No wonder things are so complicated with teenagers. Nothing has a stronger hold over a girl than the fear of the thoughts of her peers– thoughts that change five times in a day. You could be anyone you wanted, Linh– until you were judged and held captive by everyone else's thoughts. Written by Timothy Sexton Darkness Darkness is the quintessential metaphor of the modern age. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own. And within this little world, we imprisoned one another. by Alice Pung Unpolished Gem Metaphors and Similes These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. When the child is born, her father names her Alice because he thought Australia to be a wonderland. They arrive from Cambodia with nothing except the expectation of a new baby in a month's time. We talked all the time, but we hadn't yet learned the words to link thoughts and ideas with any depth of feeling, because we didn't really talk to adults. In her debut memoir, Unpolished Gem, Alice Pung narrates the story of her family's settling in Australia. And if people thought that fifteen-year-old girls never thought about these sorts of things, it was only because we didn't have the words to express them. Thoughts about the best way to be stoic, how to live with very little control in life, how to make the most of a miserable time doing something that you were supposed to love. Each girl was an island of her own dreams and insecurities, thoughts that made us different in a deeper way than the differences of musical taste, clothes or even culture. At this school, the worst thing was trying to rise above the limits set for you by the minds of others. People, even well-intentioned people, were always trying to take away our quiet little successes and joys and replace them with big, overarching fears. “I wasn't afraid of being alone, but I was afraid of what people would think about my solitary state.

Unpolished gem pung