Summer Reading AssignmentThe novels The Loved One and Endurance can both easily relate to my life and the world I live in today. Each of these stories has timeless meaning and contains a moral that can never be dated. Each story has something to offer the reader on many levels. It can teach a lesson, reveal a truth, or simply entertain. From these stories, I will make a connection to one or more of my personal experiences, a text-to-text connection, and a connection between these novels and today's world. While reading these novels, one experiences a feeling or feeling of frustration. It sometimes becomes difficult to understand the emotions running through the minds of the characters. Ultimately, significant similarities can be traced to my own life experiences. Waugh and Lansing's novels are classics that many people can relate to. Everyone has obstacles and difficulties in their life that must be overcome in order to succeed. One aspect of the novel The Loved One that is similar to one of my life experiences is the way in which Dennis's job is seen as an abnormal thing to do. his life. Although I can't exactly understand his feelings; I certainly know what it feels like to be considered an outcast. When I moved from New Jersey to Jacksonville a week before freshman year, I felt like an alien on another planet. Feeling out of place and knowing that my peers recognize that is one of the worst feelings. This must have been how Dennis felt working at the Happier Hunting Grounds. “We Limeys have a special position to follow, you know, Barlow. They may make fun of us a little – the way we speak and the way we dress; » (Waugh,11). Sir Ambrose says this in reference to Dennis's feelings...... middle of paper...... which were described in these two stories. Each character has a personal story that most people can relate to on several different levels. A common thread can be found in each of these books. It's easy to identify with these characters because no matter when these stories were written, the themes can be timeless. Parts and pieces of novels can still be found in our world today and in our everyday lives. Perseverance and courage are traits that can be taken away from reading these two books.Romaine 4Works CitedJames, Henry and James Danly. Washington Square. New York: Modern Library, 2002. Lansing, Alfred. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Journey. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1999. McCullers, Carson. The heart is a solitary hunter. Boston: Mariner Books, 1967. Waugh, Evelyn. The Beloved. New York: books about penguins, 1951.