Change in attitude


The first quote I am going to talk about from “The Evolution of My Brother” is on page 150-151 when Jenny is talking about how she feels about getting to go to the camp at Stanford.
“All I wanted for so long was to be part of a family that wasn’t mine. To have an excuse to love mine less, an excuse to run away instead of staying so close all the time. .. I was about to experience my first taste of independence.”
In this quote, Jenny talks about how she yearns for independence and freedom from her family. Throughout most of the story, Jenny talks about feeling held back by her family. She gets annoyed by her younger brother who she feels she has to parent and her parents don’t seem to watch over them much. I think the sense of going off to college and away from our parents is something many of us high schoolers can relate to Jenny about.

My second quote from “The Evolution of My Brother” is towards the end on pages 174-175 where Jenny expresses what seems to be an opposite sentiment compared to the quote from the beginning of the story.
“Whenever I’m home for a few days, I start to feel this despair at being back in the place where I had spent so many afternoons dreaming of getting away, so many late nights fantasizing about who I would be once I was allowed to be someone apart from my family, once I was free to commit mistakes on my own...I will always come home to my family as a visitor”.
Here we see Jenny reminiscing on her times as a kid in her old house. It seems like she misses the time where she felt like part of her family rather than a visitor. It was interesting to see the story take the turn where we see Jenny regretting just wanting to leave her family because it is not everything she thought it would be. I think I can relate in some way because I am excited to leave my house and see the person I become with more independence but this story makes me wonder if in a few years I will feel the same as Jenny and miss the times where I was part of my family.

Comments

  1. UnknownMay 17, 2020 at 10:08 AM

    Great choice of quotations to highlight the significant change in Jenny's feelings about her family and childhood home! You've done a nice job discussing their significance in relation to one another, as they illustrate the evolution and complexity of Jenny's feelings. As a (still youngish) adult who left my childhood home to go to college over a decade ago, I really identify with "The Evolution of My Brother." I can recall my excitement to leave home and go to college, but the bittersweetness of returning home as a visitor also feels very true to my experience. -Ms. O'Brien

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