Self-Discovery Essays

  • Self Discovery

    2266 Words  | 5 Pages

    Self Discovery “What are you going to do after you get your degree?”Whenever I announce my occupation, this trite, well-intentioned question never fails to follow. I am a student, a senior at Metro, studying Literature and History. Not only a student, I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend and female. No, I don’t bring in a paycheck, but my life is fulfilling, gratifying, deserving and challenging. Will I teach, write, join the downtown business crew again, or become a clerk in the bookstore

  • Self-discovery in Siddhartha

    1113 Words  | 3 Pages

    Self-discovery in Siddhartha Siddhartha, the novel by Hermann Hesse is what can be included as one of the epitomes of allegorical literature.  This wondrous novel is focused on the tribulations of Siddhartha through his quest for inner peace. He started out as a young Brahmin's son always thirsting for more intellect and perspective in his life and from there on he endured many transitions.  Siddhartha let himself experience all forms of life in his society.  He unhesitatingly learned

  • Self-discovery in Desolation Angels

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self-discovery in Desolation Angels Stripped to its barest essentials, Jack Kerouac's novel Desolation Angels reads as a drug-induced stupor of casual sex (or fantasies thereof), mixed into a melting of jazz and poetry. The often-adolescent urges of Kerouac's character Jack Duluoz, however, are mere episodes in the fast-paced, write-it-as-you-think-it, pre-literary notoriety phase in the life of a man who essentially founded the Beat generation. Though the overflowing stream of consciousness

  • King Lear's Self Discovery

    2124 Words  | 5 Pages

    King Lear's Self Discovery Although King Lear is an estimable monarch, as revealed by the devotion of men such as Kent, he has serious character flaws.  His power as king has encouraged him to be proud and impulsive, and his oldest daughters Regan and Goneril reflect that "The best and soundest of his time hath been but rash..." and that "he hath ever but slenderly known himself" (1.1.297-298, 295-296).  When Lear decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, Cordelia, Goneril,

  • Self-discovery, Destruction, and Preservation in Frankenstein

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    Self-discovery, Destruction, and Preservation in Frankenstein Mary Shelley's Frankenstein explores the downfall of certain human characteristics, set to the backdrop of creation, destruction, and preservation. The subtitle denoted by Shelly herself supports this idea, by relating the fact that the title can be viewed as either Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus. One scholar, Marilyn Butler, also maintains this by noting, "It can be a late version of the Faust Myth"(302). Shelly uses

  • The College Experience - Exploration and Self-discovery

    1906 Words  | 4 Pages

    The College Experience - Exploration and Self-discovery What do you want to do with your life? If only I had a nickel for every time I was asked that pesky question ... in particular, by some overly-concerned adult! I swear, if I hear it one more time, I'll launch into a screaming fit! It's right along the same lines as the annoying, "where do you see yourself in ten years?" As a student wrapping up my freshman year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, even

  • Self-Discovery in Shakespeare's King Lear

    1199 Words  | 3 Pages

    Self-Discovery in King Lear Halfway down Hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful trade! Methinks he seems no bigger than his head: The fisherman that walk along the beach Appear like mice. Although this quote from Shakespeare's King Lear is made by Poor Tom to his unknowing father Gloucester about the terrain far below them, it accurately summarizes the plight of the mad king.  Lear is out of touch with his surroundings, riding high upon the wave of power associated with the monarchy:

  • self-discovery Through Adversity

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    A self-discovery is the act or process achieving self-knowledge. In the short stories, “A Small, Good Thing” by John Updike and “The Rich Brother” by Tobias Wolff, self-discoveries took place with Ann and Peter. Ann was a mother of one and a wife. Peter was a husband and a real estate agent. In the end both Ann and Peter come to a self-discovery. Ann Weiss, from “A Small, Good Thing”, discovered how much she cared for her son. How she would do anything to get him back. After the death of her son

  • Comparing the Theme of Self-Discovery in Demian and Siddhartha

    2401 Words  | 5 Pages

    to India in 1922 directly resulted in the creation of the novel Siddhartha.     The fundamental theme of self-discovery is evident in both novels.  Self-discovery involves developing the mind,  experiencing life, obtaining wisdom, learning about oneself, coming to an understanding and acceptance of this, and by the end, discovering one's identity.  This theme of self-discovery was important to Hesse because he experienced similar events in life.  He was born in Germany in 1877 and

