George's Summer's Reading
George Stoyonovich is the main character of the short story "A Summer's Reading" that was written by Bernard Malamud. He dropped out of school when he was sixteen .He neither works nor studies. George undergoes a significant change throughout the story. He improves his life and becomes mature. George is a very interesting character. Therefore, in my essay, I would like to describe him.
To begin with, George is about 20 years old. He is a tall bony young man who lives in a poor immigrant neighborhood. George's mother died when he was young, so he lives with his big sister ,Sophie and his father. He neither works nor studies, he only gets a weekly allowance from his sister, Sophie. George seems a lazy young man, however, the reason he doesn't work is because he doesn't want to compromise and have a simple job. Gerorge wants to be respectable and succeed in his life. Nevertheless, he lacks maturity and responsibility in order to fulfill his ambition. George has always heard people in the neighborhood talking about succeeding in America (fulfilling the American Dream). That is why George wants to study. He understands that the only way to make his dream come true is by studying hard.
Throughout the story, George has a conflict. The conflict begins when George lies to Mr.Cat that he is reading 100 worthwhile books. Afterwards, Mr.Catt spreads a rumor in the neighborhood that George is reading 100 books. As a result, people start respecting George and he feels good about it. On the one hand,George knows he has to read ,but on the other hand, he doesn't feel like doing it .He avoids meeting Mr.Catt because he is afraid that Mr.Catt will ask him questions about the books. One night, George meets Mr. Catta coming home drunk and he tells him not to make the same mistake he made when he was young . George realizes Mr. Catta knows he hasn't read the books and feels bad about it. Afterwards George has a crisis. He doesn't leave his room and Sophie and his father understand something is wrong with him .One hot night George leaves his home and goes for a walk and he sees people still respect him and one of them says it's a wonderful thing a boy his age finished reading so many books and George realizes Mr. Catta has spread another rumour that he has finished reading all the books.After some time, in the fall, George goes to the library and starts reading.
To conclude, in light of the above, I strongly believe that George's character is unusal. George needs Mr. Catta as his guide . George lacks responsibility and he can't make this change without him. A Summer's Reading is a story about George's maturity.
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Daphna
