“Tag” is an essay written by Amy Bernhard. The themes in “Tag” enable the reader to learn a deeper message. One continuing theme throughout the story is that we can’t be anyone we want to be although we may try. Pushing ourselves to be someone else does not work. Another theme in the essay is that we can create tension and pressure by pretending to be someone you are really not, will make it very hard to find who you truly are. Examples within the text helped me determine, understand, and relate to the theme. From the very start of the story the narrator and writer, Amy, gave us clues on whom or what she was trying to be. She begged her mother to shop for her in the boys department of JC Pennys and wears clothes that are baggy with sport slogans on them. …show more content…
Amy was not only pretending to be tougher than whom she was, but she was also pretending to be a boy. Her father wanted a boy and Amy tries to be one to gain a relationship with him. She pushed the characteristic of being a tomboy outside of her limits that it is uncomfortable. In the end, she pulls her pants down. Symbolically, she comes to terms with who she really is. She is a plain girl in “plain white cotton underwear” underneath her baggy basketball shorts. Amy has done things to be a tomboy, and not to be herself. I can relate to this “deeper message” because I struggled with finding my own identity after I began to be home-schooled. I had gotten used to doing and liking what everyone else did in middle school. As a result, I lost my own since of uniqueness. While being home-schooled, I had to experiment on my own and see what I liked and what I did not. Other readers can relate to this theme as often times people dream or try to be a person that they are not, and learn lessons from the
The main character of the book, Allison Mackenzie, came from a middle-class family that owned a home off Chestnut Street. Her mother, Constance, owned a shop in town called the Thrifty Corner Apparel Shoppe. Allison was born out of wedlock and her father was out of the picture. Constance was ashamed of this fact and hide her secret past from society. The situation surrounding Allison was an example of the time period’s denial of family dysfunction.
The very first way the story shows the theme is through character. For example, Doodle's brother renamed him because of his disabilities. “Renaming my brother was perhaps the kindest thing I ever did for him because nobody expects much from someone called Doodle.” (Hurst 464)
This statement is inaccurate as when we are raised in a world where everyone thinks the same and are hardly ever influenced by outside sources, choices we are forced into making can lead to a distorted idea of who we know ourselves to be. When we are forced into making choices that lead to us having this distorted identity we try to fight the identity we have created. This can be shown through both texts Jasper Jones and Pleasantville, as illustrated by Ruth Bucktin and the people who live in the town of Pleasantville. In the novel Jasper Jones we can see that choices we were once forced to make can lead to a distorted idea of who we know ourselves to be.
The situations take place in the story are evidence for the theme. First, the theme
Everything has labels in the modern world, whether it be price tags or names. Labels give meaning and depth to mankind, objects, places, and more. Therefore, whatever that is classified acquires a sense of identity, just as how names communicate to one’s sense of self. Labels impacting one’s character is depicted through Cecelia Ahern’s novel Flawed when individuals are branded. As a result, labels can be mentally and emotionally damaging to one’s sense of self.
An additional theme that I think is prevalent throughout the book is family dynamics. In Amy Anne’s family, she felt she had no space to be by herself in a quiet space, so she would lie to her parents and stay after school to read. Later in the book, her sister shreds important papers she needed to try and get the school board to unban the books. Amy Anne releases all her bottled-up resentment, saying, “Why do you think I pretended to be in clubs and stayed late after school every day?
A theme in the book is stress, she will never forgetthe story when she was raped. And the hardest part of all is telling her ex-boyfriend. Another theme is love becauseshe still have feeling for her ex-boyfriend and she really want to get back with him. An idea is family issues becauseshe need to know how to separate her family, school and boyfriend problems. After that, a theme is trust because herfriend keep it a secret when she was telling her about her getting raped.
The theme is developed by how Jeannette learns how to take care of herself and her younger siblings, and the way her parent taught her. Jeannette have a very tough childhood where she have to go up quickly,so that she can work to make money. This way she won’t starve and feel the chill of winter, where there’s no heat in the house. She can also break ties with the move and rent new house to find new money sources because her dad can’t hold a job for a long
To go further deeper, a reader, and writer, must understand the definitions and meaning of the theme. Perception is a mental image. For example, Lily's mental image was, "He said she left me... I didn't believe T Ray when he told me that," (p.238-239) This is what she thought of T Ray, and how she knew, or so she thought, that her mom would never do something like that, and her mom cares about her too much to ever do that.
Describing the characters in the ways they would like us to remember and what they want us to remember. He shows us Literary Devices mainly as foreshadowing telling us what the guy Abner Snopes) knows is going to happen and guilt he has on his shoulders. These are the three main events that William Faulkner wants to catch our eyes with. Some of the themes the author uses are Loyalty and Betrayal talks about the family and how this theme is the most repetitive because even though their family is supposed to be loyal and show Loyalty they do not ,they show Betrayal because the little boy at the end of the story runs away so you have to know their is some Betrayal because of this event. Also another theme is Courage how the boy shows this by lying for his dad
Characterization is the backbone of the theme of a story. In the story “The Jewelry Box '', Lauren walks into her classroom late and she is anxious about what others will think, which is expressed through her actions, thoughts, and appearance. Lauren is bullied by a classmate, Jerry Pickup, in their woodshop class, Lauren then decides that she will gain confidence and stand up to Jerry, which causes Jerry and Lauren to get along. Lauren’s change from timid to confident, shown through her actions, strongly supports the theme of confidence is necessary during adversity. The author uses characterization to develop the theme by conveying the character’s thoughts as uncomfortable, showing through different character’s looks that they are much bigger and more intimidating than the main character, and expressing through
One will eventually come across the day where they are able to figure out who they truly are as a person. A discovery like this will lead to new chapters of life and start new beginnings. Although finding one 's identity can be difficult to understand and accept, it is crucial in life to discover oneself. In the novel Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, a teenage girl, who had to overcome and deal with an awful tragedy, takes readers on the long journey she walked before finding meaning and value in who she is as a person.
William Shakespeare once said, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man. " Dating back to Elizabethan Literature, self-identity has always been deemed as essential. Fast forward to modern times, the authors of more contemporary works have taken the same concept of identity but have revealed the way actions taken can influence an individual 's understanding of themselves. For example, in John Howard Griffin 's memoir, Black Like Me and Wes Moore 's memoir, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates were both authors encounter lifestyles of similar individuals.
In conclusion, the novel ‘Deadly Unna?’ and the ‘Mean Girls’ movie poster both explore conforming and becoming an individual. We learn that there are both good and bad consequences for conforming or becoming making the courageous decision to become an
On their way, they stop at a place to get food. Where the grandmother has the chance to talk to men about the man that had escaped jail and the chat about how it was hard to find good people in the time they were living. This story concludes with the family being shot by the murderer which they found on their way while they changed their route. How does the author use the characters in this story to develop a theme?