Text title – You can hear the boats go by  

Author/Director – Emily Perkins

Text type – short story

Date read – 20/2/20

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In the short story you can hear the boats go by. The story is about a break up and the main character sees her ex boyfriend for the first time. since they broke up throughout the story the characters don’t hate each other and when her ex boyfriend waits outside of the supermarket for her. a girl he knew from school came up to him and asked him how he was going and the main character Dorothy saw Edward with her and she took this the wrong way and walked all the way home crying. for no reason because she thought that he was asking the girl out. but Edward was just seeing how the girl was doing since she left school because Edward had not seen the girl since school.

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The main characters I found interesting in the short story were Dorothy and Edward because. In the end they were both seen as weird but they were seen as weird in different ways. Dorothy was seen as weird because she was desperate to make Edward come back to her. because she missed him Edward did not want to get back with her because he did not see Dorothy the same way As Dorothy saw Edward. In the end her ex was waiting for her outside the supermarket but Dorothy saw Edward talking to a girl he knew from school. and this made Dorothy cry all the way home. Edward was seen as weird when he was hiding in the health and cosmetics aisle. Which made Dorothy think does Edward have a fear of germs and she also thinks it’s normal as well because it’s healthy to be a germaphobe. When she is in the same aisle as him, throughout the story they both saw each other as weird. In the end of the story they were going to have a coffee together but Dorothy ran home crying after she saw Edward talking to some girl.

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The message i took from the short story was you don’t have to always judge people in the beginning of the short story Edward judged his ex girlfriend Dorothy when he saw the curve of her spine as she bends to pick them – her bad posture – her feet, pointed inwards, that no amount of ballet lessons ever helped. The other way Edward judged Dorothy was when he said it’s always money with you. These messages show that Edward judged Dorothy. After these comments Dorothy judged Edward by thinking that he was a germaphobe because he was in the health & cosmetic aisle hiding. and she assumed he had a fear of germs. She also thought that maybe it’s normal to be a germaphobe because it is healthy. These messages show me that they both judged each other. The story shows that you do not always have to judge people based on what they look like or what they do or if they have something wrong with them like being a germaphobe. we should not judge people because we don’t know what they might be as a person, they could be a nice person or they could be a real mean person. we can’t just always judge someone if you want to grow as a person you got to learn how to respect people even if you are getting bullied by students/workers, associates you got to learn to respect them because it just makes you a better person if you respect them. and if they don’t respect you then their lives won’t be as good as yours. Because you respect people and they don’t so they might not get anywhere in life. But if you respect people and learn to respect them then your life will be more successful. And you will get somewhere in life doing this.

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The challenges that the characters had to deal with in the story was when Dorothy and Edward judged each other throughout the story but in the end she and edward were getting along as friends again and when she saw edward with another girl she went home crying because she had feelings for edward and edward did not know this he also was talking to some girl that he knew from one of his old schools but dorothy did not know this so she assumed that her ex Edward was asking a girl out when he was just talking to her because he had not seen her since highschool. The author wrote the story because she wanted to tell the readers about what it is sometimes like after breakups. when the main characters in the short story broke up Dorothy was desperate to get Edward back. because she missed him but Edward did not see Dorothy the same way. because he did not want to get back together since they had just broken up recently. and they had not seen each other since they had broken up. What the author was trying to tell the reader about break ups is sometimes ex girlfriends/boyfriends want to get back together but their ex might not want to. the short story tells us that it is a bit awkward to see your ex for the first after your break up because you have not seen them since they broke up which is a very awkward situation.

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The you can hear the boats go by short story title was appropriate because it kind of related to the story like the boats in the title are relating to the characters Edward and Dorothy. as they have not seen each other since they had broken up so it was a bit awkward when they saw each other in the supermarket. as they had not seen each other since they had broken up the setting was also appropriate because that is where a lot of awkward situations happen. like seeing your ex boyfriend there for the first time after your break up this situation was seen as awkward through the whole story when they kept on seeing each other down aisles whenever they were trying to avoid each other. They decided to go get a coffee together after they had bought their groceries. and When Dorothy saw her ex talking to a girl she was jealous and ran home crying. her ex was talking to someone he knew from school and Dorothy did not know her so she assumed Edward was asking her out which was not true.

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I would recommend this story to someone who wants to know how awkward it might be sometimes when you see your ex around for the first time after a break up. and i would also recommend this story to people who have had similar experiences. as told in the short story if people have had a similar experience like this they could relate to the short story. This story was about the two characters Edward and Dorothy. It’s about when the characters see them for the first time after they have broken up. and in the story Dorothy was trying desperately to get Edward back but Edward did not want her back. the characters were seen judging each other a few times throughout the story. as Edward said ‘its always money with you’ and dorothy assumed that he was hiding in the health and cosmetics aisle because she thought he was a germaphobe but he was just trying to avoid her to avoid an awkward situation. because it can be awkward seeing your ex for the first time since the breakup if you had not talked to them for a while. which is what happened in the short story but once they talked they were not being as awkward as they were and then when Dorothy asked Edward if he wanted to go get coffee. He said sure and then when Edward was waiting outside the supermarket for Dorothy. Some girl that Edward knew from school walked up to him and apologised for being mean to him in school and started talking to Edward. and Dorothy took this the wrong way and pushed her trolley home crying thinking Edward was asking the girl he knew from school out.