This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life, by Tobias Wolff and The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll are both similar coming of age memoirs dealing with rebellious teenage boys. Toby and Jim are both trying to discover who they are. Being introduced to a new environment makes the boys anxious and they start to exhibit destructive and violent behavior. Though the reason for their violence hasn't been verified, the absence of a paternal figure in the lives of both Toby and Jim is certainly a factor. In This Boy's Life, Toby was being raised without a paternal figure. The only person close to a paternal figure is Roy, his mother's boyfriend, who is mentally abusive towards Toby. However, Toby is a good kid and only starts to exhibit destructive behavior when he gets to his new home in Utah. "I didn't come to Utah to be the same boy I'd been before." (Page 8) Once in Utah, Toby feels he doesn't get enough attention in general. This is because everyone knows him as an innocent young boy. In the high hopes of getting the attention he needs, Toby resorts to violent and destruc
In a sense, Jim Carroll of "The Basketball Diaries" is quite similar to Toby. Jim is a teenage boy who has lived in New York City all of his life with his mother. Jim's father had taken off when he was born. In "The Basketball diaries", Jim wants others to see him as a rebel, and resorts to drugs and violence to maintain this appearance. Like Toby's mother in "This Boy's Life", Ms. Carroll is completely oblivious to Jim's destructive behavior. In both cases, the boys feel as though they don't get enough of attention and recognition. Because of this, they rely on violent and destructive behavior to get attention. They choose this method not necessarily because they want to, but because it makes them feel better about themselves. It gives them power. Also, both boys have an absence of a paternal figure. The boys feel as though they need to be bad in order to get the attention of their mother's, who are both preoccupied with their own personal relationships. Concisely, Toby and Jim are at a stage in their life when they need to start figuring o
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Approximate Word count = 708
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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