Our Own Lives Josie example essay topic

The four issues that I choose were family, fitting in at school, life after school and suicide. I choose these events because they are ones that effect me and people I know FAMILY AND FREEDOM Josie and her mother have a pretty good relationship. It is a typical mother daughter relationship. One minute they love each other and the next minute they " ll be screeching at each other about stupid little things Her mother is a secretary and translator for a few doctors in Leichhardt. This is a suburb very close to where Josie's grandma lives. This means that Josie has to go straight from school to her Nonna's house and wait for her mum to come pick her up.

She really hates this and really gets on her nerves. She thinks that all the best looking guys take the bus to Glebe where she lives while the worst take the bus to where her grandma lives. If she goes straight home she can play her music full volume but when at her grandmas it is Mario Lanza's greatest hits. Josie's mum is fairly strict because she cares so much.

Nonna puts her two cents worth in as well, which drives Josie's mum crazy. Josie gets put in the middle of the argument each time. This is good sometimes due to the fact that is pushes Josie and her mum closer together while sometimes it pushes them apart. I believe that this is pretty common in many families.

Especially, if it is a single parent with one child. Each person has no one to back him or her up and they only have each other. As Josie experienced, one minute you support, love each other very much, then this can go to a hate relationship. I personally experience the troubles of not having enough freedom, which evolves big arguments with family. You want to go out with friends but parents won't let you. I think they are just too over protective.

This you can see when Josie wants to go out with her friends and her Nonna won't let her. From a guys point of view I can see that some girls have it worse than guys do. My sister has it worse than me. My mum and grandma are pretty similar in they way they won't their daughter / granddaughter raised. I can see them worry heaps over things that don't need to be worrying about. I can also relate to how Josie's mum feels because my mum feels the same.

My nana also likes to put forth her view into each situation. Telling me or the people around me that I shouldn't do this and shouldn't do that and telling people they are raising their kids wrong. I can really relate to Josie in the way she feels. Sometimes you get on well with parents and family then you can hate them.

Having restricted freedom while you can see your friends having endless freedom is also another problem but without your parents a child would be lost. The small fights and restrictions end up being a good thing. Having restricted freedom I think makes a person respect their responsibilities. This shows at the end of the book when the relationship between the whole family becomes stronger and they get along with each other. FITTING IN The next issue I choose to do was fitting in at school. The troubles of a prestige school and trying to find who you are.

The problem is that Josie goes to a very prestigious school. Rich people, rich parents and rich grand parents dominate this school. These people are mostly Anglo-Saxon Australians who Josie can't see having a problem in the world. Then there are rich Europeans. These people are mostly laborers that don't spend their money so their kids can go to expensive schools. They are the people who have moved out of the inner west and inner city became 'respectable'.

This made them acceptable. Josie was under the next category. The scholarship category but she'd rather be a daughter of a laborer. She felt disadvantaged from the beginning. Maybe because she didn't go to the same primary school as them or because she received the six year English scholarship. She wanted it so bad but when she got it, she ended up going to a school that she didn't like.

Josie rather gone to a school in the inner west where she would be accepted and be with her friends. There you could be proud of who you are. Not what people want you to be. As a guy I think there is less pressure on you. I can really see how Josie sees it when going to such an expensive and upper class school, there is the problem of fitting in. Being a guy I think the pressure of appearance is not regarded as high as a girl does.

Especially at an all boys school, the way you look doesn't matter, as long as you got some friends that is what counts. As I mentioned above, having a scholarship to an upper class school puts you behind the eight ball. People of that school with money look down on these people. They have in their mind that people who can't afford the school shouldn't be there. You belong with your own kind. I know someone on a scholarship to a prestige school in Adelaide.

Most of the people don't care and they get along with him very well. But there is normally a group of families that stick together because they are rich and give the kid and his parents a hard time because they don't pay to go to this school. Try to get them out of their school. You think that in today's society these things would have stopped. That is a thing that was around when there was a class system, but as you can see it is still very alive. I found that this problem doesn't happen at our school.

There is of course some kid that thinks he is better then someone else because he has money but because of how our school is run and the opportunities stops this thing happening. It puts everyone including scholarship people on an even level. MAKING YOUR OWN FUTURE The following issue I choose because this is a problem that is happening to my peers and I. It is the choice of what to do after school, future job and making your own money. Josie first taste of the work force was when her and her friend went to apply for jobs at McDonalds.

They both got accepted and went to work straight away. She knew it wasn't the most glamorous job to have but living on five dollars pocket money a week is something out of the sixties. Josie continued working at McDonalds till her father offered her a job. It started when Josie and her father where having coffee one day and Michael was asking questions about work. He found out that Josie was working late and you can tell that he was worried about her safety. He offered her the job.

