...How lucky you are – Debi Alper ’’How lucky you are’’ is a short story written by Debi Alper. The story is about a boy named Max and the girl Ishraqi who is a refugee from Iran. The story is starting in a mid point and has 3 parts. The first one is the start of the story where we hear Max looking at a picture of him and Ishragi. The second part is a flashback where we hear about Max and his life situation. The third part is also a flashback where Ishraqi is getting sent back to Iran and Max came home to his mother. The story has an open end. Max is a 16-years old boy who lives in Groydon, London with his mother nearby the UK Border Agency Centre. A place which becomes the central setting in the story. Max father left the family a year ago and went to Thailand. Max has a bad relationship with his mother and he hates his father for has left them. He goes to Brit school, which is a school for performing arts and technology. His mother says that his mind is twisted, with basically means that he cannot goes to a normal school. He doesn’t appreciate that he is a student at the school. He hates English and Math and he often bunks from those classes. At the beginning of the story, we hear Max have a conversation with the bus driver. Max has planned that jump of the bus, because of a math test at school. The bus driver says to Max ‘’you’re lucky to have a place at the Brit – and you’re just wasting it’’ (L. 32 P. 8), which says a lot about Max and the main theme of the story. Max...
Words: 784 - Pages: 4
...First; sorry if the english isn't completely right. English is not my native language, so I've done my best. How Lucky You Are is a short story written by Debi Alper in 2010. The story takes place in Britain, more precisely in the southern part of London . In the beginning of the short story the main character, Max, is in his room. He is thinking back to the day his father left Max and his mother and back to the day he met Ishraqi – an Iranian girl who in a few hours changes Max’ life. This part of the story takes place at the UK Borders Agency. This place is an important part of the story because it is here he meets Ishraqi, who has an appointment there, and it is here his life changes. The short story is written in past tense, and the narrator is a third person that is all knowing, because the narrator knows what Max is thinking . The short story consists of three parts; the first part is where Max is home and is thinking back to when his father left him and his mother. The second part is where Max is thinking back to the day he met Ishraqi and the third part is where Max comes home to his mother and is completely changed because of Ishraqi. Max is a 16-year-old boy who did not care about school. He wanted to take as few exams as possible. He goes to a school named The Brit School. It is a school for performing arts and technology. It was the ideal school for Max, but he found it boring with subjects like Maths and English . He did admit though that The Brit School...
Words: 901 - Pages: 4
...Terminsprøve - Delprøve 2 ”And know always how lucky you are”. That was what the woman, Alexsa, told Max, the main character in the short story “How Lucky You Are” written by Debi Alper in 2010, after they had realized that Ishraqi, an Iran girl, who Max has just meet, and felt in love with, was going back to Iran, where her life would be in danger, and she is in ignorance if her parents are alive, or where they are to be found. But what does Alexsa mean when she say, that Max will have to always know how lucky he is? And I wonder how it would fell when someone you love is reluctant leaving you forever and there are nothing you can do about it? The story presents a tense, but exciting relationship between two young teenagers; Max and Ishraqi. Common to both of them, is that they seem to be outgoing persons, smiling and obliges to new acquaintances. Ishraqi seems to be a mental strong character; “I do not even know where my parents are or if they are still alive”. Clearly she is moved by the ignorance about her parents, but she has managed to live on, and she is trying to build a new future, far away from Iran, in which her future looks dark and are not existing. She can still smile, enjoy and express love although the things she has been through has left vestige inside her. She too seems to be willing to open up, tell her personal story to somebody she just met, tells that she is an outgoing, trusting person. Max kind of has more, different types of personalities...
Words: 998 - Pages: 4
...”How Lucky You Are” Love is a beautiful thing. But forbidden love is one of the most horrible things that you can imagine. “How Lucky You Are”, written by Debi Alper, is about two young adults, Max and Ishraqi, have only known each other for a short amount of time, but that is time enough for the two to fall in love. They want to be together, but Ishraqi is an illegal immigrant and is forced to go back to Iran, which leaves Max heartbroken. The story begins in Corydon, London in the UK. At first, the reader has no idea what or who the story is about, because it begins with in media res. You could say that the story is divided in four parts. The first is a very short introduction about what situation Max is in. After that, follows a short flashback, which has taken place a year ago. It describes how Max’s father walked out on him and his mother. Next comes an insight in how Max is as a person and how he behaves around his friends and mother. The last part is where he meets Ishraqi and her support teacher, Alexsa, at the Borders Agency, because Ishraqi is there to apply for asylum. Max wants to show Ishraqi around. They quickly bond and built up a strong relation to each other. They even get to share two kisses. But that is taken away from them when Ishraqi gets back to the Borders Agency and send back to Iran, because she is in the UK illegally. The UK Borders Agency lies in the near of Croydon Town Center, not far away from where Max lives. There is not much happening in...
