The interesting story, First Confession, was written by Frank O’connor,

福州大学外国语学院 08级

First Confession

The story, First Confession, was written by Frank O’connor, who was born in County Cork,Ireland in 1903. Raised in poverty, O'Connor received little formal education before going to work as a librarian in Cork and later in Dublin.he was perhaps Ireland's most complete man of letters, best known for his varied and comprehensive short stories but also for his work as a literary critic, essayist, travel writer, translator and biographer. He was also a novelist, poet and dramatist.

First confession is a humourous short story about a mischievous boy' confession to the chapel for the first time. To be honest , I dislike the boy in the story, not only because he is naughty but also his behaviour is so rude and selfish that they are quite unacceptable to me. As a member of traditional Chinese, I also attach great importance to the filial piety. Throughout history, being filial and respectful to the elders has been a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. Most parents and grandparents are giving love and care selflessly to their children or grandchildren, without expecting anything in return. Their affection is so soft that our hearts may be deeply touched. So what we should do is to take care of them, show more consideration of their feelings so as to return their endless love. However, what the boy do in the story is the very opposite of the common belief.

As is known to us, aging is an inevitable and sad process in all human beings' lives. During that period , people' physical condition decline, bodies are no longer flexible and what's worse, their minds will also be thick-witted gradually.Senior citizens are a group of most lonely people, because most of them have to face the grievous lost of their intimate friends or beloved spouses. The grandmother in the story is in this situation—— her husband has died a while back . So even though the writer didn't mention, it's easy for us to feel the grandmother's helplessness and isolation. Perhaps westerners are unlike us Chinese, they don't have much deep emotions with their grandparents as a result of not being living with them or because of their centuries-old 1

The interesting story, First Confession, was written by Frank O’connor,

individualism. Although having known the cultural difference, I still feel sorrowful when I read the part that Jackie refuses to eat the food prepared by his grandmother and and even feel indignant when he undisguisedly shows his disgust towards his grandmother . Probably in the mind of Jackie , the food is too dirty to be eaten. It may be too young for him to realize that his such conducts will make his grandmother sad and blame herself for being unable to do this little thing well. But as a college student, I can easily imagine how deeply his disrespect has hurt the heart of the pitiful grandmother. So this is the reason why I don't like him.

In addition to this little bit prejudice, another thing I am going to mention is the difference of educational methods used by Mrs Ryan and the priest. They have have different affects on Jackie by approaching him differently . MrsRyan teaches him how to examine his conscience by asking himself a few questions such as "Did we take the name of the Lord, our God , in vain? Did we honour our father and our mother? Did we love our neighbours as ourselves? " These serious of profound questions makes Jackie feel himself is like a sinner because he was not honoring his grandmother and he coveted Nora's penny which she got every week from their grandmother. What's worse, the story about the man made a bad story told by Mrs. Ryan let Jackie feel it would be terror to make a confession in the chapel. On the contrary, the priest uses an approach of understanding. He understands Jackie's thought of being a sinner and told Jackie that there are a lot of other people who would like to kill their grandmothers as well. Obviously, the way the priest uses by comforting Jackie on an equal status instead of using boring sermons is much more effective than the approach employed by Mrs. Ryan. After the communication with the priest , Jackie feels much better and I believe he will never be scared to make a confession and will be a good boy under the guide of the virtuous priest. Therefore, when we are helping and giving advice to others, we should be care of the methods we choose to deliver our suggestion. From the story, I will keep in mind that if a person is comforted and approached in a since of understanding, then it would be more likely for he or she to listen to what others trying to teach them.

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