I Wish I Were A Butterfly Analysis

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Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, once stated, “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You do not need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.” During James Howe’s short story, “I wish I Were a Butterfly” a baby cricket was told he is the ugliest creature alive by a frog, which causes him to struggle with his self-acceptance. The narrator informs the reader, that the cricket receives positive advice from a glow worm, lady bug, dragon fly, and a spider. He claims they are too beautiful to understand, but even though he thinks the wise spider is beautiful he listens to her. Therefore, like the inspirational self-loving quote by Thich Nhat Hanh the baby cricket learned to be beautiful by loving himself for who he is. James Howe’s …show more content…

Overall, this short story is very relatable because almost every person struggles at times with accepting themselves for who they are. The world today has fabricated many ideas of what you are supposed to look like, what is the perfect job, and where you should live. These ideas have become the social norms of our society and if you violate them you can easily feel like an outcast. In comparison, the baby cricket feels like an outcast, and says he looks like an “ugly lump of dirt” because he does not have radiant colors or features like the other insects. The author, James Howe, uses symbolism explaining that the ladybug is the color of laughter, and he also uses imagery and personification describing the dragon fly's body as jewels with whispering wings. However, he did not use much figurative language describing the cricket until …show more content…

Kindhearted friends are hard to come by and I cherish friendship. The spider in the story befriended and helped the cricket when she did not even know him. She helped him find his identity again and the motivation to play music again. This story influences me to try to fill my life with positive and helpful friends that are always there for me. Honestly, I have gone through many best friends besides one in particular. In addition, I like to be friends with everyone, but I am very finicky about who my close friends are. My one friend in particular though is similar to the spider, because she is nice and helpful when someone is in need of help. This also challenges me to try to be more like the spider, because she was wise, accommodating, and friendly. Not only was the spider helpful, but the other insects the cricket talked to went out of their way to see what was wrong with the cricket and gave him advice. Overall, everyone’s goal should be to fill their life with positive and nice friends and to also be a positive and nice friend. Even when you do not know them because everybody needs

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