She was a bit hesitant at first because she didn't want to be paid for doing nothing. She liked the fact that she was working for her own money. But Michael soon talked her into it and she was going to work for him. Her task was to help the secretaries at the chambers. This excited Josie very much because she wanted to be a lawyer when she finished school and this would give her a taste of this. It took a while to fit in but after a few weeks things seem to be running smoothly.

She had to catch the bus from school three times a week to her work. She found it such a relief not to have to put on a McDonalds uniform and put up with all those psychos. She found he barristers there really nice although not at all her level. I can see that Josie is now trying to show to her parents that she is not a little kid anymore. Going to get a job on her own and making her own money shows that she is becoming her own person. Getting a job at the chambers would give her a good insight into what law is like and how much work is evolved.

The effort she put in at McDonalds and after what happen in the car park it shows Josie has a never give in attitude. She was still willing to work there. If something like that happen to another girl they would most properly throw in the towel. From a guys point of view those things really upset a girl, being forced on by a big guy would be pretty nerve racking.

It shows that Josie is fairly strong girl, mentally and physically. Also she was working three times a week and getting there is a bit out of the way. She has to catch the bus from school and this shows her dedication to her job. I know some pretty dedicated people who had to do what Josie does, catch a bus to work and a different bus home. They lasted a week or too which shows that it is not easy doing that. Giving up your free time is not that easy, especially when you " re in year 12 with lots of homework.

SUICIDE After having a good night sleep Josie awoke with a very positive attitude. Life was going somewhere good because of good people around her. Little did she know that this day would be one of her worse. The issue is suicide and I thought it is an important part of this book. Josie was walking down the corridor towards the step that led to her homeroom when she saw Ivy sitting there with her head in her hands. Ivy looked up and reached out for Josie's hand.

A cry of sympathy came out from Ivy's mouth 'What are we going to do? John Barton is Dead'. Josie at first didn't believe Ivy. How can someone who had everything commit suicide.

It is ridiculous. Her hand started to shake and her body wanted to vomit. She couldn't believe it. It must be a joke she kept saying to herself.

Until Ivy yelled ' My father wrote the autopsy report'. That is when it really sunk in. Josie ran to the toilets and threw up. A sense of loneliness came over her quickly. She was only talking to him yesterday. Then that loneliness turned into hate.

She couldn't hold on any longer and burst out crying. She went home and as she lied there on the bed she remembered the paper John gave her. Josie opened it and read. It was a poem. 'Still nothing and that nothing is meaningless, I am still alone' The main point of the poem. This shows how a kid with everything and everything going for him is alone on the inside.

His life had no meaning and he couldn't live his parents' expectations anymore. This is why I think many kids / adults commit suicide. Last year when the CBC student took his life suddenly is a prime example how someone can loose their meaning for life very quickly. Also how greatly it effects the people around them. The year 11's last year all felt that tragic loss. Even if they didn't really know him everyone was upset.

My good friend from primary school, his dad took his life when we were in year 6. My mate's dad was going through a mid-life crisis and as John Barton dad lost his way, couldn't live the expectations and committed suicide. As like Josie this shattered my friend and he sunk into a depression, which lasted for months. To lose someone so close to you must be shattering. This shows how important that you live up to your own expectations and not someone else's. SUMMARY The issues and feelings of Josie are fairly normal for an Australian teenager.

As we grow up we experience things we hate and things we like. In her case she experienced racism from a very young age and continues to experience it everyday. Also how life can be going great and everything is running smoothly then all of a sudden your life turns bad. I chose these issues because they are ones that I can relate to the most. Two of the main focus in this book was based around money and race. We have no control over our race at all, we are born the way we are and can't change that.

Also money doesn't grow on trees, someone people are born into it while others have to work for it. This can be a big problem because the ones born into it can treat the people who work for it like scum. In this book these are two things on which Josie and her friends are labeled. This is something, which I think is wrong because people shouldn't be labeled, but treated equal doesn't matter what background or race. Once someone has been labeled it can stick with him or her for the rest of their life and can really put the person down. My life experiences are somewhat similar to Josie's.

I have arguments with my parents over stupid things all the time. I want more freedom like she wanted and like her does not get it, which makes you hate your parents. Also I find it hard sometimes keep up with all my commitments, having many hobbies most of your free time is taken and sometime you just need a break. I saw this through out the book when Josie just need a break from all of the problems and responsibilities of her life.

The responsibility put on me is very similar to the responsibilities put on Josie. Not only do I have to be good to my family and relatives also maintain good grades. In Josie's life she has to be good all the time to especially good grades because she is on a scholarship. While trying to figure out our own lives Josie and I have to deal with all of this. The pressure of growing up.