The young adult novel, First Part Last, is an award-winning novel because it displays nonviolent social change. This award describes changing internally, as a person, peacefully instead of violently transforming individuals for example by starting a fight or a riot. First Part Last describes a series of fictional events of a teenager, Bobby, who accidentally causes his girlfriend, Nia Wilkins, to become pregnant. Along with his struggle of accommodating to having a pregnant girlfriend and taking care of her as well as adjusting to the life of a father-to-be as well as coming to age to be qualified of becoming a good father. Bobby does receive some help along the way with adjusting to the life of a father-to-be and a father. He receives some …show more content…
After Bobby’s day of excitement, the group of boys went back to Bobby’s house, which is where his birthday party is, and Bobby’s girlfriend, Nia, is sitting on the front steps of his house holding a red balloon. Bobby approaches Nia and she says, “Bobby, I’ve got something to tell you.” “Then she handed me the balloon.” (Bobby 2). The red balloon is the symbol that Bobby begins this novel as a child because children are usually seen with balloons instead of adults, so balloons and other childlike objects represent children hence “childlike”. Not only do balloons symbolize children but children symbolize innocence and even virginity. If Nia is giving Bobby the “balloon” and in the previous chapter, that is a “Now” chapter, there is a baby that Bobby refers to as his daughter, then what Nia is going to tell Bobby is that she is pregnant. Nia giving Bobby the balloon could also symbolize Nia’s childhood, and along with that, the balloon is described to be red. The color red is a provocative color; it could represent blood or injuries and madness. Perhaps the red balloon is a foreshadowing object that hints to Nia’s
First off, the red balloon that Nia gave Bobby in the very first Then chapter represented multiple things: female and children. In the chapter Nia, balloons appear again when she mentions how she always wanted to be a balloonist, which suggested that not only was she telling Bobby that she was pregnant with a scant girl when she handed him the balloon, but she was also handing
"The First Part Last" has many powerful symbols. All people, no matter who they are, have symbols that represent them and how they have changed throughout their lifetime. Throughout Angela Johnson's book, the main character Bobby had many moments that changed the way he thought, saw, and reacted to things.
In “Lullabies for Little Criminals,” there are many small objects that are relevant to Baby’s life. Objects can have remarkably profound effects on a person’s life, whether they are of sentimental value or another form of personal meaning, they have an impact on us. An object can mean many things to different people. An abandoned doll in a trash bin could be seen as old and ugly to an average person, but to the person who originally owned the doll; it could have been particularly special. In the novel, Heather O’Neil illustrates the effects of such objects on Baby and their symbolic meaning. In “Lullabies for Little Criminals,” there are three objects that
“The Perils of Pinatas” is an interesting article relating to pinatas and how the toys institute a system where the kids get too attached to the toys. Barry was the author who best used writing craft to convey meaning because of reversal, allusion, setting, and incongruity. Barry used those writing crafts to his best ability to make the point that not all points in a child's life are the best. Barry takes incongruity to a whole other level by proving that things are very out of the ordinary. It is stated in the article “Grumpy the Clown was recalling the first birthday party she worked” (Barry) which is out of the ordinary because a clown what goes to birthday parties are suppose to be the life of the party, and be the show.
A quote that very well represents this is on page6 when the narrator said"then she handed me the balloon." This quote means that when Nia hands bobby the balloon to represent her giving him her virginity and her virginity represents her childhood being striped from her by bobby. And in response to Bobby taking away Nia's childhood Nia takes away his childhood because she expects Bobby to make sacrifices for Feather. And this makes Bobby upset because he can no longer be getting in trouble and he has to give up everything that he used to love to do in order to be able to be around Feather whenever she needed
As you can see, the previously stated objects that Bobby encountered, prove that Bobby did come of age by the resolution of this novel. The gameboy because he thought about looking for it, but decided not to. Which symbolizes that later on he gets to a point where he sees no reason in trying to remain a child. The basketball, represents how Feather grew up with Bobby as her parent because he properly came of age by the end.
Bobby, a teenage boy is on a journey to “come of age”, he must due to certain circumstances like his newborn baby girl, whom he is raising practically on his own. Bobby know that to be a good father he needs to grow up.
