How A Character Has Changed Due To Certain Events That Have Taken Place In His/Her Life

     Based on the novel 'Step by Wicked Step', written by Anne Fine, I realized that Colin had changed a lot due to an incident that happened which made a huge impact in his life. Everything changed when his mother took a flit with him and left his step-father.

     First of all, Colin changed into a very unhappy and lonely boy in his new place. He misses his step-father who was also his best friend that listens to him and knew everything about him. 'The thing about Dad is, you can talk to him. And he remembers what you say.' page 53. Not only that, he had to join a new school and had to go through unpleasant experiences. He got ignored and could not make new friends as the students there already had their own set of friends. His mother was also busy with her job and household chores that she had no time to listen to his problems and feelings.

     Besides that, Colin changed into a dreamy boy which causes him to have less focus in class. As a result, he did badly in school and was sent to see someone. This is because he missed his step-father very much and every night he would take out the tobacco tin out of the toe of his boot and put it under his pillow. He would also hum their favorite song and stay awake for hours talking to his dad pretending he was there. '...I'd hum our favorite song.' page 56. Every time the ice skating ring plays their song, he would be there listening.
    
     Last but not least, Colin became resourceful when he was separated from his step-father. He would keep track on how long since he last saw him which was 5 years,8 months and 7 days. Not only that, he secretly writes his step-father's name and his old address on the forms at school. '...sneak his name and our old address on the forms...' page 60. In order to be able to search for his step-father one day, he tries to save money by doing three paper rounds to earn money.

     In conclusion, Colin responded negatively to the changes in his life in the beginning by being a sad, dreamy and moody boy but soon realized that it would make no difference. Finally, he decided to do something worthy for his step-father. His love and longing for his step-father motivated him to be more optimistic, resourceful and patient in his mission to search for him.

Comparing Two Characters In The Novel Step by Wicked Step

     After studying the novel "Step by Wicked Step", I learned that the novel was about five school children that are different in many ways but have one thing in common. They all come from a dysfunctional family. All their parents faced problems with each other and in the end split up and go their own separate ways. Out of the six characters from the novel, the two the characters who shares a lot of things in common are Richard Clayton Harwick and Colin. They have both similarities and differences between them which can be observed clearly throughout the story.

     First of all, Richard and Colin loves their fathers a lot but they were separated. The death of Richard's father separated them and Richard missed his father a lot since then. He would visit his father's grave and spend some time there. 'Sometimes I sit beside my father's grave and run my fingers over the letters of his name...' page 18. However, in Colin's situation, he was separated from his step-father when his mother just took him away and left his step-father. It was so sudden for him that he did not even realize what happened. His step-father was also not aware that they were going to leave. Since then, Colin missed his step-father everyday and could not stop thinking about him. Richard lost his father forever but Colin's father was still alive and Colin has been searching for him ever since. 'Enough to go back and find him.' page 61.

     Other than that, the similarity that Richard and Colin shared is that they were both ignored by their mothers. After their separation from their fathers, they did not get any attention from their mothers. When Richard was treated badly by Reverend Coldstone, his mother's new husband, she did not even defend him. As for Colin, his mother was not aware of how much Colin missed his step-father. She was too busy working at the school canteen and doing household chores which made him feel like she doesn't care.'...how I feel doesn't matter quite so much'. Both of them did not feel their mother's love.

     Last but not least, both of them wanted to run away as they thought it would be able to make things work. Richard ran away from home with the hope that he would make life more pleasant for everyone in his family. Colin on the other hand plans to run away to find his step-father as he really misses him. In the end, Richard realized that running away does not solve any problems but only make things worst while Colin still plans on saving money to search for his step-father. 'I'm saving up now....enough to go and find him.' page 61.

     In conclusion, the two characters suffered much pain and sorrow when they could not be with their father anymore. Not only that, they had to go through it on their own as no one cares about them and about how they felt. There was nobody to advise them on what to do. We should be aware that running away does not solve any problems. In fact, it may affect the people around us. Therefore, we need to think wisely before making a serious decision in life.

