In the two short stories “Circus in Town” by Sinclair Ross and “ ‘Happyness’ for Sale” by Jia Lynn Yang. Both passages display the personal and emotional hardships that the two main characters must face whilst living a destitute life style. However, both characters have a solution to their misfortune by embracing an optimistic view about their future lifestyle. While Jenny uses a more childish and imaginative way to escape her lifestyle, Chris merely uses his spiritual energy to change his outlook of his impoverished life. In the short story “Circus in Town”, it depicts the life a young girl named Jenny who grows up in the improvised section of town. Despite her poor lifestyle Jenny stays positive through her use of imagination and clear mind. All it took to change her perspective of her life was a simple piece of paper from the circus. Despite her family’s circumstances, she does not try to avoid her lack of money or social status but rather creates her own ideal lifestyle she believes is perfect. Her life would be filled with horses that wore “silver bells on reins and bridle”(para 24) and her very “own circus”(para 22). This shows how Jenny is trapped in the fabricated …show more content…
lifestyle, not realizing that she can change her own misfortunate lifestyle instead of creating a fake one. The circumstances that Jenny is in causes her to feel sad about herself, making her create a fictitious lifestyle, which drives her from changing her own life. Similarly in the short story “ ‘Happyness’ for Sale” the main character Chris deals with an impoverished lifestyle.
Unlike Jenny, Chris uses his internal drive not to create a fictional world but rather something that he can use everyday to improve his lifestyle. He uses that very same drive to forge a better future for himself and his family. His internal desire to “do something with [his] life”(para 10) suddenly results in many amazing achievements, including an interview on “ABC’s news-magazine 20/20”. (para 12). Furthermore, Chris’s ability to turn his internal drive to reality has allowed him to “mov[e] forward” (para 17) with his life. He is now a wealthy, famous person who did not imagine what his life would be like but used his internal aspiration to led him to the life he is now
living. Both Chris and Jenny showed how they overcame the adversity that had plagued them in their lives. While Chris turned his internal lust into reality to lead him to the life he has now, Jenny used her imagination to create a fictional word where everything was the way she wanted it. She did use that imagination to transform her life but live a fictional life within her mind where she felt everything was perfect. Ones ability to deal with the situations they are in and see what they will do in the future to change it will determine if they will achieve the things they desire.
he was real proud of it” (Krakauer, 30). Even though Chris was really hungry, he didn’t gave up on what he had started. Chris would try to find other ways to survive by eating edible plants that he identified from his book. He is determined that he will be able to live on those edible plants alone. This actions prove Chris ability to push himself farther than his limits.
After reading Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I observed that both these texts share a few similarities in the way the authors portray the difficulties their characters have to face, in order to get to where they are now. After researching a few rags to riches stories and using Slumdog Millionaire and The Pursuit of Happyness as my primary sources, I found out that successful individuals from harsh backgrounds shared similar complications, yet they had the will and perseverance to get to where they are now. They faced difficulties such as dealing with poverty and hardships of everyday life, struggling to overcome the effects of addiction and abuse. They found ways to overcome these difficulties through things like having some form of education, and utilizing their knowledge, to manipulate opportunities to their advantage in order to bring about success.
“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, it’s what’s inside counts” This quote reminds people about how they should not judge other people from the outside but look deep into their true personalities. Looking from the appearance and how Chris lives, everyone would assume that Chris is a crazy, foolish person and does everything without thinking. If people try to know more about Chris, they would have different perspective. Chris is intelligent, determined, independent and follows what he believes. He went into the wilderness to escape from the society that tries to suppress him and look for the meaning of life.
Although living this life is not always easy for Chris, he embarks on this adventure to achieve what truly matters to him in life.
Whereas spoiled rich kids are more sheltered, cowardly, and doubtful of themselves, most examples of code heroes are outgoing, courageous, focused, and confident in their abilities. In Chris’ case, the latter set fits him perfectly. Chris’ parents described him as, “generous and caring to a fault, but he had a darker side as well, characterized by monomania, impatience, and unwavering self-absorption” (Krakauer 120). Though these traits may seem negative, they describe Chris as well as the majority of code heroes. So, Chris is focused on his goal of living on his own in the wild, confident in his survival skills, and remains stoic and brave in the face of disaster, such as when his canoe gets stuck and he is lost with no way of escaping. In sum, Chris McCandless has proved himself to be a code hero because he has a sound moral code, has endured through hardship, and shares most of the qualities found in code
Many individuals strive to be the best and thrive in this world inhabited by seven billion people, by taking control over their own destiny. However, success requires a sacrifice of personal desires and ambitions at times which not a lot amongst us are willing to give. It is sooner or later that the temporary reformation fails and their true self resurfaces where they are back at where they began. A lot of us are unwillingly left to deal and live with these unfortunate circumstances. The impact that these events leave upon us is very significant and sometimes temporary. The poem, "The tent delivery woman's ride" by Wilmer Mills, and my own experience explains that the significant events negatively effect an individual's ability to determine
Chris McCandless had a reputation for being overly ambitious since grade school. His teachers noticed at young age he was abnormally strong-willed which he coupled with intense idealism and strong physical endurance. In high school, Chris served as the captain of his cross country team asking them to treat each race as a spiritual experience. After graduating high school Chris continued on to college where he would graduate with a bachelor’s degree, doub...
