Calvin Ng

English 12

Childhood conflicts

You learn from the past is a common phrase you hear when something bad in the past occurs, but what if you grew up with no control over what happened? This is based off the short stories, Long, Long After School, by Ernest Buckler and A Teacher’s Rewards, by Robert Phillips. In both short stories, both protagonists are victims of discrimination. In “A Teacher’s Rewards”, our protagonist is Raybe, he grew up with no parents or grandparents. He was a foster kid, adopted by his Aunt. Raybe grew up poor and dressed differently than the others causing the teacher to pick which eventually lead to her by hitting him with a ruler as a punishment. Raybe was in prison for 10 years, giving him time to think about his life and decides to give his old teacher a visit. In “Long, Long After School”, our protagonist is Wes. Wes went to an all-white school. In this story we have Miss Tretheway, who saves Wes’s life near the end of the story. Wes’s form of discrimination is like Raybe’s, because the students this time picked on him for his physical appearance and, for being the only African-American child at the school. Childhood experiences do shape who we become, because it one of the first things we learn, and live by growing up.

Discrimination can take a toll on a person physically and emotionally which can make these young kids vulnerable down the road, in the short stories we see both physical and emotional changes occur. We see that Wes has emotional scarring, because since the bullying occurred many years go by and we still see Wes scarred and quiet like he was while he was in elementary school where he got discriminated for being black. This took a toll on Wes, because he only felt safe around his teacher. Wes grew up to be a respectable man, one that was very humble to the people that looked out for him. Raybe has a different story, he became violent and he ended up in prison for 10 years, during that time he blamed his teacher, Miss Scofield. He believed that his whole life was a misery because it all started with her and wanted revenge. Raybe went to give Miss Scofield a little bit of his rage by giving her a harmless visit at least that’s what she thought. During his visit Raybe was showing suspicious actions which Miss Scofield caught onto, but at that point it was too late Raybe had a hammer in his hand before she could even run. Wes was made fun of for his physical appearance by his peer, “Shh… Wes is blushing… look at Wes he’s so pale.” Here we see that the kids were making fun of him, because Wes wasn’t blushing. Wes only felt safe around one person, and that person was Miss Tretheway. Miss Tretheway showed Wes a whole new perspective by showing him love in school which he never received from any other kid at school. From here on Wes has called Miss Tretheway beautiful. In the story, we see Wes upset, and furious which he decided to punch a window causing him to almost bleed out. Miss Tretheway saved Wes, by donating her blood without any hesitation as his blood was a rare type, “Miss Tretheway, you’re making me blush”, we see now Wes is actually blushing, because he is thankful and calls Miss Tretheway beautiful. Raybe during his visits remembers his past vividly, “You used to rap my knuckles with your ruler, remember?” Raybe held this grudge on Miss Scofield always wanting revenge, and he grew up with these events turning him into a violent person. Miss Scofield asks Raybe to put out his cigarette politely, Raybe showed no feelings as he said, “I’m going to finish this cigarette no matter what.” This shows us Raybe has no manner, and we know he has bad intentions which carry on throughout the story. In both stories we see what the previous experiences had done to these young men. Wes became humble by appreciating everything and everyone, Raybe unfortunately became violent just like his teacher once was.

