The Importance Of Values In Marita's Bargain

Many of the individuals in the selections we have read from the collections book made large sacrifices that they think will better their lives. But, are these sacrifices worth it? I believe they are and I will soon explain myself. But first, I must start by telling about the characters whose sacrifices I will be analyzing. The first character, who made the biggest sacrifice, is Annie John from A Walk to the Jetty. I will also be analyzing the sacrifices made by the children in Marita’s Bargain, more specifically Marita. What sacrifices did Annie John make that were so significant? In A Walk to the Jetty, Annie John prepares to leave her family on the small island of Antigua to travel to England to become a nurse. Today, this may not seem like …show more content…
In Marita’s Bargain, it tells about a school in the Bronx that gives lower income students the education many of the upper-class students receive in their private schools. The students at the school make many tradeoffs, with some not getting home until after nine P.M. Marita makes sacrifices that include losing much of her free time and in some cases, her childhood. She spends most of her time doing schoolwork and studying the lessons she is taught. I truly believe that her sacrifices will pay off because she is receiving a great education and she does not waste it. She works her hardest and disciplines herself, and that will help once she gets older and gets to high school and college. In Marita’s Bargain, the principal says in an interview with the author that recently she received a letter from one of her former students who was a horrible math student when she started at the school. The letter said that that once horrible math student was majoring in accounting, all because the school taught her discipline and good time management. This truly shows how successful the skills that Marita is receiving can …show more content…
Although Marita’s sacrifices may not seem as large as Annie John’s, I think they are just as large. Sure, Annie John may not see her family again, but Marita is trading her childhood in order to be more successful later in life. I would say that that is a big sacrifice and I would think many would agree with me. Annie John is going to England to study to become a nurse in hopes of receiving a chance her parents never did, this is a huge sacrifice. I think Marita’s sacrifices of working and studying long hours in on par with this though. Both of these sacrifices are very large and life-changing. You must also take in the age of both of these women. Marita is still in elementary school, she will grow up not having a childhood, but she will also be more prepared than many when she gets out into the real world since she has been living in it for most of her life. Annie John is around the age of eighteen in A Walk to the Jetty, she is just getting into the real world for the first time, Annie John will be making almost the same sacrifices as Marita soon, just at a later