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 thought about Ishraqi who do not know if her parents are dead or alive, and resolved not to argue with his mother again.
Max makes big chances in the story. In start of the story, Max turns out to be a little selfish, not caring about anything. Outside he seems like a bad boy, smoking homemade cigarettes, bunks off, not interested in school, is unaware about other people and argues with his mother. We also know that he is very creative. But as the story takes progress, max makes big chances. He gets aware of how happy he should be for the resources that he has, like the possibility to take an education, and having a mom who cares about him. Because when he meets Ishraqi, he sees how difficult her life seems. She is lonely, she does not have her parents in the country (she do not even know if they are dead or alive), and she is threatened about being send back to Iran. Max’s lifestyle changes at that point, to being happy about the resources, possibilities and future he has.

So here is another theme, about growing up. In the start of the story, Max were pretty unripe, but in the end of the story, after the loss of Ishraqi, Max has become much more ripe. His relations to his mother also turned at that point. In the end of the story, where max arrived at home, his mother was about to grumble a bit, but she could see that there was something wrong with Max, and she just folded her son in her arms, and waited for the time he would talk to her.
In the first part of the story, the environment around Max seems very dark and grey. It feels like he is living in dirty surroundings, and does not feel very comfortable. But as Ishraqi shows up, the surroundings begins to lighten up, especially when Max is showing Ishraqi around in the city, though Ishraqi says that there is many big buildings, only few trees in the city and it feels grey, when they drives in the bus. Croydon is a City in Greater London, and is placed about 16 kilometres south of the centrum of London. Croydon has, as described in the story, many tall and big buildings, but is also known as a town with many new rising buildings.

The story is a very realistic story, especially right now. We have very many refugees in Europe, and many of them is searching asylum. That means that we have to send some of them back. In this story is Ishraqi send back. There are also many of the refugees who come to Europe alone, like Ishraqi does in the story.
The story really teaches us to know ‘’How Lucky We Are’’ to be born in such a good corner of the world, with free education, food on the table every evening, and so on. Some people in this world do not have the resources or possibilities to such things. Appreciate what you have, because many people in this world do not have what you have.
The whole story is actually a flashback except the first three lines of the story. It is a flashback to the day, where Max met Ishraqi, and entered a new part of his life.