English Lamott :: essays research papers

Paper #2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lamott’s statement about acceptance provides the writers with an understanding of being able to acknowledge who they are in the inside, as well an understanding how society views them on the outside. The experiences of Walker, Grealy, and Daum all relate strongly to Lamotts statement about surrendering to one’s situation. Walker, Grealy, and Daum all encountered uncomfortable situations, which in the end, all had to learn to live with and overcome their insecurities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alice Walker grew up as ordinary as any other child would; she was pretty little girl who enjoyed life to the fullest until the â€Å"accident†. â€Å"It was great being cute. But then, one day, it ended† (43). Alice was playing outside when all of a sudden she was shot in her eye from her brothers BB gun. It was an accident, but â€Å"Where the BB pellet struck there is a glob of whitish scar tissue, a hideous cataract, on my eye†¦now when I stare at people-they will stare back. Not at the â€Å"cute† little girl, but at her scar† (43). The accident made Alice conceal herself from the world and view it differently; it was as if she became introverted from society. She could no longer be outgoing and be who she thought she once was.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alice was undergoing a change within her, but on the outside everyone said she did not change, the only thing that was different was her eye. After several years of her â€Å"glob† that was implanted in her eye she decide to see a doctor to have it removed. After the operation she felt more confident, but not anywhere to the best of her capabilities. She was interviewed and asked for a photo shoot for her book, but Alice thought about not taking the picture. She thought she would be criticized if she were not pictured in her book. â€Å"My meanest critics will say I’ve sold out† (46).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After many years of being afraid to show her face in public and interact with people, Alice finally had one dramatic day that turned the rest of her life upward and made her realize that her eye isn’t all that bad. Her daughter says, â€Å"Mommy there’s a world in your eye†(48). This comment made Alice feel astounded and she was basically able to overcome her uncomfortable situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lucy Grealy’s story also supports Lammot’s statement. Lucy was a young girl who had cancer in her jaw and had to receive Chemotherapy.

Living in Fear of Ourselves

Since the beginning of time fear has made men do things he is not proud of. This is no different in the book Lord of the Flies. The children on the island, particularly Jack's tribe, have made many poor choices out of fear. This is similar to how fear affects the outcome of certain choices that are made in society today. In Lord of the Flies it clearly shows how fear led to the death of Simon, the death of Piggy, and how fear can lead to savagery and chaos whether on a deserted island or in every day life. For example, fear on the island was what caused the death of Simon. The boys on the island were full of fear of â€Å"The Beast† (Golding 153), which they thought was a parachutist, but is nothing more than their imagination. Due to their fear, they mistook Simon for the beast and ended up throwing their spears at him in the dark, causing his death. Simon showed courage when he went to look for the beast. The boys were getting wild and rowdy doing their rain dance to get rid of the rain because they were afraid of the thunder and lightning. Instead of exploring the island and finding out what they were afraid of , Ralph and Jack were busy trying to decide who would be the leader of the island. Fear of the beast got the boys scared that he beast was going to come down and kill them, Simon thought other wise. On the island fear of each other caused another death. Fear caused division amongst the boys which led to another death on the island. Ralph, Piggy, and Sam and Eric were going to get Piggy's specs back. Piggy expressed his concern Rivera 2 about going because he was afraid of Jack. He had reason to be afraid of Jack because he was bigger, stronger and had intimidated him in the past, for instance, he would often tell Piggy to â€Å"Shut Up! (Golding 37). Jack was afraid that Ralph would be the leader instead of him. When Ralph and his crew showed up at Castle Rock they noticed that Jack's tribe had their faces painted black like savages. Jack ordered Roger to get the boulder trap to get rid of Ralph and his crew. Piggy and Ralph put their fear aside and went up to tell Jack that the glasses were Piggy's. Meanwhile, Roger, out of fear that Jack would hurt him if he did n't obey his orders, let the boulder trap go. The boulder hits Piggy and he