1. After reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, I was left with a new, refreshed understanding about the world around me. The book made me consider how my approach to forming opinions about people is flawed. Sometimes I unconsciously make conclusions based on little or no information about someone, which in turn leads to snap judgments about that person. I find myself too busy deciding what type of person I think they are, instead of seeking out that person’s story. It is unfair to label someone as one way or another, based solely on a fleeting interaction with him or her. The Goldfinch had a strong influence on me by reminding me that a quickness to judge people before I know their whole story is not compassionate. 2. To be clear, I am a kind person. It is just that sometimes, I make unfair assumptions about people based on my interactions with them. Everyone has a story, but most of the time, we only have a partial view of that story. We have no way of knowing the full picture unless we try to understand it. Hobie, a caregiver in the book, reaffirmed this idea for me when he said, “The world won't come to me... so I must go to it.” In other words, this is saying that if we want to understand someone or something’s story, we have to go and figure it out for ourselves, because it will most likely not reveal itself to us naturally. …show more content…
To me, this story just goes to show how just because someone looks a certain way on the surface, we cannot assume we understand the situation, and should not deduce anything until we know the full story. That said, it is oftentimes not possible to further understand someone’s story. This is because it might just be a short-lived encounter or even someone we merely see from afar. If this is the case, I feel that it is in my best interest to try and see the situation from another angle, and try to get a picture of what is going on with them. Who am I to judge someone, when there are so many unknown components to their
The Kelvey family’s low income and less fortunate lives made them experience different treatments from many people. For example, “Even the teacher had a special voice for them, and a special smile for the other children when Lil Kelvey came up to her desk with a bunch of dreadfully common-looking flowers.” In their lives, people treated the Kelveys differently from others just because of their financial situation. This helps further make it evident that many different things factor into the experience of being an outsider. For the Kelveys, it was social status and how they were seen because of their lifestyle. As seen from the 3 different texts, the universal feeling of being an outsider stands as something to be learned from. Although everyone may be an outsider in the regards of someone else, it is not hard to treat a fellow human as if they were not an outsider. Anyone can be an outsider, but everyone can be an insider if enough effort is
Often, when a story is told, it follows the events of the protagonist. It is told in a way that justifies the reasons and emotions behind the protagonist actions and reactions. While listening to the story being cited, one tends to forget about the other side of the story, about the antagonist motivations, about all the reasons that justify the antagonist actions.
1.b. I do not think I'd like to live in this society because it does not allow free thinking, or anything else that makes humans the way they are. There was nothing to differentiate people, nothing to like or dislike about each other. The only thing that was good was that everyone was treated equal. In America, we say this, but there are obvious exceptions. Such is not the case in the world depicted in the novel.
She explains how her son was just pushed through school. “Our youngest, a world-class charmer, did litter to develop his intellectual talent but always got by” (559). He got through school by being a good kid, he was quiet and didn’t get in trouble. This was how he made it to his senior year until Mrs. Stifter’s English class. Her son sat in the back of the room talking to his friends; and when Mary told her to just move him “believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down” (559) Mrs. Stifter just told her “I don’t move seniors I flunk them” (559). This opened Mary’s eyes that her son would have to actually apply himself to pass. He wouldn’t be handed a passing grade. After the meeting with her son teacher, she told her son if you don’t try you will fail, making him actually apply himself. This made Mary understand that Failure is a form of positive teaching tool. Only because her son had to work for it and, now he actually came out of high school with a form of
These characters, however different they lie on the morality scale, all share the sinful trait of greed. They all ask, and take too much, ruining what the good that they had in their lives. Understanding their mistakes offers its useful readers a lesson, not to demand too much of the things we are offered. The characters struggle with their desires, each of them succombing to their passions.
She goes on to tell readers of a child's perception of race with other life examples that she learned from her own students. She states that children learn prejudices and stereotypes early on in life from cartoons, story books and their own parents. They are easily susceptible these things even if th...
The stories suggest we shouldn’t be spending so much time trying to get to the “Happy Ending”, and we should be more concerned about what’s going on in the middle. The majority of us are that typical person living the typical life, and perhaps Atwood is suggesting that we strive for more.
When pondering about what an individual thinks of you, people have varying views. Some people are not concerned; to others it is the most critical matter on their mind. The feeling of being judged is a very potent emotion. Likewise, conformity is one of the largest controversies in today’s society; the behavior of someone in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. So if someone personally made his or her expectations on what you should be like evident, would you change? In Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook, he illustrates that judgment and expectations conform a person into someone they are not due to their personal identity. This can be seen through a character’s loyalty to another, dominance and the vulnerability it includes, and a character’s love and devotion. Conformity and the reasons for its appearance will be analyzed through samples from Matthew Quick’s bestselling novel.
By stating how other people behave or interact, the author offers a great chance for readers to interpret fairly for themselves what the reason for any conflict may be, or the nature of any essential contrast between the narrator and other adults in the story. In the story, there are many self-righteous opinions from people, which seem to be ironic to the readers; For example, her mother’s aggressive attitude of showing off her daughter, her piano teacher’s self-praise claiming him as “Beethoven.” All of the narrations including conversation clearly depict a different characteristic between the narrator and other people. For instance, a conversation occurs between the narrator and her mother when the mother criticizing a girl who seems similar to the author on TV which reveals dissimilar understanding for both of them to each other’s behavior. At first, the daughter speaks out for the girl by questioning her mother by saying “why picking on her […] She’s pretty good. Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard.” The daughter actually is defending for herself and reflecting that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard of her hard work. She wants to get her mother’s compliments instead of her criticisms. However, her mother response of, “just like you,” and, “not the best. Because you not trying.” Here, her mother doesn’t really answer her question, instead wants her put more effort on trying, neglecting how much she has tried before. However, in her mother’s perspective, she has never tried hard enough. By narratively stating the conversations she has encountered, readers perceive a strong implication of the reason for a future conflict between her and her mother.
They will teach the reader the benefits of being kind to everyone and the consequences of underestimating a person because of their label. What it really means is that, just because society labels one person one way doesn’t mean that’s who they really are. You can’t judge someone without really knowing who they are, without knowing their flaws, strengths, and what they’re going through. You never know so don’t judge someone instantly, it could end badly for
2. Do you think that this story is enlightening in any way in regard to how people view themselves and others?
“The story employs a dramatic point of view that emphasizes the fragility of human relationships. It shows understanding and agreemen...
The children couldn’t accept what they thought was so horrible. There was a lot of ignorance and carelessness portrayed throughout this short story. The theme of ungratefulness was revealed in this story; The author depicted how disrespecting someone can inturn feed you with information you may wish you never knew and how someone can do one wrong thing and it immediately erases all the good things a person did throughout their
The first thing the narrator tells us is that he doesn't expect us to believe the story he's about to write, or ask us to believe it. He says he'd have to be crazy to think we'll believe him he can hardly believe it himself. Then he says he isn't crazy and isn't dreaming. He is going to die the very next day, and has confess everything to set his story straight. His purpose in writing the story is to give the world a the plain facts of a series of mere household event read stuff that happened around the house. The consequences of the things that have happened around this mans house have caused him intense fear, extreme discomfort, and have actually destroyed him. But, he isn't going to go into the details of that. Rather, he is going to present
It takes more than a casual “hello” down the hallway to truly know a person. It is actually very difficult, and takes time, to know someone on a personal level. As human beings we often base our perceptions of people off of what we have heard. In Inherit the Wind Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee show us why these perceptions are usually inaccurate. They show us that once you put aside the rumors and look into a person’s heart, you may be stunned.