Zephyr
March 26th, 2008, 02:45 AM
We had to write a Narative, so I took the family story of my great great great grandpa coming to America and made it come alive. This is the condensed version because we had to limit the story to 3 pages so it's not as great as it could be. Tell me what you think if you have the endurance to read it = )
Narrative Paper: A Cherished Family Story
Florian was still in shock, the words of his father were still ringing in his ears. His first thought has been, ‘This is a joke, it must be!’, but alas, it wasn‘t so. Being sent to military school was inevitable, even after trying to talk his father out of the notion. At sixteen years of age, he was far more interested in having fun, chasing after the girls and doing as he pleased as opposed to taking commands from an instructor that would be barking at him and breathing down his neck all day long. He couldn’t understand why his parents would subject him to military school when he had done nothing wrong to deserve being sent there. It just wasn’t fair, but then again, when has life ever been fair when you needed it to be?
Florian was up late in his room, a candle was dimly lit on his bed-side table. He was thinking up excuses to get himself out of military school, but he knew that his parents would not listen to him being the stubborn old mules that they were. No excuses, he had to take action. It was then that he knew what he had to do; Florian had to run away from home. After all, there was a big world out there back in the 1840’s and the possibilities were endless. But where to go? If he stayed in Germany, his parents would surely find him, as they had the money and the power to do so. He then remembered, a few months ago when they were on a summer holiday in Berlin, Florian had been standing in line at the baker’s and in front of him an older gentleman was talking of his foreign travels to a younger lad. The gent had gotten on the subject of a place called the United States. He talked of how it was a beautiful land, massive as well, and how opportunity was everywhere you went. Any man could succeed given the chance because in the United States, one was granted many liberties that they did not have here in Germany.
Florian had decided then; He would run away to the United States. It would work out perfectly, as his parents would be leaving Hamburg in the morning to visit his grandparents in a nearby town. He planned the entire morning out. After his parents left, he would make his preparations and he would leave.
…
All morning long, Florian had his father convinced that he had reconsidered and would be glad to go to military school. This made both parents happy, as they only wanted what they thought the best for their son. Upon his parent’s departure, Florian exchanged what would be his final words with his parents, and waved them goodbye, unsuspecting that their son was about to drop off of the face of their world. The second his parents were out of sight, Florian raced up to his parent’s room and took any marks# that he could find and stuffed them in a small sack of belongings that he had packed the previous night. In the sack was consisted of the Bible, a spare change of clothing as well as shoes, a torn off piece of map with the United States on it and now money. He wouldn’t need much, just enough to get himself started once he had reached his land of opportunities.
With his small sack on his back and the enormous world to his face, Florian fled away from his old life as fast as he could so that he could make good time. The boat dock was but a few miles from where he lived. By the time he had arrived, the morning was still in it’s infancy and only very few sailors were up and about. Florian had decided to purchase some food rations for his journey, as he may not find any food on the ships. Afterward, he couldn’t be too reckless in which ship he chose to take as he could end up in Timbuktu rather than his intended destination. He hid his sack behind some garbage in an alley as to not look suspicious and asked around about the ships and their destinations. After much time, he had finally come across the answer that he was looking for: there was a ship heading to a place called Georgia that was in the United States. The only problem was that the ship was setting sail in fifteen minutes, and he had to find his sack and board the ship in time without getting caught.
Florian rushed to the alley in which he had remembered leaving his sack, but noticed that something was awry, the garbage disheveled differently than how he had left it. A sense of sickness washed over his stomach as he dug through the rubbish. He had almost given up hope when he had felt the material of the sack on his fingers near the bottom of the pile. Slowly, he pulled the bag out and opened the brown flap. Sure enough, his worst nightmare had been confirmed: everything was there, all except the money. Somebody had taken every last mark! But he had no time to worry any longer of the money, he had to board the ship because it was the United States now, or military school tomorrow.
Florian rushed back to the port and the steam-powered ship was readying to go. Not a soul was in sight that he could see on the deck, so he casually walked aboard and hid underneath one of the few lifeboats on deck. No sooner had he stowed away underneath the lifeboat, sure enough the sailors came up on deck and prepared for cast off. Florian could feel the ship moving in the water underneath him.
Now it began, the beginning of a brand new chapter in his life. He was tucked away safely under the lifeboat, heading for the United States. Florian did not know what his parents would make of his disappearance, nor did he know what his future held for him, but one thing that he was sure of was that he was in store for the adventure of a lifetime in this foreign place called Georgia in the United States.