Words: 914 - Pages: 4
...Essay about ’’How Lucky You Are’’ How Lucky You Are is a short story written by Debi Alper, and were published in 2010. The story takes place in Britain, in Croydon, a large town in south London. The story is about a boy called Max, and is told by an omniscient third person narrator. In the start of the story, we get a flashback in Max’s younger childhood. It is told that his father left Max and his mother, when Max was younger – and that made Max careless about his future, and the resources that he gets offered. He does not care about his school, his homework or his exams, and the story is describing how he just bunks off in school. But then Max meets a girl named Ishraqi, an immigrant from Iran, and she really turned his point of view. Both of Isharqi’s parents are arrested in Iran at an anti-government demonstration. Ishraqi do not even know if they are still alive. Ishraqi has a friend named Alexsa, who works in the refugee center in Croydon, and tries to keep Ishraqi in the country, but Ishraqi get determined, and has to go back to her country, Iran. The widest theme in the short story is about appreciation. In the beginning of the story, Max does not really appreciate anything, and is pretty unconcerned about everything. But when he meets the girl Ishraqi, he realises that he should be happy about the resources he gets. When Ishraqi is send back to Iran, Max understands how lucky he is, and he really should appreciate that he has a mother who cares about him. Max...
Words: 833 - Pages: 4
...How Lucky You Are Forbidden love is one of the hardest things, you can ever experience, as a human being. The fact that you love someone, and they love you back, but you can and will never be together, because of religion, culture or other sorts of factors. This is what Max and Ishraqi is experiencing, but they will never be together, because of their different backgrounds. Forbidden love, is truly one of the worst things that can ever happen to you. Have you ever thought about, or considered how lucky you are? You live in a free country. You have the right to be with anyone you’d like. Not everybody have that privilege. That’s the main theme of the text. The writer, Debi Alper, is trying to put focus on the problem, or taboo, which is forbidden love. Ishraqi and Max obviously care for each other, even though they’ve only known each other for a very short period of time. But they can’t be together, because Ishraqi is in England illegally. Another theme, which Debi Alper focuses on, is illegal immigration. Ishraqi is an illegal immigrant, who has lived in London alone for a year and a half, and she is applying for asylum, but instead they ship back to Iran. Max and Ishraqi are two very different people. Max is born and raised, I presume, in London. And Ishraqi was born in Iran, and then she emigrated from Iran to England. Max lives at home with his mom. He is 16. His dad left them a year ago, and went backpacking in Thailand. He hates his father for having left his mother...
Words: 969 - Pages: 4
...How lucky you are. ”And know always how lucky you are” This short story written by Debi Alper and published in 2010, the widest theme in this story is that you should appreciate what you have, that is what the main character Max does not, and how he during one day with an Iranian girl he had never met before slowly begin to realize the importance of doing so. A characterizing of Max would be that he, behind the outer, is a merciful and good boy. He is what we call a dynamic ‘’round character’’, that he is able to change. On the outside, he seems like a tough person, smokes his own homemade “fags”, and skips school, not even interested in it or his future, especially subjects like math and English. He is unware with other people unless they made a direct impact to him (it is shown that it is wrong after he meets Ishraqi.) He starts with a selfish, ‘’do not care’’, arrogant personality to being a grown-up. This story only takes places in one day, but it is enough for him to make a difference; ‘’He did not care that he was crying or that people might be watching. He did not care…’’ Line 196, page 12. Max has a very complicated relationship with his parents, his dad left, and he resents him for it “Fuck off then and if you do manage to find yourself in Thailand or wherever you are give yourself a kick in the bollocks from me.” Line 17-18 page 8. In addition, his mom does not appear to be a very great parent either, “Max’s mom was always telling him his imagination was twisted”...
