Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

This boys life

Good Essays
473 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
This boys life
Each character in This Boy's Life demonstrates the struggle to find a sense of identity.' Discuss.

Young people are most often guided by their parents and guardians of what they should or shouldn’t do. However, some unfortunate ones are left alone to find their own paths. In their search of making their own identity, some young people choose to fight against all obstacles to reach goals that will lead to a successful fortune, while some will walk an uneasy way and repeat themselves in the misery of self-destructiveness and self-sabotaging behaviors. In Tobias Wolff’s memoir This Boy’s Life, the author presents a life that is built up on continuous self-destructive decisions, making himself his own worst enemy and causing all kinds of situations which he hopes to change and evolve into a better self, only to once again find him fallen into the very trap set up by no one but himself.

Some of Toby’s situations is due to his background. He was raised by a single divorced mother, Rosemary, and her failing to take a father’s place to become a powerful guardian to correct and care for Toby’s early mischievous ways. Rosemary is a victim of domestic violence herself. Jack and Rosemary are constantly on the move, which adds to this struggle. When they do settle down, they choose environments that are a disaster. Toby is placed with characters that work to break his self-confidence and pride, therefore making it impossible for Toby to really identify himself.

Revision for Romeo and Juliet
Year 10 English Exam
Friday 8th June, 9.00am to 11.10am
2 hours writing time, with an additional 10 minutes reading time.
Two Sections:
Section A: Text Response Essay
Section B: Persuasive Language Analysis

REVISION FOR SECTION A
Revise the key characters and key themes in Romeo and Juliet:
Reread both the synopsis of the play and some of the most important scenes in the play.
Create a mindmap for each of the major themes: Love, Hate and Fate.
Create brief character profiles for each of the major characters.
Create (and try to memorise) a list of at least 20 key quotes.
Revise how to write a text response essay.
Complete a text response essay on a practice question.
“Poor sacrifices of your enmity.” (V.iii.303) ‘Romeo and Juliet explores the consequences of blinding hatred.’ Discuss.
‘Romeo and Juliet: the greatest love story ever told’. What does Shakespeare’s play tell us about the nature and power of love?
‘Romeo and Juliet are both victims of fate, having little control over their destiny.’ Do you agree?
Romeo and Juliet is a play more about hate than love. Discuss.

REVISION FOR SECTION B
Revise your knowledge of the key persuasive language techniques using your flash cards.
Complete a practice persuasive language analysis task. (See me for a newspaper article.)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    As you read the scenes in this lesson, take notes on important events in the story. Provide the line or lines from the play that relate to the event. Stop and think for a moment about why that event is important for the story and add your thoughts in the space provided.…

    • 276 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Toby seems to show signs of emotional and behavioral disorders in his journey through adolescence. He develops many different distinct personalities at various points to try to evade the harsh realities of his life. In the beginning of the novel, he expresses an interest in changing his name. He writes, "I wanted to call myself Jack, after Jack London. I believed having his name would charge me with some of the strength and competence inherent of my idea of him.” Toby did change his name to Jack, but the strength and competence that were supposed to accompany the name never appeared. Later, when Jack…

    • 1968 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Summary on Act 1 of R&J

