1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.
Revision of 10/14/2012
In The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, Veronica “Ronnie” is a rebellious teenager who is forced to deal with the pain her divorced parents. Once her father moved out, the passion for the piano was also lost. The distance created between her father and her caused her to reject all of her father's attempts to reach out to her when she moves in with him for the summer.
She alienates herself from her parents especially her father and stops playing music. Through music, Ronnie and her father had developed a special bond which was soon broken after the divorce. Ronnie's resentment causes her to open up to the wrong people which leads to more trouble. Her rebellious attitude landed her in a difficult situation when she was caught stealing. Ronnie, let the pain of her father leaving get to her so much it lead her to make bad decisions.
As the story goes on, Ronnie slowly beings to open herself up to her father about the guy she's falling for, Will. As things being to fall into place, a surprise leaves Ronnie feeling betrayed and alone. She learns that her father has cancer which leads her to develop a barrier to get through the pain. Her pain was not only caused by finding out he has cancer but also her insensitive behavior toward him which she only came to when there was bigger problem. To make up for her unacceptable behavior, she spends every waking moment being with her father. She tries to make up for all the years that they both missed out on.
Initially, the problem for Ronnie was not the divorce but the outcome of it. It caused her to lose her relationship with her dad as well as loosing the passion of music they cared about. The bond she had with father become a part of her being and losing that closeness ultimately become her downfall. The conflict in this novel shows the importance between the love parents and children share.
Hey Aishwarya,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this post! You explained Ronnie and her dad's relationship quite thoroughly and in detail. I definitely agree with you in that Ronnie's problem was the outcome of the divorce, as that was when everything started going downhill. The only thing I would recommend is analyzing more on why the dad-daughter relationship was important in this novel. Keep up the good work!
I'm gonna guess that you were already told that Nicholas Sparks doesn't count for much in the literary world, since this is a revision, so I'll spare you. I'd also suggest that you add a couple of verbs in your opening paragraph? The difference between "the passion for the piano" vs "her passion for playing the piano" is actually one that will add a lot of clarity. Finally I'll say the same thing I said about Julie's essay: I think that you have a good point about the novel but I'd put that point about meaning in your thesis statement. Otherwise, your essay doesn't make sense until the very end. Finally, I'd go more in depth about the cause of the conflict, as the prompt suggest. This feels just a little bit like too much summary.
ReplyDeleteLike Sarah said, just remember that a Nicholas Sparks novel won't fly on the AP exam. Other than that though, you use some good detail but sometimes things are unclear, but you do keep the summary to a good length. However, I feel there needs to be a tad more analysis of your thesis, and make sure your most important points find their way into your thesis.
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