Throughout the last ten days, I have been busy reading Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, and I am currently on page 240. Garth Stein’s narrative is told by one narrator, but from an unusual perspective. The story is narrated by a friendly canine, and begins with the end of the story, and then goes back to tell the story form the very beginning. Enzo, the dog, is not there for his owner’s whole life, but Denny, his owner is there for Enzo’s whole life. He only knows life through the life of Denny. Enzo can only communicate through gestures, and often sees things that Denny, and his wife, Eve, miss in their busy everyday lives. Denny and Eve have a child and name her, Zoe. Eve later develops brain cancer and later passes. A few days …show more content…
His wife’s parents no longer accept him and did not allow him to attend his own wife’s funeral. Enzo is witnessing the unfortunate events of Denny’s life. It seems he always knows the perfect solutions to Denny’s complicated problems, but can only communicate through gestures and sounds. While reading Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain, I have been predicting, visualizing, and connecting. This novel has made me acquire many predictions of the events that have occurred. One prediction I have is that Denny will have to end his racing career. Denny is a very experienced and successful racer. He would leave Eve and Zoe for weeks at a time to go on racing tours around the world. He had much success throughout his career, but I predict that his racing career will be cut short. He always knew his …show more content…
A couple years ago my aunt passed away from brain cancer after a long battle. It was extremely tough to bare the loss but it was even worse to see her in that kind of pain. I really could connect when Denny was in denial that Eve was going to pass away. He would just reiterate to himself everyday that Eve will come home soon and everything will go back to the way it was before she became ill. I never thought that my own aunt would actually pass away I always thought she would over come it. She had a long tough battle for about 10 years she fought. It was quite incredible to have that much time with her. Everyday I am incredibly grateful for that time. Eve knew that she was going to die, but did not show it around her loved ones. She did not want to appear weak or close to death to Zoe and especially Denny. When Eve was in hospice she was afraid to die and leave her loved ones behind. She told Enzo, “Get me through tonight, that’s all I need. Protect me. Don’t let it happen tonight. Enzo, please. You’re the only one who can help” (Stein 127). This just shows she needed more time to accept what was going to happen and was not quite ready to let go yet. My aunt was the same way, I believe that she held on so long only for us. Once she knew that we would all be okay and that we did not want to see her in pain anymore that is when she knew that she could let go. Reading this part was very emotional for
When Denny’s late wife Eve dies, his whole world is changed. Trish and Maxwell - the evil Twins - plot against Denny by pulling him into a major court battle. As a result, Denny is forced to sacrifice major opportunities in order to win custody of his daughter, Zoë. “ “I appreciate your generous offer,” he [Denny] said. “But I’m afraid certain things prevent me from leaving this country – or even this state – at the moment. So I have to decline.” (Stein 276) Luca Pantoni – a man that worked at Ferrari – asked Denny if he wanted to move out to Italy with his family where he could test cars for a living. With the major court battle going on Denny had to politely refuse the offer. Knowing Denny’s personality it would have been difficult for him to decline such a great offer, but at that moment he had to think about his family first. Next to Eve, Zoë is the most important person in Denny’s life. The death of Eve was unexpected for both Denny and Zoë, but Denny could not let his sadness and frustration show...
No matter how much he put her through, she kept fighting for her life. I was confused by this because, in my eyes her life was completely over. I did not see how she could ever live a functioning life after all of the things that she went through. I would have thought that this reality would have been a reason for her to give up and choose fiction. Fiction would have been the easy way out of the pain, loses, and suffering that she faces and would continue to face. Then I thought to myself that is what makes humans amazing. Being able to endure the challenges of life and keep going. Originally, I thought she was a fool to keep going then I realized that she was strong. If I was her I would have chosen my reality
After a rough year of court dates, the charges are dropped, and Denny receives full custody of Zoe. Right before Enzo’s tenth birthday, a car hits him, and his health is declining rapidly. The book ends with Enzo’s death, which really hits hard. Denny moves to Italy with Zoe, and takes a job test-driving Ferraris; this leads to Denny being a Formula One champion driver. Coincidently, at the very end of the book, Denny meets an aspiring racecar driver named Enzo.
...e to cope with the ominous recurring flashbacks and the heart-aching memories he suffered from every day. He may have been able to be saved if he only had an outlet to express his feelings. To that end, the significance of connection and communication between one another cannot be further stressed and hopefully this story was encouragement enough to reach out to fellow loved ones and even acquaintances in an effort to gain better relationships and advance as a society.
Shock, anger, numbness, denial, acceptance, and fighting for one’s life, are the general phases of grief through one’s experience with cancer (cancersurvivors.org). Although discovering about one’s cancer can be excruciating, an additional agonizing reaction to a sick person is how the others are affected and their one-on-one reaction to the person. Feeling overly pitiful to one’s illness can impair the situation for the one who is ill by emotionally making the tragedy feel additionally worse. Although the extra sympathy, empathy, and compassion Hazel Grace Lancaster is treated with in The Fault In Ours Stars are intended to comfort, these exaggerated emotions have the opposite effect, further isolating and reminding her of her limited existence, but concurrently, the reality of condolences is pivotal to Hazel’s life.
