How To Write An Essay On The Goldfinch

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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

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