The book The First Part Last by Angela Johnson has many connections to what Emerson or Thoreau has to say about life. The First Part Last is about the hardships a teenager Bobby has to go through being a single teenager dad. When he goes through something that has a dramatic change on his life, it changes his view on things. Bobby can start to connect to Emerson and Thoreau’s sayings.
Emerson said “I’ll trust my instincts”, Bobby said “But it’s all okay ‘cause I know now better than I ever did that I’m supposed to do this. I’m supposed to be her daddy..” (Johnsen 127). That connects to Emerson’s saying “I’ll trust my instincts” because before his girlfriend Nia died they were deciding to put up the baby for adoption. But when Nia died his instinct told him to keep the baby and raise it himself because he felt as if he was supposed to do that. He trusted his instinct and kept the baby. When people go through hard times their views on different situations switch, and now he takes after what Emerson talked about trusting his instincts into taking in the baby he named Feather. Another idea Emerson has thought to be true is the idea of self reliance, for instance, “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think.” That idea connects in Booby’s situation because he kept the baby no matter what his friends thought about the whole situation he did what he thought was right for him. When one of his friends asked him what he was going to do with the baby, he responded with “ No doubt in my mind I’m keeping her” (Johnson 11). In addition, an example from the book relating to Emerson’s idea of self reliance is when Bobby made a set of rules for himself “If she hollers, she is mine. If she needs to be changed, she is always mine. In the dictionary next to “sitter” there is not a pic of grandma, its time to grow up. Too late you are out of time. Be a grown up” (Johnson 14). Bobby’s rules connects to self reliance because he made them for himself relying on himself to take care of Feather his only kid, Feather is nobody else's business or problem to take care of but him and he says he needs to grow up and deal with it, because its going to be like that forever. One more idea that connects to the book is “ Nothing makes the world so spacious as to have friends at a distance, they make the latitudes and longitudes.” said by Thoreau. “I always dreamed of living in a small town. Green grass, creeks, cows. That all seemed perfect. Especially because me and Feather are going back to brooklyn to live with Dad. I guess it’s his turn now. Anyway I miss the old neighborhood” (Johnson 95). Bobby admits he misses the old neighborhood where he had grown up, and is looking for a break with everything in his present neighborhood. He misses his dad because he can barely see him with his parents divorce and everything, and thats what really makes the world spacious, missing your family. “Not till we are completely lost or turned around, we begin to find ourselves.” said by Thoreau I think that can connect to the whole book because Bobby then realizes his life has changed in some bad and good ways but all dramatic changes for him. That’s why he turns his teen ways around and becomes grownup to raise Feather on his own, at the end of it all you can't rely on anyone else but yourself to fix problems you face in your life just like Emerson’s idea of self reliance. |