Prompt: "I didn't come to Utah to be the same boy I'd been before. I had my own dreams of transformation" So basically its about Jacks transformation. For the most part they failed. Until Jack stopped adhering to societies rule and made it by cheating. I would make note that Jack is very naive from the onset of the novel and Wolff drops hints of this notion throughout the first chapters in great quantity. I would content that Jack's dreams of transformations are fed from his mothers naive/false sense of optimism. Furthermore their position in society will not allow them to transform their lives... unless Jack is able to create a new persona.
These would be my points.
1) Jack feeds of Rosemary's false of optimism. This allows him envision a new 'him'. Furthermore Jack is naive, and the quote reflects his mentality. Thus he fails in his transformation.
(Jack + Rosemary's false sense of optimism/hope examples) Wolff uses Rosemary to not only show how false optimism never pays off but to depict the discrepancy between reality and dreamscape that Jack and Rosemary often live within. Rosemary’s fallacious view that the world has innate justice is displayed in her reaction to the warnings of personnel officer at the Kennecott Mining Company. Instead of listening to his ‘warnings’ Rosemary decides to ‘[drive]’ to Utah only because his letter ‘was so friendly’ and that she ‘knew’ she would ‘get a job out of him’. It shows that Rosemary would often look to her dreams and hopes rather than to come to term or even recognize the reality she is in. Wolff uses this instance to exemplify Rosemary’s naïve belief that society would provide for her despite all evidence on the contrary. Wolff also uses Jack to show that he too could not differentiate between dreams and reality. As Jack moves to Chinook, he analyses how he ‘recognized no obstacle to miraculous change but the incredulity of others’. His description of change as ‘miraculous’ suggests that it is magical and unachievable, furthermore the fact that the only obstacle he faces is the ‘incredulity of others’ makes his transformation unachievable, as the level of scrutiny and incredulity he receives from others is constant throughout the novel. This cultivates the idea in the reader that while Rosemary and Jack keep chasing subjective ideas they will never be able to improve their lives.
1.5) Wolff includes the quote in his novel to show Jack's desires, however Wolff drops many hints that Jack cannot achieve his transformation.
- (Examples of this) From the onset of the novel Wolff creates the illusion that Jack and Rosemary will never achieve their dreams of transformation. Wolff utilises the ‘big truck’ which ‘smashed…and fallen hundreds of feet’ as a metaphor to symbolize and foreshadow the destructive journey both Jack and Rosemary would undertake. Wolff furthermore uses their Nash Rambler that ‘every couple of hours…boiled over’ to symbolize their ability to move forward in small bursts only to burn out. The reader gains the impression that Jack’s is never going to improve his life due to his naïve mentality. This is shown through the juxtaposition between Rosemary’s ‘dream of transformation’ and Jack’s inexperienced idea that everyone would be solved if they simply moved locations. Wolf analyses the life’s of those who were ‘going to bed rich’ in Moab and uses in retrospective analyses how ‘something like that was supposed to happen to us’. Wolff however by the diction of the word ‘supposed’ suggests that this did not pan and in retrospect it was unlikely to occur. This is confirmed between the juxtaposition between Jack and Rosemary thinking that they were ‘going to make up for lost time’ and the fact that ‘there were no jobs’. The reader thus from the onset of the first chapter Misfortune, receive no hint that Jack and Rosemary are going to improve their lives.
3) Society is flawed. Jack recognizes this towards the end of journey as actively cheats/lies his way in. Society is so flawed someone who does cheats 'makes it' (His admission into that prestigious school)
- (Example of society being flawed) Wolff uses Jack and Rosemary’s position in society to promote the idea in the readers that they are never going to be able to improve their lives. Rosemary as a single divorcee in 1950s America would not find any consolation that she would be cast aside due to social norms. It is these social norms that cannot incorporate the indifference of Rosemary and Jack through its narrow and orthodox view of what an acceptable society is. Jack’s attack on the ‘handsome’ and ‘fresh’ young man who owned the ‘Thunderbird’ is an attack on the rigid social structure that excludes him from achieving his dreams. Terry’s anti-Semitic language towards the driver highlights the social prejudice against those whose difference is unacceptable. This showcases to the reader that Jack and Rosemary dreams of transformation are not going to be achieved due to their stance in society. Furthermore Wolff uses the juxtaposition between graduates at Concrete High and graduates at prep-schools to show that not everyone can achieve their dreams of higher education or climb the rungs of social class. This shows the reader that hard work does not equate success, and is something that Jack examines, as in his adult life he observes some ‘Vietnamese women methodically hitting a discarded truck tyre with sticks’ which shows that hard work does not equal success. Thus the reader feels that Jack and Rosemary are never going to be able to improve their lives due to society’s norms not allowing them to achieve their dreams.
This is really not helpful ^. First of all, Apink!'s issue was coming up with a structure they could write on, and dealing with the quote in the prompt. That doesn't mean just throw in a whole essay. Secondly, this prompt explicitly uses the word "everyone". That outline is about 60% Jack, 35% Rosemary, and 5% whatever.
Ok, I wrote the whole thing and somehow I lost it and I need to re-write it. lol. *cries silently
I'm having a bad day, tried writing on a single prompt for 3 hours without getting anything done. 
The prompt is: "I didn't come to Utah to be the same boy I'd been before. I had my own dreams of transformation" Ultimately, the text demonstrates that everyone covers up or transforms in some way. (btw I asked about this prompt in the english q and a board, and received fantastic advice, but I can't actually write this. I would appreciate some examples of how this can be tackled)
My contention is: Many characters do cover up or transform but for different reasons which bring about different responses.
I'm aware that the quote suggest a sense that characters are able to deliberately engineer the change they undergo, meaning that I should explore how deliberate these changes/transformations are in characters.
But I can't write it. It's like I'm trying to tackle a whole different structure because there is a single quote in the prompt. I feel like I should tackle the prompt, but also tackle the quote and that makes me write weird things without coherence. (I basically babble)
Here is an example that I wrote:
Par1: Jack slowly becomes violent like Dwight while living with him. This is not a deliberate change.
Par2: Rosemary deliberately transforms into an independent woman when she leaves Dwight
Par3: Both have been motivated by different reasons and resulted in different consequences?
All I think is: It's wrong! it's wrong! and somehow 3 hours have gone past
Please help me
I think part of the issue perhaps is those very specific character based topic sentences? I can totally relate to having big mental blanks and its usually because i'm being too narrow in my focus.
Maybe something a bit broader might help, e.g:
Contention:
In This Boy's Life, characters find their environment conducive to the concept of transformation but their efforts to change their lives are mostly futile, because they try alter the unalterable. And I might go with broad topic ideas like these:
BP1 - Characters are blaming their environment (not just trees and plants lol) as sources for internal change
BP2 - The methods and strategies they use to change vary, e.g Jack literally changes his name whilst Rosemary actually gets out there and marries people
BP3 - (Kinda have to put this one in) Not everyone transforms, you could argue that some people like Geoffery and Skipper have essentially got their shit figured out haha
BP4 - Most attempts don't work out because they (mainly Jack here) try to change aspects of them that are always going to be fixed. E.g, Jack is always mischievous and dependent on others.
Then in the conclusion, I might sort of encapsulate the essay by writing something about how readers finish the memoir with the sense that characters are on the right paths to getting what they want using natural methods.
Hope that kinda helps! I think the issue was just being a little too specific and character based rather than idea based.
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