Me Before You Culminating Essay
In the 2012 romantic novel, published in the United Kingdom by Jojo Moyes, readers are first introduced to Louisa Clark, a kind-hearted girl with a very positive outlook on life. Throughout the novel, she shares this positivity with many of the characters as she tries to prove to Will, a 35 year old quadriplegic, that his life is worth living. Unfortunately, Will can not bare the thought of living in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and makes the difficult decision to end his life. During their time together, Will helps Louisa love herself again after some traumatic events took place. Although Louisa is very upset by Will’s decision, she is now more accepting due to the fact that she is no longer reliant
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Louisa was once assaulted, possibly sexually, by a group of guys when she was intoxicated. She confesses this awful truth to Will after getting lost in the castle maze with him. This horrific event changes Louisa as a person and she lives in constant fear. “I can tell you the exact day I stopped being fearless.” (154) Will wants Louisa to confront the assault rather than brush it off, in order to accept that what had happened was not her fault. This helps Louisa change back into the young and fearless girl she used to be. The castle maze is a place that symbolizes the change that Louisa went through after her assault and how Will helps change her back by teaching her to love herself again. As a result, Louisa is able to fully express her love to …show more content…
Readers learn that happiness is internal and it is not something you can rely on others for. Loving yourself is the first step to being happy and loving someone else. Through the use of archetypes, Moyes shows Will’s loss of identity to allow readers to better understand why he makes the decision he does. The author uses imagery to show readers that materialistic objects don’t make a person happy. Love and support from yourself and the people you care about will. Symbolism is used to show change. Will’s outlook on life changed and became very negative after being paralysed in his accident. Louisa loses herself after her assault, fortunately Will teaches her to love herself again. As a result, she was happy both internally and externally and was finally able to accept Will’s decision. This applies to many of the characters in the novel. Once they were able to accept that this decision would end Will’s suffering, they were happier with it and
Throughout the novel, crucial family members and friends of the girl that died are meticulously reshaped by her absence. Lindsey, the sister, outgrows her timidity and develops a brave, fearless demeanor, while at the same time she glows with independence. Abigail, the mother, frees herself from the barbed wire that protected her loved ones yet caused her great pain, as well as learns that withdrawing oneself from their role in society may be the most favorable choice. Ruth, the remote friend from school, determines her career that will last a lifetime. and escapes from the dark place that she was drowning in before. Thus, next time one is overcome with grief, they must remember that constructive change is guaranteed to
A smile has the incredible ability to hide anything. “The funny thing is, nobody ever really knows how much anybody else is hurting. We could be standing next to somebody who is completely broken and we wouldn’t even know it” (Anonymous). Many people in our world internally suffer. Some may say that “[t]he hardest years in life are those between ten and seventy” (Anonymous). During these years of life, people face an uncountable number of struggles and are exposed the true disfigurement of the world. When people undergo extreme or stressful situations that they cannot possibly handle and face the grief-stricken tragedies of the world, such as death, they normally fall into a dark hole called depression. Depression resides everywhere and it has existed for centuries. Throughout the years, however, it has progressively gotten worse. During the 1970s, depression constituted a less severe issue than it does in today’s society. In the 1970s, depression started to gain more attention as such an extensive problem, and began affecting humanity at a more youthful age as the years continued. The number of people suffering from depression today has nearly doubled since the 1970s. However, depression presents just as much of a concern today as it has in the past. In The Optimist's Daughter, Eudora Welty portrays depression through the juxtaposition of characters, her use of symbolism, and verbal irony portrayed throughout the novel.
The song “I Get a Kick Out of You” is written and composed by Cole Porter. Porter was well known as one of the prominent songwriters of the 20th century as he was one of the lyricists who was writing his own music and lyrics of most of his songs. Therefore, he’s mostly known for his “Individual songs than complete shows. Porter’s lyrics contain more intellectual references to poetry, philosophy, history, painting and literature than do the lyrics of any other Broadway songwriter. He is best known for the 1934 classic “Anything Goes” and “I Get a Kick Out of You” and for the 1938 Kiss Me, Kate with “Too Darn Hot” and Wunderbar” (Lesson: The Composers of the Broadway). So, beginning 1930s, he wrote many hit songs and one of those hit songs is known as “I get a Kick Out of You.” Which he originally
By using her optimism she is able to try and see the good in any situation, and her hopefulness encourages her to keep going, that one day things will get better. After Fourth Brother tries to send three heavy books on to Ye Ye’s head, Adeline’s hopefulness is obvious. “It’s bound to get better. One day things will be different. Life won’t go on like this forever. I don’t know when, how or what but I’ll come back and rescue you from this. I promise.” Just by thinking these words Adeline was able to comfort herself, a new feeling of optimism for her and Ye Ye. Adeline’s hopefulness also shows at boarding school in Hong Kong, where she is first in the mail line, waiting and hoping for letters that never come. “Never gets any letters either, although she’s always first in line when the mail gets delivered.” Another example of her optimism and hopefulness is when she and her friends are talking on the balcony at the end of term. “More than anything, I yearn to grow up, get out of here and see the world. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the three of us could sail away on one those big boats...?” Adeline shows very clearly that she has a hopeful and optimistic attittude to help get her through the hard
The theme of this book is that the human capacity to adapt to and find happiness in the most difficult circumstances. Each character in the novel shows this in their way. For instance, their family is randomly taken from their home and forced to work but they still remain a close nit family. In addition, they even manage to stick together after being separated for one of their own. These show how even in the darkest time they still manage to find a glimmer of hope and they pursued on.
