Dealing with problems, internally or externally, is common among humanity. It does not make one unique or different for their issues, but what does contribute to their individuality is their way to go about this said problem. From the piece, The Loneliness of the Long-distance Runner written by Alan Sillitoe, the main character Smith deals with both of these forms of conflict. Smith has an internal conflict with the government versus him, which is established early on in the work. Alongside this internal issue, he deals with the problem of not having the necessities for life and not obtaining these given the opportunity. To cope with these, Smith takes on long-distance running which is symbolic of life. After the symbolism is clear, it is left to the …show more content…
Viewing life this way causes many more complications during life that are not necessary. For example, being surrounded by people, friends, family, etc., would result in the need for being better. In this case, being better would correlate to being ahead in the race because at that point you would be further along than everyone else. Another issue that arises with this viewpoint is loneliness. Wanting to be better and ahead of everyone creates a revolting personality which can result in isolation ultimately leaving no one to be ahead of. If there is no one to be ahead of you are not winning or losing the race. Smith is conflicted with viewing life as a race or a run. In the story, he “moaned about it being a bit think sending me out so early to run five miles on an empty stomach, until they talked me round to thinking it wasn’t so bad” (Sillitoe 1207). Here, it is clear that Smith is having trouble finding his own opinions. Referring back to his issue of the government versus him, the government tries to penetrate Smith’s ideas and conquer his opinion prohibiting Smith from being himself. The government clearly views the run as a race and they want Smith to
Throughout life people encounter a numerous amount of obstacles, some of these obstacles can be tougher than others. These obstacles don’t define who you are, how the situation is handled does. In the book The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, Jessica encounters a tremendous obstacle that life could throw at her. Jessica has had to learn to adjust her life from the way that she used to live. Her life is changing and she has to decide if this accident defines who she is going to be while being surrounded by the love and comfort of her family.
Throughout life people encounter a numerous amount of obstacles, some of these obstacles can be tougher than others. These obstacles don’t define who you are, how the situation is handled does. In the book The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, Jessica encounters a tremendous obstacle that life could throw at her. Jessica has had to learn to adjust her life from the way that she used to live. Her life is changing and she has to decide if this accident defines who she is going to be while being surrounded by the love and comfort of her family.
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
I have always loved sports and the competitiveness that comes along with them. In so doing, I have decided to eventually become either a high school or college coach at some point in my life. Subsequently, I decided to interview the Vilonia High School Cross Country Coach, Coach Sisson. As I walked into her office, I instantly noticed all of the trophies and team photos from all of the past years of coaching. She is also the school nurse so her office has first aid equipment intermingled into the trophies and team pictures. While I set up my notes and questions for the interview on one of the desks in her office, she was finishing up a diagnosis of one of the high school students who felt sick. After her patient left, I quickly started the interview in order to waste no time. She began with how she got involved in coaching. The Vilonia School District expressed their interest to her as being the next cross country coach several years ago. She was widely known for her passion for running and she gratefully accepted the position and has been a coach for numerous years now.
Kohn claims that one will never be able to truly be satisfied with being better than someone else, because there will always be someone who is even better. From personal experience, I have realized that when I accomplish an achievement that another person did not, it is easy to feel superior. However, I will then come to realize that there is someone else with an even higher achievement than I have. When it comes to competing, one will never be completely
We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies. Amir's mother passes away during his birth, and his left with the suspicion that his father blames him for her death. Amir longes for his father's attention and approval, but does not receive any affection as a son. He grows up with his Hazara best friend, Hassan. In Afghanistan culture, Hazaras are considered lower class and inferiors in society. Amir describes his friendship with Hassan saying, “then he would remind us that there was a brotherhood between people who had fed from the same breast, a kinship that not even time could break." (20). Amir first refuses the call of action due to being afraid of the adventure ahead of him. Call to action is the very first step of the hero's journey, where the hero is disrupted and the
I am now officially in my Senior year of Cross Country , and am close to the end of my season. My first race of this year though was a big accomplishment for me, because I hadn`t been able to run. When I ran that race though it made me just so happy I was able to finish it, I was`nt happy with the time, but there is always time for improvement. I was glad to be racing again and being apart of the team again. I believe that my injuries were a barrier in my way, but they did not stop my sports career.
Smiths and Bradford texts differ in the way that smith is writing as if it is supposed to be a novel. Saying things that are action scenes that actually keep the readers intrigued to continue reading. Meaning he is putting himself third person. Some evidence in the text that he uses to entertain readers is when he exaggerates the incident of when they have no food and he says “… when god, the patron of all good endeavors, [made the Indians give gifts of food to the settlers]. Which wasn’t even needed but he
I am a runner. I was selected to be a cross country captain for my senior year and I had set myself a realistic goal of being one of the top five finishers at the state meet in the fall. I never had the thought that I could not do it; I knew I was going to be up there with the best. When the state meet came and I traveled with the team as captain, that race became one of the most memorable of my cross country career but not for the reasons I expected.
One of the most significant battles in antiquity was fought on the narrow, tree strewn plain of Marathon, in September, 490 BC. There, the Athenian army defeated a Persian force more than twice its size, because of superior leadership, training and equipment. The battle of Marathon has provided inspiration to the underdogs throughout history. In 490 BC, the Athenians proved that superior strategy, and technology can claim victory over massive numbers.
The details included by Smith effectively show him to be the more compassionate man of the murderers. In Smith’s statement there are many details, vividly described, that show the reader the compassion in his heart. One of the first acts of kindness is shown when they find Mr. Clutter, “… I thought that Dick was ready to smash him, so I said, “Dick. Listen to me. There’s somebody awake upstairs”(238). By distracting Dick, Smith effectively saves Mr. Clutter from Dicks wrath and changes Dicks focus from him to another problem at hand. By talking about how readily
isolation is more of his own confusion with society, rather his issue with it. Meanwhile, the theme of
While running to some may be a way to earn a living or a way of life, others may do it in order to ...
Conflict is something that you encounter pretty much every day. It is almost inevitable that you will not encounter conflict as you through your day or doing anything else. There are different ways to confront conflict, and it depends on the type of person that you are. The different ways that people can confront conflict are either head-on or just complete avoidance. When people avoid a conflict, sometimes it tends to work in their favor, but sometimes it does not and the problem just becomes bigger. Also with handling it head-on there are some major problems. Sometimes the people who confront those conflicts are not people who can express themselves in a good manner, so they tend to blow things out of proportions. “Our basis understanding
...to the reader by using a first person narrator. This makes the reader feel like they are sitting across from the person telling the story; it makes the narrator more relatable. And by asking questions throughout the story directly at the reader; ”You see those lights across the bay?...You see that fence?” (p.2, l.2), “A miracle, no?” (p.5, l.117) , “Don’t you understand?” (p.4, l. 80) Smith also manages to get the reader to really think about the story’s message – the refugee issue.