falls off the cliff and dies. Jack covers up his fear by saying that he had planned it all along. As you can see, fear often leads people to make wrong choices, and unfortunately they are left with the consequences of their actions, or the lack of their actions depending on how they let fear manipulate them. The saying its better to be safe then sorry is a great way to sum up how people let fear control them. Being fearful is not always a bad thing, but when you let it completely take over how you react to every situation it becomes a bad thing. For example, if your friends are doing something you know is wrong but you're scared they wont like you if you don't do it, and you go ahead and do it any way, that is being a coward. People who run from the police because they are scared to go to jail, is a bad decision many people often make out of fear. People in the world often let other people's fear control them. When at an amusement park, deciding not to go on a ride because a friend is scared, would change the outcome of the trip from having a good time to being bored. Often in politics people all vote the same way because someone else is telling them to and they are fearful of what people will think of them if they vote against crowd. There are many things people fear, the unknown, finances, love, happiness, death, just to name a few. Knowing when to let go of some of the fear is the important part. Being confident in life Rivera 3 and sticking up for what one believes in helps people become confident and not afraid all the time. Learning the difference between being cautious and being afraid is what will people in society must learn to not live in fear of living. In Lord of the Flies there are two perfect examples of how fear controlled the minds of the kids which eventually led to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. Fear in the world can cause things to go wrong, because it makes people hate each other and be prejudice. A lot of bad decisions are made out of fear that hurt others. Learning to live without fear is something that people should try to learn to do. In Lord of the Flies, the island would have been a more secure place, if the kids would have been more secure with themselves, and that is the same for the world we live in today.

Faith Hope and Love in How I Learned to Drive - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2122 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/03/22 Category Religion Essay Level High school Tags: Faith Essay Did you like this example? The three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love are recurring themes throughout history, especially prevalent in theater and plays. The idea of hope in Angels in America by Tony Kushner and How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel creates a sense of a happy endings in both plays; however looking deeper it may only be a happy ending for some of the characters. All three virtues must work together symbiotically, without one they would cease to exist. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Faith Hope and Love in How I Learned to Drive" essay for you Create order The characters from both plays, Angels in America and How I Learned to Drive go through traumatic circumstances and events, and communicate to the audience in different ways in order to cope with their grief. Lil Bit, How I Learned to Drive, and Prior Walter and The Angel, Angels in America, use the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love in order to process and explain their traumatic experiences. The character of Lil Bit in How I Learned to Drive narrates her story in segments of memories, completely out of order and on her own terms. She is painting a story in flashbacks, accessing repressed memories in a strategic order. These flashbacks only allow the audience access to what Lil Bit wants to tell. How I Learned to Drive is set in the 1960-70s, in an extremely poor and rural town where Lil Bit lives with her mother and father. Her family is very open about sexuality, often joking about sexual subjects at the dinner table. While eating dinner, Lil Bits grandfather says Well she better stop being so sensitive, cause five minutes before Lil Bit turns the corner, her tits turn first (Vogel 11). The familys openness with sex makes Lil Bit uncomfortable, telling them to stop and walking away from the table. Though the last scene in the play, if we put the the play together chronologically the first scene is during a trip where Lil Bit wants to stay an extra week at the beach and drive home with Uncle Peck. Lil Bits mother says no at first, but after Lil Bits relentless insisting, her mother tells her its her own fault if she gets hurt. On the ride home, Uncle Peck sexually assaults Lil Bit however; she waits until the end of the play to give us that information for a reason. After revealing the piece of the puzzle she