Still Just Writing Essay Example for Free

Still Just Writing Essay Almost every man who walks this planet has goals, aims, and, aspirations that he dreams of achieving. However, distractions often come about, thwarting people and preventing them from attaining their aspirations. A distraction can pull a person’s whole mind and body into a different world manipulating him to neglect his lifelong goals, and never achieve his dreams. A student, entering college with dreams of achieving a 4. 0 GPA and becoming valedictorian, can easily be swept up by social distractions, causing him to abandon his goals. Tillie Olsen and Anne Tyler both discus in their narratives, â€Å"Silences†, and, â€Å"Still Just Writing†, how parenting, childrearing, and mundane errands effected their lifelong dreams of becoming writers. They both believe that women cannot possibly create â€Å"enduring literature† unless they remain childless. However, Olsen and Tyler each viewed her own personal situation through different perspectives. Their different perspectives on life led them to each deal with her lifelong dreams and desires of becoming authors in different ways. The constant responsibilities of motherhood will have an effect on a woman’s desires and dreams. Both Olsen’s and Tyler’s dreams of becoming writers were neglected because of the immense responsibilities of motherhood. Tillie Olsen states, â€Å"All distinguished achievements has come from childless women†. She believes that all her motherly tasks have left her writing skills to â€Å"fester†, â€Å"convulse†, and â€Å"die† within her. She feels that her responsibilities and trials of family have locked away her writing talents, â€Å"like a squirrel in a cage†. Similarly, Tyler’s busy life as a mother tremendously weakens her writing abilities. Between her children’s spring vacation, dental appointments, and gymnastics meetings, there seems to never be a free moment for her to sit down and concentrate on writing a novel, â€Å"Although she planned to work till three thirty everyday it was a month of early quittings†. Tyler’s writing skills slowly deteriorated, and her once powerful, thought-out characters, turned, â€Å"pale and knuckly, like someone scrabbling at a cliff edge so as not to fall away entirely†. The responsibilities and joy of bringing up children, and being a dedicated mother distracted Olsen and Tyler from developing their writing skills, and fulfilling their dreams of becoming renowned authors. Happiness is not dependent on one’s life situation, rather it is dependent on ones perspective and attitude regarding his situation. Although Olsen’s and Tyler’s situations in life were quite similar, their perspectives and attitudes on life could not have been more different. Tillie Olsen believes that social pressures squashed her talents and all women’s writing talents into a dark shadowy corner, denying their development. She believes that society views â€Å"woman writers, woman experience, and literature written by woman by definition minor†. Furthermore, Olsen believes that woman are forced to give into the social pressures of always, â€Å"being attractive†, and spend hours, â€Å"agonizing over appearance†, rather than spending hours working on literary writings. Olsen views herself and her lost dreams as the miserable victim of social discrimination against women. However, Anne Tyler views her situation in a totally different light than Olsen does. Tyler believes that distractions are a part of life that affects everyone, not just woman. She laments how her husband’s writing, â€Å"fell by the wayside†, while he was finishing his medical schooling. Additionally, she describes how her husband’s, â€Å"responsibilities to support a family† cause him to neglect his writings, which he cares so deeply about. Unlike Olsen, Tyler doesn’t view the world as an evil place that stunts women from developing their talents, rather she views the world as a place where everyone, man and woman alike, have responsibilities towards other people which must be fulfilled as they strive to accomplish their lifelong dreams. Differences in ones perspective in life leads to different outcomes in the way one leads one’s life. Olsen’s negative outlook on her life led her to permanently give up on her dreams. Olsen believes that one cannot find a balance between ones mundane responsibilities and one’s dreams. She believes that, â€Å"you must choose between your art and fulfillment as a woman†. Her pessimistic belief that she is the victim of â€Å"coercive working of sexiest oppression†, causes her to relinquish her lifelong goals. Although she admits that some women try to have a family life and become a writer, her negative perspective on the world causes her to believe that their work will be, â€Å"impeded, lessened and partial†. Olsen’s downbeat attitude towards life has led her to believe that the responsibilities of motherhood has sapped her from her literary and writing talents, and has cruelly snatched away her dreams of becoming a distinguished author. Unlike Olsen, Tyler’s positive outlook on life allowed her to learn how to deal with her responsibilities. Like a child who learns how to balance on a bicycle, Tyler learns how to properly balance her life as a mother and a writer. She believes that her experience of being a mother has caused her to grow, â€Å"richer and deeper†, allowing her writing to become more profound and meaningful, â€Å"when I did write I had more self to speak from†. Tyler has successfully found a, â€Å"way to slip gracefully through a choppy life of writing novels, plastering the dining room ceiling and presiding at slumber parties†. Tyler is a successful mother and yet she is also, â€Å"still just writing†. Tyler’s optimistic outlook on life led her to become a unique individual; she is a happy easygoing housewife and mother, and a deep profound writer. Few people can fulfill their responsibilities towards others and attain their dreams. Only with a positive, upbeat, easygoing attitude, like that of Tyler, can one fulfill the time consuming, mundane tasks of life, while simultaneously achieving one’s lifelong goals. This world is a challenge, where we each must find the exact balance between our general obligations to our family and mankind, and our lifelong goals and desires. We cannot allow our mundane responsibilities to sidetrack us from reaching our goals. We must use our mind like a laser beam, and focus on what is important in our life, whether it is becoming the next great author, earning a 4. 0 GPA or developing our character traits. We should be like Anne Tyler and view our responsibilities through a positive eye, learn to appreciate them, and grow from them, but not allow them overtake our desires to accomplish our aims, ambitions, and aspirations.