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In Scene I, Samson and Gregory are saying how much they hate the Montagues. When they see the Montagues-Abram and Balthasar, Sampson bites his thumb at them, and him and Abram begin to fight. Benvolio and Tybalt enter, and they fight. Later an Officer, Citizens, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Montague, Lady Montague, and following Prince Escalus enter. The Prince announces that they have fought in these streets three times, and if they do it again someone will be killed. He also says for Capulet to go with him, and Montague will talk with him later. Montague, Benvolio, and Lady Montague converse about Romeo, and Benvolio says that he has seen Romeo taking an early morning walk, but when he tried to get his attention Romeo shunned him. Montague replies, saying he has saw Romeo there many times before, and he also has been locking himself in his room and shuts the windows. Romeo enters, and Benvolio wants to speak with him alone, so Montague and Lady Montague leave. Benvolio talks to Romeo, and figures out he has been sad and depressed because he loves someone, but she doesn’t love him back; and she is going to be a nun.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    2. What role do Friar Laurence and the Nurse have in the events of the play? Do you feel that they are responsible for ultimately helping or hurting Romeo and Juliet? Please use and cite at least one(1) quote from the play. Answer should be at least one(1) paragraph.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In This Boy's Life, a memoir by Tobias Wolff, as Jack ages, he loses innocence. In the novel, innocence is portrayed as simplicity and childishness, which Jack aims to lose as he develops. Wolff develops this theme through Jack's quest for masculinity, which he views as power. Guns and abusive male figures serve as recurring motifs for his diminishing innocence. Jack's search for masculinity dilutes his idealistic core as he changes his character to match what he believes is powerful; thus causing the withering of his innocence and complete loss of innocence at the end of the novel.…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Jealousy, search for identity and warfare have a great impact on this book. Knowles portrayed an significant story that briefly describes lives of boys who are coming of age to men in a setting that is hard to site which is World War ll which was an horrific time for many countries. The boys had to almost be perfect but, this volume shows they weren’t near to perfect. They were finding each and every one of themselves at…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The character that will be discussed in this essay is Toby. Toby had a very traumatic childhood, with both of her parents dying when she was still young. Her mother became very ill, and the family was not able to afford the medication anymore, causing her mother to eventually die. Not long after her mothers death, her father became depressed and full of shame over his inability to pay for his wife’s bills. This eventually culminated into her father killing himself with a rifle while Toby was home; Toby then had to not only bury her own father in the backyard but also hide the rifle to avoid getting in trouble with the CorpSeCorps. She fled her former life, quitting college and disappearing from her old identity altogether; the lack of identification however made it hard for her…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Identity relates to our basic values that dictate the choices we make. These choices reflect who we are and what we value. (Heshmat). This idea of identity is defined as the fact of being who or what a person or thing is, and in John Knowles, A Separate Peace, identity is a recurring theme. The novel provides an exemplary example of the troubles that come from leaving the innocence of childhood and merging into the indecent world of adulthood.…

    • 160 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tobias Wolff Analysis

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Both Toby and his mother find the idea of escaping desirable. Toby does this in both physical escaping to another location, but also on an emotional level. Tobias Wolff chose the name Jack as a new beginning for himself. This is a representation of him escaping his past and making himself anew. He escapes his past by using his imagination, through the act of driving, and taking on different roles.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Directions: As you read the play on your own, choose two quotes from each act and write a few (at least 3) sentences about their significance to the play. Think about themes, characterization, important plot elements, symbolism, etc. as you write about each quotation’s significance. Provide the quote on the blog. Respond two at least two classmates’ posts (from any Act) before the assigned date.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet is probably Shakespeare’s most well known play. It is the story of two star-crossed lovers fighting to find acceptance of their love. Throughout the play there is a consistent, ongoing fight between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s, Romeo being a Montague and Juliet being a Capulet. It all ends in tragedy but “through bad comes good” and the Capulet’s and Montague’s start to build bridges. In my essay I will be discussing the language Shakespeare uses to create terrific drama and suspense throughout the play. I will be discussing Friar Laurence’s soliloquy (Act 2, Scene 3), Juliet’s soliloquy (Act 3, Scene2) and Romeo’s Soliloquy (Act 5, Scene3).…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Title: An analysis of how children’s identity develops over time: using Rosenberg’s study of self-descriptions (1979).…

    • 2709 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Adolescent Interview Essay

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages

    According to Erik Erikson, adolescence is marked by the child’s questioning his or her identity during what he refers to as the identity versus identity confusion developmental stage. During this phase, the adolescent becomes mindful of his or her identity and seeks his or her purpose in life, as well as the answer to the eternal question, “who am I?” In their quest to find their sense of self, adolescents experiment with different personalities and roles. Some teenagers display rebellious behavior, which is normal, as they experience a flood of countless emotions. The teens that are able to cope with the differing identities are able to form a new identity that they can accept. On the other hand, those who cannot cope during this experimental period suffer what Erikson calls identity confusion, where they either withdraw themselves from everyone else, or they lose themselves in their peers.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Juliet changes a vast amount during the play. In this essay I am going to explore the following points:…

    • 1007 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This Boys Life

    • 3610 Words
    • 15 Pages

    NHPA and key features Reason for selection Direct costs Indirect costs Intangible costs Determinants that act as risk factors Related health program…

    • 3610 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Good Essays