“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
This statement invokes a feeling that speaks of the fine line between living and dying. Right away a line from a favorite movie, the Shawshank Redemption (1994), comes to mind. The quote, spoken by Andy Dufresne, who is portrayed by Tim Robbins, goes “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” The quote is not too far from being similar to the words spoken by Dr. King, as they also speak to the necessity of staying busy and finding the time to care about life and what really matters. If a person simply sits and waits for life to pass then it will be gone they notice the emptiness that is left when it’s gone.
On a personal note it is quite easy to sit by and watch the world pass. This comes from sitting on the sidelines so to speak, keeping one’s head down, and going with a flow that has no ending. This quote manages to spark the need to move freely, to pick up one’s head and look around at least once or twice. Without looking around once in a while it is very possible to miss everything that truly matters. This is a life that is essentially unfulfilled and kept quietly and supposedly safely on the sidelines, and it is a life that has gone by without an impact.
If people do not take the time to notice the world and speak out in their own voice, then they will lose out on a life that could be lived fully. Remaining silent and speaking each have their virtues. Remaining silent when one should speak runs the risk of losing everything.
The Color Purple:
Celie
Among the many characteristics that define the character of Celie, stoicism is the most important that stands out throughout the film, The Color Purple (1985). Forced to endure nearly every possible degradation that a human being can suffer, Celie goes through life in a manner that speaks to her inner strength as well as her determination to simply exist. She makes mistakes as anyone will, and throughout her years spent with an abusive father and then an abusive husband she learns what is required to survive and keep moving forward. This says a great deal about the drive that, while safely hidden away from even her at times, keeps her from simply giving up.
Throughout the film there are moments when she wishes to give up. There is no doubt that many people would seek a way out in such a situation, but Celie does not bother with suicidal tendencies or even consider running away from her problems. Some might accuse her of having no more sense than a whipped dog who knows nothing but the lash at some point. But in truth, the strength that she displays by simply going through the trials and tribulations that are an integral part of her life seems to denote that she is far more than the uneducated and weak-minded person that her detractors think her to be.
The most notable example of her stoicism comes when she leaves her abusive husband
for good, and then refuses to reconcile with him when he finds her (The Color Purple 1985). She
stands her ground finally and says that she will not return to his side. After so long of being
abused she finally came to find her identity, and in doing so was rewarded for staying the course.
While some of her stoicism was undoubtedly related to fear, a large part of it was the sheer
defiance of the life that had been forced upon her.
Writing Process
Upon entering college my writing process was a somewhat scattered affair, meaning that when called upon to write a research paper or similar piece I tended to become discombobulated with my notes. Very often I had to go over several things more than a few times to get everything correctly organized and in proper order. My idea of writing was, and still is, to write first and rewrite until it is correct. So far it has worked for me, but it was in need of improvement.
After taking this course I have learned how to better organize and utilize my notes, and how to keep facts and other information in order. I never really needed much help with citations but through the process of this course my knowledge has become refined and even enhanced. In fact I no longer need to look up the different styles when called upon to write. This makes the writing process go a great deal quicker and allows me to keep fluidity in an assignment.
My process is still much the same, but it has been cleaned up, to use a clever term, so that my notes are not so scattered and my formerly unruly system of keeping information has been remedied. I still enjoy writing first and then rewriting the assignment to see what was missed and what could have been done better. There’s a certain joy I get in correcting my paper so as to make it that more efficient. Plus, I simply like to write, and so the process is not as much work as it seems like.
As a writer I’m fairly strong in content and setting the tone of a paper. I know how to get
a reader to keep reading and to hold their interest throughout the piece. What I could work on is
that my wording tends to get a bit odd at times and my sentences can be a little lengthy. I also
need to work on my fact-finding just a little to better support the points I attempt to make in my
papers so that what is common knowledge to me doesn’t appear to be blatant plagiarism, which
no self-respecting writer would ever do.
Where I would like to improve is in the length of my sentences, as I can write run-on sentences without giving it much thought. It’s almost as though my brain doesn’t shut off until every last tidbit of the thought is out. In this case I come out with a lot of sentences that can be divided into two or three separate sentences. The point usually gets across but in a way that makes it harder to read and fully comprehend considering that reading a run-on sentence is kind of like drinking an entire bottle of water without taking a breath.
I generally enjoy writing stories more often than formal papers, as the language can be looser and less static in nature. Normally I’ll spend at least a few hours or more a week writing stories just to see what kind of ideas come out. As far as other writing the only things I really do are social media and texting, which is about as informal as it gets I suppose. The stories I write are derived in part from conversations and ideas that are formulated while listening to and reading other people’s texts. Informal writing such as this tends to stimulate my imagination and doesn’t really factor into my other writing, as I can separate the two quite easily.
My writing is constantly being revised as going over one page after another can afford a better view of what might need tweaking and what might be better off if the wording is reviewed. Revision is a dirty word to some people I’ve found. In my mind it is the method needed to polish and buff out a paper that might be a rough draft to something resembling one of the finest pieces ever produced within one’s academic career. If not for revision a good deal of the finest literary works might resemble something written by an uneducated dullard, rather than truly skilled and wonderful literary geniuses.
This class has been helpful to me in learning how to best organize and structure my
information before it is put into the paper. In this manner I can better convey the thought
processes as they are going in my head and then translate them on to the page. As far as helping to learn how to write and how to devise ideas, I already had a fairly good idea of how to do this. I’ve been writing papers for long enough that I know how to stimulate ideas and bring them to life on the page, and so in that venue this class was not as helpful. For those who struggle to find ideas and ways to convey them it is still very useful.
If I was to design a composition class I might very well place more emphasis on the actual writing portion, but I wouldn’t abolish the process. Too many people who come into writing courses such as this still need the basics and the help in how to develop ideas and find the necessary information. I might allow those who are confident and can find their own way through the class to become the advanced students and perhaps even encourage them to help out their peers in finding out how to best organize their notes as well as outline their paper. I believe that students should be able to help one another if they are to help themselves, and this method would encourage not only goodwill among the students but teamwork as well. So basically more student on student interaction and less lecture.
Good writing skills are a necessity even in a society that is leaning more towards the technological age. A computer can help to make the paper look more professional with everything from spell check to the various format settings that are available in most toolbars. Writing skills still need to be developed by the writers as the computers and other devices cannot act as a substitute for researching, studying, and organizing a paper.
I feel confident that writing will always be a valuable skill. After college I plan to use it
frequently to not only further my career but to perhaps publish short stories and, if I am able, a
novel. That day is still far off I believe, but it could happen. I might not be a professional writer
now, but there is always a chance that the right person will see my work.
Works Cited
The Color Purple. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Adolph Caesar,
and Margaret Avery. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1985. Film.
The Shawshank Redemption. Dir. Frank Darabont. Perf. Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, and
William Sadler. Columbia Pictures, 1994. Film.