      In both stories, we see that at one point in their life they felt hopeless, because of previous actions that occurred, this shows that the experiences in the past took a toll on both boys. When Raybe first showed up at Miss Scofield’s place, one of the first things he said was “You used to rap my knuckles.” Miss Scofield thought of this as a discipline not something that would haunt such a young child, what she didn’t know was that Raybe had been in jail for 10 years. When she found out she thought he was joking, what teacher could ever imagine that one of her students would end up in prison? Miss Scofield thought this was a joke and laughed, but Raybe was serious, “You try staying behind those walls for 10 years and see if you think it’s a joke.” Throughout the whole time Raybe was there he kept implying his hands, and her’s just anything that could resemble rapping knuckles. Miss Scofield thought there was no harm until Raybe made it clear “You did it lots of times… In front of the whole class. They laughed at me.” This is where the story shifts into the darker side and we can start to see the real side of Raybe as he raises his voice and uses foul language directed towards his old teacher. During this time Wes was at the dance he wanted to dance with a girl, but she danced with one of his friends instead. There was another girl who looked right at him; realizing he was the only free guy left but she sat down. As a result, Wes had built up rage and anger, he got mad and decided to punch the window, “I went to the basement and drove my fist through the window”, this caused scar along his arm, which you can still see according to Wes. I believe that the window can be a symbol for Wes. I think the window symbolizes Wes’s life, because he has been held up his whole life, just like the window. When he punched the window, it was broken just like he was, the only way the window can be fixed is if someone fixes it, and Miss Tretheway was the person who fixed Wes. After this incident, went almost bled to death on the spot, he was losing so much blood, but the problem was no one had the same blood type but Miss Tretheway, which she kindly donated, “She was beautiful, she was a real lady.” Here we see Wes thankful for her kindness and Wes saw his life in a whole new perspective carrying it throughout the rest of his life. You can tell that for Wes, throughout his experiences he is grateful and humble in the end, appreciating everything Miss Tretheway did for him. On the side for Raybe, he became aggressive and had hatred for Miss Scofield.

The way society judges can also shape a person on who they become. Some may learn and grow from society, others may bury themselves in rage and hold grudges forever. Growing up Wes had trouble fitting in and making friends. As a kid, it’s hard to understand why people don’t like you for something you can’t control, at the time society was still in the phase where blacks weren’t accepted as much in a white neighborhood. “Look at Wes. He’s so scared he’s turning pale.” No matter what Wes did, he got made fun of because of his skin colour, it even got to the point where some of the boys would hit him on purpose sledding. Regardless of the situation Wes grew up humble, and knew the difference between right and wrong, “You can’t hit a girl. There just wasn’t anything I could do about the girls.” We can see here, that Wes doesn’t care about what the boys say as he said before, but for girls Wes never really got the attention anyone else got from them. Wes just wanted someone to like him, he eventually realized why people didn’t like him, so he decided to focus on school pushing his education to the limits. Raybe knew why he was different than everyone, because growing up he didn’t have the same social class as everyone else did. Raybe wasn’t remembered by Miss Scofield, but he decided to ask Miss Scofield about other classmates, “How about Nathan Pillsbury? The dentist’s son… His parents had a swimming pool!” Here we see Miss Scofield remembering her previous student Nathan, because of his necessities and his social class, immediately Raybe gets offended calling him a teacher’s pet. Even after these years, Raybe still has the jealousy, and we can start to see his true side. After Raybe explains he’s been in jail Miss Scofield judges him again! “Well, I must say! You’re certainly the only boy I ever had that… ended up in in prison!” We can see that Miss Scofield is judging him by pausing and saying he’s the only boy being in jail, Raybe starts to get angry again and shouts at her, “SIT BACK DOWN IN THAT CHAIR!” This shows us that throughout his life, the way society was shaped, the knuckle wrapping, not being remembered because of his social class, and being in prison we see that Raybe is a man full of anger and this is what his life was all about, revenge. Throughout the experiences the boys had, Wes took his as a lesson and was shaped a nice and respectful young man. Raybe wasn’t so understanding, because of his circumstances he believed that Miss Scofield made him the person he is. Society can have impacts in many lives, and at this era of time, being wealthy was a way to fit in, or being white may help you fit in.

In conclusion, childhood experiences do have an impact in our lives, it’s shown in both Raybe and Wes’s life. Regardless of the circumstances, being bullied due to skin colour, being different and only having one person that cared about him, Wes turned out to be a bright young man who cares about everyone and respects everyone. Raybe was different, he never treated anyone with respect due to the fact he grew never getting any attention others did. This made Raybe a violent person, thinking about revenge and eventually got it, he blames everyone for making him the person he is now.