Scott Carrier’s Running after Antelope, is a collection of short stories based on different journeys throughout his life, from a boy to an adult. Playing with his brother, chasing small animals, to playing football in school. Climbing a mountain and reconnecting with friends before going separate ways in lives journeys. Learning his mistakes and failures as life moves on and how it changes when he gets older. Learning how everyone he meets has a different view of their life and beliefs. Some people live their lives based on their beliefs or try to live like their ancestors did at one time. The world we live in is small and see different aspects of the world around us. As Carrier writes about different journeys in his life there seems to be …show more content…
a theme about the different paths he takes in life and finds that one passion that he wants to live for. It becomes an item on his bucket list and everything in between is just the set up for this passion. There is a life lesson to be taken from this collection of short stories, people should not take life for granted. I think a lot of people can learn from this, life is not perfect and there are ups and downs most people deal with in their lives. In Carrier’s short story “Windfall”, one of his neighbors is involved in an accident in which he sued the guy at fault.
He didn’t think about when he received all the money that he would have to pay for legal fees and medical bills, so he had the money spent before he even received it. When someone comes into money either by earning it, inheriting it, or by accident, there seems to be a change in the way they act. As if the money became some kind of power for them. Carrier writes, “In one way, the promise of money seemed like a disease, a mental illness….these dreams had already materialized.” (17) Some people change the way they act when they come into a lot of money and some don’t change at all. With money expensive things can be bought, such as cars, houses, and vacations. Money overtakes the mind and causes a different mindset. When someone inherits money even before they have it to spend, they start to act as if they do. Money and the items that are purchased with it, are just materialized things. I think they forget they can’t take it with them in the end. Money is just an object and so are the things we buy with it and I think many of us forget about that. Yes, it is nice to have nice things and go on nice vacations, but what good is it in the end? Life is too short and we all can be guilty of taking this for …show more content…
granted. In Carrier’s short story “Carpenter”, he was working for his younger brother as an assistant. Carrier was always “upset” as he had to work on other people’s houses. It wasn’t until something went wrong and he witnessed his brother stay calm about the incident that he realized that there is more in life than being angry all the time. Everyone has different lives and we all choose our own way of living them. Some are more successful and some choose to destroy them. Life is hard as we come to find out as we get older, but it’s our choice to change it and make it better in how we see fit. Carrier writes, “Then I realized that it was his life, that he’d chosen to do this, and he didn’t hate it.” (51) When someone doesn’t take life for granted you can tell by the way they act, and they don’t let the smallest things bug them. I don’t agree when someone says, that person is always in trouble because they were raised in that environment, or they are poor because they grew up poor. Everyone makes their choices on how they live their life. Yes, bad things happen to good people and sometimes it is hard to get out of a rut, but there are many success stories out there so it is possible to get out of that rut. I think there is an empowerment in all of us and some choose to use it in ways that others don’t. I think people who take life for granted are the ones who are unsuccessful in their lives and don’t succeed and are always in trouble. In Carrier’s short story “Hitchhike”, he came across an opportunity that would help his family out, but the opportunity was in New York. Being short on money, Carrier choose to hitchhike across country. He is picked up by a trucker in Wyoming who takes him all the way to New Jersey. There is still some good in people and you seem to meet them in the strangest ways. As if perhaps they are placed there for a reason. Hitchhiking might not be the safest thing to do, but there always seems to be that one person who still has a heart and is caring enough to help someone on their way. Carrier writes, “He found the train station, and I shook his hand and told him thanks, but it was kind of hard to get out of his car--you ride across the country with someone and then it’s like, “O.K., thanks, see ya.”” (60) When you find someone in your life that you click with and learn a lot about them and see the good in them, it is hard to let them go. These are the people we all look for to be true friends with or even a true love. Not everyone is that kind, and when you do find that person you don’t want to let them go. I think true friendships or true love is very hard to come by anymore. Once you do find it, you don’t want to let it go and you would do anything to keep it. People who don’t try to hold on to these friendships always seem to be the ones that are not happy in their lives and truly take life for granted in everything they do. It seems like now a days a lot of people take life for granted and they really don’t know what they have until it is gone.
Whether it be money, friendships, or even family. Life is too short and we should enjoy it while we have it. Live life to its fullest. I really enjoyed reading this book and believe I can take a lot of life lessons from it and learn from them. Enjoy every day that I have and don’t worry about the smallest things. We should find that passion that we want to live for like Carrier did with the antelope. Learn from our mistakes and try to make it better. You don’t need money to make your life better, but you do need to be happy and enjoy your life to its fullest. I know not everyone will change their ways and some will still be greedy and some will still be evil, but it is always a true pleasure in my life when I still see people being kind. There is so much joy when you meet people who still have a big heart and care for the people around them and even when you get to be one of those people. Helping out someone that is down and out, or they just had a rough patch in their life and knowing that you were able to help them get in the right direction. This is living life and enjoying every bit of
it.
I believe the most important concept that I gained from reading the book was to remain faithful, in good times and in bad. Walking blindly can be very terrifying, but God always has a plan for each and every one of us. At times, the plan remains unseen, and that should not deter or slow me on the path that my heart is yearning
I have only read four books my entire life for school, but this is one is the best I have read. There were numerous things that I learned from the book. The one that hit me the hardest was it's hard to see people living in shame because they can cover it up really well, almost like it doesn’t bother them at all. I grew up in a middle class family and simply didn't understand what it meant to be so broke that you are ashamed to be around people who have money. The thought never crossed my mind, ever.
this book if other people have questions regarding living a life lesson in every effort.
