When we strongly desire something to happen

even though we unconsciously are aware that it is

never going to happen, that makes us feel happy
for a moment. By having such a thought process,
we are stuck in the loop of wishful desires from
which coming out isn’t an easy task. Desires to be
with someone, desire to have something, desire
to be like someone, desire to do something not
possible is what makes wishful thinking a
relatively regrettable choice in life. Wishful
thinking allows us to avoid discomfort, stress,
change, anxiety, and pressure. It's a lot easier and
less stressful to stare at a fake cheque for a
million dollars than to work hard to earn it.
Wishful thinking could be attributed to three
mechanisms: attentional bias, interpretation bias,
and response bias. Therefore, there are three
different stages in cognitive processing in which
wishful thinking could arise. First, at the lowest
stage of cognitive processing, individuals
selectively attend to cues.
Challenges will always be there when we start
walking on the right path. Having a dream is
necessary but living in a dream for most of our life
is harmful. Dream big and to achieve it, plan big
too, work hard and put your best until you
achieve.
Dreaming scenerios is not essentially a bad thing
to do, it gives us the freedom to imagine the ideal
life we want to experience. However, when we
tend to forget the thin line between imagination
and reality and get entangled in what is not real,
that thinking becomes dangerous as it makes us
forget who we in reality are.
INTRO-The theme of this story is adolescent
fantasizing and hero worship. It is quite natural
for teenagers to have unrealistic dreams
especially when their families are not well off. It is
because of the fact that the socioeconomic
background plays a leading role in the lives of the
youths for choosing a particular profession. The
act of fantasizing may lead to miseries in case it is
beyond our approach. It is useless to build castles
in the air.
Going Places summary will help us get a better
understanding of the story written by A.R. Barton.
The story begins by telling the reader about a
teenage girl, Sophie. Being a normal teenager, she
has also got many fantasies and dreams. Sophie
belongs to a lower-middle-class family that
struggles with finances. However, she dreams to
own a boutique one day. Further, she also dreams
of becoming an actress of a fashion designer.
Similarly, Jansie, her friend, is more practical and
level-headed. She knows that they do not have a
strong financial background, thus they have to
work in a biscuit factory. Jansie does not have any
unachievable fantasies. She tries her best to help
Sophie stay in touch with reality, but all that goes
in vain as Sophie does not listen.
Sophie has got two brothers and lives with her
parents in a small house. She does not shy away
from expressing her desires and fantasies.
However, her parents do not pay much heed to it
as they are far more mature than her. They are
already facing the harsh realities of life, thus, they
do not believe in her fantasies. Sophie’s elder
brother is Geoff who is tall, strong, and handsome
and remains reserved. She is sort of fascinated by
her elder brother. It is so because his silence that
makes her jealous and she wonders what he
keeps thinking about.
Further, we learn that Sophie is always fantasizing
about a young Irish football player, Danny Casey.
She has seen him play in a number of matches
and thus started liking him. As she is always living
in her fantasy world, she makes up stories about
him. In one made-up story, she tells her elder
brother, Geoff, that they met one day in the
streets. Being more sensible, Geoff does not
believe her story. He feels it is highly unlikely that
she just met such a sensation in the streets just
like that.
However, as Sophie is so good at immersing
herself in fantasy land, she starts describing life-
like details. Thus, upon hearing these details, even
Geoff wishes that what she was saying turns out
to be true. She even goes on to say that they will
meet again as Danny has promised her. Thus,
Sophie immerses herself so much in the make-
believe story that she starts thinking of it as true.
She keeps waiting for Danny to arrives, but alas he
does not. Thus, on the way back, she is thinking
about how Danny’s not turning up will disappoint
Geoff. Nonetheless, she still keeps fantasizing
about him and believes they will definitely meet.
Conclusion of Going Places
To sum up, Going Places summary, we learn about
the naïve fantasies of teenagers and how reality
may hit us harder as the world is full of
compromises and costs a lot of dreams.
GIST OF THE LESSON
 The lesson explores the theme of adolescent
fantasies and hero worship.
 Sophie and Jansie are both in the last year of
high school and both knew that they were
 destined to work in the biscuit factory as they
belong to a working class family.
 Yet, Sophie, always dreams of big and
beautiful things, glamour and glory. 94
 Her ambitions are not rooted in reality i.e.,
have no relation with the harsh realities of
life.
 In contrast is Jansie, Sophie’s friend, a realistic
and practical girl.
 Sophie lives in male-dominated family where
her mother was only a shadow. The men were
football fans and the conversations around
the dinner table were about Danny Casey,
their Hero.
 Sophie wants some attention from her father
and brother and telling them that she met
Casey, was her way of drawing their attention
towards her.
 But she carries her fantasies too far when she
starts to live them.
What is the message of the story going places?
Theme of the Story:

Barton explores the theme of adolescent

fantasizing and hero-worship in this story through
the character Sophie. The author also coveys
through the story that it is natural for the
adolescents to fantasize but to a certain level
because there is no use of building castles in the
air.