Bruce Jay Friedman

How Boys Become Men Nobody’s deserved to be treated cruelly. Jon Katz, a well-known reporter who is famous for his talented writing. In the 90’s, Katz wrote “How boys become men” which appeared in Glamour magazine. The writing is about a boy who had experience bullying in his childhood. Being bullied, the boy felt scared and frightened in his own school. Not only getting bullied, they did not have a gut to tell other people, too. I feel connected after reading the writing because I have…

The first reaction to Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is my Heart by Joyce Carol Oates is a feeling of sharp reality as the novel captures the genuine lives that live through adversity and peace in the 1950s and 1960s United States. Oates’ novel provides an insight into the various ways many Americans lived in the middle of the twentieth century. The lifestyles showcased in the book, according to Oates’ writing, are meant to serve as an example into the basic day-to-day operations of the…

A. M Holmes’ May We Be Forgiven and T. Geronimo Johnson’s Welcome to Braggsville both explore themes of gender. May We Be Forgiven was published in New York in 2012. It follows Harry Silver, a middle-aged author, as he navigates his divorce, his brother’s incarceration after murdering his own wife, and his relationship with with his niece and nephew (Nate and Ashley) after he becomes their legal guardian. Welcome to Braggsville was also published in New York, three years later. It follows D’aron…

Kenneth Lay’s naïve presumption of Innocence Enron has been yet another example of how a group of unethical individuals with a taste of success can manipulate a position into unscrupulous grandeur for the benefit of a few with no oversight from above and the auditors who should have thrown up a red flag much sooner on the pay roll. It was the perfect storm for Kenneth Lay and his cohorts to squeeze every illicit cent they could from the Enron cash cow. Claiming his innocence to up until his…

In Chapter 9, “The Effect of Expectations” by Dan Ariely, the reader finds that expectations can influence nearly every aspect of our lives. Ariely introduced many examples for the reader to fully understand the chapter. He began the chapter by talking about a sports rivalry between his favored Philadelphia Eagles and his roommates’ team, the New York City Giants. He explained how at the end of the game the Eagles player made an amazing catch inside the endzone but the two friends started…

Was Andrew Carnegie a Hero? Andrew Carnegie was a man who started off as a poor immigrant sailing into America, he was ambitious and made his way up into the American dream. He was twelve years old when he started working 12-hour days for his family as a result he was earning $1.20 a week. He was a successful man in business, he worked in his business of steel after having his boss’s job and adopting Bessemer's process and built steel mill in America. Carnegie died in 1919, but was Andrew…

Many Americans today take the privileges they are given for granted. Rarely do citizens of the United States reflect and truly appreciate how such an unlikely circumstance became a wonderful reality. Americans must understand how such a great nation succeeds despite the odds against it. The United States of America, a nation built on improbable foundations, is able to succeed through uniting people under a common goal, and by being tolerant of different people; this is exemplified through the…

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Winter Dreams” is a story of ambition, ascension, and disappointment. It reveals the hollow reality of the idealistic “American dream” through the societal rise and emotional devastation of Dexter Green. Dexter’s journey to the realization of a boyhood dream turned into a life depleting nightmare serves to prove that the whole construct of social class is an illusion and that money can never buy happiness. At the onset of the story, Dexter is an ambitious middle-class…

Ever heard of a book called Treasure Island? Treasure Island is a good book, it is about pirates. And as the title states, it's about Treasure Island! Treasure Island is the mystery that they are all trying to figure out. But like a lot of people say, this book is an oldie but a goodie! It was written in 1881 by Robert Louis Stevenson. Robert Louis Stevenson was a great author and wrote many books. He wrote Prince Otto and Kidnapped. A lot of other historical events happened in this year, like…

Pincher Martin, first published in 1956, is perhaps the most complex of all Golding's works. Generally described as a modern classic, the novel is the assertion of the self at all costs. It deals with the predicament of a modern godless man who finds himself entangled between his supreme pride, his reason, his intelligence, his confidence, and his desire for domination and power. When Golding started writing, there was an atmosphere of disillusion and disenchantment, and it was this that…