He went through many obstacles that could have proved fatal. From canoeing in the Colorado River to picking the right berries, he was testing his intelligence. Chris had a true confidence in the land and in himself to set out on a mission so dangerous. “Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works. It not only offered an escape from society but also was an ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exaltation” (Nash; Krakauer 157). Chris longed to escape from society and rely on only mother nature. An innumerable amount of people desire to withdraw from society as Chris did; but they are so comfortable and secure with a normal life they do not dare take such a gutsy
This passage shows appreciation for the significance of following ones dreams. Even with all that Chris had accomplished he knew that something was missing and this resonated deeply in his soul. It is refreshing to discover that not all young people are focused on materialistic success. Neal Karlinsky demonstrates this in the quotation, “Today, young idealistic pilgrims post their adventures on YouTube as they follow in the footsteps of Alexander Supertramp and visit the now famous “ magic bus” deep in the Alaskan interior.” This passage describes how some young people use Chris’ journey as a catalyst to discover their own identity and purpose as they travel to Alaska also.
While he stays at Shallow Creek, his conversation with Vanessa about his views of God shows his perception of the life: he questions how such a brutal God could exist, because Chris has a lot of pain and the world in his mind is not as bright as he appears. As his responses to adversities shape his perceptions, he no longer sees the world as a place full of hopes and he cannot hide his feeling of helplessness anymore, but although he shows his emotions to Vanessa, a thirteen-year-old girl like her cannot give him much help. Chris once again tries to solve his adversities with an unreal solution because he has no one else to talk with. Later in the story he joins the war to seek for other opportunities, however this time he does not only try to escape from the reality, but he also escapes from his nature, because his nature is never a solider: as he reveals on his letter, “[He does not] live inside [his body] anymore”. One day he is sent home from the battlefield because of a mental breakdown; this event marks his total lose of perceptions: insane people do not have perceptions. Since Chris always tries to escape from the reality and never really looks for a real solution to the problems, his perception becomes irreparably
In the novel Poor People, written by William T. Vollmann asks random individuals if they believe they are poor and why some people are poor and others rich. With the help of native guides and translators, and in some cases their family members, they describe what they feel. He depicts people residing in poverty with individual interviews from all over earth. Vollmann’s story narrates their own individual lives, the situations that surround them, and their personal responses to his questions. The responses to his questions range from religious beliefs that the individual who is poor is paying for their past sins from a previous life and to the rational answer that they cannot work. The way these individuals live their life while being in poverty
Our first introduction to these competing sets of values begins when we meet Sylvia. She is a young girl from a crowded manufacturing town who has recently come to stay with her grandmother on a farm. We see Sylvia's move from the industrial world to a rural one as a beneficial change for the girl, especially from the passage, "Everybody said that it was a good change for a little maid who had tried to grow for eight years in a crowded manufacturing town, but, as for Sylvia herself, it seemed as if she never had been alive at the all before she came to live at the farm"(133). The new values that are central to Sylvia's feelings of life are her opportunities to plays games with the cow. Most visibly, Sylvia becomes so alive in the rural world that she begins to think compassionately about her neighbor's geraniums (133). We begin to see that Sylvia values are strikingly different from the industrial and materialistic notions of controlling nature. Additionally, Sylvia is alive in nature because she learns to respect the natural forces of this l...
This play shows that Arthur Miller was out to show people a sense of a real world expectation. It shows how one’s dream of making it big will likely be crushed and that person must fit in wherever they can make it. The play features the depression that is found most often in society which having a job that is miserable. It is rare that a person wakes up for their job and they are excited for the day to come, and it is a valid point that Miller makes. Miller essentially proves that if a person feels there is no way to help their family, then it is best to kill yourself and let your family have a little money to excel further in life without that person.
Also, storytelling is an essential part of this complex carnivalesque tale. Carter uses the characterization of the circus performers and their repeated
“Poverty” written by Jane Taylor provides a dismaying insight to the widespread poverty across the world. The poem affects the reader by tugging at his/her emotions through its end rhyme and descriptive words. Taylor utilizes repetition of the word “poor” in all except the first stanza to emphasize the struggle and pain that the unfortunate family must bear. The structure of this poem interests the reader as the last stanza contradicts the previous stanzas by bringing attention to the rich people instead of the poor. However, the contrasting stanza is well crafted into the poem in order to encourage those who are fortunate to help those who are not.