I walked into the room on New Year’s Day and felt a sudden twinge of fear. My eyes already hurt from the tears I had shed and those tears would not stop even then the last viewing before we had to leave. She lay quietly on the bed with her face as void of emotion as a sheet of paper without the writing. Slowly, I approached the cold lifeless form that was once my mother and gave her a goodbye kiss.
Finding out about my grandmothers death was the saddest moment in my life . I didn't understand . I didn't expect it to happen , not to me . I wondered why god had taken an important person away from my life , ad for that i felt confused and miserable . I cried for hours that day . Nothing could have brought me joy that day but the presence of my grandmother , but she was gone and i found it hard to overcome the situation.
“Bereavement is not a one-dimensional experience. It’s not the same for everyone and there do not appear to be...
A moment in time that I hold close to myself is the funeral of my grandmother. It occurred a couple of weeks ago on the Friday of the blood drive. The funeral itself was well done and the homily offered by the priest enlightened us with hope and truth. But when the anti-climatic end of the funeral came my family members and relatives were somberly shedding tears. A sense of disapproval began creeping into my mind. I was completely shocked that I did not feel any sense of sadness or remorse. I wanted to feel the pain. I wanted to mourn, but there was no source of grief for me to mourn. My grandma had lived a great life and left her imprint on the world. After further contemplation, I realized why I felt the way I felt. My grandmother still
What Evalina experienced as a mother who lost a child is the very ordinary response; it was her growth after the loss that impressed me. My sisters took much longer to heal and move forward after the deaths of my niece and nephew; however, once they were ready to cope with the loss it came in unintended life-altering moments such as Evalina’s. Finding someone that you feel whole with, such as Evalina did, can truly help heal holes in hearts and give a person a reason to live again. It was beautiful to see this happen for Evalina and just made me reflect upon how happy I was and am for my sisters when they found that reason to live in life again. It is a remarkable thing when someone who has dealt with so much loss, unimaginable loss, can find freedom, happiness, and love
I have felt the pain of the loss of a Sister; have felt the pain of the death of my Mother, and felt the death of my Father. I know how it feels. I experienced it. It is painful, looking at those old kind folks who bore you; who took care of you; went through all kinds of sacrifices and pains just to look after you for years and years, until one day the child stood on one’s own two feet, and then … there they are, the parents, helpless and lifeless in front of you.
One of the many themes of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is the struggle of life. From Christopher’s struggle to be seen as an adult and take harder courses, Father’s need to be free from the sadness of his wife leaving him, and Mother needing to be strong and be a good mother to Christopher. Everyone is struggling with something in this story and it shows that even when you think you know someone and what they’re going through you never truly do. Everyone is struggling with something no matter how big or small and that’s what makes you realize no matter how you feel you aren’t alone.
This sense of care was called upon when a woman grabbed my arm to ask “My dad is going to be ok isn’t he?” while I was scribing in the Good Samaritan hospital. The 78 year old father was suspected of having a heart attack, but I had to ease her worry. “Yes he is going to be okay. The doctor thinks he is having a heart attack, but…” and at that point she started crying. I took ahold of her hand, and gave it a warm squeeze. I knew, from when my mother had cancer, that the unknown outcome of a loved one evokes a horrible sense of worry and fear. She needed reassurance that her dad will be ok. While her tearful eyes looked at me, I comforted and stayed by her side until she stopped crying. The woman thanked me and hugged me tight. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I tried to put myself in her shoes to ease her worry and guilt.
I, of course, knew my mother as a mother. As I have reached adulthood and become a mother myself, I have also known her as a friend. My mom shared much of herself with me, and I saw sides of my mother as she struggled with her cancer that I had never seen before, especially her strong belief in positive thinking and the importance of quality of life. I was privileged to know so many facets of my mother, but certainly I did not know all. There were parts of her life that I didn’t see, relationships that I didn’t know about. Last night, at the wake, so many stories were told to me about my mom’s strength, courage, humor, kindness, her quietness, her loyalty as a friend. It was so special to hear of these things that my mom said and did, to know some of these other parts of her life. I hope that her friends and family will continue to share these stories with me and with each other so we can continue to know and remember my mom.
Two years and four months ago I died. A terrible condition struck me, and I was unable to do anything about it. In a matter of less than a year, it crushed down all of my hopes and dreams. This condition was the death of my mother. Even today, when I talk about it, I burst into tears because I feel as though it was yesterday. I desperately tried to forget, and that meant living in denial about what had happened. I never wanted to speak about it whenever anyone would ask me how I felt. To lose my Mom meant losing my life. I felt I died with her. Many times I wished I had given up, but I knew it would break the promise we made years before she passed away. Therefore, I came back from the dead determined and more spirited than before.