Iyanla Vanzant Essay

A human’s emotions can be their greatest ally or worst enemy. Positive emotions such as desire and satisfaction primarily assume the role of motivation within a person. However, negative emotions possess an even greater motivational impact due to their ability to drive a person beyond their personal limits. For example, shame is a devastating emotion that causes feelings of inadequacy and failure. As a result, people strive to prevent shame to themselves and others at all costs. However, through these efforts to avoid shame, people are often pushed outside of their comfort zones and accomplish difficult and seemingly unreachable goals. Through her story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, Karen Russell establishes a main theme of

The day I got taken away was a day I remember like no other. It feels like it just happened yesterday. The police came to my friend’s house, where I was staying for the weekend and came to pick me up. I went home to get some clothes so I didn't have to wear the same ones for a couple of weeks, lucky for me it was in the summer so I didn’t have to worry about what people thought. When I went into my social worker's office they explained to me what was going on, and then I began to cry because I felt like I was never going to be able to go home again I felt as if I had lost both of my parents forever. And my biggest fear was losing both of my sisters also.

Joan of Arc was one of the most powerful and influential people of all time. Despite her gender (and the fact that she was a teenager at the time) she led the French army during the One Hundred Years’ war against the British and won. She is considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be a martyr and saint, being as though she was burned at the stake in the name of her God and faith. In 1920 she was declared by the Pope to be not only a saint, but one of the patron saints of France. With these facts in consideration, there is no doubt that Joan of Arcs legacy is an incredible one.

Ying Ying never learned to speak her mind or to control the path of her own life. As she watches Lena make the same mistake of passivity, she internally struggles to tell Lena what she sees. “I want to tell her this: We are lost, she and I, unseen and not seeing, unheard and not hearing, unknown by others.” (Tan 67) Ying Ying lived through a terrible marriage that left her voiceless. She lamented the loss of her unfaithful husband and despite her knowledge of her blamelessness. Her experiences taught her a valuable lesson to respect oneself and to fight for one's beliefs, a lesson she must pass on to her daughter. “So this is what I will do… I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose...I will win and give her my spirit because this is the way a mother loves her daughter” (Tan 252). This resolution is particularly difficult for Ying Ying to come to as she and her daughter have not developed a deep rapport through their

One of the most predominant themes in “The Woman Warrior” is finding ones voice. Throughout the book, voice is referenced many times and most often as a disability of the women in Kingston’s memoirs. Being voiceless is not always a defect that one is born with but can also be due to societal pressures and expectations. The women that appeared as voiceless in the book were most often the ones that did not have an identity of their own. They simply led their lives following someone with a voice hoping that they would be able to live under the shelter of other’s voices. Kingston gave voice to women in this book that were not able to speak for themselves and to deny the accusations and taunts of society. She expresses in the beginning of her book how

Caring, courage, and selflessness are three strong traits that demonstrate ones willingness and strength to make the great sacrifice of putting others before oneself. There are few people that carry these traits, so when one openly displays them, it allows others to view just how much courage they do have. Khaled Hosseini, the author of A Thousand Splendid Suns, excellently demonstrates through two young women, what it is like to face tough situations in order to keep their loved ones from harm’s way. Putting others before oneself can be a difficult sacrifice, but it builds strength of character. Mariam and Laila demonstrate such selflessness, as well as courage, and caring.

In 1870, child abuse was first introduced by the events that happened to an eight year old, named Mary Ellen Wilson, who was experiencing several beatings in the home of her biological father and step-mother, in Great Britain. During the 1870’s Mary experienced extreme beating, and was removed from the home (Walkins, 1990). Mary’s story started in 1874, while living with her biological father’s new wife Mary McCormack Connolly. Mrs. Connolly would beat the child, and would not provide for Mary’s basic welfare. It was not until Etta Wheeler, a Methodist mission who visited the home that Mary’s abuse was first confirmed the abuse of a child. It was upon investigation by Ms. Wheeler, that the disheveled 10 year old child, with multiple

The women of America have been fighting for rights and equality since the beginning. They have written books, published articles, made speeches, held marches, and lead lives outside what was the norm for their times. In Fried Green Tomatoes the female leads between the two narratives are no different. In their own ways they lead lives that, while different from each other’s, all stood for how they felt a woman should be able to live. Though these characters are fictional they represent very real women of both the past and present.

The German philosopher Nietzsche once said, “That which does not kill us, make us stronger”, and in many instances this is exactly the case. In most every instance of tragedy or hardship, the people affected must either yield to or rise above their situation, and in rising above, develop or display extraordinary and exemplary traits uniquely fitted to dealing with that situation. As a result, without adversity, these talents would be left unused. There are instances in which people crack under the pressure or sink to the expectations of their situation, but, depending on the character of the person involved, they may take the situation and use it to better themselves. It is a unique opportunity to utilize or develop traits that often remain

The Joyful Heart Foundation was established by Mariska Hargitay, an actress mostly known for her role as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit. The role that she played gave her insights to the glaring statistics on the sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse in the United States. She received numerous responses from victims of such violence and established the foundation as a way of responding to the thousands of letters and emails she received from the audience. She had a deep connection with Hawaii and thus established the foundation in Kona in 2004 to

Cynthia Ann Parker was born approximately around 1825 to Lucy and Silas M. Parker in Crawford County, Illinois (civilwarwomenblog.com). Parker was around the age of nine or ten when her family moved to Texas and built Fort Parker. They built a major wall to provide them with protection against natives, on the headwaters of the Navasota River (lone-star.net). Fort Parker was attacked on May 19, 1836 by Comanche, Caddo and Kiowa warriors. They killed most of the residents. The Comanche captured Parker, her younger brother and three others. The other captive was released back to their families, but Parker remained (civilwarwomenblog.com). Parker was abused at first but gradually she adapts to the Indians way of living.

Nearly half a century ago, Lyndon Johnson began campaigning the War on Poverty with a vision for a sustained and prosperous economy. Back then, poverty in America was associated with graphic images of substandard wooden shacks and impoverished city alleys. Today, the face of poverty has taken a new shape. In societies imagination, poverty takes the form of hopeless Americans and single mothers frantically treading on a rolling barrel that is headed towards the rivers end. For the enormous amount of women living in this situation, the American dream is dead. Women in poverty can no longer cling to childhood dreams of prosperity and success, but instead are limited to dreams of simply hanging on. Plighted with social economic struggles, stress

‘Annabel Lee’ by Edgar Allan Poe is an eminently beautiful yet tragic poem centred around the theme of a forbidden love between two people, and the many obstacles that they overcome in order to be together. At the same time the poem relates back to a man’s undying love for his wife in which even death is unable to hinder.

Life is a journey that is challenging for many people. As a result, many do not live up to their full potential. Nevertheless, there are always few distinguished people in every generation who master the art of living better than everyone else. Such individuals emerge as icons of the society and leave phenomenal legacies. Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, and Maya Angelou are outstanding souls who made their communities and the world a better place. Undoubtedly, having paramount courage and undying love for the human race are the two virtues that anyone aspiring to live a life of purpose must have.