People always say how they would love to live in a small town. That they love the feeling of unity and being close with everyone in the city. In Our Town, Wilder (the author) infers to the fact that the town endures zero privacy (everyone knows everyone’s business), expectations, and people seem to be going through the motions of life, and he does not intend to idealize Grover’s Corners as an establishment of uncompromising brotherly love. Wilder makes a point to include in the play characters who criticize small town life, and Grover’s Corners specifically. I believe that Our Town is a criticism of small town life because there is no personal privacy and people go through life hoping to live up to everyone else’s expectations, missing life’s moments of happiness. There is a saying that nothing is faster than small town …show more content…
In Grover’s Corners, there are three life events: Birth, Marriage, Death. The rest is a blur. In Our Town, the stage manager says, People are meant to go through life two by two. ’Tain’t natural to be lonesome.” They expect marriage. Without going through it, you are looked down upon. Also, there is a sense that people are trapped in Grover’s Corners. People are anticipated to carry on the family business on the farm, shop, etc. Likewise, people don’t go through life with meaning. They don’t treasure the little moments of joy in life. This idea of trying to do what we are “supposed to” still occurs today. We still have standards we are set to achieve: making good grades, going to college, marriage, retirement, etc. All good things, but you are judged based on your achievement of these “goals”. Even today, people have expectations for kids based on their parents’ achievements, career, etc. Expectations can decide how your life goes and how happy you
Both awe-inspiring and indescribable is life, the defined “state of being” that historians and scholars alike have been trying to put into words ever since written language was first created. And in the words of one such intellectual, Joshua J. Marine, “Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful”. Essentially, he is comparing life to a bowl of soup. Without challenges or hardship into which we can put forth effort and show our potential, it becomes a dull and flavorless broth. But for characters in novels like Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the difficulties and trials that we all must face can transfigure the mundane liquid mixture of existence into a vibrant and fulfilling gumbo. The protagonists of these works are two strong-willed and highly admirable women, who prevail in the face of overwhelming odds stacked in everyone’s favor but theirs. In their trying periods of isolation brought about by cold and unwelcoming peers, particularly men, they give their lives meaning by simply pushing forward, and living to tell the tale.
The search for our definition of the good life is wrought with trials and tribulation, working to overcome deep seeded trends of oppression within society or family. For some, finding the good life requires them to rise above subjugation, regardless of consequences. This struggle is illustrated in Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr, who argues the necessity of peaceful protest to find a future of equality free from persecution, and in Hobson’s Choice by Harold Brighouse where a woman must rise above her father’s tyrannical will to find a good life. While no struggle is without its consequences, the finality of finding the good life and the benefits of that achievement ultimately overrides the fight for happiness.
Having a family of low socioeconomic status inevitably leaves me to reside in a low-income neighborhood which makes it more likely for me to witness the tragedies, adversities and hardships that people go through [not excluding myself]. Being conscious of this kind of environment, and these kinds of events, creates a pressure on me for having the aim to achieve social mobility in order to escape the aforementioned environment so that my own children could witness one less abominable aspect of life. Moreover, my family’s low socioeconomic status does not authorize me the privilege of being raised with the concerted cultivation method that kids of high socioeconomic status are more prone to being raised in. My family did not have the financial resources that granted us access to extra classes or lessons of instrumental classes, swimming practices, karate practices, or any other extracurricular activities that people of high socioeconomic status would be able to afford. This invisible fence that prevents me from these extracurricular activities enables me to having more appreciation towards the hobbies and talents that other people have. Plus, the fact that my family’s low socioeconomic status acts as a barrier from enjoying expensive luxuries in life creates a yearning [in me] to enjoy them later on in my life, in addition to acting as the fuel to my wish of achieving social mobility in anticipation of providing my own children with the luxurious vacations, gadgets, beachhouse, new cars that I could not
Everyone wants to fill the void within themselves, and most humans try to accomplish this by finding jobs they enjoy, but it seems that most of them ultimately fail. When you are younger you look to your parents to show you the way, but as you approach adulthood you start to feel more of a sense of rebellion toward them instead of the admiration you once had. The writer makes the poem universal by saying he didn’t want to end up like his father, something most children in north america could relate to. It’s also easily linked to our society in north america because of the way our schooling system is set up, in a way that you must commit to what you’re going to do for the rest of your life when you’re still too young to vote, and our system being this way makes it easy to end up regretting what you choose. Humans in modern society are expected to make many commitments for a range of things- relationships or sports teams, even major life decisions, and it’s obvious that our natural need for commitment is prevalent in our everyday life. Consequently, this need for making commitments can end up leaving people making poor decisions or at least taking a route you’ll end up wanting to renounce in the
Newly dead, Emily was able to look down on Grover’s Corners from a different perspective. From her new perspective, she realized that the lives of the living were much different than the lives of the dead. The stage manager explained “the dead don’t stay interested in us living people for very long. Gradually, gradually, they lose hold of the earth… and the ambitions they had… and the pleasures they had… and the things they suffered… and the people they loved…” (Wilder, 88). Since the dead were capable of looking over Grover’s Corners, they saw what the living could not. They did not stay interested in the living because it pained them to watch how ignorant they were. After enlightenment, the dead had no reason to hold onto their old lives. While looking down on Grover’s Corners, Emily was quickly able to tell that the live residents were living in a false reality, and asked the other dead “Live people don’t understand, do they?” (Wilder, 96). What the living did not understand was how lucky they were to be alive. They took everything for granted because they had no opportunity to look at their lives from a different perspective, as the dead had. After further examination, Emily concluded that “They’re sort of shut up in little boxes, aren’t they?” (Wilder, 96). Although Emily was not referring to the people of Grover’s
My introduction : Throughout the novel, many are lonely. Of the characters, Curley's wife, Crooks and Candy all show signs of desperate loneliness, though they respond quite differently. Each is isolated because of special mistreatment. Because Crooks is black, he is shunned and separated from the other men. He spends most of his time in his room, alone and bitter. Curley's wife also spends her days hounded by her mean, spirited husband; her attempts to reach out to the other men backfire and win the the undeserved reputation of a flirt. Candy has a disadvantage being handicap, and he has an unconditional love for an old and feeble and after his dog is shot he looks for new companionship. Throughout the characters of Curley's wife, Crooks and Candy, Steinbeck proves that one can be lonely, even if he's constantly surrounded by people.