Words: 721 - Pages: 3
...Essay - How Lucky You Are The short story, “How Lucky You Are”, is written by Debi Alper and published in 2010. The main theme in the story is to appreciate what you have and, as the title says, to know how lucky you are. The main character is Max. Max is a student in a special school for creative people, The Britt School, but he does not appreciate the opportunities he has in this school. He is a very creative boy with a “twisted imagination”. He used to be a happy boy until one day when his father left him and his mother. Now he is sixteen, he has no enthusiasm for school, and he smokes home-made cigarettes. He always fights with his mother and he is unaware of people around him. But all of this changes one day when he decides to skip school and go smoke in front of the UK Borders Agency. This is where he meets the Iranian girl, Ishraqi, who is a refugee. Ishraqi comes from Iran but fled to Britain when both her parents were arrested in an anti-government demonstration. She does not know if they are dead or alive, and her future depends on whether she gets asylum in Britain. Even though a lot of people try to flee from conflicts and corruption in their native country, Great Britain deports several refugees and asylum seekers every year. This is unfortunately also what happens to Ishraqi. The story takes place in Croydon, Britain, where Max lives and goes to school. The UK Borders Agency lies in Croydon, and this is where most of the story takes place. The nature is not...
Words: 601 - Pages: 3
...Assignment - "How Lucky You Are" Do we take our liberty way of living for granted in Europe? Every year, every month, every day and even in every minute countless of individuals are preparing themselves to leave their own country in favour to a new and definitely a better country where bombing is not a part of the daily life. People who is seeking after the life we are taking for granted. Even though, the nations of the West turn down many refugees and asylum seekers each year. The story "How Lucky You Are" by Debi Alper (2010) includes a Iranian girl, Ishraqi, whose life have been taking away from her in Iran as her parents were arrested during an anti-government demonstration. After this sadly event, Ishraqi was able to leave Iran for a better life and she ended in England, fortunately. In England she was taking care of by an older woman called Alexsa, who originally came to England from Kosovo, as a refugee herself. The older woman, Alexsa, had a job in the refugee centre and it was here where Ishraqi meets Max. Max and Ishraqi seemed to fit very well with each other, but soon enough, their relationship will fall apart as Ishraqi is set to be deported back to Iran. The Iranian girl, Ishraqi, is a girl, who has experienced more than most of the youth in Western Europe. When it comes to corruption and a government which is so anti-humane that a bad living condition is just as normal as the sun shines. This type of government has Ishraqi experienced in her own life (page...
Words: 1040 - Pages: 5
...March 2015 March 2015 How Lucky You Are When you live in a country, as privileged as either England or Denmark, it is easy to get caught up in the insignificant details of your everyday life. Being forced to get out of bed at 7AM every morning can feel like the purest form of torture. And losing your mobile phone, at a party last Friday, is certainly a close equivalent to the end of the world. It is very easy to forget how grateful we truly should be, just to have a place to call our home and this is exactly what Debi Alper illustrates in her short story “How Lucky You Are” from 2010. In the story we meet the rebellious 16-year-old by the name of Max, who is tired of being told what to do. Instead he spends his days ditching school to smoke cigarettes outside the UK Borders Agency Building, where he one day accidently bumps into the Iranian girl called Ishraqi. They end up spending an eye-opening day together, where they quickly grow quite fond of each other. Ishraqi is however ripped out of Max’s life, as quickly as she originally entered it, when she is deported from England leaving Max behind with nothing but a photo to remember her by. The end is the beginning of this particular short story, as its outcome is revealed to the reader in a reverse chronological order. Max is sitting in his bedroom looking at the photo of him and Ishraqi, unsure of whether she is just another “figment of his twisted imagination”. There is no way of knowing what events have transpired...
Words: 1333 - Pages: 6
...Delprøve 2 opgave B – How Lucky You Are The main theme I think that there is more than one theme in the story. There is the meeting with new cultures. Young people in the west have a lot more freedom than many others opportunities in other countries. They have the opportunity to get a education. They can literally do with their life, what they want. Another theme could be the teenage life. Max’ youth rebellion with the school and her mother, is typical for a life as a teenager. Max smokes, he truants from school, and he does not listen to his mom. The last theme in the story is young love. We see Max and Ishraqi fall in love. Although that we see some different themes in the story, I think the main theme is that we should appreciate the things we have. That is the change the main character Max discovers. In the beginning of the story, Max argues with his mother. ‘’Just that morning he’d a huge row with his mum. She drove him crazy (..)’’. (Linie 128, page 11). After Max meeting with Ishraqi, Max view changes. He realizes how lucky he is to even have his mother. ‘’He thought about Ishraqi not knowing if her parents were alive or dead and resolved not to argue with his mum for once [...]” (Linie 71, page 12). Max is a 16 year old, teenage boy. He is a typical teenager, tired of school, smoke cigarettes, has negative approach to school, wear tight jeans and a hoodie. He is studying on a special school, for creative kids. Max truants from...