Narrative Paper: A Cherished Family Story
Florian was still in shock, the words of his father were still ringing in his ears. His first thought has been, ‘This is a joke, it must be!’, but alas, it wasn‘t so. Being sent to military school was inevitable, even after trying to talk his father out of the notion. At sixteen years of age, he was far more interested in having fun, chasing after the girls and doing as he pleased as opposed to taking commands from an instructor that would be barking at him and breathing down his neck all day long. He couldn’t understand why his parents would subject him to military school when he had done nothing wrong to deserve being sent there. It just wasn’t fair, but then again, when has life ever been fair when you needed it to be?
Florian was up late in his room, a candle was dimly lit on his bed-side table. He was thinking up excuses to get himself out of military school, but he knew that his parents would not listen to him being the stubborn old mules that they were. No excuses, he had to take action. It was then that he knew what he had to do; Florian had to run away from home. After all, there was a big world out there back in the 1840’s and the possibilities were endless. But where to go? If he stayed in Germany, his parents would surely find him, as they had the money and the power to do so. He then remembered, a few months ago when they were on a summer holiday in Berlin, Florian had been standing in line at the baker’s and in front of him an older gentleman was talking of his foreign travels to a younger lad. The gent had gotten on the subject of a place called the United States. He talked of how it was a beautiful land, massive as well, and how opportunity was everywhere you went. Any man could succeed given the chance because in the United States, one was granted many liberties that they did not have here in Germany.
Florian had decided then; He would run away to the United States. It would work out perfectly, as his parents would be leaving Hamburg in the morning to visit his grandparents in a nearby town. He planned the entire morning out. After his parents left, he would make his preparations and he would leave.
…
All morning long, Florian had his father convinced that he had reconsidered and would be glad to go to military school. This made both parents happy, as they only wanted what they thought the best for their son. Upon his parent’s departure, Florian exchanged what would be his final words with his parents, and waved them goodbye, unsuspecting that their son was about to drop off of the face of their world. The second his parents were out of sight, Florian raced up to his parent’s room and took any marks# that he could find and stuffed them in a small sack of belongings that he had packed the previous night. In the sack was consisted of the Bible, a spare change of clothing as well as shoes, a torn off piece of map with the United States on it and now money. He wouldn’t need much, just enough to get himself started once he had reached his land of opportunities.
With his small sack on his back and the enormous world to his face, Florian fled away from his old life as fast as he could so that he could make good time. The boat dock was but a few miles from where he lived. By the time he had arrived, the morning was still in it’s infancy and only very few sailors were up and about. Florian had decided to purchase some food rations for his journey, as he may not find any food on the ships. Afterward, he couldn’t be too reckless in which ship he chose to take as he could end up in Timbuktu rather than his intended destination. He hid his sack behind some garbage in an alley as to not look suspicious and asked around about the ships and their destinations. After much time, he had finally come across the answer that he was looking for: there was a ship heading to a place called Georgia that was in the United States. The only problem was that the ship was setting sail in fifteen minutes, and he had to find his sack and board the ship in time without getting caught.
Florian rushed to the alley in which he had remembered leaving his sack, but noticed that something was awry, the garbage disheveled differently than how he had left it. A sense of sickness washed over his stomach as he dug through the rubbish. He had almost given up hope when he had felt the material of the sack on his fingers near the bottom of the pile. Slowly, he pulled the bag out and opened the brown flap. Sure enough, his worst nightmare had been confirmed: everything was there, all except the money. Somebody had taken every last mark! But he had no time to worry any longer of the money, he had to board the ship because it was the United States now, or military school tomorrow.
Florian rushed back to the port and the steam-powered ship was readying to go. Not a soul was in sight that he could see on the deck, so he casually walked aboard and hid underneath one of the few lifeboats on deck. No sooner had he stowed away underneath the lifeboat, sure enough the sailors came up on deck and prepared for cast off. Florian could feel the ship moving in the water underneath him.
Now it began, the beginning of a brand new chapter in his life. He was tucked away safely under the lifeboat, heading for the United States. Florian did not know what his parents would make of his disappearance, nor did he know what his future held for him, but one thing that he was sure of was that he was in store for the adventure of a lifetime in this foreign place called Georgia in the United States.