This Boys Life Close Reading Prompt free essay sample

The vice principal’s anger and righteousness frightened Jack to the point where he had stomach cramps and had to go to the nurse. Soon the vice principal forcefully brought him to his office as he strongly suspected Jack of violating school property, the law, and decency. While Jack kept lying and saying he was innocent, the nurse called his mother to the school and his mother strongly protected him. When the issue couldn’t be resolved by the vice principal, the principal had to step in. Being a milder mannered man who did not like confrontations, the principal spoke more about how he gave up smoking and ultimately let Jack get away without any punishment. Even though Jack avoided punishment, he continued to have the cramps. 2. ) â€Å"I got scared. Even more than his anger, his righteousness scared me to the point where my stomach cramped up. † (Wolff 77) This section resonated with me because when my mom is mad at me for not telling her everything, it’s not the anger that she expresses that scares me, but the feeling that I failed the expectation of honesty and integrity, which I learn at home and school. We will write a custom essay sample on This Boys Life Close Reading Prompt or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Taylor and Silver and I sometimes hung out in the bathroom during lunch hour. We smoked cigarettes and combed our hair and exchanged interesting facts not available to the general public about women. † (Wolff 76). This section resonated with me because in India, my family there complains about how hard it is to quit smoking. It reinforces that smoking is a bad habit and it becomes a dependency. â€Å"’My mother looked over at me. I saw how tired she was, and she must have seen the pain I was in. I shook my head. † (Wolff 79). This section resonated with me because somehow, my mother can sense if there’s anything wrong with me, and she’s always there next to me, helping me, no matter how tired she may be. It also resonated because like Jack’s mother, my mother trusts me completely and I can never do something to betray her. 3. ) When the author writes, â€Å"The more I insisted on it the angrier he got, and the angrier he got the more impossible it was for me to believe that I had done anything to deserve such anger† (Wolff 78), I am struck with the similarities between Jack’s confliction and Yann Martel’s Pi (from Life of Pi). The most obvious connection is when Pi is hiding the fact that he is practicing three religions, he gets in trouble for deceiving everyone and he believes that he did nothing wrong and Jack is having the same feeling. When Jack writes the obscene words without any fear of punishment, it reminded me of the movie Slumdog Millionaire where a child abductor kidnaps Jamal, the main character, and intends to blind him so he can steal money from people. The abductor doesn’t follow the law and believes he can get away with it. The most obvious connection between these two is that they have no respect for authority. 4. ) â€Å"Silver howled. The other guys were also manifesting signs of disbelief. â€Å"Fuck you, Silver,† I said †¦ I scratched FUCK YOU into the soft paint and once more told Silver, â€Å"Fuck you. † (Wolff 79). This section intrigues me because it seems like Jack has issues with self-confidence and self-esteem, and he has to show off to get attention. If he doesn’t get the attention he wants, he becomes enraged and will go to any length, including violating school policies, and not caring about the repercussions. Do some people who have Jack’s issues become criminals? â€Å"My mother turned to me and asked if they were telling the truth. ‘No ma’am. ’ ‘He doesn’t lie to me,’ my mother said. † (Wolff 82). This section confused me on how Jack’s mother believes that Jack didn’t do anything. She knows Jack’s previous, delinquent behavior, yet she didn’t question him more. Jack would do what any boy his age would do: lie to not get in trouble. 5. ) I wonder how Jack was feeling when he continued to lie and pretend he didn’t do it and taking advantage of his mother’s trust in him. I wonder because if he cared about his mother’s trust, would he have changed for the better or continued lying? If Silver and the other boys had believed his story of killing the story, would Jack have still written obscenity in the bathroom? Also, I wonder if Jack’s mother tells him she believes whatever he says so he doesn’t get mad. That could be why he overreacted when Silver didn’t believe him. When Jack and his mother, Rosemary, were in questioning, if Rosemary hadn’t believed Jack, would Jack have indefinitely gotten suspended and possibly expelled? How would Rosemary have treated Jack during the rest of the story? 6. ) In my passage, there were four new words: stratagem which means a plan or scheme, hangdog which means to have a guilty appearance, placidity which means not easily upset or excited, and whey which means the watery part of milk.