In the following John Wain s short story Manhood, which was published as a single short story in 1980, will be summarized.

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1 ManhoodSummary In the following John Wain s short story Manhood, which was published as a single short story in 1980, will be summarized. The main theme of the story is about how the relationship between children and parents can be influenced by pressurizing parents. The main characters are Rob Willison, a fourteen year old boy who is not as sportive as his father wants him to be, due to a heart problem which makes him weaker than most of the boys his age. Mr. Willison is very ambitious and strictly forces Rob to build up his strength to be better in sports, because he himself had not been that way as a child. Mrs. Willison is worried about her son s health and does not agree with her husband s techniques. She wants the best for her son and he being healthy would be enough for her. The story starts out with Rob and his father being on a bike ride. Rob is exhausted and does not want to go up the hill which is in front of the two. Mr. Willison convinces his son to do so anyways and pushes Rob to the limit. This is typical of their relationship since Rob s father had never had the chance to do sports when he was a child, because he had to study in fear of unemployment, so now he pushes his missed out experience on his son. He does not seem to care for his physical disadvantages. The bike ride was set by Mr. Willison, so a present could be fixed for Rob. He tells Rob about it to motivate his fatigued son to face the long ride home. When the father and son come home, Rob s present turns out to be a boxing sack. At this point Rob s mother starts protesting against her husband s ambitious behavior, but her son seems to be grateful for the boxing sack and starts practicing every day. One day at the dinner table, Rob admits that he did not make the football team. His father remains calm and finds the reason for this situation to be bad luck. After a short time Rob states that he did make the boxing team instead. Mr. Willison is very proud and starts working out with his son on a regular basis to improve his skills. As the story goes on, Rob claims to be chosen to be his school s representative at the boxing state competition. From now on, the duo keeps practicing even harder on the displeasure of Mrs. Willison. The day of the competition is there and Rob shouts for father to come upstairs to his room. He is aching and says he has appendicitis. Mr. Willison tells him that he does not believe him and how everyone is depending on his performance today. Now Rob shouts for his mother who comes upstairs quickly. She is full of worry and tells her husband to call a doctor. Mrs. Willison blames the situation on her husband. Mr. Willison decides to call Rob s coach first. As he finds out the coaches number and calls him, he gets informed that he does not know his son and that the school does not even have a boxing team. Rob lied to his father and had never been in a boxing team. Lea SchumacherEFMay 2015

The main characters are Rob Willison, a fourteen year old boy who is not as sportive as his father wants him to be, due to a heart problem which makes him weaker than most of the boys his age. Mr.

2 Manhood When I was your age, I wished to be like the popular kids I wished to be strong I wished to be confident I wished to be recognized. Instead I went through high school life as me. As the weak As the shy kid who never talked As the one whom nobody knew. When I escaped the judging High School Society I swore to myself to become the kid I always wanted to be. But pretty soon I noticed that my childhood became my past. Adolescence hit me as fast as an express train. When I accepted, I had become a grownup, I made myself to be The hardworking, The one who went to the limits, The one who never gave up Eventually, I married the love of my life When I became a father, I swore to myself to become the best father I wanted my son to escape from teenager s cruelty I once experienced.

But pretty soon I noticed that my childhood became my past. Adolescence hit me as fast as an express train.

3 I taught him to be like the popular kids. To be the strong To be the confident To become the recognized I never could have been I did my best, day by day, To give him what he needed. I taught him that Dedication is more important than Intelligence, The power of will stronger than a smart thought, A winning trophy better than good grades, And Sports more valuable than School I did my best, day by day, For sure But what I gave him was really MY best And not HIS When I realized that my attempt to do good, Has turned out to be the opposite That I didn t teach him to be able to be proud, But to be ashamed of what he truly is I taught him that Dedication is more important than HIS intelligence,

I taught him that Dedication is more important than Intelligence, The power of will stronger than a smart thought, A winning trophy better than good grades, And Sports more

