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El Camino Doloroso Analysis

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Among other essays I have read in this book, the essay El Camino Doloroso written by David Searcy seems to have won my heart over the other ones. This story is short; in fact, it only has three pages, but the message Mr. Searcy conveys surpass these simple pages. To be honest, I have to read this essay three times to understand what is going on with the character and what is happening in this story. At last, I come up with this: In this essay, David Searcy wants those who believe dreams are flaws and useless to think that dreams and love are those that motivateki people to live. In El Camino Doloroso, Mr. Searcy illustrates a story of a former father-in-law of Tracy Hicks. The father-in-law is first presented as someone who “restored and customized” a 1960s pickup, who “loved this truck like nothing else- until one day be backed it over one of his kitten in the driveway” (271). Then, we learned he is a veteran who was …show more content…

And so, within a couple years, was he-from cancer” (273). This message is short and concise, but it delivers a lot of information about the character. The father-in-law, once again, lost his hope and love. He kills his kitten like he saw his friend killed while in the infantry or the way he killed the enemy. He may say to himself, “no more killing, no more life should be taken away, at least from me,” but it is unavoidable. He lost his beloved one. He uses what he adores to kill another one that he loves. This feeling, this emotion, is just too strong to bare that he lost his hope to live, lost his direction to live on. The fact that he died from cancer is a metaphor that signifies he is tired of this life and ready to take off. Thus, this conveys the message that Mr. Searcy wants to tell in this essay: love and hope are meaningful and essential goals that people live

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