was withholding the entire play, Lil Bit says: That day was the last day I lived in my body. I retreated above the neck, and lived inside the fire in my head ever since (Vogel 58). This statement is extremely powerful, as it demonstrates faith, hope, and love at once. This complex love for Uncle Peck is not black and white, Herren explains,Lil Bits relationship with Peck was a love/hate relationship with a man who was not only her uncle and her abuser but also her mentor, teacher, father-figure, and confidante. As an adult capable of forgiveness, she can appreciate the gifts that he gave her along with the punishments (Herren par 5). Lil Bits secret the entire play is that she loves/loved her Uncle Peck, but it is an anomalous love. Lil Bit starts the play with: Sometimes to tell a secret, you first have to teach a lesson (Vogel 9). This sets the tone of forbidden love, hope, and faith across the play. Throughout the play, we begin to understand that the relationship between Lil Bit and Uncle Peck is complex and may not be understood to anyone, including her. The idea of hope and faith are interdependent, they simply do not work without each other. Faith is the not necessarily believing in a higher power, but rather the idea of trusting ourselves to another, whether it be a person or an entity. Searching deeper, many people believe the idea of faith is only spiritual or religious, but people could entrust almost anyone with the idea that they will do what is in our best interest. Hope is taking that trust of faith, and extending it out into the future while keeping the same belief that the other person has the best of intentions. At the age of eleven, Lil Bit put her faith in her Uncle Peck, with the hope that he could be mentor. This faith and hope make the audience uneasy and uncomfortable for the duration of the play. Vogel chose to make the audience uncomfortable about Lil Bit and Pecks pedophiliac and incestuous relationship, all while Lil Bit is trying to make us see that Peck was someone she looked up to and admired. The challenges of such an approach are daunting. Vogel chose to write against the prevailing grain of what we think we know (through pop-cultural clich) about sexual abuse, instead emphasizing the gifts we receive from the people who hurt us. But Vogel was also intent upon not denying or forgetting the original pain (Harren par 3). While Lil Bits family is trapped in a poor town in Maryland, Lil Bit dreams of working hard academically in order to go to college and better her life. The rest of her family thinks this is an unnecessary pipe dream, however Uncle Peck is a supportive confidant who does everything in his power to help Lil Bit succeed. At the age of thirteen Lil Bit seals her fate by putting her faith into Uncle Peck one a week for their furtive meetings. Lil Bits hope is Uncle Peck will be someone who can help her, while she is helping him. Lil Bit understands that even though her uncle is flawed, her faith and hope lay in his hands. Through this, Lil Bit slowly begins to fall in love with her abuser, in an arguable Stockholm Syndrome type mentality. Most people will read or watch this play and immediately fixate on the fact that Lil Bit is a minor and that Peck is her uncle, but Vogel is more interested in depicting a woman with hope, faith and love sorting through a traumatic experience in order to get forgiveness and acceptance from herself. Lil Bits story ends happily, as everytime she drives she pictures Uncle Peck, a happy memory of the man she loves, the one who so early on in her life she put her faith and hope into. The ideas of hope, faith, and love are vastly different as portrayed in Angels in America, with characters Prior Walter and The Angel. Prior Walters faith was tested time and time again after he contracted AIDS and his health began to deteriorate. After breaking the news to long time boyfriend, Louis, Priors health began to take a steady decline. At first, it appeared that Louis was going to stay, and help Prior battle the disease, but it soon became clear that Louis was going to abandon Prior in his time of need. After almost four years together, Prior put his faith into Louis, and his hopewhich was his faith extended into the future. As in any serious relationship, partners put their hope into the other person, believing that they will be there during the difficult times when help is so desperately needed. Any long-term relationship is rooted in hope, hope that the other partner has our best interest at heart, hope that their love will extend into the future and be strong enough to withstand the trials and tribulation of life. Was Louis unjust in leaving Prior after his diagnosis? Perhaps, but during the 1980s, AIDS was a frightening and unknown disease which had little to no cure, as drugs to suppress it were almost unattainable and wildly expensive. Perhaps love is a construct, a falseness