Analysis of 'How Lucky You Are' by Debi Alper

Sometimes we forget to appreciate the small things that really means something in life. We get so caught up, and blinded, in our everyday life that we don’t see the important things that is right in front of us.

In Debi Alpers short story, “How Lucky You Are” from 2010, this is exactly what the teenage boy, Max, experiences.

The main character, Max, is a student at the special school for creative people, The Britt School, which he does not seem to appreciate at all. Max has always been a very creative boy: “Max's mum was always telling him his imagination was twisted.”. It doesn’t seem like he or his mother see it as a strength, but his teachers do. Max used to be a very happy boy and he was really excited about his new school: “This time last year, he'd been full of enthusiasm for his new school.”. That unfortunately changed when his father suddenly left him and his mother. “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.”. After his father left, he was really mad at him, which is understandable, but he also started to be really rude to his mother. Max is now sixteen, smokes home-made cigarettes, fights with his mother over small stupid things and doesn’t care about his school even a tiny bit. So, I guess you could call him kind of a troubled or rebellious teenager. One day that took a drastic turn when he meets a girl named Ishraqi. Ishraqi and Max is in many ways the complete opposite of each other. Ishraqi has long black hair and dark eyes. She immigrated from Iran, alone, one and a half year ago. She is very well-behaved but seems a bit insecure: "I came here as an un-accom-panied miner," Ishraqi said, pronouncing the words with ss care and checking with Alexsa that she'd got it right.”. She’s really trying her best to be polite and making sure she learns the language right. She seems very aware of how lucky she is and how grateful she should be for the opportunities she gets. She came to London as a refugee after her parents were arrested at an anti-government demonstration. Ishraqi’s story made a huge impact on Max: “Max asked trying to wrap his head round what it must feel like to be a kid and leave everything that's familiar and everyone you know to go to a strange country where you don't even understand the language.”. He just couldn’t get the thought, of how it must have been for Ishraqi to immigrate to a whole new country without her family, out of his head. He was also really impressed by her: “Her English was good - better than many of Max's London-born friends - and she had an accent he thought only added to her cuteness factor.”. It feels like he is almost ashamed of himself. Ishraqi is such a good looking and well-behaved girl who really tries to get her life together and Max are just running around skipping school and smoking home-made cigarettes. Max and Ishraqi bond very well while he are showing her around in London and they even share a kiss. Max slowly starts to realize how lucky he is and how grateful he should be for his life. Unfortunately, Ishraqi’s meeting with the Home Office didn’t go as planned and before he even knew she was on her way back to Iran and he never saw her again.