Khalia Milton Mrs. Clark English II CB 31 August 2010 Lessons Learned from Finding Forrester In the book Finding Forrester, written by James W. Ellison, there are many thoughts ideas of great importance to many individuals. Each person finds out that you can learn anything from anyone, no matter whether they are negative of positive influences to them. There are some individuals that value pride and swagger while some sought the virtues of conceitedness. Jamal Wallace, William Forrester, and Professor Robert Crawford learn the virtues of life, stereotyping, and integrity.
Jamal Wallace is just another teenage African American male resembling all of his other friends in every way… except for one. What most individual do not know is that Jamal is extraordinarily intelligent. Jamal also loves to read and write. Jamal’s lessons are learned in opulence with a man named William Forrester. Jamal does not only become a better writer, but he also learns the goodness to his integrity. Jamal shows his integrity to Forrester by not telling anyone about his new and long lost acquaintance. In the end, Jamal’s value laid in his integrity in many profound ways.
William Forrester felt that people should just leave him alone and let his life pass him by. That was, until the day he met Jamal Wallace. Jamal teaches William the values of life that he is missing. Aside from Jamal wanting to learn more from Forrester, William will not allow it. Jamal teaches Forrester how to live his life to the fullest extent, and to never look back. After all of Jamal’s hard work, William finally came out of the comfort of his home, after so many years, and met civilization. Professor Robert Crawford is a bitter and malignant individual that is easily angered when he is being challenged.
He wants to win every battle he comes across to ease his self-consciousness. Professor Crawford is an English teacher at Mailor-Callow, a school Jamal is chosen to attend. The professor is ascertained that Jamal is just attending because of his undoubted savvy to play basketball. What Professor Crawford does not know is that Jamal has an undeniable deftness of reading and writing, and because of that Crawford accuses Jamal of plagiarism. Jamal knows in his heart that he is an extraordinary writer, and he want others to know about it also. The stereotyping that Crawford does is despicable.
He does not seem to understand why Jamal is so good in the things that he does. He does not care what others think because all he thinks about is oneself. In the end, even though Crawford does not give up, Jamal keeps his head up high and does not give up either. William Forrester, Jamal Wallace, and Professor Crawford adapted to the attributes of life, stereotyping, and integrity. In the end, all of the individuals learn what they can from others, and that is what they value the most. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. -Maya Angelou
