Character Analysis: Ocean City

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1) Making too many excuses for her behavior • “Being male is not a mess of contradictions, the way being female is. It is not trying to resolve how to be both desirable and smart, soft and sturdy, emotional and capable.” (p. 18) • “Ocean City is the perfect place to get caught red-handed… The setting means everyone involved can write the whole mess off as situational.” (p. 55) • “I’ve told myself that I’m drinking and smoking and otherwise acting delinquent because high school has dealt me a shitty hand…” (p. 56) 2) Giving in to peer pressure • “I perform many feats with Natalie that I have no real interest in doing. I hitchhike. I stuff hello kitty t-shirts into my book bag while a clerk isn’t looking.” (p. 8) • “... [Vanessa] just…show more content…
131). As noted, Koren’s values often come out in her regrets about the future and expectations about the past, but rarely in her actions. It is as if she needs constant reminding and reinforcing of what she values most. Rather than dealing with persistent worry and regret, this game would allow Koren to better understand the smaller aspects of her life and how they pertain to her values. This exercise is used to recognize the smaller goals and commitment necessary to follow through on a more long-term commitment. It reiterates the fact that commitment is an ongoing process that should focus on the present. Big goals must be broken into smaller, daily activities that combine to fulfill the ultimate…show more content…
89) could help Koren increase her score on the “Defusion Scale”. The purpose of this exercise is to separate yourself from your thoughts but imagining another person, animal, etc. saying your fused thoughts to you. Because our culture is very individualistic, we tend to relate more strongly to things that we say/think. This could be an extremely useful exercise for Koren. A lot of her anxiety and stress comes from her own person thoughts, perceptions, and beliefs. Rarely is she affected solely by something that another individual says or does. She is very hard on herself and it may provide her a great deal of relief if she could imagine others saying these things. Taking away the self-condemning nature of her thoughts could really change her perspective and feelings. In dealing with Koren’s self-perception problem, Wilson’s “Letter from the future” (Pg. 142) would help immensely. This game is about looking back through the perspective of you in the future. Also about how you view life and how much different it would be if you viewed it in a different way. This exercise would help Koren in the sense that she can try and look at life through a different perspective. She has a very serious view on the world and always believes that people are out to get her or looking down on her. Using this exercise may help her get rid of that

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