The Trip to Halawa Valley
"The Trip to Halawa Valley," is a short story written by Lynne Sharon
Schwartz. The story is about a son succeeding and getting married in Hawaii,
and the reunification of his divorced parents. The parents become the main
focus of the story when the son suggests that they go on a trip to Halawa Valley.
In this story Schwartz is trying to show people that once you make a
decision it is very hard to turn back on that decision. With all the characters,
except for the briefly mentioned newlyweds, Schwartz shows how decisions made by
a person or a couple are hard to turn back on. An example of this is Paul's
parents. Lois and Jim are brought back together in Hawaii, and try to rekindle
their love for each other. After their trip though, they realize it can not be
done, and part in their own separate ways.
Schwartz does a very good job of showing the reader the experience she is
trying to convey. She does this by using a couple different characters
throughout the story. The main ones she uses are the parents, and that is the
very obvious example. A few other examples are not as clear, but they do show
how decisions are an important factor in life and once made are very hard to
turn around. Using Paul's brother Anthony, Schwartz shows that once he made the
decision to join the Hare Krishnas there was no turning back, even if that meant
not communicating with his parents anymore. Schwartz also uses Paul's other
brother Eric. When Eric announced that he was gay, his parents had to make the
tough decision to either support or not support his choice in sexuality.
Schwartz develops the characters very fast, but in doing so makes the
story move faster. Throughout the story the characters are being developed
through the thoughts of both Lois and Jim. They talk about their kids and how
one of them died at age 11 due to a brain tumor. Schwartz also makes Lois
develop Jim, and Jim develop Lois. She does this by making them reminisce about
their past together.
The conflict in this short story is between the parents of Paul.
when describing his father. At the beginning of the story he spoke as a child
When his parents divorced, his father was the one to move out of the house. When Jeff was 18, Joyce took David and left. Jeffrey was alone in the house with little food and a broken refrigerator until his father and his new wife found out about the situation and moved into the house.
his father left his mother and him to start another life with another family. His mother
A decision is a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration. Everyday, people run into difficult decisions. The choices you make in your life define you as a person. In choice to kill his best friend, in the short story “Honor” The Servant has to choose what lengths he is willing to go to bury his son himself, and in another short story “ Gentlemen, Your Verdict” the commander lieutenant Oram has to make the best decision is when they are faced with a sinking ship and little oxygen left.
over him and he talks to each member of the family in the order they
decision could determine what kind of person he would be. He made the right choice. He
In my opinion, making decisions can be categorized into three levels. The first level is making decisions about daily life from choosing what to wear to making a plan for the weekend; making wrong decisions in such level does not have big effects. Making decisions about personal affairs is the second level, such as choosing a partner or a job; people cannot see clearly at this level, and making wrong decisions at the second level can have long-term consequences on their lives. The third level, which is the most difficult, is making critical decisions that determine the destiny of whole nations; at this level, leaders are put between two detrimental decisions and have to choose the least harmful one. Thomas Jefferson
for him and Tom calls him over as if he were one of the men in the family.
Their father, Beck, left the family when the children were young, the oldest one being about thirteen. Pearl was a major perfectionist, as well as an abusive mother. Of course, this had an effect on her children. Her middle son, Ezra, was the favorite child of the family. He was always trying to pull the family together. One of his tactics was through a dinner- he loved to cook, so he always tried to make a nice dinner for his family, that way they could enjoy one meal together. However, the family never made it through a single meal. Cody, the oldest son, was extremely jealous of Ezra. Every single thing that went wrong in his life, he blamed on Ezra, even though most things had nothing to do with Ezra. This jealously continued well into his adult life, to the point where he believed that even his wife preferred Ezra over himself. Jenny, the only daughter, remained afraid of her mother well into adulthood. She found herself following in her mother's footsteps, by mistreating her
the lovers eventually come to a point where they can no longer be without one another.
to the Pet cemetary. Louis answers her honestly and later Rachel and him have an
character and his decision continue to affect many people’s lives but it is almost impossible to
Making decisions is really much more complicated than it seems. When I make decisions, my Id, Ego, and Superego decide my fate. Unfortunately for me, my Id wins far too often, as I often do not study enough. Other personality traits, such as my tendency to over-think and analyze too many things, also play a role. This can influence my other behaviors by making me seem cold and distant with others because I’m too busy thinking. My self-concept is also important.
Making decisions is an important part of our everyday life. Decisions define actions and lead to the achievement of goals. However, these depend on the effectiveness of the decision-making process. An effective decision is free from biases, uncertainties, and is deeply dependent on information and critical thinking. Poor decisions lead to the inability to achieve set objectives and could lead to losses, if finance is a factor. Therefore, it is important to contemplate about quality and ways to achieve it in decision-making, which is the focus of this paper. The purpose is to look into the needs of decision-making, including what one should do and what one should not do.
We make choices every hour, every minute, and every second of our lives; whether big or small our choices are slowly putting us in the direction we choose or end up. Many of us do not realize what contributes to the choices we make and why it affects others the same way if affects us and because of this many authors and writers have written stories and articles about coming to terms with making a choice and how to better ourselves when it comes to decision-making for the future.