Free Essay

The Sin Bin or Lucy's Heart

In: English and Literature

Submitted By cheller
Words 1098
Pages 5
The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart

Life is like a jungle, it’s full of crossroads and decisions to be made. During your teenage years life gets even more entangled. In this essay I want to find out why teenagers often stand in the situation where they have to choose between their heart or making a riot.
“The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart” is a short story by Lucy Cross in 2000. It is first-person narrator and the story are seen from the main character’s point of view. The story takes place in a school greenhouse used as a detention room, supposedly located in Cardiff. The story is chronological but has a short flashbacks, about the episode with Penny Jones; « Poor Penny Jones. You should have seen her face when I asked her to meet me down the subway after school. I could feel Bethan behind me, checking I didn’t jib... » P. 8 line 3-5. The text is spread over about an hour or more, depending on how long school detention is. The main character is Lucy, a teenage girl and former grade A student, and now, her first time in detention given the question from her teacher; « What on earth are you doing in here Lucy? » P. 8 line 16. She has been influenced badly by her new friend Bethan, a though girl who cuts classes, smokes and swear. Lucy was a rule follower before she got to know of Bethan. She did her homework with perfection, had good manners and behaved as it was expected of her from her mother and school. What Lucy deals with is extremely common at any ordinary young teenager trying to find her place in society. She wants to make a riot and break free from the good girl, and that is what Bethan helps her with. While being in detention the teacher supervising the detention asks her what she has done. She tells him that she hit Penny Jones, her former friend. The teacher seems shocked and asks if it is because of Bethan, and Lucy denies but of course it is. She knows and acknowledges that the things she has done with Bethan is not very smart, and that Bethan might be a bad influence, whilst she is also being a little scared of her; « Sometimes when I think about Bethan I get this burning pressing in my head and my tummy. Sometimes I’m glad when my mum says I can’t go round and see her » P. 7 line 13-15.
Bethan has no respect for authorities and sees no substance in the daily life which is boring her. She has a tough outer appearance and shows this by not caring for anybody or anything, and always doing crazy things while testing her limits. Behan’s behavior and lack of respect makes it look like she has a hard time at home since she is always out with her friends. She has a fear for appearing weak.
Both Lucy and Bethan use each other. Lucy so she can get popular and break free from the norms and expectations, and Bethan uses Lucy to feel superior and have someone under her. Neither of them are interested in a real and true friendship, and it is all highly superficial and shallow.
The language is deeply realistic and detailed, which makes it sensuous i.e. you feel everything the writer wanted you to feel for example understanding, angry or entertained. If you pay attention, you will notice that the writer and main character share the same first name, which partly explains why the language is so realistic and sensuous. The short story could be an autobiography, reflecting on the writer’s hard time growing up from teenager to adult.
The title of the story shows what dilemma Lucy is in. She either has to choose the Sin Bin, being the path with Bethan as a bully and a rebel, not caring about anything anymore except who to bully next or her heart, and going back to be a grade A student, take responsible and go home to her mother who is trying to influence Lucy to make the right choices but then have to say good bye to being a rebel and breaking free from her normal life.
We do not only hear about the heart in the main title but in detention Lucy is also drawing a heart, her heart. The heart on the paper is kind of imperfect; « My heart is rubbish. I push much too hard on the paper for some bits and then back right off for others. It’s a mess of really dark and really light. » P. 8 line 1-3. The quote is a metaphor for her old innocence being ruined because of her new behavior. She is confused however she is dark or light in her mind, and she is confused what side she has to choose. While sitting in detention, looking outside she comes to a decision and when class is over, and she has to show the teacher what she used her time on, he ask her whether she wants to keep the drawing of the heart or not – she says no. « “Do you want this for your portfolio, Lucy?” he asks. “It’s very good.” The boys are walking off and Bethan’s coming towards the door to collect me. “No, just chuck it.” » P. 9 line 33-36. By saying no, she indicates that she chooses to walk beside Bethan and chooses the Sin Bin instead of the heart. Some of the main themes are the urge to fit in, bullying, changing, identity and rebel/riot. This story reaches out to all teenagers who has not found your identity yet and is in the dilemma of choosing the right path. The message in this story is therefore to remember that every decision you make in life, especially in your teen years have big consequences on your life ahead and carrier. Another thing is also that if you are in need of guidance seek help and advice from elders. They often have another vision on life and can guide you from a more neutral standpoint. My conclusion on my thesis-statement is that teenagers feel the need of rebelling because they feel they can not stay the same and therefore make a decision to do something about it. They do it to make their identity and so they can be remembered of something important and not just as the nerd in school or the good girl, always doing what she is told to do.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

