"Losing Streak” by Kathryn Schulz is a story that employs a pensive persona that reflects on a theme of loss. Kathryn Schulz's story explores the emotional complexities of losing materials and people. She recollects memories of her past, events that affected her life, that made her the way she is now. Throughout the essay, it talks about ways someone can experience the loss of something. She starts the essay by recalling memories of misplaced items that she used constantly. Then she leads to the loss of a person, which ends up with her losing her perspective on life. This story leads her to recall the past emotions and memories she has felt. Ultimately, the story shows her dealing with pain and coming to terms with painful lessons. She starts …show more content…
But why should that matter so much? By definition, we do not live in the end: we live all along the way.” These two sentences show the way the author is deeply thinking. This relates to the author's persona and that is pensive, which means to be deeply thinking of memories. The purpose of having these two sentences in the story was to show the reader what the author was thinking after the loss of her father. Saying that whatever we lose will have the same lesson for us in the end. While in the beginning half of the story talks about her past of losing things that meant a lot to her in a reflective way. But later in the story “Losing Streak”, Kathryn Schulz writes “In other words, we are nearly always both the villains and victims. That goes some way toward explaining why people often say that losing things drives them crazy.” (Page 200) To understand this sentence the author must have had to take time thinking about what mistakes and things that have done in the past. From recalling events that they were in the wrong and events that had caused them to suffer, she has thought deeply about life and her …show more content…
How she had to handle moving on with life without him in it. On page 209 Kathryn Schulz said “All of this is made more precious, not less, by its impermanence. No matter what goes missing, the wallet or the father, the lessons are the same.” When it says the lessons are the same it means that whatever we lose no matter the size or thing we will feel the same emotion after that loss which is sadness. Ms. Schulz’s way of saying this suggests that she in the past has had plenty of things in her life that have been said. Pensive is a word that means to be deeply thinking about something, usually about a topic that is important to you. Throughout the story, Kathryn Schulz has been giving examples of her past, telling information from her background to events in her past. While telling us about these events, we can tell that she is in a pensive mood. Trying to recall all the facts of when she started to misplace items that then led up to the loss of her father. The story was in past tense, which can be seen by the author telling us about these events. The persona of this story is one where the author has reflective
Basketball is a chart-topping sport that is loved by many fans. It’s been a hit since 1891 when it began, starting in Springfield, Massachusetts. It grew rapidly in popularity and spread around the world. Many people found it comforting to play, such as Pat Conroy. Pat Conroy was an outstanding basketball player, who was committed in going far with his teammates. Although he seemed superb, he had a troubled life growing up at his family home. His parents were abusive and uncaring towards him, therefore he used basketball as an alternative. In My Losing Season, Pat was able to obliterate the thought of his abusive parents. His comfort was playing basketball with a team he will never fail to remember. The outcomes Pat acquired were admirable,
In the non-fictional book, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama and the fictional poem, “ The Suicide Note” by Janice Mirikitani has character(s) that lose something valuable. From both book and poem I can related to the loss that I have endured during my life. However, the loss of both are different for The Samurai’s Garden, Matsu loss her sister from leprosy and Sachi loss her best friend. In “The Suicide Note” the Asian-American student’s family loss their daughter because they think she was never good enough.
In the nonfiction book My Losing Season by Pat Conroy, he mainly expresses all the trials and tribulations he goes through as a child and in his current livelihood as senior at Citadel college. Conroy never had a good relationship with his father, no matter what he did the constant banter and hurtful play from his father always lingered. Conroy had a military family which meant that they were constantly moving every year to two years, this never gave him the chance to really settle in with the community and create steady friendships. This also made it hard for him to adjust to the way that certain area played basketball and how well he fit in with the teams. Basketball made him happy and having such an all-star basketball player as a father
... being driven out of her mind, so writing is one of the only things she can do to keep herself occupied. “I know I shouldn’t write but I’ve got to do something.She writes about everything that she is experiencing, and while every once and a while looks back into the past, she is usually in the present. This is written in first person point of view as well.
Many people lose things everyday, but the truth is you never know how much you need something until it’s gone. In the books “Going Over” by Beth Kephart and “brown girl dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson the theme; you never know how much you need something until it’s gone is perfect for both books because of the tragic loss of Jackie’s grandfather and the separation of Ada and Stefan. This theme is supported by Jacqueline’s move to New York, Ada and her deep longing for Stefan since the wall separated them, and Jacqueline losing her grandfather.
