“Hills Like White Elephants” focuses on the dialogue between a woman and man. The story takes place during the 1920’s in Northern Spain. Written by Ernest Hemingway, the White Elephant is used to symbolize the debate of abortion. Hemingway conveys this message cryptically by keeping the actual discussion of abortion out of the short story. Does the girl in the story stay in her relationship with the man?
I believe the woman stays with her partner and aborts the baby. The dialogue between the two shows that the woman is subservient to the man. She repeats multiple times how she would do anything to make him happy. On page 477, the woman says, “Then I’ll do it. Because I don’t care about me.” Indicating, she is less worried about herself and focused on how her partner feels. Instead of leaving the relationship in the end and speaking up, she obediently says how she is “fine”. As annoyed the woman is with him, she repeatedly comes back to the conversation and doesn’t end it. With this information, I have concluded that woman will stay with him. When have you made an important choice to stay in a relationship or leave a relationship -- OR -- stay or leave a difficult situation? Junior year, I met a girl--we’ll call her "Jane" for confidentiality purposes--I felt very strongly for… Unfortunately, the feelings we had for each other had faded on her part. I became a burden to her due to my severe depression and we broke up. Although “Jane” had moved on, I still loved her. Our friendship became extremely unhealthy and “one-way”. Even though I knew things would never be the same, I tried tremendously hard to get things to the way they had been. For two years, I was in and out of relations with “Jane”. And to this day I have yet to get over her. I know it will be hard to get past what we had, but what is meant to be, will be.
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April 22nd, 2016, Lulu Wang participated in a podcast, This American Life. "Act One, What You Don't Know", is Lulu Wang's story of attempting to keep the secret of cancer from her grandmother, Nainai. In this podcast, Wang discusses her troubles with keeping such a large secret from her Nainai. Did you agree with the family's choice to deceive Wang's grandmother?
I don’t agree with the family’s choice to keep such a secret from Wang’s grandmother. If her grandmother had already suffered through cancer, I feel she would’ve known how to handle cancer a second time. Yes, it may have made life hard but, she deserves to choose which path to follow for her remaining days. Even though I don’t agree with their decision, I understand it. Nainai made the same decision with her husband to let him worry about other things that weren’t related to his cancer. I know when it comes my time to die, I want to know I’m dying. With that, I can decide whether or not I want to be euthanized, if I want dialysis, chemotherapy—whatever the case may be. I want it to be my decision how I go. When have you made an important choice to tell someone a difficult truth or you made an important choice to tell a lie that had a major impact on you and/or someone else? In 2015, I came out as lesbian, and although my classmates knew, I hadn’t told my parents. About a week into dating my girlfriend I told my parents the news. In all honesty, at first, my dad wasn’t very accepting. My mom on the other hand, supported me every step of the way. After realizing my sexuality wasn’t a phase, my father warmed up to the idea. My sexuality is something I still don’t understand and probably won’t until I’m dead--telling my father about my sexuality may have been scary at first but, my life is better because of it Written by Maya Angelou, “My Name is Margaret” is the story of a young maid, set in 1928. Margaret was one of two servants for an old woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. One evening, when delivering the dining trays to Mrs. Cullinan, she over-heard a conversation in motion. Mrs. Cullinan’s friend had proposed that she shorten Margaret’s name to “Mary” for ease. Margaret began coming to work late and leaving early (opposite from before), hoping Mrs. Cullinan would complain. Upset by the shortening of her name Margaret finally decides to drop Mrs. Cullinan’s most beloved china in hopes of getting fired. Invigorated, Margaret left the door wide open so the neighbors could hear the commotion and left shorty after. Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups?
For me, respect is the most important virtue. I believe you don’t deserve it, if you don’t offer it. I understand Margaret’s frustration toward Mrs. Cullinan because she deserves the same respect as her. Mrs. Cullinan should have asked Margaret if she could shorten her name. I feel as though it wouldn’t have been a problem if Margaret’s feelings were taken into consideration. I agree with Margaret’s choice of breaking the china because it took courage and Mrs. Cullinan deserved it. No-one deserves to be treated poorly just because, they are different or viewed as “lower”. When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure? In 2016, I was on a travel volleyball club, TCA Philadelphia. Towards the end of the season, I realized I didn’t have the same passion as I did at an earlier age. With this, I decided it would be my last year playing travel volleyball and planned to finish in the fall with my high school varsity team. At the time, I had a boyfriend and could see us staying together for a while (HAHA), so I wanted to bring him to my last tournament before he left for college in the fall. The director of my club decided partners are a distraction to the game and said no. I didn’t take to kindly to that since volleyball was a very important part of my life and I wanted to share the sport with someone I cared about. So, that weekend I brought him with me and played the best I did all season. The next week I received an email from my director that I’d be suspended from the team and have to attend a meeting with him explaining my reason for not listening. I attended the meeting and was told my reasoning wasn’t good enough and how “lucky” I was to not be kicked off the team. Within my two-week suspension I missed two tournaments and four practices; Leaving me far behind, on the rotations we were using and how things would go at our biggest tournament of the season. I decided it not only be best for me but, for my teammates, to leave the team. To this day, I don’t regret bringing him to the tournament. Although, I am disappointed in myself for the leaving the team because of a minor setback. In this blog, I focus on three different passages about an author's writing process. These passages include "The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova)", "Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott)" and "Zen in the Art of Writing (Ray Bradbury)". This blog post was co-authored by my classmates and I: Regina King, Julia Thorton, Kasie Montano. Group quotes:
The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova)
Bird by Bird (Anne Lamott)
Zen in the Art of Writing (Ray Bradbury)
Our Quotes:
Welcome to my first blog! Here I'll be answering the Proust Questionnaire. Popularized by Marcel Proust, this quiz is designed to reveal a person's true character. Enjoy!
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Julia ThackrahI hope you find joy in some of my writings and stay interested along the way! Please leave comments on things you'd like to know more about or are interested in. Thanks! ArchivesCategories
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