Shad's Exam Essay

Rashad Young
Mr. Salsich
English 9
4 June, 2009
Brick Walls and the Way Around Them:
An Essay about a Poem and Two Characters
What do you do when you come to a time when you no longer know what to do? Do you panic, or do you just let things ride out? Ebenezer Scrooge and Dexter Green both did not know what to do at some point in their lives. Scrooge scrambled to do something to change his life while Dexter observed everything around him and made wise decisions.
Dexter Green, a character in the book “Winter Dreams”, has been through a lot throughout his life, and he seems to have come to a point in his life where “[He] no longer know[s] which way to go.” Therefore, the poem, “The Real Work” by Wendell Berry, would be a delight (FAST) for him to read. From going to Judy Jones, to Irene and back to Judy, he may “no longer know which way to go” in his life. Though at the end of the book Dexter was young and running his own business, he seemed to start to come to his “real work”. On his previous journey Dexter had multiple jobs one of which being a golf caddy. He could have continued being a caddy for his entire life but Dexter’s “mind […] [was] not baffled, [so] […] he [was] not employed. Dexter, young, willing, and inspired, started up his own Laundromat industry and became the rich man that he is. (Tricolon) Dexter may not be at the end of his life but his first voyage has ended and he has come to his true “journey”.

In the book “A Christmas Carol” one of the characters had realized that he could not continue living his life the same old stuck up way forever. Ebenezer Scrooge for a while “no longer knew what to do” he was going to the same job for years on end, being picky about his money and giving almost nothing to his co-workers. For Scrooge, business always came first even before family. Continuing this trend he was going nowhere, he would die a “cold hearted” man. Scrooge soon, with a little help from three ghosts, came to a revelation (FAST). He realized that doing good and caring for someone was not quite as “humbug” as he had previously thought. Scrooge therefore had found his own “Real work”. Scrooge had turned his life around and started flowing again, just like the “stream that sings”.
Both of the characters in this essay had to overcome some sort of obstacle that was obstructing their vista (FAST) of life. These two men went through everything from women, to work. Though they had different ways of approaching these challenges they both ended up defeating them. The two of them “impeded their way of life and came out victorious.