhood; meanwhile Shmuel’s is overwhelmed by pain and confinement. The small hole in the fence symbolizes power of their friendship and tacitly conveys how affection can overcome the barricades built to represent enmity and victimization.

Throughout the novel, Boyne uses several literary devices to illustrate the extent of Bruno’s innocence, but only in the end do we witness the ramifications of his protected childhood. Bruno's friendship with Shmuel cost them both their lives, but his naivety blinded him from the fact that he was walking on the path of death itself when he enters the concentration camp with a shaved head. Boyne teaches many lessons through his writing. However, the most significant is that if one is shielded from reality, they will never experience the world as it is, and ultimately face bitter consequences for their naivete. Just as Bruno did.

By Mehak