Desiderata

The poem “Desiderata” by Max Ehrmann reminded me of when I go to Wyoming. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, it is very peaceful. There is not much electronic devices, hardly any cell phone service, and not much civilization. It is basically just you, the mountains, and your mind. While we are there, we horseback ride and each ride is around three hours. During those three hours, all I do is think while I ride about different topics in my life as well as be philosophical. I think about the different feelings people can feel and why they feel them as well as why people act the way they do. When I am out there, I feel at peace and I feel like I am “a child of the universe” in this “beautiful world”. I also think about different events that have happened in my life such as past relationships, current relationships, my family, basketball, and about where I see myself in the future.

I feel like that Max Ehrmann might have been in a peaceful setting when he wrote this. He is thinking positively about life and this world. He seems like he is content where he is, but he has gone through a lot to get there. I could relate to this poem because I have been in a peaceful setting that has caused me to think deeply about life.

The Awakening Vs. The Story of an Hour

The women in “The Awakening” and “The Story of An Hour” are similar. Both Edna and Mrs. Mallard were married and did not like it. They were not able to be individuals and did things to please their husbands. They were not able to make their own decisions and they felt trapped.

In “The Awakening”, Edna’s freedom came from swimming and realizing she could do things by herself. This caused her to not depend on her husband which led her to get her own home called the Pigeon House. This independence lasted only awhile until she got unhappy. She ended up committing suicide in the ocean due to her realizing that no one understood her and that Robert was not able to break away from society like she wanted.

In “The Story of an Hour”, Mrs. Mallard got her awakening from her husband dying. After the news of his death, all she could thing about was that she was free. Instead of feeling grief, she was seeing life in a positive way. However, once she saw that her husband was not dead, she died. I think it was because she was so happy to feel free and once she saw her husband, all her optimistic thinking was destroyed so she died. Her hopes were ruined.

The Lady or the Tiger?????????????

So we’re supposed to make up our own ending to “The Lady or the Tiger” and I am not that creative. We are supposed to decide whether the princess tells the suitor to open the door with the tiger or the door with the woman. I want to be facetious and say that he opens both of the doors and that the tiger kills the woman so he can be with the princess. However, that is not a choice. It has to be one or the other.

In my ending, the princess tells the suitor, her lover, to open the door with the tiger. She would rather see him get eaten by the tiger than to see him marry the woman. She is a very jealous type and hates the woman’s guts. The author goes on for several paragraphs how the princess despises the woman and has even seen her love flirt with her. To see her lover and the woman together would be worse than him being dead. If he was dead, she wouldn’t have to worry about whether he loved the woman more or if he still thought about her. The princess would not have to see them together and would not have to suffer jealousy. Either way she can’t have him and she would rather no one have him.