Literacy Essay: “The Jacket” By Gary Soto By: Shium M. Turning into an adult can be scary. Everyone goes through a stage when you’re a teen, that make them miserable, but prepared! Well, Gary Soto, from “The Jacket”, goes through this phase with an ugly jacket and experiences a disconsolate life at school. That jacket really affected him and here is how. All the torment and stress of school started when he first wore it. His attitude from the beginning of the story to the end was quite different, and he remembered it for years after it broke. First, the book “The Jacket” is a personal narrative book about a boy who receives a cheap jacket from his mom. At school; he got picked on more often, was gossiped about and didn’t do well in school. Towards the end of the story, he became a whole new person and stayed like that way after it broke. As stated in the claim, All the torment and stress of school started when he first wore it. In paragraph 6-9 [of the book “The Jacket” of course]. He is made fun of from his classmates, he was bullied by the bully “Frankie the school terrorist (two)” more often. He started to be the center of gossip for …show more content…
Gary would act very different if you noticed his attitude from the beginning and the end of the story. In the beginning, Gary was a young and innocent child that would never let out his true anger on his siblings. He would deal with his cheap mom as mentioned on page one. The minute he got the jacket he even says in the text “I stared at that thing, like an enemy, thinking bad things. Towards the end, he made the change into a teenager. He was confused and wanted to be alone. He talks back to his sibling. Argue with his mom. Complained and called his jacket “an ugly green brother” referring to the fact that a brother will always be there and hover over him much like the jacket and he could be ugly just like the jacket. The jacket is shaping Gary’s
One of the ideas that is brought up is the concept of being bullied. He says the following “ 20% of female and 18% of male high school students reported being bullied at school in the past 12 months. ( Cornell, 220) Eighteen percent of boys get bullied in school. One issue that has not been solved in schools are types of programs that are introduced to the students that will prevent bullying to happen. There’s an organization that is called UpStand which is an anti bullying program, that will come to the school and give them an whole presentation on the danger of bullying.
Elementary school is a big step, especially getting ready for middle school. For example, if one is bitter towards someone, meaning jealous or angry, then their middle school years won’t go very well. They will go through being angry and it will make them focus on less important things rather than their studies or sports. Similar to the boy in “The Jacket” by “Gary Soto,” he goes through his life being jealous of kids that are happy or have good relationships and new clothes. The boy does not like the jacket his mother got him and, does not appreciate it enough, even though it gets the job done. In other words, one does not get what they always want, one has to appreciate what they get, this supports the overarching theme and is represented by the symbolism, the setting, and the metaphors.
First, she gave her personal experience that she “wore one for 13 years, and cursed it every single day…. But this is exactly why I'm such a fan.” She is trying to persuade the reader that uniforms are not as bad as one thinks because she has experienced them, and now she is a fan of it. She encourages people to support school uniforms by listing various benefits of it, and how it shapes student to be better citizens. She also uses rhetorical question when she says that “where else could we learn a lesson in sacrifice and serving the common good with so little actual sacrifice? So you look bad at school. Get over it.” Over here, the author presents a little argument for people who complain that uniforms are
When Doug came home after receiving the jacket from Mr. Ballard, he describes that “[the jacket] was the only thing [he] own[s] that hasn’t belonged to some other Swieteck before [him]” (274). This demonstrates that none of his other family members have had a flight jacket in the way that Doug has and haven’t acted like mature adults, thus the flight jacket symbolizing (Doug’s) adulthood.
Many important events in the book would not happen in real life. From my prior knowledge, I know the author is from Canada. Inferring that the events take place in Canada, I believe that many events that happened in the book would not have happened at a normal Canadian high school. For example, the Cage, a place where people get beat up and bullied, surprisingly exists. In a normal Canadian high school, places like this would have been discovered long ago. The Cage is also known by most people in the school yet no one reports the incidents and events that happen there. In Canada and most developed countries, students learn about bullying and what to do when they see someone being bullied at a young age. In the book, not only does the victim not do anything about their situation, there are also many bystanders who just watch and refuse to do anything about the situation of things. In reality, events similar to these would have been known to the staff at the school a long time ago, and bullies and people who take part in activities around the Cage would have received punishments for their
Gacy grew up in Chicago Illinois and was the middle child of three children. His relationship with his father was northing short of complicated in that his father was a raging alcoholic, abusive to his spouse and children and a constant antagonist throughout Gacy's more impressionable years. Gacy would constantly seek the approval of his father but no matter how hard he tried, he would come up short, which only added to his father's frustration. Much of this was due to the fact that as a child and teenager, Gacy was overweight, unathletic and somewhat feminine. His father would constantly administer verbal and physical abuse because in his eyes, these qualities were not that of a true man and were not up to his alpha male standards. These physical characteristics also caused Gacy to be the target of bullying at school and because of his lack of support from his father, the mental torment only dug deeper into his already fragile mental state which made him more socially awkward and insecure. The strained relationship that Gacy had with his father also caused Gacy to become closer to his mother and sisters which (in his father's eyes) only solidified the point further that John Wayne Gacy was a mentally weak “mommas boy” who could not live up to his standards. When Gacy
The author discusses about school uniforms. He talks about how a teen did not have a senior picture yearbook because she did not wear her school uniform, instead a tuxedo. The school refused to print her picture, she thought the school uniform was to feminine and she felt uncomfortable. The author addresses how kids should have their own decisions to wear what they want and should not have to follow a dress code. He wants kids to feel comfortable at school and they should be able to wear what they want and not have to be controlled by the school administrators.
