Descriptive Essay free essay sample

In a southern Oklahoma there is a large lake full of fish. In this place, on many warm summer days, my family and I would bring our boat to the lake and ride the cool calm water. We would anchor our boat and cast our rods and relax catching countless sparkling rainbow trout. My family and I did this for many years. The lake was large and always full of people, and it was surrounded by trees and full of fish. The smells were great, as well as the campfires and food, and it was always a good getaway from the city I spent many of my childhood summers and holidays here. It was a family past time. I got excited every time my dad would pull in the driveway with the boat. After sitting for several hours in the back seat of the car, I found the slow drove to be absolute torture. The first indication that Callum is not entirely happy with his life is when he shares his thoughts with Sephy that he would like to escape but bitterly says that the whole world is like the place he is in now. Sephy does not realise what he means but Callum says, â€Å"You’re on the inside, Sephy. I’m not. † This quote shows how Callum feels some Resentment towards the crosses (dark-skinned people). At this point the main reason is the fact that he; a nought (white skin) who previously went to a nought-only school that have a lack of resources and funding, has managed to pass the entrance exam to a previously cross-only school but has to join what he calls â€Å"the baby class. † This is because everyone in the class is at least a year younger than him and he feels frustrated over the amount of discrimination that he receives for being white skinned. This leads to Callum telling Sephy that he feels they are in different places and Callum says â€Å"us noughts are in one place and you crosses are in another with a huge, great wall between us. † The emphasis on the ‘us’ and the ‘you’ illustrates how significant having different skin colour makes in the book. It shows that the two friends will face problems just for being such good friends with members of the opposite skin colour. The idea of Crosses and Noughts mixing seems a bad idea to most of the World that Callum and Sephy live in. Various characters in the book try to stop Sephy and Callum being friends. The pair’s parents both have a very negative attitude to members of the opposite race. For example Callum’s Mum’s view on Callum going to a school run by ‘crosses’ is that Noughts should not mix with crosses and that mixing â€Å"doesn’t work† Most of the teachers at the School don’t believe that they should Mix and Sephy gets into trouble for sitting with Noughts at Lunch break. These people don’t understand why Callum and Sephy are friends and like society today sometimes let prejudices cloud their judgement. For Sephy and Callum’s relationship to work they have to try and ignore what other people say and think. Times often prove very difficult for the pair though and Sephy gets Beaten up after sitting with Callum and the other whites in the food hall. Her schoolmates tell her, â€Å"stick to your own kind†, and that ‘’none of them are keen to make friends with soap and water†. This tells us how the white people are perceived. It shows us the kinds of thing people thought and still think Sephy and Callum are eventually driven apart although they still really love each other. The rest of the world does their best to split them up and to hurt them as much as they can.