Being The Youngest

     Being the youngest child in the family has its pros and cons. For me it seemed like it had more disadvantages than advantages when I was young but now I enjoy being the youngest. I come from a family with two children which means I have an older sister as I am the youngest. We are three years apart so there is a difference of freedom given to each of us. For example, things that she can do but I cannot because I am not old enough yet. I used to envy her when she was given the freedom to go out with her friends without parental guidance and go to parties. She was also given a cell phone for one of her birthdays while I still had to borrow my parent's phone. I was also jealous when she finished her UPSR and left primary school. I could not wait to get over with primary school and go to secondary school. Not only that, I wasn't satisfied when she was given more pocket money than me. I did not understand that the cost of food in secondary school was more than in primary school and that she would need extra money for lunch when she stays back in school for extra-curricular activities.  
     As years past by, I begun to understand why we were not given equal rights to certain things. It was not that we were not given equal rights even though that was what I thought of it as when I was younger but now I understand that it is just in the matter of time. Everything has its own timing. She was once not able to go out alone with her friends or had lesser pocket money also. Now I understand what I did not and am able to see the bigger picture.

Destroy Or Build Relationships

     Facebooking, tweeting, whatsapp, line, snapchat and texting are not only the prevalent but also the preferred forms of communication for many college students and young adults today.

     Social media interaction now dominates both online and offline conversations. In a society where interacting and over-sharing online is the norm, you’re probably more likely to speak to friends and family through electronic devices than face-to-face. But are social media and modern technology destroying our interpersonal social skills? Recent research and studies say so. A study that was conducted found that one in four people spend more time socializing online, via sites such as Facebook and Twitter, than they do in person. Too often at events or parties, guests are attached to their smartphones tweeting or texting, but no one is truly engaging or interacting with the people around them. As more generations are born into the social age, social media will continue to be the favored communication form among young people. However, this shift may begin to affect their ability to properly communicate in person with peers. One day, it may become awkward for one to talk to another face-to-face. They may not even know what to talk about. Therefore, I think that social media can destroy relationships if it is over used, or not used properly.

A Healthy Lifestyle

Everybody is talking about a healthy diet today. There are many books and TV-shows that try to convince the people to eat more vegetables and to go to the gym. But can these things really improve our quality of life?

In my opinion, an ideal diet is impossible today without loading yourself with a lot of work and additional time management. Society is changing, everything has to be fast and easy, but the human body needs a lot more than just feeling full. But our ancestors instinctively preferred high-fat and high-carb foods to survive and we still feel that desire. Food companies know this of course and so we have the possibility to choose our food just by taste and personal flavor. As a result, today‘s life is exactly the opposite of what the human body was built for, because we don‘t know what we need. 

To get all the nutrients that came in our body just naturally thousands of years ago, we have to get a lot of information and spend a lot of time. I think that you should look out not to eat too much junk, but in my eyes an ideal diet is something that we sacrificed for our modern and easy lifestyle. For me, the sacrifice isn‘t to big, because food that tastes good is also good for the soul and maybe happiness is more important than a life stretched to the limit. Besides, who wants to organize his/her life after some diet plan a scientist invented?

 

It‘s the same principle for me with exercise. A long time ago, exercise was necessary to survive, to escape from predators, for example. Today we don‘t have to run away anymore and we can just get into the car to bridge distances. But fortunately, exercise can‘t be replaced by something artificial invented by companies to make money. Plus, it makes happy. So exercise is actually a very useful advice, since it can even compensate some bad nutrition habits.

Stopping bad habits is similar to the food case for me: Smoking or drinking is not the best for your body, but I‘d rather prefer my soul to be content than my body. If you don‘t overdo it until you‘re sick, you should do what makes you happy. Heredity of certain illnesses or causes of death is maybe something that you should keep in mind, but I also wouldn‘t let my life be dominated by worries about this issue. Something you can watch out for, if it‘s not too much effort, is the quality of the food you eat. Fast food is available everywhere, but in order to satisfy your hunger you can always buy something else. But also there you shouldn‘t spend too much energy to avoid chemistry and just try to enjoy life.

