“The Weight” by Anne Enright
 A story that brings its characters on the verge of death yet not even in a time of danger can humans rely on each other in this era. As the plane is free-falling to the ground and the narrator is longing for the passenger beside her, a teenage boy, to have some reaction and maybe even comfort her, he has little response. An example of someone who is so disconnected from those around him that he does not know how to react in this kind of situation just like most of his young generation who end up numb in difficult situations. Distracted by electronics that is what he used to comfort himself and when all ended up fine in the end he went straight back to using the device. A sad sight to witness but a common reality today, teens and kids are turning more towards screens in difficult times than adults around them.  
 “Despite the attention-seeking hat, he was not the object of anyone’s attention. He was—and, of course, this was what the hat was all about!—in disguise”(Enright).
 “And, yes, he was terrified, but he was also shaking the woolen tassels, saying, “Really? Now?” 
“ The boy pulled earbuds up from his green shirt pocket and she closed her eyes”(Enright). 
“The boy in the window seat turned up to look at her…. And when she looked down at him—because he was almost directly below her now—she saw something she had not seen since her babies each opened their eyes for the first time. A full human being. Utterly himself. A new person in her life”(Enright). 
“ His eyes—all their eyes—were drawn toward the window as the plane kept turning, not banking now so much as falling. The plane dropped and dropped”(Enright).
“...there were tassels dangling from the flaps down to his collar line. A teen-ager”(Enright).

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