  • Self Discovery and Noel Perrin's The Androgynous Man

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self Discovery and Noel Perrin's The Androgynous Man Reading The Androgynous Man by Noel Perrin1 sparked a number of thoughts. Our father's sperm and our mother's ovum are both necessary for fertilization and conception. For every human being seen walking the face of this planet, this formula has taken place of necessity. Without both genders, there would be no single gender; everyone is part mom and part dad. Therefore, the hormones that dominate in each gender are present in both genders in

  • The Quest for Self Discovery in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Quest for Self Discovery in Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha “Then he [Siddhartha] suddenly saw clearly that he was leading a strange life, that he was doing many things that were only a game, that he was quite cheerful and sometimes experienced pleasure, but that real life was flowing past him and did not touch him. Like a player who plays with his ball, he played with his business, with the people around him, watched them, derived amusement from them; but with his heart, with his real nature

  • Nick's Self-Discovery in Hemingway's In Our Time

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick's Self-Discovery in Hemingway's In Our Time The focus of this essay will be to analyze Nick's transition as he moves from mental isolation, to physical isolation, to maturation and self-discovery. If Nick's life were to be chronologically ordered and analyzed, the stories Indian Camp and The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife would definitely come first. It is these two stories that give us the first insight to what kind of character that Nick really is as a child. Because Nick is only mentioned

  • Self-discovery in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams

    770 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self-discovery in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Dreams Although, on the surface, Animal Dreams is a book about family conflict, the central theme is about self-discovery. Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver is a story about a family who lived in the town of Grace. The history behind Grace is very vivid and descriptive. The family that becomes the reader's concern, is the Noline family. The family members are Homero Noline and his daughters Cosima and Halimeda. Cosima or Codi, as she is known in

  • Jane Eyre?s Self-Discovery

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte consists of continuous journey through Jane’s life towards her final happiness and freedom. Jane’s physical journeys contribute significantly to plot development and to the idea that the novel is a journey through Jane’s life. Each journey causes her to experience new emotions and an eventual change of some kind. These actual journeys help Jane on her four figurative journeys, as each one allows her to reflect and grow. Jane makes her journey from Gateshead

  • Self Discovery in Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    Self Discovery in Huckleberry Finn and Catcher in the Rye Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield make take journey into self-discovery. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn is trying to find purpose and identity through conflicting of morals. While Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye, is an adolescent struggling to find mature into manhood. In comparison, they are both on a journey towards maturity and identity. Life itself is a journey full of bonding and experiences which

  • Theme of Self-discovery in The Awakening and A Doll's House

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Theme of Self-discovery in The Awakening and A Doll House In Chopin's The Awakening and Ibsen's A Doll House, the main characters each experience an awakening. Although they lead different lives, Nora Helmer and Edna Pontellier's respective awakenings are caused by similar factors. From the beginning, neither character fits the standard stereotype of women in the society in which they lived. Another factor that influences Nora and Edna's awakenings is their marital relationship. Neither

  • Basquiat Self Discovery

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    do not come to terms with themselves first. As years passed by and the vision for self-discovery and identity is not on the list of things to do. One day something happens- an unexpected event or experience and the realization there is no self-discovery in progress. It is never too late to find out who you are, and to embark on the journey of self-discovery which aids the individual in searching deep into one's self to find joy, meaning, and fulfillment. This is where the individual can reveal their

  • Self-Discovery in Oates Naked

    3608 Words  | 8 Pages

    Self-Discovery in Oates Naked While other, less accomplished writers use violence to shock or provoke, Joyce Carol Oates is usually more subtle and inventive. Such is the case in "Naked," the story of a forty-six year old woman whose placid outer identity is ripped away by a brutal assault while out hiking not far from her fashionable, University Heights neighborhood. Like many of Oates' stories—and in this regard she probably owes something to Flannery O'Connor—"Naked" focuses on a woman so

  • Edna Pontellier’s Self-discovery in Kate Chopin's The Awakening

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    Theme of Self-discovery in Kate Chopin's The Awakening Edna Pontlierre experiences a theme of self-discovery throughout the entire novel of Kate Chopin's "The Awakening.  Within Edna's travel through self discovery,  Chopin successfully uses tone, style, and content to help the reader understand a person challenging the beliefs of  a naïve society at the beginning of the twentieth century.   Chopin's style and tone essentially helps the reader understand the character of Edna and what her

  • Langston Hughes Uses Poetry as a Tool for Self Discovery

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    Langston Hughes Uses Poetry as a Tool for Self Discovery When Langston Hughes was given this assignment by his college professor, he used it at a self discovery tool. I think this poem is merely letting him dig into himself to find out who he really is, and what his role is in society. Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you-- Then, it will be true. We could all take advice from this teacher. I don't think that the professor's words are to be taken very literally