Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway) is a story about a couple having a vague conversation at a train station in Spain. They are sitting together drinking a beer, discussing what they should do in their situation, which is unspoken. They speak as if they are arguing about something. In this blog post, I will give my opinion on whether or not I think she stayed in her relationship with the man. I will then relate this story to when I have had to made a decision to stay in or leave a difficult situation.
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I believe they both knew their relationship was over by the end of the story. After she asks to change the subject, she describes herself looking out at the hills on the dry side of the valley. I feel that this symbolizes her realizing she should lose her feelings for the man, because in the beginning of the story the scenery is described as white, sunny, warm, bright. When the bartender comes out to tell the couple the train is arriving in 5 minutes, the woman "smiles brightly" for the first time in the story. And then she smiles again at the man when she says, "There's nothing wrong with me. I feel fine.". I think this is because she realized she's truly ready to leave their relationship behind by getting on the train.
50 million times of hearing that, 30 million times of reading it off people's faces. It made my decision that much harder. But I trusted my gut. When I was 18 years old, getting ready to graduate high school, I felt so intimidated by all my friends getting into their dream schools. Watching them get excited over acceptance, and planning, and traveling, and everything in between. It honestly made me feel like I was being stupid. But at the same time, I knew I wasn't. I knew I wasn't like everybody else. I couldn't force myself to be ready for college when I knew I wasn't. It was hard for me to decide to move out of my moms house and into an apartment with my best friend, who was beginning her freshman year of college. I was terrified of what was to come. "Focus on you. Work your ass off, and God will provide you with a path. You will find your way to college on your own time.", my family members told me. I didn't even believe them, I swore I would never ever go. I just let them have their hope. In the beginning of working full time and living in my own apartment, I feared I made the wrong decision. I am the type of person who thinks about the future on a daily basis. I didn't know what was going to come of my life, and that scared me. As a couple years went by, I began to understand why my decision of taking a few years off from school was honestly one of the best decisions I ever made. I grew as an individual. I matured, and I see life in a whole new way now. Sometimes you have to go through things in life to learn more about yourself and your "path".
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What You Don't Know (Lulu Wang) is a podcast about a young Lulu Wang who finds out her grandmother, NaiNai, has stage four lung cancer, with three months to live. It is a tradition in China for doctor's to give bad test results to family members so they can delay the message to provide comfort and support. Lulu Wang's family decided it was in NaiNai's best interest to not inform her of her illness. They believed by keeping this a secret from her, she would be able to go about her life as if nothing was wrong. Living each day happily and fearless. And that really did happen. 3 years went by, and NaiNai was still living.
In this blog post I will provide my opinion on whether I agree with Lulu Wang's family's decision or not. I will also relate this story to when I have had to personally make a hard decision in my life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou), is a story about a young black woman, Margaret, who works as a servant to an older, white woman, Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Mrs. Cullinan decides that Margaret’s name is too long for her liking, so she begins calling her “Mary”. Margaret finds this to be very offensive, which causes her to lose respect, and eventually leads to the lack of performance in her work. In this blog post I have given my opinion on whether Margaret’s decision to break Mrs. Cullinan’s favorite casserole dish and two green glass cups was necessary or not. I have also related this situation to my own life. When have I made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Margaret realized she did not want to work for Mrs. Cullinan anymore, but knew she could not just up and quit. She also knew she could not confront her boss, and just have a civil conversation explaining why she did not appreciate the "nickname". Margaret's decision to drop and shatter Mrs. Cullinan's favorite pieces was harsh, yet effective. I have to say if I were in her exact position, I would have handled it the same way. She was not going to let a nasty, unhappy white woman make her feel like she was any less of a human being than she. And I think she got her point across. After Mrs. Cullinan found the shattered pieces, she said, "Her name's Margaret, goddam it, her name's Margaret." In my opinion, this was Mrs. Cullinan subconsciously realizing that she made a mistake in the way she treated Margaret. I don't think Margaret could have successfully gotten through to her any other way. And hopefully she taught that mean lady a lesson as well.
I was not one of those young students. Neither of my parents went to college, so that was never something that was drilled into my head as a child, or as a teenager. I struggled throughout high school. I was never fully there. I would think about what I did the night before, worrying about what drama was being spread at the moment, what I was going to do later that night, or over the weekend. I had no motivation and no idea what I wanted to do with my life. All I knew was that I loved photography, and I loved children. But I hated school, and I couldn't fathom the idea of going to school for another 4 years. As senior year approached me, all the college questions began to haunt me. From my teachers, my friends, my extended family members. It was overwhelming. I could feel the immediate judgement as I gave my response, "I'm not going to college. I will find a way to be successful without it." As hard as it was, I didn't let the judgement get to me. I knew in my heart that if I forced myself to go to college in 2015, it would not have turned out well. I challenged the status quo, I felt as if I was letting down all the people who cared about me, but I knew what was best for me at the time. As time went on, I matured, I changed, and I grew. I began to find my path, and came to an understanding with how important college really is. I am now excited to learn, and be in class. It took me 3 years, but I realized going to college is whats best for me now. I completely, 100% do not regret my decision of working full time the past 3 years. I am honestly proud of myself for not giving in to the status quo. I knew myself better than anyone else, and I knew it would not have suited me at that point in my life. Now, here I am, doing my thing! Sometimes you just need to believe in yourself and ignore what is expected of you! Find it at your own pace! |
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