How does Ron Suskind present the difficulties of Cedric’s education in part 1 and 2 of the story?
In this essay I will be explaining how Ron Suskind presents the difficulties of Cedric’s education in part 1 and part 2 of his story by comparing the language used. This story is about a boy called Cedric who goes through a lot of persecutions during Ballou High (High School) e.g. bullying, violence etc. During this time in school he struggles to get a good education as he has to push himself harder with the school weighing him down. Then he makes it into MIT where he has one main problem, he is way behind the other students and he struggles to cope with the amount of work given, Throughout the story, Ron Suskind (the writer), uses various language devices that suggests how difficult it was for Cedric to learn.
In part 1, a language device used is a metaphor. This can be seen when Suskind says ”the arduous Odyssey of Cedric”. This means that for Cedric to succeed, he must go through a long, rough journey. We know this because ‘arduous’ means a long, hard journey and ‘Odyssey’ is a Greek myth about a person who goes on a tough journey and must endure hardships and trials. This is much like Cedric as he has to go through trials such as bullying form his school and has to do extra work in his spare time as the school can not help him enough during the right times and this is very tough but Cedric must endure to reach his goal.
Another language device used, but this time in part 2, is when Cedric says, ”But where I start from is so far behind where some other kids are, I have to run twice the distance to catch-up”. Here, Cedric is talking about his journey through MIT as if it were a race. This meant that Cedric’s must have good endurance even though he is on a long path, fend of any competition in one shot and finish above everyone else on his journey in MIT. These are also the characteristics of a race. This is a metaphor as he is not literally saying it’s a race but is putting it into context to himself. This means that Cedric believes that because he went to Ballou High, he is already behind the other students who were given a better education. We know this because the quote is talking about Cedric ‘behind where some other kids are’. Furthermore, for him to catch up he has to do twice as much work and work twice as hard just to catch up on their intellectual level. We know this because Cedric say’s ‘I have to run twice the distance to catch-up’ so Cedric as to endure doing twice as much work than the others.
One difference between the 2 quotes is that in quote 1, it describes Cedric’s struggle on an individual level whilst quote 2 describes his struggles compared to other students. We know this because in quote 1, it talks about the ‘Odyssey of Cedrick’. From this we can see that the attention is on Cedric and how he struggles alone. However, in quote 2, he talks about ‘catching up to others’. From this we can see that it is only him struggling as he has to try catch up to his fellow students who are ahead. Another difference is who said the 2 different quotes. Quote 1 was said by Ron Suskind in contrasted to quote 2 which was said by Cedric himself. This can effect how his struggles are represented as Cedric could be bias or could even be hard on himself whilst Ron Suskind would be honest. On the other hand, these two quotes are very similar as they both talk about a tough time for a long amount of time. Quote 1 being a journey in general whilst quote 2 is a marathon. This is one way in which Ron Suskind presents the difficulties of Cedric’s education in part 1 and part 2 of his story by comparing the language used.
Another language device used which talks about Cedric’s difficulties with education in part 1 is, ”The ”crab bucket syndrome,” they call it: When one crab tries to climb out from a bucket, the others pull it back down.” This is a metaphor as it is describing bf the students as crabs and is not saying they are literally crabs. The quote means that for Cedric to succeed, he must fend of the other students as when he tries to reach the top they will try pull him back down. We know this because in the quote it say’s ‘climb out from a bucket’ which we can refer to as someone trying to reach the top and succeed in life to leave school and then it say’s ‘others pull it back down’, this we can refer to as the other students stopping them from reaching the top and pulling them back down. The ‘crab bucket syndrome’ can be seen in the story as a student called Head used to get the same grades as Cedric but now is failing because the school dragged him down. The longer Cedric remains in the school the more he feels worried about failing in the school as he starts thinking to himself,’ I’m not gonna make it.’
Another time Ron Suskind uses a language device which talks about Cedric’s difficulties with education, but this time in part 2 is, ”Being a minority and a high achiever means you have to carry extra baggage about who you are, and where you belong. That puts them at risk.” Here, Suskind implies that Cedric and the other minorities struggle to fit in because of their ethnic backgrounds and whether they came from a rich or poor family. When Suskind says “extra baggage”, he is referring to minorities having to bring their background with them and them taking it everywhere they go, in Cedric’s case this means Cedric has to show his pupils that his ethnicity is black, he comes from a poor family and a crime infested neighbourhood. Another way of interpreting it is just like a person taking there baggage to go on a holiday, they pack a small, easy and compact luggage but for minorities it is much harder, a bigger, bulkier piece of baggage carrying around the burden of being black and poor, these being in Cedrics case.
Quote 1 and 2 are very similar as Quote 1 talks about a journey that the pupil’s who want to succeed have to travel.They have to get out of the bucket (school) fending of other crabs (pupils). Then in Quote 2 it talks about how there journey, when on their travels,are harder as they have to carry more. These 2 quotes are similar as in quote 1 it talks about students travelling on a journey to out of Ballou High in comparison to quote 2 where it talks about students in the minority who struggle on this journey as they have to bring with them there backgrounds. Another similarity about these 2 quotes is that both quotes talk about the system’s in the school’s do not help with Cedric’s education. We can see this when quote 1’s system is the ‘crab bucket syndrome’ in Cedric’s high school whilst in quote 2, ‘extra baggage’, the school system cannot help them. These 2 ‘systems’ are similar as they both explain Cedric’s struggle with education.This is because in quote 1 it talks about the school system weighing them down, similarly to quote 2 where it tells us the school system cannot help the minorities. There is also a difference between these 2 quotes, 1 being where the ‘systems’ took place. Quote 1’s system took place in Ballou High, Cedric’s High School, whilst quote 2’s system took place in M.I.T, Cedric’s College. This effects how Cedric’s education is as it is 2 different parts of his life and 1 helps lead to the other so Cedric had to endure hardships in Ballou to get into M.I.T and as they are 2 different schools they will teach differently and teach different things and new things.
In conclusion, I believe Ron Suskind presents Cedric’s difficulties with education extremely well. I think this because he uses many different language devices really well to explain Cedric’s education. 1 language device and quote that really explains the difficulties Cedric faces with education for me is, “that the road from here keeps getting steeper”. This is a quote as the roads that Cedric walk on will not literally start getting steeper. This quote means that Cedric’s journey will only get harder without rest. We know this because ‘road’ refers to Cedric’s journey to succeed and ‘steeper’ can be referred to a mountain and it is very hard to climb and he can not have a break on the slope because if he stops, he will fall to the bottom and have to start again. Furthermore, I see it as a car going up a mountain and it will still struggle a lot, and in terms of Cedric, if he tries to go through school fast and with a lot of power/knowledge, he will still struggle. I think this describes Cedric’s journey the best because it clearly states how Cedric’s journey will be. A continuous journey that is always getting harder.
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