Vernissage essay

Have you ever peeped on your parents? Well Alex has. And he isn’t just peeping. He describes every little thing. Maybe that’s just how it is, to be a child, or maybe that is the stage where a child wants to show, that he turns into a teenager. Describing his banana sandwich as baby food normally means child food aren’t good enough for Alex. He wants to be a grown up and eat grown up food. Making projects about earthworms in Nature class is also one of the childish struggles, you have to go through, if your name is Alex. He even needs to have a babysitter for one single night, while his parents are out for something called a vernissage. All this means Alex hasn’t turned into a teenager yet, but he really wants to.

It seems normally for the parents to contact a babysitter, like it happens pretty often. It means that his parents, often are out for something. But that’s not the real problem. The real problem is between Alex’s parents. Alex’s mum Frances sighs several times. She is unhappy with something. Her husband John is always working, and when he gets home, all he thinks about is the next thing he’s going to do. Frances feels used. And she doesn’t earn her husbands respect. She shows up in her new dress in front of John, and his response is “It’s very nice”. You can easily feel the ironic and sadness in the answer. When the parents are out for something, for instance the night in the text, John is not even out with Frances. He’s only at the vernissage so he can talk with the gallery owner. But Frances is kind of bound to John. Because John is working all day it’s also him who earns the money. Frances isn’t having no job since she can pick Alex up right after school, and even go buy a dress in before. She doesn’t get any other opportunities than staying with John.

In the end of the text, Alex comes out with his opinion about being a child. Through the text Alex gets even more tired of being a child. He wants to be an adult so badly. This comes into sight in the end of the text, when he describes his toothbrush “It was green, a crocodile, yellow eyes”. He doesn’t like his old childish toothbrush. He’s more into the neutral toothbrush which adults use. But all this is normal. Every kid wants to be an adult so badly, so there is nothing wrong with Alex. He’s just better to put words on what he’s thinking.

The only unusual thing about Alex, is his way to describe things. His way to compare things is fantastic. He makes some really good comparisons for a middle school kid who still hasn’t turned into a teenager yet. The text is about Alex, and that means Alex’s way to view things affects the text a lot. His way to describe things is possible to watch through the whole text. Also the way Alex feels more comfortable with his mom. This can be caused by a lot. Maybe it’s because Frances is the housewife who makes all the practical things.

Alex’s toothbrush and banana sandwich is a symbol in the text. It’s a symbol for Alex’s childhood. Alex really wants to quit the banana sandwich, because he want’s to be an adult. Eating a banana sandwich, is for him a thing, that kids do, and he doesn’t want to be a kid. The other symbol is his toothbrush. “It was green, a crocodile, yellow eyes. This too, he decided, was a child's thing. He would ask his mother for a new toothbrush, one that was a toothbrush and nothing more.” He doesn’t like his toothbrush. He wants to swift it into a new one, which isn’t puerile. This leads to one of the main themes in the text, which is growing up. To get rid of the old traditions you got, and take some new ones in use. The new traditions he takes to his heart; is those he gets from his parents. And his parents are nearly the other main theme in the text. The other main theme is problems between parents. This theme got an association to the other theme, which is growing up. Poor upbringing affects the way a child grows up. In this case, Alex feels for doing the necessary, and he grows up, so he can control his own life.