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Children on their Birthdays

Truman Capote created a character in “Children on Their Birthdays” who is the definition of a dreamer. Her name is Miss Bobbit and although she is only a child, everyone who knew her addressed her as Miss Bobbit because “she had a certain magic, whatever she did she did it with completeness, and so directly , so solemnly, that there was nothing to do but accept it”. When she introduced herself as Miss Bobbit people would “snicker”, yet she was still known as Miss Bobbit. John Updike once said, “Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them”.

This is just what Miss Bobbit believed. There was no stopping this young girl when she set her mind to something. Miss Bobbit is introduced in the story as a young, sassy, conceded girl who is mocked by almost everyone in the town. By the end of the story she was “surrounded by people who stopped to wish her well”. Billy Bob and Preacher are two boys who are known to cause trouble. “They were the biggest friends in town: talked alike, walked alike, and occasionally they disappeared together for whole days.

Although when Miss Bobbit did not appear the boys stayed close to the house hoping to catch a glimpse of her. It was obvious that the two boys had “fallen in love” with Miss Bobbit and she could get them to do almost anything she wanted. Knowing this, Miss Bobbit did just that. The boys started to work for her and were dedicated to their work. Obviously Miss Bobbit changed the boys because before she came along they were rebels who would never have taken the job of working for a “girl”.

The night of the “show” in which many people from the town were competing, Billy Bob told his friends and family that they must not “applaud for anybody but Miss Bobbit”. After she performed, it was obvious that she had won everyone’s heart with her performance. After Manny Fox, the director who had to offer nothing but “hearty promises”, skipped town, everyone who was expecting to hear back from Mr. Fox became heartbroken once they realized he had lied to them all. “Finally, at the end of two weeks, it was Miss Bobbit who broke the spell”.

She wrote out descriptions of Mr. Fox and sent them to many different cities. Eventually he was caught and arrested. This was still not enough for Miss Bobbit. She was determined to become a star. Miss Bobbit told the “boys” to pull their money together and invest in her. “The proposition was that they should pool their money and finance her trip to Hollywood; in return, they would get ten percent of her life’s earnings”. None of the boys wanted to do it but they could not refuse when Miss Bobbit looked at them.

The day that Miss Bobbit was leaving to start a career and become a star, all the people who had once snickered at her came to say goodbye and wish her well. Within Miss Bobbit’s dreams and aspirations she found an opportunity and took advantage of it. Miss Bobbit changed everyone’s mind who once doubted her because she was so determined on reaching her dreams. When they saw that nothing was going to stop her, they too believed that Miss Bobbit could do anything she wanted.

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