The Sin Bin or Lucy's Heart

...The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart A characterisation of Lucy The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart begins with the girl Lucy Cooke, who is sitting in detention, or the so-called ‘sin bin’. She’s young; this is made very clear from the fact that she’s at still in school, maybe 7th or 8th grade, and the boy in front of her, who, presumably, is Lucy’s peer, has a lot of spots; a thing associated with teenagers. She’s in detention for having hit Penny Jones; a girl who apparently has enough problems without Lucy hitting her. Recalling a time when they were close friends, Lucy tells about Penny whose fa-ther hits her mother and how Penny cried then, too (Page 35, line 20-22). But why does Lucy hit her then? Why would she do that to a girl she knows is in a bad enough situation already? The immediate and easy answer would be that Lucy does this for popularity. Be-than, a girl whom wiggled herself into Lucy’s life and is now her best friend, is the toughest girl in their year. Without having anything to say about it, and I sincerely doubt that Lucy had anything to say in this situation, as Bethan one day ‘decided’ that they should be best friends, Lucy finds her-self sandwiched between the girl she defines herself as; the brainiest girl in the year, and the girl the rest of the school defines her as when she hangs out with Bethan. Her reputation changes; she goes from being smart, and maybe not that popular, to being a stereotypical ‘tough girl’ and feared. Many people has a hard time distinguishing...

Words: 1100 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Sin Bin or Lucy's Heart

...Written assignment – The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart. 1. Lucy is a confused and afraid girl. She is a grade A student who used to be a good girl, but she changes into being a bad girl. She meets Bethan, who is the hardest girl at school. Lucy begins to break her mother’s principles. She begins to smoke cigarettes and wearing make up, because Bethan says so. She alludes herself as the brainiest girl at the school and she is also the only girl who took nine O-levels. Her relation to the other students is not like it was before, she becomes best friend with Bethan. Before she met Bethan, her best friend was Penny Jones. Penny and Lucy were both good students and they were quite close to each other. But after Lucy had met Bethan, she stopped talking to Penny and hit her, because Bethan said so. Bethan wanted her to hit Penny, to prove that there was not anyone in the way of their friendship. That is the reason why Lucy came in detention; for hitting a student. Lucy felt really bad inside after she hit Penny, because she deep down did not want to be a bad girl, but she is afraid of Bethan to say how she feels inside. While the detention she thinks about what will happen to her in the future. 2. She called me and said that I should meet her down the subway after school. I did not know why she wanted me to came down the subway, but I did what she said. I was at the subway alone. She was not here yet, so I waited a few more minutes. “Is she going to tell me something about...

Words: 505 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

The Sin Bin or Lucy's Heart

...The sin bin or Lucy’s heart I can see Lucy walking straight in my direction. She looks a little nervous, but focused on the same time. It has been a while since I have talked to her. It was before she became Bethan’s best friend. I miss her sometimes, but when I see her with Bethan, she is not the same Lucy I knew. She has changed a lot. I do not hope that she is pretending to be someone she is not. “Penny!” Lucy catches me in my way out of the door. “Oh. Hi Lucy” I am a bit confused. What does she want from me? “Please meet me down the subway after school” Lucy sounds nervous too. I cannot look her in the eyes, because she keeps looking in different directions. I can feel my face turning into a grimace you only see in a scary movie or something like that. I am not scared, but I think I look quite stupid or maybe just really choked. Now she hurries back to Bethan who is waiting for her at the other side of the schoolyard. It is all really confusing at that point. The time before my meeting with Lucy goes too slowly. I cannot wait to see what she wants from me. After school I walk down the subway to look for Lucy, but I cannot find her. Is this just a stupid joke? I cannot stop thinking that, until she appears out of nowhere. She comes straight to me with no sense of hesitation. Suddenly her hand hits my face, and a pain spreads through my whole body. I do not think it is just physic pain, because it really hurts that she could do that. The hitting part just reminds me of...

Words: 401 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Essay - the Sin Bin & Lucy's Heart

...Essay – The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart Sometimes life can be hard. Especially when you are a teenager, that is for sure. And that is was Lucy Cross is telling us about in her short story ”The Sin Bin or Lucy’s heart”. The whole story takes place in a greenhouse at their school, which is also used as a detention room. And that is where Lucy is sitting. She is just sitting there and draws a heart with her 2B pencil. Lucy is, taking a guess, about 16-17 years old and lives in Cardiff, where she also goes to school. The main problem in this short story is that Lucy has changed from being a good friend and a fantastic student, to being a person hanging with the wrong people and she starts doing things she, deep inside does not want to do, like hitting an old friend Penny Jones. Which is why she is sitting in this room. If you look through the whole short story, Lucy is a first person narrator. And that is because the whole story is from her own point of view. The smart thing about using first person-narrator for this story is, that the reader learns everything about Lucy’s feelings & thoughts. And that is a very important part for this story to make sense. If the reader did not know what she was feeling, it would be really hard to understand the development she goes through. Lucy is also a round character, which means that she develops throughout the short story. You can see from the text (34) “Lucy Cooke. What happened to the Straight A student I used to teach? Hm? And picking...