Gary’s behavior from the beginning of the movie is odd. He is quite and not very open with his mother. He has angry posters plastered all over his bedroom door and a padlock locking his door
Jack was a boy who wanted to fit in with everybody in school. It took him awhile to understand that cliques begin in middle school. Realizing that he got labeled as “nerd” for reading books and having glasses, he decided to change his appearance. Jack stated, “I figured if I wore clothes that were more like everyone else’s I could pass for cool, or at least not be made fun of” (Garrod, 2012, p. 180). Along with the wardrobe change, he also convinced his parents to let him use contact lens’ and went to the dentist to fix his yellow patched teeth. Jack noticed how his peers picked on him during school. Even if he thought someone was his friends he knew if he did something they did not approve of, they would turn their back on him. He did not
After getting tormented continuously, it suddenly stops but Marshall - her best friend becomes the new target. The police gets involved after Avalon confesses to her parents about her suffering. Marshall decides to end his life surprisingly, which changes the whole story.The bullies are unknown but Avalon suspects it is Alice the popular girl, but in the end the person who is the bully is unforeseen. This captivating book has an unexpected ending due to the dramatic plot twist - death and not having the stereotypical bully. “When I was on that roller coaster....” suggests that the events taken place were very eyeopening and abrupt. Every parent and teenager should be compelled to read this text because of the thought-provoking plot structure.
For example, when a child that is less fortunate than others comes to school bearing ratty or `out of date' clothing, that child is viewed as an outcast and is tormented for reasons he or she does not have control over. In turn, this affects that child's ability to focus on schoolwork and puts a damper on his or her educational ability. Also, if the popular children with fashionable clothing are only worried about picking on those less fortunate than them, their minds are diverted away from their studies. Situations like these should not happen and can be easily avoided if kids in public school were all wearing the same articles of clothing.
He got D on his math quiz and bullied by the playground bully Frankie T. while his best friend Steve Negrete did nothing but stare at him, and the girls turned away to whisper and talk about him. He also claimed that the teachers were of no help as they looked at him and talked about how foolish he looked like in his new jacket. He felt that they were all laughing and belittling him while wearing that awful jacket. During lunch time, he stepped out to the field and wanted to play kickball. Despite of the cold atmosphere, he removed his jacket and started playing. When the school bell rang he slipped back into his jacket and went to his class. As soon as he was able to warm up a bit, the fire bell rang that prompted everyone to go outside. As he queued outside, other children looked at him and again he felt as though they were all laughing and saying, "Man, that's ugly"(Soto, 474).
Throughout the autobiographical narrative written by Gary Soto, many different literary elements are used to recreate the experience of his guilty six-year old self. Different elements such as contrast, repetition, pacing, diction, and imagery. Soto narrates this story as a young boy at a time when he seems to be young and foolish, Soto foolmaking mistakes, but at the same time hoping to learn from them. Soto uses each of these devices to convey different occurrences in the narrative.
The story ‘‘The Hundred Dresses’’ has changed the way I think about the world because bullying can really affect somebody's life.
Opponents think that when children select their own clothing, they can develop confidence and independence, vital characteristics through the personality development and adult success. Controlling extremely the socialization process of students will harm them as an adult, because they will not be prepared for the real world, indeed by their appearances. In addition, opponents argue that when students are limited about what they are going to wear, they will find other ways to offend the authority. Without a way out of expression in their clothes, they will turn out to other inappropriate alternatives of self-expression, such as nontraditional hair styles or make-up, or the worst revolting against school authorities and parents by the way they behave and act. It is obvious that children, especially those in middle and high school, are constantly concerned about their appearance that way, wearing a school uniform will minimize this concern. They also believe schools can help students avoid clothing that contains slogans, short or tight clothing; while giving them