Outline

THESIS:

For most, childhood memories are precious and beautiful, but for others, they are dark secrets, locked away deep inside the heart, something one never wants to remember again. The reason for these polar opposites is the role of adult figures in the lives of young people and how their behavior could - for better or for worse - change someone's life forever.

PART 1:

Ÿ Memorial Day:

- parents’ divorce affected/hurt him mentally

- refused to speak to parents

- unable to accept stepfather, Lonnie, as a father figure

- emotionally draining mother

Ÿ Kid in a Bin:

- Mother’s death triggered a child’s imagination and exaggeration

- caused Anthony to run away from home to hide from sunlight

- bringing worry and stress to his family

Ÿ Boys and Girls

- family’s expectations molded narrator into what society wants her to be

- from an independent and thoughtful child into a girl with low self-esteem

PART 2:

Ÿ Deliberate:

- Emma’s safe and loving home and family compared to Duane’s

- EMMA: parents protect her from Ableys, show her how to deal with them; protect self by teaching her how to box bare hand; loyalty to family and standing up for her siblings in fights; survival skills in the cold winter

- DUANE: mother left due to harsh climate, father committed suicide…unable to bear the pressure of making an income to bring up family

- no more caring family

- been through rough experiences

- desperate, don’t care what happens anymore: fight at school (suicide of father made him to want to “stay here and sleep”

- Become like Mad Dog in the future?

Ÿ I’m a Mad Dog Biting Myself for Sympathy:

- no family support, love, care = no role models

- cold bitter childhood: grew up in harsh environment

- had to find own way of survival alone

- lead to rough and tough personality + irrational behavior (thieving)

PART 3:

Ÿ Possum:

- older sister Helena spontaneously picks on younger brother Hector because parents ignore their arguments

- create bias games that only allow her to win and chances to insult her brother’s intelligence

- learned her lesson after Hector tricked her into tasting bird poop

Ÿ White Places:

- Cissy and older girls command Killer to play the antagonist in “Pretend”

- games became cruel and eventually threatened Killer’s life

- adult figures turned the blind eye, paying no notice to what is REALLY going on…until Killer was physically in danger

girls felt bad after shutting Killer up in the snow fort which caused her to end up in the hospital

CONCLUSION

Thus, parents’ actions have a huge effect over children’s lives, and those same actions could make an everlasting impact on them – for better or for worse.