Words: 714 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Summary of Sin Bin or Lucy's Heart, by Lucy Cross, 2000

...“The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart” by Lucy Cross, 2000 The story begins with Lucy being in detention and describing the room and situation. She seems very fascinated by her best friend, Bethan. Bethan is the toughest girl in their year of their school. Lucy’s a bit afraid of Bethan, too. Sometimes she’s relieved when her mother says that she can’t see her. Because then she can be herself and not who Bethan wants her to be. Lucy has some dreams and opinions that are being pushed down by Bethan. She can no longer get the good grades that she used to. She has to be cool and rebellious like Bethan. Lucy feels split between her mother and Bethan because Bethan want Lucy to break the rules her mother made. They put on makeup when they come to school (for Lucy’s mother does not approve it) but Lucy takes it off after saying goodbye to Bethan, before Lucy herself go home. She does not want to revolt her mother but she doesn’t want Bethan to think she’s a square either. Lucy sits at the detention, thinking of what she did to be in there. She hit her former best friend, Penny Jones. Bethan made her do it, because she felt threatened by her. Penny Jones was her best friend, until Bethan asked Lucy to be HER best friend. Lucy feels really bad about hitting Penny. She looks back to the time Penny cried to Lucy that her father used to hit her mother. She also cried when Lucy hit her and that makes Lucy feel even worse about doing it. But Bethan was standing behind her, to make sure she didn’t...

Words: 389 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Sin Bin

...The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart It is not and has never been easy being a teenager. With teenage life, comes confusion, overwhelming feelings, a new self-awareness and search for one’s identity and path of life. This is exactly what we see in Lucy Cross’s short story “The Sin Bin or Lucy’s Heart”, where we meet a teenage girl, who is very unsure of what she wants and therefor only strives to please her surroundings in her search for acceptance. She is at a breaking point, where she has to choose her way, identity, and which type of friends she wants to be related to. Which way will she go? Through a first-person narrator we are able to know what Lucy is thinking. This gives us greater insight into what goes on in her mind. Lucy is an A-grade student, but it is not all fun and games. She is a teenage girl struggling to find herself and way in life. She is at that stage where you have to decide, who you want to be and which is something your surroundings has a great impact on. The first thing we learn from the story is that she is in detention and therefore the reader immediately gets the impression that the main character is a “bad girl”. But we are soon proven wrong. The reaction of her old teacher to her detention, clearly shoes how unusual it is for Lucy to behave this way. “What on earth are you doing in here, Lucy?”She was given detention because she hit Penny Jones. “Penny Jones is very thin. When I hit her, I thought she just might fall over.” “… I didn’t know where...

Words: 1147 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

The Sin Bin or Lucy´S Heart

...The sin bin or Lucy´s heart The short story “The sin bin or Lucy’s heart” 1st person narrative Themes: Admiration, judgment, longing and opposing. Message: The story’s message is about how influence from other people can change you Characterization of Lucy Lucy is the main character in the story. She is a confused teenage girl, probably around the fourteen years old. In school, is she a grade A student and win prizes at the prize day at school, but she is seems to be changing. Lucy recently became friend’s whit a girl named Bethan. The reason Lucy’s became friends whit Bethan, was to become the bully instead of the bullied. Bethan is the cool girl in school. Bethan is almost focusing Lucy to do things she never would have thought to do herself, it is such as smoking, wearing make-up, hitting other kids and cutting classes and Lucy Is doing it to prove loyalty to Berhan. But in return, are the other kids in school afraid of teasing Lucy, because of here friendship whit Bethan. Lucy loves the attention she gets when she is whit bethan. It seams that Lucy used to have a good relationship with her mother but after, she has started hanging out with Bethan their relationship is damaged. On the reason that, she is doing all of does thing whit Bethan in secrecy from here mother. Lucy does not trust herself and her own opinion, she keeps saying Bethan says, mom says – which I take as a sign of her not believing in herself enough to rely on herself...

