Can you imagine one single decision you make in your teens, influencing your life and leaving a lasting impact on who you are as a person? This happened in the memoir Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos. This story talks about his time that he spent in his late teens, about how he ended up in jail and even how he then ended up in college. However, the thing that made all these things possible was the choice he glossed over in the beginning, which was to move and live on his own. A choice while not minuscule, seems like a rather unimportant choice in a story about drug smuggling, but this is where it all began. Free of much of a parental influence, Jack started to diverge off the path a little. His drinking heavily increased, so much that
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His time in prison definitely wasn't good, and Jack wanted out. The actions he took for parole just got him into deeper water and hope seemed to be dwindling. However, there was still a chance for him to get out of prison and into the free world. “I want to go to a school with a writing program, but I don’t have any writing. So let’s find a school, any school that has low standards, and I’ll offer them cash.” This quote is talking about his plan to get out of prison, is to actually go to college. “I was accepted”(192). His efforts to get out of prison led him to a path he was about to take during his teens, but didn’t. It opened up doors that were previously closed. If he didn’t move away he might have gone to college, but without something to actually write about. This amazing story that he had, would have never been possible without moving away and living on his own.
Life is a butterfly effect. Choices lead to consequences everyday and at every turn. The choice that Jack Gantos made in his late teens, to finish high school away from his parents, seems like a choice that wouldn’t lead to his incarceration, and eventually his writing career. However, that’s exactly how it went down. Living on his own caused many consequences in his life. Including, but not limited to his experiences as a teenager, his arrest and his eventual college life and his later career. This just shows that a smaller choice, can have very big
His time in prison definitely wasn't good, and Jack wanted out. The actions he took for parole just got him into deeper water and hope seemed to be dwindling. However, there was still a chance for him to get out of prison and into the free world. “I want to go to a school with a writing program, but I don’t have any writing. So let’s find a school, any school that has low standards, and I’ll offer them cash.” This quote is talking about his plan to get out of prison, is to actually go to college. “I was accepted”(192). His efforts to get out of prison led him to a path he was about to take during his teens, but didn’t. It opened up doors that were previously closed. If he didn’t move away he might have gone to college, but without something to actually write about. This amazing story that he had, would have never been possible without moving away and living on his own.
Life is a butterfly effect. Choices lead to consequences everyday and at every turn. The choice that Jack Gantos made in his late teens, to finish high school away from his parents, seems like a choice that wouldn’t lead to his incarceration, and eventually his writing career. However, that’s exactly how it went down. Living on his own caused many consequences in his life. Including, but not limited to his experiences as a teenager, his arrest and his eventual college life and his later career. This just shows that a smaller choice, can have very big