Atwood’s “Happy Endings” retells the same characters stories several times over, never deviating from clichéd gender roles while detailing the pursuit of love and life and a happy ending in the middle class. The predictability of each story and the actions each character carries out in response to specific events is an outline for how most of us carry on with our lives. We’re all looking for the house, the dog, the kids, the white picket fence, and we’d all like to die happy.
For instance the description that the brain was, “pop-pop-popping “portrays the sensation that the brain is plastic; hence, it can be expanded through knowledge and perseverance. Also, the author cleverly uses the phrase, “I never knew a poet person” to emphasize lack of knowledge leads to false perceptions of reality. Jack uses the absolute word “Never” to describe his feeling. If one never thinks about the endless possibilities of success, then they will become their own culprit. The articulate, yet simple language of the author adds rich content to the story making it more relatable to all age groups. The novel instills the value of hope in readers. It encourages readers not to fear the unknown. Indeed with a growth mindset, one can beat the odds and live a meaningful
She remembers a nightmare where she did not know where or who or what she was, nor what was happening. “Do you know she is going to die, Jewel?” Darl said. “It takes two people to make you, and one people to die.” I said to Dewey Dell: “You want her to die so you can get to town: is that it?”
It is commonly believed that the only way to overcome difficult situations is by taking initiative in making a positive change, although this is not always the case. The theme of the memoir the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is that the changes made in children’s lives when living under desperate circumstances do not always yield positive results. In the book, Jeannette desperately tries to improve her life and her family’s life as a child, but she is unable to do so despite her best efforts. This theme is portrayed through three significant literary devices in the book: irony, symbolism and allusion.
Death is inevitable; if you want happiness in life, try A. Margaret Atwood, the author of “Happy Endings,” uses six separate short stories to depict outcomes with different scenarios. The author practices the use of flash fiction, which adds to the entirety of each version. Though this short story has portions of unusual context, the content can teach a reflection on life. As the reader analyzes all six versions, the gender roles are evident as the story progresses. Atwood starts the short story by introducing the two main characters, John and Mary, and then proceeds to tell a variety of options as to who they are and what happens to them.
Hence, The Wenders’ determination to protect their daughter in a hostile society, Uncle Axel’s willingness to love and guide his insecure nephew, and the telepaths’ devotion to their closely-knitted group remind us that no matter how corrupt the majority of society becomes, there will always be those who will keep alive the beautiful qualities that make us human. Thus, it is clear that Wyndham purposely incorporated loving relationships in the midst of suffering to keep alive our hope in the human race. Love is an unique quality that can emerge through hardships. The Chrysalids is meant to remind us that the power of this emotion can overcome despair.
Flannery O’ Connor was educated at the Georgia State Women’s College, and she also attended Iowa State. O’Connor wrote her first piece of literature when she was twenty-seven years old, and she expresses her personal convictions and views in her writings. O’Connor often has characters in her literature that are disabled in some way, and most of the time, she portrays sympathy for these characters. O’Connor died from an uncommon disease called lupus, and she lived with this disease most of her life (“Flannery” 1050). “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” is a story about a traveler, Mr. Shiftlet, who marries a mentally challenged girl to get an automobile and money from the mother of the girl. In the end, Mr. Shiftlet ends up abandoning the girl. In “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” O’Connor uses duality to show that people and things can have two sides.
All in all, Chris McCandless is a contradictory idealist. He was motivated by his charity but so cruel to his parents and friends. He redefined the implication of life, but ended his life in a lonely bus because of starvation, which he was always fighting against. Nevertheless, Chris and the readers all understand that “happiness only real when shared.” (129; chap.18) Maybe it’s paramount to the people who are now alive.
The search for happiness and contentment is a driving force in the hearts and lives of many people. In the book, The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham, the author narrates this conquest in the lives of the main characters within the book. Elliot Templeton, Isabel Bradley, and Sophie MacDonald are each in search of that one thing that will bring them contentment and utter happiness. Through a series of tragic events in their lives, these individuals learn the harsh reality that putting one’s entire hope on solely one thing in order to find happiness, will only end in despair and dissatisfaction. On the contrary, the character, Larry Darrell is open to the different avenues, environments, and experiences that help in his search to the
The book encloses the philosophy of “The Butterfly Effect.” This theory elaborates on the idea that one small event can lead to much greater consequences. Rory Remer illustrates this in his article when he claims “The butterfly effect...states that small differences in initial conditions may have severe consequences for patterns in the long run…” The cause being Marianne’s rape makes each character go through emotional turmoil.