2003 - A Character You Sympathise With

              After analysing the novel ‘Step by Wicked Step’, I learned that all the six characters, Richard, Claudia, Colin, Ralph, Pixie and Robbo come from a dysfunctional family. It is obvious that these children are struggling with their new lives after their parents started to face problems in their marriage. Their decisions affected their children emotionally in different ways. One of the characters that I sympathise with most is Colin.

               One of the reasons why I sympathise with Colin is because he was forced into a new surrounding where it was hard for him to fit in. After his mother took a flit with him away from his step-dad, he entered into a new school. In that new school, he was not able to make new friends as they already had their own friends. “It wasn’t nice for me. For one thing, I had to start at another school, where everyone had friends already” page 52, line 25.

               In my opinion, the reason why I felt sympathy towards Colin is because he was expected to get over the absence of his stepfather after his mother took a flit with Colin. He was expected to adapt to a new life. However, it is hard to do this without any guidance or attention from his mother. In times like this, the only person for Colin to turn to would be his mother as a mother plays the role of giving her child moral support and advice through tough times. However, his mother was too busy working jobs that take long hours to make sure there is food on the table. By the time she comes home, she would be too tired to even talk to Colin. Like said before, Colin had to go to a new school but he had no friends there and he couldn’t fit in. Because of this, he didn’t have any friends to turn to either. Colin had a very close relationship with his stepfather, even closer than the one he has with his own mother. His stepfather is the one that always plays with him, listens to him and tells him stories. It is not hard to understand why Colin finds it hard to live without his stepfather’s presence. After five years, Colin still has not got used to things. In fact, he thinks about his father every day. This is proven in page 60 line 5 in the novel where Colin says, ‘But I haven’t got used to it! And I never will! I think about him every single day.’ Not only that, his inability to cope with his new life had caused the downfall in his grades. Being in a new school in a community of people alien to him, it adds to the feeling of forlornness and loneliness. This situation made him long for the presence of his father even more. In the end he decided that he wants to go in search for his father when he is finally of age to leave home.

               Each of the character had some sort of a happy ending, or at least a resolve to a problem. They saw the small pinpoint beam of light at the end of the tunnel, speaking metaphorically, except for Collin whom still suffered silently. As I do not come from a dysfunctional family, I can only imagine how hard it must be to have one person you are most attached to and then in a flash you have to cope without that one person or being in a completely new environment where you can’t fit in. For Colin to experience it for real, it makes me sympathise with him. 

Addiction to Social Networks

Most people are absolutely hesitant to talk about the word addiction, or address by some as an addict. The term addiction for some is associated and linked with a negative meaning. But there are many kinds of addiction such as shopping, drinking, gambling and computer games. Despite the harmful effect to other people, the bad effect contributed by the user himself to his/her health, social life and mental statement.

Some are spending longer time on the computer as part of their job and most of the technologies are particularly new every second. The term “social addiction” is always seen on news and headlines on paper and television. A lot keep on patronizing social media because of online games, online friends and chat. But some people lost their job and relationships due to online addiction.

Ask yourself, how many hours do you spend your time staring at your computer than talking to human? Taking care of your social needs with online interaction rather than a face to face meet up. Student nowadays, instead of talking to each other prefer to post it up on social networking sites talking about their feeling and thoughts.

How many of us are wasting valuable time in social media sites like facebook, twitter or Instagram? Waiting for someone to re-tweet my tweet or react on my post on walls or even just mention my name. Fighting over social media addiction should start with ourselves. Try to realize that you can do anything and accomplish anything without sitting in front of the computer the whole day. Allow yourself to check your emails or tweets for not more than 15 minutes a day. Discipline is the only key to overcome social media addiction.

Although social media can be a help in term of business productive tool, it can equally play and contribute a negative role if you lack of discipline, not being control of usage of different social media networks. Addiction is something that interferes to our life and being part of it sometimes. Time will come where mankind can do almost everything with the help of technology and still one thing will remain impossible, releasing the addiction on technology.