Johnny Eifert

Professor Albert

English 101-T/R

6 September 2022

“A young boy molts. Tender skin falls off, and is replaced by a tougher more permanent crust.”

This sentence sets the whole base for the story, not only because it’s the first thing you read. But

once you are finished you realize this is what the story is about. The whole story is about a young

boy that goes through a traumatic event early in his life that affects him many years later in his

life. This sentence sets it up so that you can tie the story back to the beginning and gives and

little insight into the narrators' headspace when reciting the story. you can see the influence this

sentence has over the story when you listen to the tone of the narrator at the end when he seems

more experienced and mature when reciting the story many years later.

This is important because of the lesson it teaches. During life, everyone must grow there's no

magical age that when you hit it you no longer have to change and adapt. I connect to this

because even though I've only had a relatively short time in this world I have had to adapt to

many different scenarios. Everything from friends moving away, changes in family structures,

and loss of family as well. Even though all these things involve some kind of loss the effects of

each are completely different. For example, the loss of a friend may make one less willing to

reach out to make new friends while the death of a family member may make someone more

likely to reach out. These are just some of the reasons this quote resonates with me personally

because depending on the phase of life you are in, individual maturity and situations, and even

just the mood you are in can have dramatic effects on how you change over time from different

events.