The theme of Our Town is that people do not truly appreciate the little things in daily life. This theme is displayed throughout the entire play. It starts in the beginning with everybody just going through their daily life, occasionally just brushing stuff off or entirely not doing or appreciating most things. But as you progress through the story you begin to notice and squander on the thought that the people in the play do not care enough about what is truly important. By the end of this play you realize that almost everybody does not care enough for the little things as they should, instead they only worry about the future, incessantly worrying about things to come.
...ts set for them. Children are constantly aware of adults’ choices, and they begin to formulate their own understanding of general values at a young age. When adults are hypocritical of their pre-set standards, it sends children into a state of discombobulation. Staying true to one’s values as an example for children will be beneficial to them as they travel along the highway of childhood and come upon the exit necessary to reach the interstate of adulthood.
In this society, citizens are bred in a factory to be whatever the society needs them to be. ( Huxley 13). This is significant in everyone who has a destiny they cannot escape, a purpose they did not choose to be their own. Without this freedom, nobody can really be truly happy and free. However this society does ensure happiness but in a different way, which is called “ conditioning”. Conditioning in this society is when the people in the world state predestined them to love their job, which is the reason why they were born and to dislike other jobs and purposes that they may have wanted to pursue without conditioning. In this novel, they were doing conditioning on 8 month old babies who were in the delta caste. Some nurses presented books and flowers to them, when they began to crawl towards the books and flowers, the babies received a mild shock which scared them and left them terrified, after so many times completing this process; the children will have instinctive hatred towards books and flowers. Mr.Foster describes how “ all conditioning aims at that; making people like their unescapable social destiny” (16). This portrays that conditioning cannot be escaped, even if they tried. The conditioned are force to enjoy what they were conditioned to enjoy without freedom of choice whether or not they want to, this is just creating false
...ferent from their peers has isolated Bernard, Helmholtz, and John, it has also deepened their individuality. This scenario, at a lesser level, often plays out in modern day. People possess a natural desire to fit in and often are willing to forego individuality in order to do so. Though one may gain a facade of happiness as a result of fitting in, being truthful to oneself and expressing one’s free will allows for honest expression of individuality, a concept much greater than such a facade. A society without unique individuals is a society without humanity, and, as demonstrated through these characters’ experience, does not function. Ultimately, people must realize that individuality, knowledge, and raw emotion is more important to society than superficial happiness.
In result, Bebe’s mother told her she was disappointed in her, then sent her to her room, leaving her alone with her own consciousness, and leaving her alone to think about what she had done. On her way to her room she stopped to watch her neighbor, who was beating his son for something that was seemingly less important than what Bebe had done herself. She recalls a time when all the kids, the neighbors, her siblings, and herself, had all gotten in trouble together and the neighbors had said he was going to beat them all (128). Even though the neighbors boys were beaten and spanked they continued to get into trouble and do the things that caused them punishment, knowing they would get into trouble for it. Yet, even before Bebe's mother told her she was disappointed in her, she felt guilt and remorse, due to the way her mother had raised her, instilling values in her that saying and doing certain things wasn’t acceptable. This is one of the main examples of how there is no specific set of values, and that each family gets to choose their own values and how they instil them in their family.
The novel is set during the Great Depression, which was “a time of great economic turmoil and disaster” (American History), in Soledad, California. Before the characters are fully introduced, there is a sense of isolation already because the name of the town literally translates to loneliness in Spanish (Study Spanish). Most of the characters experience loneliness. The reader quickly learns that Lennie is a lonely character when George reminds Lennie: "guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place" (Steinbeck 15). As the novel continues, the reader quickly learns that the workers are not the only ones who are lonely; Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife also confess their loneliness. Candy experiences loneliness due to his disability and his age. Candy lost his hand after an accident involving machinery, which ultimately forces him to stay behind. His age also causes Candy to feel a sense of loneliness because he is...
In Margaret Atwood’s short story, “Happy Endings,” the central theme of fiction provides several different kinds of marriages and relationships that ultimately result in the same ending. The “Happy Endings” shows that it’s difficult to have complete control over day-to-day events. No matter how hard society tries to achieve the perfect life, it does not always go as planned. It doesn’t matter if the characters are bored and depressed, confused and guilty, or virtuous and lucky; the gradual path of version A is not always in reach.
All in all, Chris McCandless is a contradictory idealist. He was motivated by his charity but so cruel to his parents and friends. He redefined the implication of life, but ended his life in a lonely bus because of starvation, which he was always fighting against. Nevertheless, Chris and the readers all understand that “happiness only real when shared.” (129; chap.18) Maybe it’s paramount to the people who are now alive.
Growing up, I was given the freedom to choose who I wanted to be, to decide what I wanted to do. I grew up with many different opportunities and chances to try out new things. A simple life I led as a child, sheltered and loved by all, but I was oblivious to reality, lost in my own “perfect” world. Yet as I grew up and began to surpass the age of imaginary worlds, the idea of “perfection” had begun to fade and reality began to settle in. Like a splash of cold water, I went from a childish mindset to an adult’s. Child hood play was a thing of the past and responsibility became the norm.