Words: 353 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Characterisation on Lucy Cooke

...Characterization of Lucy Cooke The sin bin or Lucy’s heart is about a girl named Lucy Cooke, she is in her teens, and she is one of the best students at her school “last year I came in second in the year” (page 36, line 11). The reader is told in the beginning of the story that she has detention because she punched another girl at school whose name was Penny Jones. The reason she hit that girl, was because her best friend, Bethan, asked her to do so, even though Lucy did not entirely understand why, she still did it. Lucy seems like a proud girl, and she loves the fact that she is so good at her studies but as the story goes on, it becomes more and more clear to the reader that she is not exactly strong-willed since she lets Bethan control her like she does. But this unreasonable behavior could be because Lucy does not want to be left out at school; maybe she believes that the friends are worth so much more than her studies that she “needs” those friends. When you are reading this story, you automatically think that Lucy seems like this reserved, brainy and shy type of girl, that nobody really likes. When Lucy were about to hit Penny, she hesitated, no doubt about that, what could Lucy’s feelings be toward Penny? Maybe she likes Penny because Lucy knows that they are the same type of person, they are both smart, and love to go to school, the only difference is that Lucy cares way more about being popular, and Penny does not. I think that Lucy’s relationship to her mother, is not...

Words: 312 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

The Sin Bin

...English written assignment – The sin bin or Lucy’s heart 1. Lucy. Lucy is very focused on her school and gets good grades. She is the only one, besides Angela Howe who is taking nine O-levels and is one of the brainiest pupils in her school. She also has high hopes for her future and she is dreaming of moving to London when she grows up. Unfortunately, she is worried about her grades because of her new “best friend” Bethan. Bethan is manipulating Lucy to hit her former best friend Penny Jones, to smoke and to wear makeup for example. She is looking forward to her future with hopes that she will not have to “wear a face” to get people to accept her. 2. The heart as a metaphor. a. It is a metaphor to her own life, and heart. It symbolizes her decisions and the fact that she is drawing it black symbolizes her bad conscious and her ruining her own reputation. The second time she draws the heart she paints black corners as if to say that she do have a bad feeling about doing these things, but she does not want to disappoint Bethan with her being a coward. b. When she tells Mr. Paterson to throw the heart out after her detention it is a small symbol of her throwing away her bad conscious and just do what Bethan says. 3. Comment on the kind of bullying seen in the text. There is two different kind of bullying in the text. 1. Peer pressure 2. Physical bullying I think the physical bullying is the worst kind of bullying because I’ve been raised with the hole...

Words: 386 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Grammar

...NEW EDITION HIGH SCHOOL English Grammar & Composition BY WREN & MARTIN (With New Appendices) REVISED BY N.D.V. PRASADA RAO S. CHAND Page i New Edition HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION By P.C. WREN, MA. (OXON) and H. MARTIN, M.A. (OXON), O.B.E. Revised By N.D.V. PRASADA RAO, M.A., D.T.E., Ph.D. Dear Students, Beware of fake/pirated editions. Many of our best selling titles have been unlawfully printed by unscrupulous persons. Your sincere effort in this direction may stop piracy and save intellectuals' rights. For the genuine book check the 3-D hologram which gives a rainbow effect. S. CHAND AN ISO 9001: 2000 COMPANY S. CHAND & COMPANY LTD. RAM NAGAR, NEW DELHI -110 055 Page iii PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION Wren and Martin's monumental work High School English Grammar and Composition now appears in two editions. One is a de luxe edition, illustrated in full-colour, and the other is an ordinary edition without illustrations. The material in the book has been further updated where called for. It has been felt necessary in particular to revise some material in the chapters dealing with adjectives, active and passive voice, articles and prepositions. Appendix I, which deals with American English, has been expanded. Appendix II has been replaced with a newer set of tests covering the important areas of grammar. It was in the year 1972 that the shrewd visionary Mr. Shyam Lai Gupta obtained the permission of Manecji Cooper Education Trust for the revision of this book...

Words: 211294 - Pages: 846

Premium Essay

Harold Bloom

...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...

Words: 239932 - Pages: 960

Premium Essay

Barron 3500

...6 Build Your Vocabulary ■ ■ ■ ■ The SAT High-Frequency Word List The SAT Hot Prospects Word List The 3,500 Basic Word List Basic Word Parts be facing on the test. First, look over the words on our SAT High-Frequency Word List, which you’ll find on the following pages. Each of these words has appeared (as answer choices or as question words) from eight to forty times on SATs published in the past two decades. Next, look over the words on our Hot Prospects List, which appears immediately after the High-Frequency List. Though these words don’t appear as often as the high-frequency words do, when they do appear, the odds are that they’re key words in questions. As such, they deserve your special attention. Now you’re ready to master the words on the High-Frequency and Hot Prospects Word Lists. First, check off those words you think you know. Then, look up all the words and their definitions in our 3,500 Basic Word List. Pay particular attention to the words you thought you knew. See whether any of them are defined in an unexpected way. If they are, make a special note of them. As you know from the preceding chapters, SAT often stumps students with questions based on unfamiliar meanings of familiar-looking words. Use the flash cards in the back of this book and create others for the words you want to master. Work up memory tricks to help yourself remember them. Try using them on your parents and friends. Not only will going over these high-frequency words reassure you that you...

Words: 92038 - Pages: 369