Cedrics’ Difficulties Essay

“Compare the ways in which Ron Suskind presents the difficulties of Cedrics’ education in part one and two of his articles.”

In this essay I will be comparing quotes that Ron Suskind uses in both his articles that presents Cedrics education as difficult. The story is about a boy named Cedric who has grows up in poverty. He attends a school called Ballou High and Cedric excels in all his studies at the school, however, he does face many problems along the way such as abuse and death threats from students at the school. In Suskinds second article Cedric recieves a scholarship at one of America’s best colleges, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At his new school, the scenario changes and is almost the exact opposite, now he starts to fall behind at his studies due to the lack of opportunities to learn at his old school. Throughout the texts, Ron Suskind uses various language techniques to present the problems Cedric faces in both Ballou and M.I.T.  In this essay we will be comparing two subsequent quotes from each article.

Ron Suskind uses many language techniques such as metaphors and one quote that shows this is: “The arduous odyssey of Cedric.” From this quote we can deduce that Ron Suskind is trying to say that Cedric is enduring a tough, hard journey alone. Suskind describes Cedric’s journey as arduous, meaning tiring and strenuous. We know that it is a journey Cedric is taking alone as Suskind uses the term ‘odyssey’ which is a Greek myth where the main character in the story, Odysseus, goes on a long and tough journey alone just like Cedric. Also when Suskind says “the arduous odyssey of Cedric.” He is making Cedric the main character in his journey through school.

Unlike the metaphor in part 1, in part 2 Ron Suskind talks about how Cedric starts so far behind the other students in M.I.T., one quote that shows this is; “But where I start from is so far behind where some other kids are, I have to run twice the distance to catch-up.” This differs to the first quote we analysed as in Ballou Cedric is enduring a marathon, tough strenous journey, whereas in M.I.T. Cedric is trying to sprint to catch up with his classmates, and we can tell this from  when Suskind says Cedric has to run twice the distance other students have to suggesting each student is in a race to graduate but for Cedric it isnt a fair race. Another difference between the two quotes is that in part one Suskind describes Cedric’s education as a individual struggle but in part two it quickly changes to a collective struggle that Cedric and his classmates face. As many as there are differences, there are similarities for instance, Cedric’s hardships are still faced in school and similarly Cedric is still on a journey at Ballou and M.I.T. to succeed

Another language technique Suskind uses is personification to show Cedric’s difficulties. Suskind uses this in part one, “Failure is persuasive, even seductive.” By saying this, Suskind is calling failure persuasive, failure is the easy way out for many pupils at Ballou, if you were to fail you wouldn’t have to put in hard work and you could sit back through your your teenage years and Cedric like every other student is beginning to doubt himself. When Suskind says failure is going as far as to seduce Cedric, this seems to us as Cedric’s life at Ballou was very difficult and failure is practically guaranteed as seduction is seen is an impossible loop to get out of. Suskind personifies failure by calling it persuasive which only a human could do, particularly salesmen and if you think of failure as a salesmen then failure is offering you a lifetime of regret for half the work required for a successful career.

However in part two Suskind tells us that, “Being a minority and a high achiever means you have to carry extra baggage about who you are, and where you belong. That puts them at risk.” In saying this, Suskind implies that Cedric and many other minorities struggle to fit in due to their ethnic backgrounds and whether they come from a rich or poor family. This differs to the first quote by the fact that Cedric doesn’t have to worry about his ethnic background because at Ballou every pupil there were the same as him and the only reason he was a target was because of his intellectual ability, but at M.I.T. Cedric is seen as the target because of his skin colour. In Ballou failure was persuading Cedric into giving up on his dreams but at M.I.T. his dreams are encouraged. When Suskind says “extra baggage”, he is referring to minorities having to bring their background with them and them taking it everywhere they go, in Cedric’s case this means Cedric has to show his pupils that he is ethnicity is black, he comes from a poor family and a crime infested neighbourhood. Another way of interpreting it is just like a person taking there baggage to go on a holiday, they pack a small, easy and compact luggage to take on their journey but for minorities it is much harder, a bigger, bulkier piece of baggage carrying around the burden of being black and poor in Cedrics case.

In the previous quote Cedric was struggling to break the ethnic barriers in M.I.T., back in Ballou he was still struggling to climb out on top of his class. One quote that shows this is the “crab bucket syndrome” as Suskind refers to it as. This quote suggests that, just like Cedric, all the crabs are in a bucket just like pupils in a classroom, and when one crab is just about to make it out of the bucket the other crabs bring it down, in Cedrics case, Cedric is the crab coming out on top but as soon it happens the other pupils in his class drag him back down. This differs to the previous quote as Cedric at M.I.T. has no chance of coming out of top as he so far behind and coming out on top is a long shot compared to the well tutored pupils at M.I.T. who far more superior than him. Another difference between the two quotes is that the current quote is describing the feeling of how difficult it is to get past the barrier of high school and the demeaning pupils that he faces whereas in the previous quote he has past that barrier and is now facing new challenges continuing his journey of education with trying to outshine the rest of his peers at M.I.T.

In conclusion, I believe that Suskind does present Cedrics difficulties in both part one and two whether it be through language devices such as personification and metaphors. Cedric and his peers at Ballou all suffered due to lack of learning opportunities and due to the area Ballou is situated, this is only worsens the learning experience. Whereas at M.I.T. he is struggling to fit in due to where he comes from and his skin colour, many other minorities are also struggling like Cedric. Girls at M.I.T. make fun of his slang talk, only dampening is hopes of fitting in M.I.T. If fitting wasn’t enough, Cedric can’t even keep up with his peers, with the workloads that he is alien to and becausr of this he has to attend after school sessions with his tutor to catch up in his lessons.