Things Fall Apart :: essays research papers

Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. I t takes place in the middle of the twentieth century, in Umuofia Africa. It is based on the life of its main character Okonkwo and his village. Okonkwo was a well known, accomplished man in his village. He was a man of two titles and he earned every bit of it. Okonkwo’s family included eight children, six sons and two daughters. He also had three wives which was also a symbol of wealth in Umuofia because in their village it was their custom to have men pay a bride price for their wives. Okonkwo worked very hard to obtain everything he had because his father Unoka left him with nothing but debt. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father was a very lazy degenerate gambler of whom Okonkwo was ashamed of. Unoka was often referred to as an efulefu, or a man with of no worth . Okonkwo overcame these negative aspects of his childhood, started with a small loan of yam seeds, and worked to become a very wealthy man. Everything in Umuofia seemed normal and seemed to be going well for Okonkwo and his family until Okonkwo committed a fatal action. The story then takes another turn when Okonkwo, his village, and the eight villages surrounding his were affected by the new coming European customs and laws. . The village of Umuofia was located in the rainforest region Africa. The people of Umuofia were mainly farmers of root crops and herders of sheep and goat. Their farming and herding was very successful and it provided a surplus which made way for their market. Umuofia and the eight villages surrounding it were male dominated villages, yet women were also very important because of their abilty to give birth. The female’s ability to conceive children was the most important and beneficial thing for a woman to do in Umuofia. Women also helped in farming , but they were limited to farming beans, cassava, and things that required light duty farming. The men farmed the yam which was referred to as the king of crops because it required heavy labor and attentive care. The people of Umuofia were polytheistic, they had a long list of gods and goddesses such as Chukwu, who was believed to have created the world and the other gods, Ani, who was their earth goddess, Agbala, and many others. The Umuofians created carvings and other things that were symbolic of their gods. Things Fall Apart :: essays research papers Things Fall Apart is a novel written by Chinua Achebe. I t takes place in the middle of the twentieth century, in Umuofia Africa. It is based on the life of its main character Okonkwo and his village. Okonkwo was a well known, accomplished man in his village. He was a man of two titles and he earned every bit of it. Okonkwo’s family included eight children, six sons and two daughters. He also had three wives which was also a symbol of wealth in Umuofia because in their village it was their custom to have men pay a bride price for their wives. Okonkwo worked very hard to obtain everything he had because his father Unoka left him with nothing but debt. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father was a very lazy degenerate gambler of whom Okonkwo was ashamed of. Unoka was often referred to as an efulefu, or a man with of no worth . Okonkwo overcame these negative aspects of his childhood, started with a small loan of yam seeds, and worked to become a very wealthy man. Everything in Umuofia seemed normal and seemed to be going well for Okonkwo and his family until Okonkwo committed a fatal action. The story then takes another turn when Okonkwo, his village, and the eight villages surrounding his were affected by the new coming European customs and laws. . The village of Umuofia was located in the rainforest region Africa. The people of Umuofia were mainly farmers of root crops and herders of sheep and goat. Their farming and herding was very successful and it provided a surplus which made way for their market. Umuofia and the eight villages surrounding it were male dominated villages, yet women were also very important because of their abilty to give birth. The female’s ability to conceive children was the most important and beneficial thing for a woman to do in Umuofia. Women also helped in farming , but they were limited to farming beans, cassava, and things that required light duty farming. The men farmed the yam which was referred to as the king of crops because it required heavy labor and attentive care. The people of Umuofia were polytheistic, they had a long list of gods and goddesses such as Chukwu, who was believed to have created the world and the other gods, Ani, who was their earth goddess, Agbala, and many others. The Umuofians created carvings and other things that were symbolic of their gods.