Words: 1027 - Pages: 5
...Analysis and Interpret of “How lucky you are” We all do it. We look at the glass as half empty, we complain about school, and we hate our parents for telling us to be home at a certain time. Until something - an insightful person, a news item or the voice of reason inside our own heads - puts things into perspective. We realize the glass could in fact be viewed as half full, being able to attend school is a privilege, and we should be happy to have parents, who worry about us. We realize just how lucky we are. As its title reveals, Depi Alper’s short story “How lucky you are,” deals with this theme of appreciation. The story is a typical “boy meets girl”-story with a twist. The twist being that the meeting with the teenage girl, Ishraqi, becomes an eye-opening experience to the teenage boy, Max. The story has an atypical structure, in which the opening is written in the present tense as flow of Max’ thoughts. In these thoughts we are being sent back to the flashback of his father leaving him and his mother, in addition to being presented to Max’ world. The narrator of the story is a limited omniscient 3rd person narrator from the protagonist, Max’, point of view, which lets us follow his thoughts and feelings, whilst making the story subjective with only his version and view of things. This also becomes clear in the usage of the story, which involves a lot of slang. In the end of this opening flow of thoughts, Max closes his eyes and drifts back into the daydreaming...
Words: 999 - Pages: 4
...How Lucky You Are How Lucky You Are, is a short story written by Debi Alper. In 2012 - 566,000 people legally immigrated to the United Kingdom. As well in 2012, 41,482 foreign nationals was removed from within the UK under immigration law or deported. Learn to appreciate the things you have before time forces you to appreciate the things you once had. In our daily life, we take everything for granted. Education is a norm, rather than the exception, like it is in some countries. This is something that sums up todays living moral. Mostly every teenager, I include, do not think about what we have, and how easy we can lose it. Our main protagonist is also in this group, until he meets someone with a different point of view. The short story begins with an intro to Max, the protagonist in the short story. You hear about his school and his attitude towards it. The next element is a flashback to when his father left him and his family, Max is specifically mad about this, and this is clearly something that still troubles him. The story switches back into real time, where Max is laying in his bed, looking at his phone. On the phone is a picture of Max and a girl named Ishraqi. The next part is again a flashback to where the story of the picture is explained. The story behind the picture is that Max is “bunking” from school and meets two young women, Alexsa and Ishraqi. They are at the UK Borders Agency for at meeting. Max, Ishraqi and Alexsa start to exchange stories. Alexsa...
Words: 1165 - Pages: 5
...isn’t worried to tell everything to. Lucky and his mom have just arrived in Arizona because Lucky’s mom can’t put up with his dad anymore, and she can’t deal with Lucky being bullied by Nader. While they are in Arizona, Lucky and his mom stay with his mom’s brother Dave and his wife Jodi. Jodi has convinced herself that Lucky is depressed and is trying to convince his mom to “get him help”. When Lucky wakes up after his first night in Dave’s house, he looks in the mirror and see’s that his scrape from Nader is the shape of Ohio. After looking at “Ohio” for a little, Lucky (to Aunt Jodi’s annoyance) decides to take a nap. In the dream Lucky is on the set of Doctor Phil. Dr. Phil is asking about Nader bullying Lucky. Dr. Phil tells the audience that they are going to bring in Nader’s parents, when he says this Lucky sends fire ants up his pant leg. Lucky goes over and starts talking to his Grandad about how...
Words: 420 - Pages: 2
... A E I'M FEELING LIKE I'M HEADED FOR A C#m D BREAKDOWN A E I DON'T KNOW WHY (Chorus) A D I'M NOT CRAZY I'M JUST A LITTLE UNWELL I KNOW RIGHT NOW YOU CAN'T TELL F#m E BUT STAY AWHILE AND MAYBE THEN YOU'LL SEE A DIFFERENT SIDE OF ME A D I'M NOT CRAZY I'M JUST A LITTLE IMPAIRED I KNOW RIGHT NOW YOU DON'T CARE F#m E BUT SOON ENOUGH YOU'RE GONNA THINK OF ME D E AND HOW I USED TO...
Words: 1138 - Pages: 5
