Sticks and Stones Essay Example for Free

Sticks and Stones Essay The text Sticks and Stones is written by Trezza Azzopardi in 2006. It’s about a young man named Lewis. He is a teacher and becomes witness to collective bullying; he tries to talk with the headmaster to help these problems between the kids. Seeing the bullying bring flashbacks inside of his head, reminding him of his own childhood. When Lewis was a kid he got bullied and in the text we indirectly get to know, that he had many traumatic experiences. Lewis tries helping the boy Paul Fry who gets bullied, but doesn’t succeed. We don’t get to know why. The main theme in this text is bullying and the following consequences. In the text we get an insight in how bullying can affect a person for the rest of his life. Lewis is really traumatized, and we can see that he is affected by his childhood experiences in everything he does. Bullying is now a worldwide problem, and bullying often results in self harm, eating disorders, anxiety or, in worst case, suicide. Children, youngsters and adults all over the world are experiencing bullying, and it is safe to say, that something must be done. Lewis is the main character in the story. He experiences great trauma, since he was bullied in his childhood. He is an adult now, and a schoolteacher. He moved into his mothers house about a month ago, because he had many problems, and got something like a depression that caused him to not be able to live a normal life. Lewis has beforehand escaped into the city of London to live his adult life, because he has traumatic experiences from the countryside. But when he experiences the scenery with Paul Fry, it bothers him in an unimaginable way, and he moves back into the house of his mother. It is safe to say that Lewis is emotionally unstable, and it is not possible to predict wether he’ll ever fully mentally recover. Paul Fry is a child and a student on the school where Lewis teaches. Paul gets bullied by some of the other children. His situation deeply affects Lewis, because Lewis sees himself and his childhood in Paul Fry. Paul has a very important role in the story, because he reflects Lewis’ childhood. He has a central importance in the outcome of the story, since his case results in Lewis losing his mind, and leaving his job. Azzopardi uses flashbacks throughout the entire story. They are used to create the entire image of Lewis’ life, with all of its trauma and consequences. There seems to rule some kind of calmness in the last couple of lines in the story. Lewis realizes that there’s nothing he can do, nothing he should so. When Lewis lies down on the ground, he is in contact with the same ground witch he hit several years ago. But this time, it is in calm surroundings, and it is something he has chosen himself. He also mentions how he listens to the humming earth, where he before only could hear the noise of the crashing waves that he feared. In the end, everything goes quiet, and you get the feeling that Lewis will be all right after all.