4 The power of will stronger than HIS good thought, A winning trophy better than HIS good grades, And HE less valuable than what I wanted him to be When I came back to reality to realize that I wanted my beloved son to make up for my regrets I had turned his trust to dust His hope to fear And his confidence to a minimum I had mistaken my son for myself What a cruel thing to do I became the teenage society I had wished to curse I had become the villain in my son s life Kids can be cruel, they say Today, I learned that I never bore it It is my weakness that I wanted to make my offspring s strength Today, I also learned that strength is something completely different It is not about fitting in Fulfilling the norm Or even breaking a school record It is about being true to you, Being brave enough to stand out And eventually, convincing others of your beautiful self It is easy to be accepted if you impress with the superficial Don t get me wrong, that s perfectly fine

society I had wished to curse I had become the villain in my son s life Kids can be cruel, they say Today, I learned that I never bore it It is my weakness that I wanted to make my offspring s

5 If that s who you really are If you are the sports crack, If you are the confident student council president, But don t write a book by putting together stolen pages Strength is to be proud of falling out of alignment Come on, wear your nerdy glasses and write your poems They are not cheesy, they are not ridiculous They only are what you want them to be Take courage, go to those dancing classes Even if you are a guy That does not make you gay You do not look funny doing it It is not what only girls do It only is what you make out of it This is day one of making your own rules This is day one after a million misunderstood days of living This is day one after repeating my mistake This is day one of saying sorry I once had the chance of being the flower that flourished in another color But I had chosen to never flourish My son had the chance to have the brightest blossom But I chose for him to flourish the same way as the others do Beauty, my son, is underrated Beauty is not the way a coincidence designed our appearance Beauty is what is hidden inside

classes Even if you are a guy That does not make you gay You do not look funny doing it It is not what only girls do It only is what you make out of it This is day one of making your own rules This

6 Some people never let it out It is as if they cover themselves with their bodies Eyes can t discover beauty Sticks and stones might break your bones, But words can never hurt you What a dumb thing to say You cannot put a cast around something invisible There is no prescription medicine against hurt feelings The sad part is that I can only say sorry I cannot forgive myself I wish I could fix you I wish I could put back together the pieces that add up to you I once tore them apart, but you need to take the burden That s not right or fair, But it is not a choice There is more than one path to happiness, But I had no idea. You lied to me, because I made you lie to yourself If you never want to talk to me ever again I understand Honestly, I don t even want to talk to myself When I look in the mirror, I don t see the superficial anymore My selfish behavior made me capable of seeing the beast inside

wish I could put back together the pieces that add up to you I once tore them apart, but you need to take the burden That s not right or fair, But it is not a choice There is more than one path to

7 Seeing someone s true self can be a blessing or a curse You might see true beauty A colorful, shining warmness That stays hidden from the most of us You might even think you witness an angel But you might also see nasty ugliness A dark, cold and uncomfortable creature That most of us experience, but never see You might even think you witness the devil It grabs you and pulls you into its cave If you escape, you are left with scratches and wounds But even those are part of you Without them, you could never receive the countless blessings Do you know who I am inside? I have become what I feared I became the bully I had wished to ban from this world Happiness is a choice, but not for me anymore I had taken my chance and lost it I lost it and only you can give it back to me I am not asking you to do so I am only begging you to forget what I taught you I am begging on my knees Fix the things I broke I would do it for you,

you escape, you are left with scratches and wounds But even those are part of you Without them, you could never receive the countless blessings Do you know who I am inside?

8 If it was made to work out this way But it is not Draw your own picture Don t use the colors others give to you Erase mine and cover them with your own Draw what is invisible and show it Stop concealing, start being My son, I am broken, because you are You are broken, because I broke you I am broken, because I broke you So, I can only be whole again, When you are Apologies are not paying the price I did the math You will have to be a stronger person than I have ever been The past, the presence and the future are one: They are today.* Make the best out of my worst The difference between a man and a boy Is to carry on apart from what has happened If you ask me, I am still a boy Son, I ask you to become a man

you are Apologies are not paying the price I did the math You will have to be a stronger person than I have ever been The past, the presence and the future are one: They are

California Treasures High-Frequency Words Scope and Sequence K-3

California Treasures High-Frequency Words Scope and Sequence K-3 Words were selected using the following established frequency lists: (1) Dolch 220 (2) Fry 100 (3) American Heritage Top 150 Words in English