Jack And Linda example essay topic

Border Music By: Robert James Waller Book Report By: Claudia Yager 6th Hour C.P. English 11 Due: February 11, 20021.) Title: Boarder Music Published: Warner Books Inc. Author: Robert James Waller Where book was acquired: W BHS Library 2.) What type of book: Fiction 3.) Characters: 19861.) Jack Carmine- Is a 48-year-old man who lives an independent life style. Everything he does is a spur of the moment thing. He works all the time, and his jobs are as unpredictable as he is.

He originally is from Alpine Texas, but he goes north for the summer. All he wants is to live his life the best he can, and do as much as he can. He also wants to keep Linda with him. 2.) Linda Lobo- She is a 37-year-old single woman with a four-year-old daughter.

She was married twice, and both failed to last. She was a dancer at a nightclub in Minnesota, but she is from Iowa. She wants to find a man that will be faithful to her, and support her and her daughter. 3.) Sara Margaret- She is Linda's four-year-old daughter who lives with Linda's mother. She gets to be very fond of Jack, but is too young to understand what is going on around her. 4.) Earl- He is Jack's best friend and house guest.

When Jack is gone, Earl lives in his house for him, and takes care of the farm. He becomes good friends with Sara Margaret, and Linda. He just wants to live his life like any other hard working man. 19935.) Vaughn Rhomer- He is Jack's uncle in his early 60's. He loves army trinkets and anything to do with the Vietnam War. He worked in the produce section of a grocery store for his whole life, and his son, Nathan, was ashamed of him for this.

He lost his nagging wife, Marjorie, a few years earlier, and just wants to finds someone to live the rest of his life with. 6.) Marjorie Rhomer- She was Vaughn's wife, and was very cranky and bossy. She disliked Jack very much, and didn't want anything to do with him. All she ever wanted was for her son, Nathan, to never meet Jack. 4.) Two main conflicts: 1.) Jack vs. Self. Jack had episodes, where he couldn't control what he was doing.

He would be back in Vietnam with the other soldiers, and he would relive the day his friends died. He had to over come this, by becoming stronger. When he first started to be with Linda they didn't happen, but as they grew apart, the episodes became more frequent. Jack never overcomes this. 2.) Vaughn vs. Self. Vaughn was exactly like Jack, and the exact opposite.

Jack could go out and meet people, but he always drifted apart from them. Vaughn was shy and nervous around people, but when he did get close, they never drifted apart. Jack loved to travel, but Vaughn was too scared. No matter what the two did, they both always ended up the same, alone. Vaughn eventually gets over his fear of meeting people and traveling, by going to Mexico in the end to get away from everyone, and start over.

5.) Setting: Where: 1.) 1986- On the road from Minnesota to Texas, and then in Texas. 2.) 1993- New Orleans, at a restaurant. When: 1.) 19862.) 19936.) Plot: Jack's Story: Jack and Linda met at a dance club, in Minnesota, where Linda worked. Her ex-boss had cut off her underwear, and Jack beat him with a pool stick. They didn't even know each other's name, but he picked her up, and took her with him as far away as he could that night. He called her "Dancin' Lady", and she called him "Cowboy" or, "Bandit".

Before she knew it, she agreed to go with him to Texas. On their way through Iowa, they had to stop and visit Jack's Uncle Vaughn. They met up with him at a nearby mall, and Jack and his uncle caught up on a lot of things. Jack even met is 17-year-old cousin Nathan, who didn't like him much because of the stories his mother told him. Then after their meeting, Jack took Linda and bought her some nice clothes, because she didn't have any others with her. They had one more stop in Iowa, and that was to get Linda's four-year-old daughter Sara Margaret, who was staying with her grandmother.

After they picked her up and bought her some new clothes, Jack, Linda, and Sara Margaret headed south for Alpine Texas. On the way down, Linda and Jack learned a lot about each other, while listening to all of Jack's country tapes, and before long they were in love. When they got to Alpine, Linda met Earl, Jack's best friend and house guest. Linda and Jack were very happy in Alpine, and Sara Margaret loved it too. But good things never last.

After about two years in Alpine, Jack started to have episodes. He would think he was in Vietnam, reliving the death of his friends in the war. Linda didn't know he even went to war until Earl explained it to her. Soon Jack became restless and felt he had to travel, as he did before he met Linda. He tried to explain to her how he needed to get out, but she didn't understand. When he returned, he found Linda and Sara Margaret had left.

After about three years he had heard that Linda married again, and if it weren't for Jack, she probably wouldn't have. When she was with Jack, he taught her so many things about herself, and that helped her out in the long run. Vaughn's Story: Vaughn Rhomer had been on vacation in New Orleans. It was his last day, and he was sitting in a restaurant, and couldn't keep his eye off this colored woman. While sitting there he remembered all of things in his life. He thought about his son Nathan, and how he was ashamed of him for working in the produce section of a grocery store for his whole life.

Then he thought about his nagging wife Marjorie, who had died a few years earlier. He thought about how she hated Jack, and she hated all of Vaughn's war memorabilia. Before long he had asked the woman to dance with him. As they danced, the singer had told Vaughn to hold on to whatever it was he had at the moment. When they were done dancing, she left and that was the last he saw of her. He then thought about his life and all that he did.

The next day he called his job, and quit. He then took the last plane out to Mexico, where he would be meeting Jack, and was hoping that he would maybe write a song about their lives and call it Boarder Music. 7.) Two things I learned from this book: 1.) I learned that you just can't live your life on the run, you have to stop and settle down. Like take Linda and Jack for example. Jack was always on the run, and Linda left him because of it. He was afraid he'd miss something, and in the mean time he lost Linda.

2.) I learned that you just can't live your life by doing the same old thing over and over again. Take Vaughn for example. He lived his whole life working in the produce section of a grocery store. Before he knew it, his wife was dead, his son despised him, he was in his 60's and he hadn't done anything spontaneous with his life.

8.) Two main themes: 1.) One of the main themes was you need to enjoy life as it comes to you. You can help it out a little, but you can't expect it to come to you if you do nothing, like in Vaughn's case, and you can't chase after it, trying to do everything at once, like in Jack's case. 2.) Another theme was risks aren't always a bad thing. Look at Linda, she didn't even know Jack's name until she agreed to go to Texas with him, and being with him taught her so many things. He also helped her get in touch with herself, and if she wouldn't have taken that risk, to go with him, she wouldn't have reached that period in her life.