I can relate this book to my life in many ways; it was easier for me to relate to this book because were both 18 year old girls who want to live life the right way. Also I don’t want to live life trying to be like everyone else, so this was really encouraging to me. A part that helped me was the part about confidence and how important that is. Its important to have confidence in your faith because say you get in a situation you can protect your faith and stand up for what you believe. Another part that I can really apply to my life was how when people were talking about her she didn’t even beg to know. Personally whenever I hear that someone was talking about me, I really want to know what they said! This helped me to learn that why fill my brain with negativity sinful gossip, because that’s not what Jesus would do.
I really enjoyed this book. Alot of the passages made me really appreciate and reflect on those that are in my life, loved ones, or even a stranger that holds a door open for me. There is much love and gratitude to be dwelled on in life and I believe that if more people read Dr. Byock’s The Four Things That Matter Most, it would help so many people. Even if you think all of your relationships are already perfect, there is always room to grow. I definitely will think of my words and actions before I speak, and add the four things more to my life.
Money can cause people to act selfish and arrogant, especially when they have so much money they do noteven know what to spend it on. In the novel,
On April 1992, a young man from a wealthy family went to have the most amazing experience of a lifetime. He went hiking to the Alaskan Frontier, from the Grand Canyon, and through Chesapeake Beach. His name was Christopher McCandless and he wanted the best for himself. He first burned the cash inside of his wallet, cut up his ID’s, and abandoned his car. He even gave away $24,000 in savings to charity. The story “Into The Wild” describes how Chris McCandless changed his name to Alexander Supertramp. Jon Krakauer’s “Into The Wild” depicts a Transcendental representation due to his appreciation of nature when leaving society, trusting his own instincts, and most importantly, the interconnection of Oversoul.
The theme of this novel is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."
The book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless a young man who abandoned his life in search of something more meaningful than a materialistic society. In 1992 Chris gave his $ 25,000 savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, and burned all of his money to chase his dream. Chris’s legacy was to live in simplicity, to find his purpose, and to chase his dreams. Chris McCandless’s decision to uproot his life and hitchhike to Alaska has encouraged other young adults to chase their dreams. Neal Karlinksy illustrates the love Chris had for nature in the passage, “He was intoxicated by the nature and the idea of a great Alasican adventure-to survive in the bush totally alone.”
Life and death, happiness and sadness, loneliness and company, frustration and understanding, guilt and content. All of these are emotions that you will experience as you walk in Toby’s footsteps through The Trail, written by Meika Hashimoto. In the story, the main characters are Toby, Lucas, Denver, Sean, and Moose. The main setting is a portion of the Appalachian Trail, along with many shelters throughout that section of the Appalachian Trail. In the beginning of the story, it introduces Toby, the protagonist, and hints at his reasoning behind why he is hiking the Appalachian Trail in the first place. It also introduces Lucas, Toby’s best friend, and some of the ways that whatever happened between them effects Toby. The overall conflict, or problem in The Trail is Toby battling guilt and the emotional aspect all together, along with the physical obstacles he has to face. The solution to the problem is Toby becoming content with who he is, what has happened between
The Hunting Ground is a documentary written and directed by Kirby Dick. The film follows the journey of two sexual assault survivors, Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, as they file a Title IX lawsuit against University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for not properly supporting them. Although released in March of 2015, the documentary features cases and personal narratives from survivors dating back to 2011. Pino and Clark also provide testimonials from other real survivors, both college-aged men and women, in order to depict the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses. The film also provides insight and statistics from various educated professionals, such as university deans, researchers, and writers. The demographics of the sexual assault
Some of these include, “Among his personal tragedies since then, his granddaughter and daughter have both dies, and he has allegedly been robbed several times. Another case is Abraham Shakespeare of Florida, who was slain after winning a $31 million lottery prize” (Landau para. 5). These situations give examples of the misfortune that was caused after obtaining a large amount of money. The first person had gotten robbed, and the lottery winner was killed. The first lottery winner was already facing prior family problems, and instead of the money giving him a little bit of happiness, it gave him the trouble of multiple robberies. Furthermore, the second winner had his happiness taken away from him, because he was killed, and he was given no chance to enjoy his life with money. For these reasons, not only did money cause people misfortune, but it also took away their happiness. In contrast, there were still some cases in which these money winners were able to have a happy and comfortable life, and some of these people were also able to use their money for a good cause. On the other hand, there were still more problems caused by money that good results. In conclusion, money had caused many people misfortune, which had ultimately taken away any happiness that they had in their
He was really proud of the money that was stolen, but he did not need the money before so why would he need it now. His decision was based on the need for safety and love in his family and not the greed for
Another knowledge that I obtained from is on page 102 “you should be able to handle what life sends your way. You need to use the thread of logic, as best as you can, to skillfully sew into yourself everything that’s worth living for.” This statement helped me realize that although everything in the moment may seem complicated, over time, one will conclude that it was not a significant problem and everything in life had a purpose. Overall, there were many expressive quotes in this novel that describes how people may perceive life and how relatable it can be in our everyday