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        An Essay About How The Poem, “Shoulders”, Relates to A Tale Of Two Cities and My Life.
                                                             Pine Point School
                                                             9th Grade English
                                                                     1/19/12
                                                                    John Rick
           The poem,” Shoulders”, by Naomi Shihab Nye, discusses the how certain things like a child can be your most fragile, delicate, breakable belongings. There are many affable ways that this poem relates to my life, but not very many pleasant ways it relates to A Tale of Two Cities. This poems setting of a road has a relationship to A Tale of Two Cities, and the poems idea of a boy being a man’s most fragile belonging relates to my life. This essay should enlighten someone about the relationship between the poem, A Tale of Two Cities, and my life, a time of great joy and disappointment.
           My first challenge was in relating the poem to A Tale of Two Cities, but I found that the road in the poem relates to the road out side of the Defarges wine shop. In A Tale of Two Cities, Monsieur and Madame Defarge working hard live on a road that symbolizes the bits and pieces of the story that could soon be important. For example, When Monsieur Defarge arrives with Jacques number five, a man who claimed that he was mender of roads, they were seen walking down the street towards the wine shop, where later on, Jacques number five told of a man that he had seen under the cart of Monsieur the Marquis, which I believe became an important part of that chapter. This is related to the road in the poem because in the story Jacques number five is also precious cargo like how in the poem, it is mentioned that, “This man carries the world’s most sensitive cargo but he’s not marked”, and that stuck out to me because Jacques number five was the key to figuring out a big part of the book, but he did not look the part. This seems much like how the young boy was not marked, or did not look the part as well. Both Jacques number five and the child were brought down or across a road to get to their destination. My second point is that at the very beginning of the novel, a barrel of wine was spilled on that road. This was a significant part of the story because it brought up the themes of hunger and violence. This relates to the poem as well because the road the man crosses poses much danger to his child. This is a lot like how in the story violence was jeopardizing the children’s safety, as well as how the hunger was threatening their survival. A Tale of Two Cities is hard to relate to when you don’t have much to relate it with, but I think these were adequate relationships to the story that could give a reader more to watch for in the story.
           This poem also relates to my life’s fragile items and beings, as well as myself having to put someone else on my shoulders. My first example would be all of the times I have ever helped my family, specifically my brother, a young boy that means a lot to me. My brother always needs someone to help him with something, but its very hard for my parents to find the time to, so I am often the one who steps forward and assists him in completing his task. He is a fragile package that needs help, and if you don’t put the time and care into helping and shaping him into something great, he will break down due to neglect. This relates to how the child is the man’s most fragile package. In the beginning of the poem it states,”A man crosses the street in the rain, stepping gently, looking two times north and south, because his son is asleep on his shoulder”. I noticed how he is taking extra precautions, and being extra careful, while taking the time to make sure his son stays alright, and that to me symbolizes my point when I say my brother can break down, and that you have to treat a child gently and considerately in order for it to grow. The title of this poem is,”Shoulders” and that right away gave me something else to relate to. That subject is the time that I sacrificed to help someone else, or in other words putting someone else on my shoulders. I have often helped my friends in state of affairs they don’t want to be in. One example of a friend in need is a friend I have outside of school named Justin. Now Justin was often bullied and picked on by other kids because of his size. He was relatively small, and when I saw what these kids were doing to him, I felt bad. Therefore I decided to do something about it by asking if he wanted to be friends. Justin often depressed loved the idea because he knew if I was his friend the bullying would stop, and he knew this because I was the biggest kid around and everyone wanted to be my friend. In the end, Justin and I still hang out with each other, and are still best of friends. This proves a sacrifice can often be your biggest victory.
           In A Tale of Two Cities, the street was a large part of the story, as well as how the street was an important part of the poem. Me helping others was a big part of my life, while the child is a big part of the man’s life. This essay reflects my sacrifices, and the story’s themes in a perspective that relates them both back to the poem in large ways. In a way, we all have shoulders that we can lean on.