James Pirro

ENG 101

10/31/13

Dr.Ellis

In poems “Directions for Resisting the SAT” written by Richard Hague, “First Practice” written by  Gary Gildner , and the short story “Thank You, Ma’am” written by Langston Hughes all have to live up to people expectations. In the short story by Langston Hughes the main character has to grow up by himself and get money himself. In the “Directions for Resisting the SAT” written by Richard Hague the speaker has to do well to get into a good college and finally in “First Practice” written by  Gary Gildner the speaker has to make a good impression to his coach which come with great expectations.

 In the short story “Thank You, Ma’am” written by Langston Hughes the main character is very poor and has to help himself with everything. The expectations for this character are very low and no one gives him respect. So he decides to steal from women on the side of the street. He went to steal the purses from her but; he fell during the act and got dirty. The women felt bad and told him to come to her house so she can clean him up and feed him.  That happen but the boy still felt that she was going to take him to jail. But, instead decided not to, he cleans him up and feed him. He told her why he had to steal from her. He said he needs a pair of suede shoes that were ten dollars. On the way out of the house she gave him ten dollars and all he had to say was “Thank You, Ma’am. The woman in this short story doesn’t treat this boy like another person that would try to steal from someone. She puts away expectations for someone that lives in the streets.

In first poem we had to read, the main theme was expectations.  In the poem, “Directions for Resisting the SAT” written by Richard Hague the speaker talks about the test being hell. He says the test decides what happens to someone’s life. From my experiences that was one of the most important test I ever took in my life and I didn’t do so badly either. It used to give me the chills thinking about the test. The author goes into depth when saying talking about the months and hours sitting in one classroom. I couldn’t take those days. My parents would have expectations for me and I had to live up to them. This test makes or breaks you.

The final poem I had to read was “First Practice” written by Gary Gildner the main theme was also expectations.  When you have your first practice you have no clue what you were going to do. You had expectations of it. You would think it would be hard and you would have to impress your coach with everything you did. The event I went to see was the Under Armor presentation. During this presentation I learned what it would be like to be in the business world. I learned what the expectations for the Under Armor Company to be in the next couple years. Their goal was to be better than Adidas and Nike. I assume they will probably hit that goal in the coming years. I thought this presentation was very helpful and I hope to working for a company like that when I retire.

All of these poems, short story, and even my presentation that I went to have something in common; that is expectation.  In poems “Directions for Resisting the SAT” written by Richard Hague, “First Practice” written by  Gary Gildner , and the short story “Thank You, Ma’am” written by Langston Hughes all have to live up to people expectations. This what all the poems and short stories had in common.