Noah's Top Long Thoughts You Need to Know About Short Story

Johnnie’s Struggle to Find His Niche             Johnnie struggles throughout “The Outing” to find himself, both in his church and in his family. Johnnie struggles to find his place in his family due to his oppressive preacher father. Johnnie struggles to be accepted by his step-father, because he is a product of his mother’s premarital sins. Johnnie’s step-father does not treat his son with respect, only ever praising and fawning over his half-brother, Roy. The tension between Johnnie and his step-father is palpable, especially when Johnnie attempts to challenge his father, he wants his father to see how much he “hated him” and is met with the response of “We get home, I’ll pull down those long pants and we’ll see who’s the man” (pg. 36).             Johnnie is understandably angry with his step-father. Before the standoff, Johnnie’s father, named Gabriel, had claimed that...

Teddy’s World Doesn’t Work             J.D. Salinger introduces us to the somewhat unbelievable main character of Teddy, a ten-year-old who speaks unlike anyone on earth. Teddy uses large words and speaks eloquently, giving the reader a sense that he is wise beyond his years, but to what age is not clear. Teddy, though supposedly sophisticated, seems be naïve to my pre-programmed American brain. Teddy explains his idea of a new education system. He says, "I think I'd first just assemble all the children together and show them how to meditate. I'd try to show them how to find out who they are, not just what their names are and things like that . . .” Me being the American materialist idealist that I am, makes me think that this statement is preposterous. Any education system based solely on discovery would lead to a breakdown and destruction of society. Using a method as described showing students “an elephant, if I had one handy,...