Jean Brandt’s short narrative essay “Calling Home” helps rouse memories and enrich thinking. Brandt’s elegant writing gives readers an enjoyable roller coaster to ride as they glide through the pages describing her experiences of excitement, desire, fear, and grief. This intriguing essay helps readers remember not everybody is perfect, objects of desire can be incredibly tempting, and there are always consequences for every action.
People with low self-confidence must remember there are an abundant amount of examples showing everybody is just as human as them and Brandt’s essay is one of these incredible examples. Celebrities, singers, authors, billionaires, and anybody else with a number of adoring fans will always be portrayed as perfect, …show more content…
Brandt’s “object of… desire [is] a 75-cent Snoopy button” (14). Many people might read Brandt’s essay and smirk, thinking it is stupid to risk getting into trouble just for a seventy-five cent button. However, if they took a step back and thought about what their desires were as thirteen year old kids, they might see they themselves were not that far off from desiring seventy-five cent items. Brandt’s motivation to steal the button is simply because “Snoopy [is] the latest. If you owned anything with the Peanuts on it, you were ‘in’” and what thirteen year old child doesn’t have a desire to be considered “in” (14)? Brandt helps readers remember what it was like to be a kid without the experience of holding hundreds of dollars in a bank during a certain period of time. To most young kids, one seventy five cent button and the guarantee to be “in” may seem like a hundred dollars. This point of view helps people sympathize with a young person who makes a mistake and, instead of saying “foolish kid,” they can say “immature kid” or “unexperienced kid.” Just like anybody else, Brandt desired something, but she made the mistake of taking her desire too far, and she learned there were costs for …show more content…
Brandt gives many hints showing how excited she was that day, explaining she and her family “[is] caught up with holiday spirit” and how she feels “light-headed and full of joy” (14). Brandt ruins this moment by stealing the button. By the end of the ordeal, everybody’s excitement has completely vanished and “not a word [is] spoken as [they walk] to the car” (17). This mood is a tremendous change from “[they] sang Christmas carols, chattered, and laughed” (14). The ultimate consequence for Brandt, however, is dealing with the disappointment from her parents. Brandt is so terrified of talking to her parents, “especially her mother,” from jail, that she is “trembling as [she dials] home” (16). These consequences were a necessary part of Brandt’s learning experience, and through them she discovered it was important to always think before
People with low self-confidence must remember there are an abundant amount of examples showing everybody is just as human as them and Brandt’s essay is one of these incredible examples. Celebrities, singers, authors, billionaires, and anybody else with a number of adoring fans will always be portrayed as perfect, …show more content…
Brandt’s “object of… desire [is] a 75-cent Snoopy button” (14). Many people might read Brandt’s essay and smirk, thinking it is stupid to risk getting into trouble just for a seventy-five cent button. However, if they took a step back and thought about what their desires were as thirteen year old kids, they might see they themselves were not that far off from desiring seventy-five cent items. Brandt’s motivation to steal the button is simply because “Snoopy [is] the latest. If you owned anything with the Peanuts on it, you were ‘in’” and what thirteen year old child doesn’t have a desire to be considered “in” (14)? Brandt helps readers remember what it was like to be a kid without the experience of holding hundreds of dollars in a bank during a certain period of time. To most young kids, one seventy five cent button and the guarantee to be “in” may seem like a hundred dollars. This point of view helps people sympathize with a young person who makes a mistake and, instead of saying “foolish kid,” they can say “immature kid” or “unexperienced kid.” Just like anybody else, Brandt desired something, but she made the mistake of taking her desire too far, and she learned there were costs for …show more content…
Brandt gives many hints showing how excited she was that day, explaining she and her family “[is] caught up with holiday spirit” and how she feels “light-headed and full of joy” (14). Brandt ruins this moment by stealing the button. By the end of the ordeal, everybody’s excitement has completely vanished and “not a word [is] spoken as [they walk] to the car” (17). This mood is a tremendous change from “[they] sang Christmas carols, chattered, and laughed” (14). The ultimate consequence for Brandt, however, is dealing with the disappointment from her parents. Brandt is so terrified of talking to her parents, “especially her mother,” from jail, that she is “trembling as [she dials] home” (16). These consequences were a necessary part of Brandt’s learning experience, and through them she discovered it was important to always think before