Phase 1

Hi all,

Just wanted to post my narrative for case study phase 1. Critique is more than welcome! 

Case Study: the Beginning (by Natalie)

"Alex was sitting in his room for hours and didn't know what to do. He had to choose between something that he wanted and something that he had to do, and his whole life was dependent upon this decision.

He was the only child, and even though his parents loved him very much, they both had uneasy characters and that made their family life very complicated. His father, Eugene, had made a fortune with his furniture business. They had couple of factories not far from Moscow, and Eugene was working like insane for many years to maintain them profitable and in a good condition. His mother, Helen, was working there as a senior accountant.

Alex was growing up as a very creative child. He spent his whole childhood reading books; later on he started to write his own ones. He was also keen on playing computer games, since he liked phantasy world so much. Being a teenager, he was spending a lot of money on costumes and swords to play different roles in J.R.R.Tolkien books imitations.  However, when it was time to choose a university and future specialization, he started to study economics and accounting. His mother never saw him doing anything but that in life; he was too shy to resist the pressure.

Helen viewed economics and doing business as the only alternative for a man. Actually, it was obvious that there was another reason – as the only child, Alex was never seen as anyone but a successor of the family business. She was very stubborn, and Alex knew that when he graduated from the university and she told him to become an accountant in the family company. He was supposed to help her, and he couldn’t refuse again.

However, his passion for books and computer games remained the same. During the daytime he was fulfilling his duties as an accountant, but at night he was creating computer game scenarios combining his creativity and computer skills. One day he realized he could make it his profession, because people like him were needed in the game industry. He found special courses and after half a year he graduated with necessary qualifications. He soon found a job he had always been dreaming of; it was quite underpaid, but he was doing something he really loved in the company of people that shared his views.

The only problem was: his parents were still expecting him to run their company. Who would do that instead of him? How could he leave the company that was so profitable? Could he let his parents down? What should he do with his life?"