Eveline: Perfection … achievable?

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It is an undisputable fact that every person regardless of sex, age, lifestyle or intelligence strives for a level of perfection in others as well as themselves. When evolving into adulthood, we start setting goals and looking for ways we can be perfectly happy in our lives. When we envision our adult lives, it is based on our lives during childhood. The role of adults in our young lives, as well as, what we live with or without, plays a role in what we perceive as perfection. As did Eveline, the main character of James Joyce’s 1914 short story “Eveline”. Based on her personal experiences with both her father and her mother, in addition to what she witnessed as her parents interacted with each other helped Eveline choose her path to what could be happiness and perfection in her adult life. When we interpret the level of perfection in others, we also base these perceptions on our own personal experiences as well as our own imperfections.

The search for personal perfection starts when we decide we know, or think we know, what perfection could or should be. Once a person as has decided what will get them one step to perfection, he or she will start and/or continue setting goals to have a career that is worth wild of a perfectionist; such as a doctor or a lawyer. For those who believe themselves and their lives have achieved perfection, will sometimes feel the need to extend this perfection to include others around them, normally a spouse or child. The changing of another’s perfection usually will begin with the outer image. As did, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character, Aylmer in the 1843 short story “The Birthmark”. Aylmer meets a wonderful woman … and persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife (McMahan 225). Aylmer soon found out...

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...days are just days of trials and tribulations that continually keep us striving for perfection. As mentioned earlier, there are good reasons - safety, love, and health - to make the change for a life more perfect and positive. But with every negative there is a positive. Looking for perfection with a blind eye can only cause you fear, unhappiness and regret. Striving for perfection in one self as well as in another should not be taken lightly. The person that you envision for yourself and others, may not be the person you end up being or being with.

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth

McMahan et al. Boston: Longman, 2011. 4-7.Print

Joyce, James. “Eveline.” Literature and the Writing Process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan et al.

Boston: Longman, 2011. 225-235.Print

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