Questing for AcceptanceIn Ellen Gilchrist?s ?In The Land Of Dreamy Dreams,? Leland Arnold is a wiped out(p) juvenile trying to learn the ways of the world but, more(prenominal) especi each(prenominal)y, trying to puzzle her own niche in it. diffident of who she is, she leads a sublunary existence in Franklin, Indiana in a semi-broken theme and is trying to figure out how to be a fair sex from the very start of the base. No casing is more straightforward of this than the very frontmost paragraph of the story describing Leland, or Lele for short, indicant the directions on a box of tampons. The first two sentences place up the entire story by showing that Lele is already in transition and trying to reckon who she is in an already confused state of mind, which makes for quite an evoke story. Lele is on a by-line with no tangible roads or paths; no bulge outning and no end, but or else it is a locomote in her mind where good looks and popularity beat synonymous wi th Leland Arnold. The quest is quite an interesting one in that it is non a rocky road traveled or a ingest mountain to climb, or a travel through a dangerous forest but but an experiment in self-improvement; real or imagined. Lele is on a tour to pop off the person she?s constantly wanted to be simply because she is afforded the opportunity to do precisely that. Her sire tells her that she is going to re give-up the ghost down to Clarksville, Mississippi on the delta to gruntle with her cousin, ? bollocks up Gwen? Barksdale whose mother had recently, ??died of a weak moody? (Gilchrist, 138). This is the fresh start that Lele is looking for. Disillusioned and somewhat costless from reality, she criticizes the students at Franklin Junior High because they, ??had made the mistake of failing to elect me cheerleader? (Gilchrist, 138). Her rationalization continues with the next sentence stating, ?I wasn?t unpopular or anything, just a little on the plump side? (Gilchris t, 138). In Clarksville, she needs no ration! alizations because she could be whoever she wants to be, and she is. Her motivation for the journey is purely self-improvement, even if it is only in her mind. In fact, one could argue that her lies are more of a set buttocks than an advancement forward; a lapsing okay to MORE child-like ways, but only she knows that. Her lies approximately who she is begin as soon as she gets off the train and meets muff Gwen, who isn?t so much of a baby anymore, at the station. Lele tells Baby Gwen that, ?No one in Franklin believed I?d [come her] either,? and, ?I just got elected cheerleader and practically the whole football team up came to the station to tell her goodbye? (Gilchrist, 139). The notional Football team, however, k spic-and-span about Lele?s college confrere Bob Arnold who had thyroid cancer and likewise whom she was not allowed to encounter because he was Jewish. So, from the beginning of the journey, Lele has already set herself up as a popular cheerleader who is constan tly creation chased by boys even though she is more shape up and has a college boyfriend so she is to a fault a rebel. In fact, her constantly referring to her cousin as ?Baby Gwen? is indicative of her unconscious(p) attempts to be separate than Gwen because she still refers to her as a baby. She as well talks very fondly of her own Mother, a bridge-playing champion, likely to rub it in Gwen?s face that Lele has a best(p) breeding when, in all actuality, her parents are unofficially separated. In Clarksville, Lele is not Lele anymore. She is a young and immature girl who stupefys the ? wonderful? Leland Arnold, a popular young lady who smokes cigarettes, sunbathes all daylight and has boys like Fielding Reid interested in her and had girls looking up to her like Sarah from Drew who, ??was delighted with the attention I gave her and was forever telling someone how ?wonderful? I was and how much it meant to her to make up me in Clarksville? (Gilchrist, 145). The des ired outcome of her journey is realized when she in t! ruth for a second becomes the person she said she was back home in Franklin.
Fielding talks about floatming the local anesthetic lake and Lele invites herself to join him on what Fielding said was an impossible go for her because it was five miles. That matters not to Lele since she is a Junior Red tabby Life Saver back home and ??practically taught go at camp? (Gilchrist, 149). She finishes the swim with this boy because her reasoning is this:? placid was of no importance to me one way or the other. What matteredto me was that a boy of my own choosing, a first-rate boy, was coming to takeme somewhere. not com ing for Baby Gwen and taking me along to be nice, butcoming for me? (Gilchrist, 149). At that moment of triumph, she became the popular girl she talked about nonstop. She felt vilified because, of all the nonsense she had said over the Summer, she actually was able to become the person she claimed she was by swimming that lake. At that moment of triumph, her mod and seemingly successful conduct is snatched away as quickly as it was obtained. Her Father is there and informs her that her reconciled parents want her to move back to Indiana and she doesn?t have a pickaxe in the matter. Lele did go through a significant shift over the course of the Summer because she apparently had everyone fooled and did live the life of a very popular girl even though her life was merely a façade. She was the person she wanted to be only in her own mind. However, one could argue that she did in fact change along the path of her journey. When she gets back to Franklin, she tells humorous tale s of her engagement to Fielding Reid and how her ??mo! ther and father come and return me home practically the same day we fell in love? (Gilchrist, 153). She could now liven up her previously deadening existence in Indiana with stories of boys and swimming and carefree long time as the ?wonderful? Leland Arnold down in Clarksville, Mississippi. Bibliography:Ellen Gilchrist?s ?In The Land Of Dreamy Dreams If you want to get a broad(a) essay, narrate it on our website:
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