Erin Brockovich is an environmental activist and writer who became well known after she won a 330 million-dollar lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric in 1996. In 2000 the film Erin Brockovich came out and made her even more recognized. Erin has made many accomplishments in her life. I think the three key accomplishments in her life are overcoming being a single mother of three, winning the lawsuit against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and becoming and environmental activist. The first key accomplishment was overcoming being a single mother of three who lived in South California and was unable to work due to a severe accident that she had in Reno. Masry & Vititoe won a settlement of $17,000 for Erin but that was only enough to cover the medical cost and not the cost of raising three children, so she moved forward and appealed to Jim Vititoe to give her a job so that she would have some supplementary income to take care of her kids. She was employed at Masry & Vititoe as a legal clerk bringing in only a small income but she was doing all she could to raise her children. (Erin B...
Jules Michelet once stated, “Achieving a goal is nothing. The getting there is everything.” This quote reveals that all goals are not hard to achieve, it is the journey that is difficult. These factors can either hinder individuals from achieving their goals or some use the negative as a stepping stone. According to “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, this quote becomes relatable. Staples and Tan experience many internal and external factors that impeded their goals. For instance, Staples experience many racial and gender-based conflict on his road to success as Tam face many language-based and literacy-based barriers preventing triumph. Although Tan and Staples encounter various hardships on their journey toward success; instead of quitting due to frustration, the two creates a greater force towards achievement.
One of the women from the book, Carolyn Ann Davis, was convicted for Larceny by embezzlement. While reading the book she tells the awful tale of her childhood. Carolyn grew up poor which caused problems for her family, by not being able to pay bills and many other
After reading Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I observed that both these texts share a few similarities in the way the authors portray the difficulties their characters have to face, in order to get to where they are now. After researching a few rags to riches stories and using Slumdog Millionaire and The Pursuit of Happyness as my primary sources, I found out that successful individuals from harsh backgrounds shared similar complications, yet they had the will and perseverance to get to where they are now. They faced difficulties such as dealing with poverty and hardships of everyday life, struggling to overcome the effects of addiction and abuse. They found ways to overcome these difficulties through things like having some form of education, and utilizing their knowledge, to manipulate opportunities to their advantage in order to bring about success.
In her research, she spent over 600 hours in welfare offices, speaking to caseworkers, social workers, and welfare recipients and potential recipients themselves. She learned first hand how the Act affected the day to lives of poor women and their families, as well as how it affected the caseworkers who not only had to learn the large number of new rules and regulations required by the Act, but also had to deal on a day to day basis with the repercussions these changes had on the lives of their clients.
Anne Moody's story is one of success filled with setbacks and depression. Her life had a great importance because without her, and many others, involvement in the civil rights movement it would have not occurred with such power and force. An issue that is suppressing so many people needs to be addressed with strength, dedication, and determination, all qualities that Anne Moody strived in. With her exhaustion illustrated at the end of her book, the reader understands her doubt of all of her hard work. Yet the reader has an outside perspective and knows that Anne tells a story of success. It is all her struggles and depression that makes her story that much more powerful and ending with the greatest results of Civil Rights and Voting Rights for her and all African Americans.
Katie Noland’s American Dream is first brought to her by her mother, Mary Rommely after she had given birth to Francie. Katie states, “ What must I do, Mother, what must I do to make a different world for her?” and her mother replies, “The secret lies in the reading and writing. You are able to read. Every day you must read one page from some good book to your child. Every day this must be until the child learns to read every day, I know this is the secret(53).”
Give light and people will find the way, Said Ella Baker. She was a woman, who even in the darkest hour, gave light to people everywhere. Being a Civil Rights activist in the 1930’s, she was one of the leading figures in the Civil Rights Movement. She dedicated her life to fighting for freedom and equality, and she deserves to be recognized worldwide.
Blanco, Jodee. Please Stop Laughing At Me… One Woman's Story of Success. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2003. Print.
Patty Hearst was a normal 19 year old girl, living in an apartment with her fiance and attending university in Berkeley, California, until one day her life, and the lives of everyone around her changed forever. On the evening of February 4, 1974, some members of the left-wing radical group called the Symbionese Liberation Army barged into Hearst’s home armed with guns, and beat up her fiance before kidnapping Hearst and bringing her to their house where she was kept blindfolded in a closet for 59 days. While locked in the closet, Patty Hearst was verbally and sexually abused and she was denied the use of even a toilet or toothbrush if she didn’t tell them that she agreed with the group’s ideas and beliefs. It is believed that while being locked in the closet like this, Patty was being brainwashed by the SLA and that she may have even developed Stockholm Syndrome, a condition in which a person who was kidnapped starts to empathise with their captor, and even starts defending them. This is how the Symbionese Liberation Army convinced Patty Hearst to join their group. They released an audio tape to the public in which Patty Hearst said she was changing her name to Tania and that she had decided to join the SLA. She then helped the SLA rob a bank and steal an ammunition belt from a sports store. After this, she started travelling around the country with two members of the SLA named John and Emily Harris, to try avoid being captured by the police. During this time, the police found a house where some members of the SLA were hiding out. Attempts to make the SLA members surrender ended up in a massive gunfight, ultimately ending up in the deaths of 6 SLA members. The FBI eventually found and arrested Patty Hearst on September 18, 1975. T...
... she addressed many problems of her time in her writings. She was an inspirational person for the feminism movements. In fact, she awoke women’s awareness about their rights and freedom of choice. She was really a great woman.
The overall essay conveys the theme of struggle. Mike Rose lived in Las Vegas his
Rappaport, Doreen. American Women, Their Lives in Their Words: Thomas Y. Crowell, New York 1990
Dr. Laust’s Comments: This student's assignment was to write a personal narrative essay describing an event that dramatically affected her life. Her choice of narrating her rise in the ranks of JROTC is unique, interesting, and very appropriate for the assignment. She does a very nice job of using specific details to describe aspects of the experience as well as employing dialog to accent her account. The reader gets a clear sense of the impact this event had on her life.
...film community through her awesome success in her field. Also, Audrey bettered the lives of every child she helped personally through UNICEF and all children UNICEF aids presently and in the future. She is a role model for anyone suffering through war, divorce, hunger, or depression. She can show these people that there is still hope and they can still live their own dreams.
Helen Keller was an outstanding, amazing woman who fought her disabilities and worked to lead a fulfilling life. She traveled the world telling people her story and how she overcame her disabilities. She went to every continent but Antarctica to bring encouragement to the blind (Lash). She proved too many people that nothing could stop her, and that if nothing could stop her, nothing could stop anybody else. Helen Keller became famous for her ability to prove that anyone could achieve success despite personal struggles.