“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him,” states James 1:12. Hardships mature people into who they were created to be. “Gwilan’s Harp” by Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Washwoman” by Isaac Singer, and “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry demonstrate how troubles . Throughout these narratives, life-altering loss occurs, but even as hope fades, Gwilan, the washwoman and Johnsy rebuild their perspectives on life and rekindle contentment.
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The loss in Gwilan’s life nearly stifles her hope. First, in a wagon accident, her beloved harp shatters and her wrist breaks. As a result, her livelihood as a musician ends. Later in her life even after she receives new harps, she cannot play since her hands
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The wash woman works diligently, but not tirelessly. “She had been driven by an indomitable will to return the property to its rightful owners, to fulfill the task she had undertaken.” (Singer) She never loses her dignity, but instead dies at a good old age tired and worn out, ready for heaven. 2 more sentences!
Johnsy tires of life in her sick bed. Throughout the length of the story, she battles Pneumonia and depression. As Sue, her friend, tries to help her recover. Out of compassion, old Behrman, their neighbor, paints a leaf on the tree and dies after the exertion.
Johnsy says, “Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was.” (O’Henry) 2 more sentences!
Conclusion
They all experience loss and mental anguish, but pull through and become stronger people because of the hardships. Throughout these narratives, life-altering loss occurs, but even as hope fades, Gwilan, the washwoman and Johnsy rebuild their perspectives on life and rekindle
Resilience is displayed through the drive shown by the characters in these stories, despite hardships or trauma in their pasts. In The Road, Papa and the boy continue to move forward and “carry the fire”, staying morally true to themselves, even despite the things they had seen. The boy’s mother shot herself, he has seen cannibalism, slavery, and people reduced to monsters and broken shells of humanity, but he is still fighting and trying to be one of the good guys. He still wants to help the little boy when he meets him, still wants to help Ely when he meets them (McCarty, 162); The Boy still has a desire to help people who are suffering. He is starving, but he wants to give away his food so that the people who are good in this world won’t die.
Hardship shapes people, it changes them drastically. It’s as if they go through metamorphosis, they are completely different; things like their religion can easily be affected by this. When human beings are stripped of what makes them human, they have little left.
“To persevere, I think, is important for everybody. Don’t give up, don’t give in. There’s always an answer to everything”-Louie Zamperini. This man, Louie Zamperini was a bombardier for the US in World War II. He and his crew were shot down and forced to survive at sea for forty six days.
Howard Schultz once said, “In times of adversity and change, we discover who we are and what we are made of.” In life, one starts to realize everything is not always peachy. Sometimes one has to go through patches of thorns before things start to look up, but in the long run difficulties in life turn out to make one stronger person. In the books Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, and Night by Elie Wiesel, two of the main characters are pushed to their limits and beyond. How these men react to their situation is both mesmerizing, and courageous.
One prime example of learning of out struggle was when the mother gave Jeannette 200 for one summer. She believes that she can make it work, if she works more. But eventually her father asks her for money and she gives in to the temptation “I pulled my head back. Giving him that money pissed me off. I was mad at myself but even madder at Dad.
They overcame their challenges, although, they struggled along the way. Alexie and Douglass show their story to represent to others that may be in their position to have faith in all you do. Despite the fact that things get hard, it is how you finish that keeps you
The hardships these characters endure give them a new insight into their own
The characters in the novel experience losses which connects them and influences their actions: Luke with the Tamassee, Allen and Herb, and Maggie who experience loss, but unlike the others. The characters confronts different losses from each other, but the losses play the same task of
Hardships are: tests that show your worth. They are occasions to show who you truly are. You are either a person who succeeds in the attempt or fails. In life with no struggles there's no gain because we learn from our struggles.
“No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. That's the only way to keep the roads clear.” the wise Greg Kincaid says. This explains resilience and that you can overcome bad situations with hard work and perseverance. In A Raisin in the Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, this kind of resilience connects with Beneatha Younger.
In the end, his suffering paid off as his hope and dream of finding his family alive finally came true. Through the story of a young boy who treasured all his blessings in a harsh environment, I learned to value the things I have and to not waste these special
To be trapped in one's own mind may be the worst prison imaginable. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", the narrator of the story is constantly at battle with many different forces, such as John, her husband, the yellow wallpaper that covers the walls of her room, and ultimately herself. Throughout the story the narrator further detaches herself from her life and becomes fixated on the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her in her temporary home, slowly driving her mad. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" is a major and dynamic character as she is the main character of the story, and throughout the story her personality and ways of thinking change drastically.
Obstacles can be challenging, and difficult, but people can overcome them by never giving up, always trying their best, and surrounding themselves with families and friends. Two stories that I have read that show adversity are “A Work in Progress” by Aimee Mullins which is about a little girl losing her leg. The other story I read is “So Far From the Bamboo Grove” by Yoko Kawashima Watkins about a little girl that has to leave her home because of war and has very big obstacles to overcome. Aimee Mullins and the Kawashimas both face obstacles that include losing family members, walking very far in intense weather, and people doubting you and trying to stop you. In the end they all make it through the the challenges mentally and physically.
In the essay “The No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston, the story of living in a traditionally male-dominated Chinese society with a very dysfunctional family structure is told. The villages would look upon the men as useful, and women as useless to their society. Kingston, the main character, learns this first hand from how her aunt was treated. Kingston’s aunt, The No Name Woman, is victimized by a male-dominated society by being shunned for an illegitimate child. As a woman, the odds were automatically against you in their society.
She takes her oar and pokes around the water hoping to find some sort of fish. To her sudden surprise, a tremendous force rips away the oar. Scared, she jumped back and knocked her other oar in. She sits down and starts sobbing her eyes out, with no choice left but to wait, Francis get her journal and starts to right about what is happening to pass