Subculture Groups

It’s hard to choose just one subculture that I belong to. I am a working mother, student and a wife. But if I had to classify just one, I would put myself into the mother category. Being a mother is a hard job, and can’t be taken lightly. It’s a twenty four hour, seven day a week job and is something I would not change for the world. We are commonly called the heroes for being there to take care of the sick, sad or angry child. The taxi driver, because as everyone knows, we are always there to give rides back and forth to whatever activity our kids need.There is also the punisher. If you a mother, you know all about that one, the person who always has to punish because the dad is the majority of the time, the easy going one! There are so many names for our group, and of course, we are the lucky ones of all the groups, because of all the learning, patience and understanding we all gain. Regardless of your background, all mothers would agree that the perception of being a mother thrives on being the best mother you can be to the best of your ability.All mothers share the same values, and that is raising a happy, healthy smart child. Even though at times its tough, and you just want to scream, teaching your kids, feeling the love from your child and nurturing them is what every mother lives off of. As a mother, I have learned that many things. The relationship that I have with my son has taught me understanding. I watch him grow, and realize that all the hard times that I’ve dealt with, and all the pain I’ve gone through, is all worth it.Even though my social life has dwindled, and I barely have time for myself, I find that Many men think that being a mother is an easy job, and some always want to know why we are always so tired (or maybe it’s just my husband). If you are not part of this group, there is no way to understand the feelings, heartache, and worry that constantly stay on our minds. This subculture that Iâ€℠¢ve been apart for the last five years has helped me grow and realize that I’m not alone.I’m so lucky to be a part of this group, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I stand beside a great group of women, who to me are my heroes. The last five years with my little man have taught me a lot. I’ve learned patience, understanding, and how to love. I’m proud to be a part of this group, and am glad that I always have someone who understands what I go through each day. Mothers stand out in a crowd, and are the toughest women out there!

Rise of the West - 1330 Words

Critical Analysis: Rise of the West There are many theories and ideas of how western civilization became the way it is today. While some scholars believe it is in one influence of another region, many others can argue that it is certainly just the way the world is supposed to work out. We, as humans, have no control over how our surrounding civilization will turn out nor would we be able to alter many thing that have happened in the past. Robert Marks provides his own examples and theories to prove that other regions such as India and China have a significant part in the outcome of the west. The ideas of Eurocentrism, contingency, accident theories and conjuncture are all theories that are mentioned throughout the narrative to allow†¦show more content†¦If the authors’ argument was to support the evidence that other countries were just as responsible of shaping the western civilization, why would he support the findings that Europe was the region with the highest authority that set the origins for the r ise of the west? In the narrative, it is also mentioned that the explanation for the European influence is no longer persuasive; therefore all the evidence that claims that Europe was one of the main sources for western civilization could not be claimed as valid. The authors’ presentation of the narrative was confusing towards the beginning because you were not sure what his views were because of his contradictions. After reading a little more into the narrative, the reader might assume that his stance on the subject is that he believes other regions have equal credit into the culmination of the rise of the west and not just Europe. He uses many examples such as providing details on how much influence Asia and India had. Because Asia and India accounted for more than two-thirds of the world population, it was safe to use examples that dealt with the economy and how this helped the west. When Asia became a vast supplier of porcelain and other manufactured goods, Europe found new territory and grounds to get into China through the Indian Ocean. When Marks used this example, the reader would start to gain a better understanding the stanceShow MoreRelatedThe Rise Of The West1705 Words   |  7 Pages The Post-American World Did you realize that there are more than 25 drifts that changed America? 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