This Boy's Life

This Boy’s Life is a memoir written by Tobias Wolff. It describes his childhood, like how he changed his name to Jack. When Jack was young he often changed households until they finally ended up with Dwight. This might have an effect on his morality, or at least his morality as a child. Throughout the novel Jack acts like an egoist as his actions are done to benefit himself in some way. Jack is still fighting Arthur even after rolling down the hill that led to the bank they are currently standing on. Pepper, Arthur’s dog, had gone down the hill with the two boys and is yapping and lunging at Jack. Jack, feeling awful about the way Pepper is reacting to him, thinks, “It wounded my spirit to have a dog against me. I liked dogs. [...] I expected them to like me back” (Wolff 110). Not long after reaching the bank Arthur asks Jack to take back what he had said just before the fight started and Jack, wanting to be on good terms with Pepper, agrees to take it back. While Jack begins to climb the hill, Arthur, wanting to hear ‘You're not a sissy’, yells again. Jack turns to look at his…

Tobias Wolff uses the literary element of metaphors in the memoir This Boy’s Life in order to genuinely illustrate how he depicted scenarios in his mind in which he can flee from his calamitous home-life in his childhood. Wolff, in his adolescence, faced many struggles regarding his own identity, and time and time again in the text, he does something that will in turn change his identity somewhat in either the form of his actions, the influences others have on him, or even his imagination.…

the one where you’re forced to be around people that are no good for you. Tobias Wolff, author of This Boy’s Life, was stuck in one as a young boy. His mother was known to pick out bad boyfriends and settled with one named Dwight, who is probably the worst one mentioned. He seems to have a strange aura around him and it shows through the way he treats Tobias. There are many more people in this story that have these characteristics that all seem a bit foreign to me. Overall, this novel forced me…

In This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff uses cars to highlight the irony of the American Dream, specifically the idea of reinvention. Cars are seen repeatedly throughout the text and are clearly used to further Wolff’s ironic views about the traditional idea of the American Dream. Cars have always been a symbol of escape and starting over, as it gives people behind the wheel the power to escape their old lives and old selves to start anew. However, in This Boy’s Life, we see that cars never give the…

is the best gift that God has granted you today. The excerpts of This Boy’s Life and The Other Wes Moore, talk about how different the parents were portrayed in the children’s lives. The parents are described differently like being hardworking, having faith, and difference in the family life style. On the other hand, the parents had some similarities like they all faced violence, difficulties in the leaving life style and the love and care towards their children. The two excerpts generally show…

First Confession and This Boy’s Life parallel within each other’s stories, for they both had this moment where each protagonist confessed a part of themselves within their own experiences. Jack within the story, This Boy’s life, had gone to this priest where he hadn’t given his sins trufully. A “sister” of his, had shared her confession where she had done wrong, only to later modified it slightly to pass as his own. This idea of out playing among this “confession” of his gives this thought of…

elements are the salt of literature. When used correctly, they bring out the flavor of a story, but when misused, they ruin the original creation. In This Boy’s Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff, and In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez, literary elements are used to create delicious stories. This Boy’s Life: A Memoir chronicles the author’s childhood and adolescence in Seattle during the 1950s, which includes a broken home, lying, stealing, and cheating. In the Time of the…

This Boy’s Life Adolescence, it’s a time of change and development with many woes and hardships that can put a major toll on any kid in his or her life. Tobias Wolff portrays his difficult childhood through his immersive memoir, This Boy’s Life. He deals with many family issues like domestic violence and a mother that likes to move off to wherever her heart desires. This causes him to have a reckless childhood and end up in the wrong crowd of kids. His stepfather, Dwight always…

Through This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff explores the... Whilst growing up without a father can have a detrimental effect on a teenage boy, more importantly knowing that one’s father is alive, and yet indifferent to his son, can be devastating. As Jack’s biological father, Arthur Wolff is almost completely absent from his life. Growing up without a father created a huge sense of insecurity within Jack, who spends much of his teenage years imagining random strangers as his father:…

In search for one’s true self, the adversities that are faced are all dependent on the environment in which the person surrounds himself or herself with. Tobias Wolff demonstrates the struggle of finding a true identity when consumed by such harsh surroundings in his bildungsroman style memoir ‘This Boy’s Life”. Despite each personas dreams of transformation, the memoir depicts each character’s struggles to find their identity given the patriarchal society in which they are exposed to; where men…