“I love coming of age stories that have struggle…” says actor Aaron Paul. The First Part Last is a novel that provides a prime example of someone’s struggle to come of age. In this book, Bobby and Nia have a baby named Feather. Bobby cares for Feather and Feather depends of Bobby. Bobby sometimes struggles with having to care for Feather because he feels like everything is changing, when in reality it is just him that is changing. Bobby and Feather live with Bobby’s mom, Mary, in New York. Bobby has changed since having Feather, but the question is, has he come of age? Throughout the book, Bobby changed and developed through challenges he faced. Bobby came of age throughout the course of the novel as symbolized by coffee, Just Frank and his corner, and the commercial jingles.
One of the symbols mentioned in the very beginning of the novel is the red balloon. On Bobby’s 16th birthday, Nia brought him a red balloon and she told him that she was pregnant. The balloon represents Nia giving away her innocence to Bobby and giving up on what on they had. It symbolizes that she can’t go through the pregnancy on her own. Also, red can symbolize love, hurt, and help. “I’ll never forget that look and how her voice shook when she said, Bobby, I’ve got something to tell you” (Johnson 6). This shows how Nia is scared to have a baby because she is only a teenager and she is scared to tell her family.
This symbol is important because he was upstairs in his house and was sitting down, he sat down and put his ball on the floor. He didn't touch it he didn't push it. He just put it on the floor and it started rolling. He figured that was a sign of his childhood rolling away now that he has a kid. Feather is growing up and he is becoming more and more responsible everyday with her. This symbol is very important to Bobby, he stood up and grew up. He is now raising Feather on his own learning more about growing up and being an adult at such a young age..
The Things They Carried is a work of historical fiction written by Vietnam war veteran, Tim O’Brien. This novella is a collection of linked short stories about American soldiers serving in the Vietnam war. The novella contains a numerous amount of deep,complex characters who help characterize each other. In the The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien characterizes the soldiers through the round female characters
What is it like to be a father at 16 when you are still a child?Some of the things that happen are people can not go to school without slacking. Teenagers will not be able to do the things you did when you were a kid like play with your friends. All of their focus and time goes to the child.In the novel, Bobby's childhood is disappearing because of his coming of age and Angela Johnson shows this with symbolism.
In the beginning, Nia decides to give Bobby a red balloon on his 16th birthday. While doing this, she says, “Bobby, I have something to tell you.” With this, some conclusions that are drawn are that the news is not positive, and it could mean a drastic change in Bobby’s life. Also, the red balloon has the potential to symbolize many other objects, including Nia’s childhood, innocence, children, and change that is yet to come. For example, since the news is likely about pregnancy, the balloon could represent Nia giving up her innocence and childhood to Bobby, since she has to give up her old life for new responsibilities that come with being a
As an alumni from University of Michigan, Cathy Guisewite started as an advertising copywriter where she later became a comic strip creator where one of her artworks called “Cathy” uses critical diction, visual imagery, allusion, and stereotype which it illustrates the society’s expectations for both boys and girls and has gained her a worldwide fame and numerous awards. In the opening frame, Cathy places a large box with small circles wrapping around it and in the middle is the word “toys”, the word itself denotes an object for a child to play where as usual, “toys” connotes positive and fun. Likewise, Cathy mainly utilizes visual imagery in this comic strip where the main character or the buyer’s gesture changes based on the captions. Similar to frame number four and five, after hearing the suggestion of the customer servicer for the first toy which stereotyped boys, the main character reveals a gesture of dislike or like the fact that he doesn’t understand me and continuing on frame number five, the customer servicer likewise suggest another toy but this time it is particularly for girls, and the main character’s gesture reveal that he is disappointed in the clerk and that the clerk doesn’t get what he is asking for at the beginning by asking for a “unisex” toy.
Jimmy Cross is the First Lieutenant who carries “the responsibility for the lives of his men” (O’Brien 429). Cross let his imagined love get in the way of his responsibilities and one of his men was killed. Cross carries the weight of Lavender’s death and adds that to the weight of his renewed responsibility to his men (427-437).