Fischer Black was born January 11th, 1938 in Georgetown. Shortly after being born his parent’s moved the family to Falls Church, a rural area outside of the city. Fischer’s youth consisted of a comfortable, accepting, country life. He spent most of his time as a young child catching crawfish in the stream behind their house, fishing, and tending the garden with his father. However, Fischer’s father taught him to read at the age of four and his brilliance was recognized very early on as his Kindergarten teacher called him the smartest student she ever had.
At the age of 10, Fischer’s family relocated to Bronxville where he would enter the sixth grade at 10 years old, a result of skipping a grade. This is about the time that Fischer’s true nature was confirmed. He was attending one of the top public schools in the country and often turned down offers from classmates to come out and play, choosing instead to stay inside with his family and his books. As Fischer progressed in his education and exposure to new ideas, he quickly developed a tendency for questioning conventional wisdom. Often, he would test his ideas and questions out on his family and as he grew more comfortable, he would test them on his professors. Fischer’s habits for questioning authority began at a very young age, but the effect it had on those being questioned was lost on him for he was never interested in fitting in.
As he grew older, Fischer made his first true emotional connection with his first girlfriend, Cynthia “Tinna” Carpenter. They met one summer between high school and college on a school trip to France and Switzerland and quickly fell for one another. Once they returned home the first couple years of their relationship were long-distance, writing each other every day and visiting whenever possible. However, Tinna’s family was well above the Black’s in social status and her parent’s did not approve of Fischer and his unconventional, questioning ways. Tinna did not care and she found Fischer’s willing to question convention quite attractive. In Fischer’s third year of college the two were married and had their first child shortly after that. Things did not work out and the marriage eventually ended but Fischer still found comfort in the idea of marriage, children, and having a family.
A for Jack ... but a B next time. This group is not getting the message. You are substituting length for thinking. Summarize what you are reading. Don't repeat it. Why on Earth does someone need to read this when they're already reading the book? You're restating a 1500 word section into a 400 word essay. How about you summarize the whole thing in a few sentences?
ReplyDeleteWhat's really going on here that the reader needs to take away? He had a comfortable home life as a child, and he sought that out as an adult. He was upper middle class, and he went to good schools with lots of opportunities. He was recognized as being smart early, and non-conformist well before college. All this got him into Harvard ... but he kind of blew it by getting married too young and divorcing. At most that's what you should say. At best, you'd shorten it up a bit.