All through the times of the intense expectation, overwhelming sadness, and inspiring hope in this novel comes a feeling of relief in knowing that this family will make it through the wearisome times with triumph in their faces. The relationships that the mother shares with her children and parents are what save her from despair and ruin, and these relationships are the key to any and all families emerging from the depths of darkness into the fresh air of hope and happiness.
Her family life is depicted with contradictions of order and chaos, love and animosity, conventionality and avant-garde. Although the underlying story of her father’s dark secret was troubling, it lends itself to a better understanding of the family dynamics and what was normal for her family. The author doesn’t seem to suggest that her father’s behavior was acceptable or even tolerable. However, the ending of this excerpt leaves the reader with an undeniable sense that the author felt a connection to her father even if it wasn’t one that was desirable. This is best understood with her reaction to his suicide when she states, “But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him. Maybe it was the converse of the way amputees feel pain in a missing limb.” (pg. 399)
In Amy Hempels’ Short Story “Going,” our journey with the narrator travels through loss, coping, memory, experience, and the duality of life. Throughout the story is the narrator’s struggle to cope with the passing of his mother, and how he transitions from a mixture of depression, denial, and anger, into a kind of acceptance and revelation. The narrator has lost his mother in a fire three states away, and proceeds on a reckless journey through the desert, when he crashes his car and finds himself hospitalized. Only his thoughts and the occasional nurse to keep him company. The narrator soon gains a level of discovery and realizations that lead to a higher understanding of the duality of life and death, and all of the experiences that come with being alive.
Despite the basic requirements for human’s survival, personal relationships should be added because not many people are able to function well without intimate relationships with other people or valuable things. Due to this fact, grief occurs when there is a loss either through death, divorce, or theft or when something valuable to an individual can no longer be reached. Grief is that period of time when loss is felt acutely, and the feelings of loss are still very raw to the person. This paper is based on the book Lament for a Son, which was written by Nicholas Wolterstorff, a collection of narratives by this author who is going through grief due to the premature death of his 25-year-old son, Eric, who died in an accident while climbing a mountain.
In Amy Hempel’s Short Story “Going,” we take part in a journey with the narrator through loss, coping, memory, experience, and the duality of life. Throughout the story we see the narrator’s struggle through coping with the loss of his mother, and how he moves from a mixture of depression, denial, and anger, to a form of acceptance and revelation. The narrator has lost his mother to a fire three states away, and goes on a reckless journey through the desert, when he crashes his car and ends up hospitalized. Only his thoughts and the occasional nurse to keep him company. He then reaches a point of discovery and realizations that lead to a higher understanding of mortality, and all of the experiences that come with being alive.
Life is filled with memories and experiences that eventually, maybe even without any realization, determine the person an individual becomes. While the majority of people would prefer to be influenced by the positive moments (accomplishments, birthdays, graduations, etc.) The reality of the situation is that most individuals face experiences they would rather forget than accept as a part of their journey through life. Authors Brent Curtis and John Eldridge discuss this understanding in their novel, The Sacred Romance. The message of the arrows is one that many people try to avoid at all costs simply because they do not want to deal with the pain that accompanies each arrow.
... is reminiscing about the fact that she messed up and it cost the boy’s life. The overall tone in the end of the novel is depressing as the governess’s actions and attitudes about current events tend to reflect the tone of the situation.
She continues in this sequel to talk about the abuse she faced and the dysfunction that surrounded her life as a child and as a teen, and the ‘empty space’ in which she lived in as a result. She talks about the multiple personalities she was exhibiting, the rebellious “Willie” and the kind “Carol”; as well as hearing noises and her sensory problems. In this book, the author puts more emphasis on the “consciousness” and “awareness” and how important that was for her therapeutic process. She could not just be on “auto-pilot” and act normal; the road to recovery was filled with self-awareness and the need to process all the pieces of the puzzle—often with the guidance and assistance of her therapist. She had a need to analyze the abstract concept of emotions as well as feelings and thoughts. Connecting with others who go through what she did was also integral to her
The idea behind this short story is not the fact that everyone dies, but the eventful memories that can make the life worthwhile. The author says, “So much for endings. Beginnings are always more fun! True connoisseurs, however, are known to favor the stretch in between, since it’s the hardest to do anything with. That’s about all that can be said for plots, which anyway are just one thing after another, a what and a what and a what.
She wrote this sort of as an example or warning to others like her who are leaving their family to be on their own for the first time. Her attitude is serious and haunting. The author shifts from a dark and omnious tone as she talks about the voices of her dead relatives to more sad and