convoluted by the idea of hope and faith in another person. Hope is an idea that helps many people from giving up on their faith; faith in humanity, faith in themselves, faith in god or lack thereof. As such, hopes labor is to insist that the present is not enough and that the future can and must be better. In dark times such as these, characterized by a range of hopes disappointed-from war without end to the economic and political failures (Chambers-Leston 143). Prior hangs onto the belief that li fe can get better, even if the present is grim. This is an example of faith and hope working interdependently. In flies The Angel, Greetings Prophet! The Great Work Begins: The Messenger Has Arrived (Kushner 167). Prior finds a new faith, and a new hope in the fact that he is deemed a prophet, and must work as such to help save humanity. The Angel demands that Prior STOP MOVING! in order to fulfill Gods wishes for humanity (Kushner 178). Prior, like Jonah from the bible, tries to flee from The Angel as Jonah tried to flee from God. Both Prior and Jonah were unsuccessful in their avoidance, because we can not escape faith and hope (Nutu 177). After Jonah was swallowed by the whale, and Prior felt The Angels power, they both knew that they had to succumb to the powers of their faith and their hope. Despite being diagnosed and living with AIDS, being abandoned by his boyfriend, and watching friends die, Prior still has faith and hope that humanity need to keep moving. Prior has a love for life, a faith that humanity will evolve into acceptance, and a hope for a brighter future. The Angel explain s to Prior that death and destruction are coming for humanity, that the world must stop moving, that the future is grim according to God. Priors hope enables him to have a positive outlook, he wants to live, to see what is ahead of him. Even after The Angel tried to convince Prior to die, he says: Still bless me anyway. I want more life. I cant help myself. I do. Ive lived through such terrible times and there are people who live through much worse. But you see them living anyway. When theyre more spirit than body, more sores than skin, when theyre burned and in agony, when flies lay eggs in the corners of the eyes of their children they live. Death usually has to take life away. I dont know if thats just the animal. I dont know if its not braver to die, but I recognize the habit; the addiction to being alive. So we live past hope. If I can find hope anywhere, thats it, thats the best I can do. (Kushner 283) An undoubtedly likeable character, his hope for his future faith makes Prior not a prophet, but a simple man wanting the most out of his life. Prior searches for his hope, his desire to live another day, to battle his illness, and to be a person who makes a change. Pope Benedict XVI so eloquently wrote: Hope is practised through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts Gods mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness (Benedict). Throughout history, faith, hope, and love have come together to give people promise into the future, an outlook that could be very grim in the worst of times. Both Lil Bit and Prior practice the art of hopeful patience in order to keep their faith. After their traumas, Lil Bit and Prior decided to keep the faith and hope alive. Through sexual assault, illness, heartbreak, and death both characters chose to uphold the three theological virtues in order to cope and see light at the end of the tunnel. The endings to both plays seem to be happy ones, Lil Bit is forgiving herself for the sexual assault and love she has for Uncle and Prior is loving with AIDS one day at a time. Both characters embody the virtue of hope, Lil Bit seeking seeking forgiveness in herself and Prior wanting acceptance from society and himself. Hope, faith and love collaborate together to shape the characters of Prior and Lil Bit, as they process their tramas throughout the plays. Works Cited Benedict XVI, Pope. God Is Love: Deus Caritas Est : Encyclical Letter. Vatican City : San Francisco: Libreria Editrice Vaticana ; Ignatius Press, 2006. Chambers-Letson, Joshua Takano. The Principle of Hope: Reflections on a Revival of Angels in America. TDR (1988-), vol. 56, no. 1, 2012, pp. 143â€Å"149., www.jstor.org/stable/41407134. Herren, Graley. Narrating, Witnessing, and Healing Trauma in Paula Vogels How I Learned to Drive. Modern Drama, vol. 53 no. 1, 2010, pp. 103-114. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/mdr.0.0145 Kushner, Tony. Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993. Print. Nutu, Ela. Angels in America and Semiotic Cocktails of Sex, Bible and Politics. Biblical Interpretation, vol. 14, no. 1/2, Feb. 2006, pp. 175â€Å"186. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1163/156851506776145814. Vogel, Paula. How I Learned to Drive. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1997. Print.