ipl-logo

This American Life: A Better Mousetrap By Angela Erickson

634 Words3 Pages

Carpe Diem and It's Presence in Literature
Carpe Diem, translated as “seize the day”, is a Latin aphorism that depicts what one should do with their life. To seize the day means to live your days to the fullest and this concept is shown brilliantly in many forms of literature. The podcast, “This American Life: ‘A Better Mousetrap’” by Ira Glass, and the article, “IT’S OK TO BE DIFFERENT” by Angela Erickson, share this theme that once given life, he or she should attempt to enjoy it to the greatest extent. There are many examples from the podcast “This American Life: ‘A Better Mousetrap’” that support the message of Carpe Diem. It is neatly woven into the podcast’s story when a mother, Kristy, shares how she raises her disabled child, Tim, …show more content…

In order for an individual to enjoy life to the greatest extent, they need to learn how to accept, and within the article she writes how she learned to accept herself and encourages that others recognize and accept the differences among one another (Erickson). The correlation between this excerpt and the idea of Carpe Diem is that acceptance is necessary for one to truly uphold the lifestyle that Carpe Diem inspires. The article then emphasizes this concept again in the most blatant manner when Angela writes that she “can only live once, so [she] wants to live the best [she] can” (Erickson). This perfectly epitomizes this theme due to the fact that the definition of the phrase, “seize the day”, is to make the most of the moments you experience. Several may claim that the text did not display the concept of Carpe Diem, however here is why they are incorrect, Erickson’s writing had been escalating to this theme, as shown in previous references, where she had described what to do in order to fully abide by the aphorism, Carpe Diem. Once again, the idea to seize the day, or live your life to the fullest, is presented in the brilliant text “IT’S OK TO BE

Show More
Related
1184 Words | 5 Pages

Jordan Whitmore History 121 December 1, 2015 Carl Jensen’s Stories That Changed America: Muckrakers of the 20th Century Carl Jensen was an author, newspaper reporter, advertising executive, and professor at Sonoma State University. He also founded Project Censored in 1976, a research project on news media censorship, and acted as the director of the program which has remained an important part of the University’s journalistic curriculum since its inception. The techniques used by Jensen to teach journalism have been accepted and used by colleges throughout the country based upon their exceptional quality and standards. Jensen was a strong advocate of the idea of freedom of speech and expression espoused in the First Amendment of the U.S.

Read More
622 Words | 3 Pages

Melanie Castellanos Daniels ENGL 3 - B5 26 August 2014 Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America: Merit of Experiences Although much criticism revolves around Barbara Ehrenreich’s experiences as a minimum wage worker, it can be widely recognized by various critics that she deserves credit for at least attempting to understand the lower class, considering her privilege as a white, wealthy, middle-aged woman. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a novel regarding minimum wage workers and a single woman’s experience jumping into the lower class; the overall theme of the book is that even the lowest class deserve more credit for their hard work, long hours, and demeaning lifestyles. Overall, Ehrenreich is praised for her bravery to dive into a minimum wage lifestyle. Although at first it seems demeaning for such a wealthy and

Read More
254 Words | 2 Pages

I chose the above paragraph, because it really dawns on you the daily cost of living and struggles faced by the working-class people. “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is an eye opener, as it helps you get a glimpse into the lives of the working-class people and the many hardships endured by them on a daily basis. It is appalling to learn that so many people do not even have access to proper nutrition and healthcare, which I think should be a basic necessity and not a luxury. These people work hard and have absolutely nothing to show for. California is an excellent example of the great divide between the rich and poor, with the middle class almost non-existent.

Read More
1226 Words | 5 Pages

Eric Berlin Leisl Sackschewsky English 102 10 March 2024 Annotated Bibliography Hulbert, Ann. A. & Co. Raising America: An Inquiry into the Politics of Child Rearing. Vintage, 13 Apr 2004.

Read More
425 Words | 2 Pages

In Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, she discusses the hardships that “negroes” faced during a time when segregation was prevalent. Anne Moody, or Essie Mae, as she was often referred to in the book, was a black rights activist. Certain events lead her to be such a strong advocate for African Americans. Her first memory of being separated from white people was at the movie theatre. Children were the last to see color, so they did not realize how sternly the segregation was enforced.

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

Coming of Age in the Civil Rights Movement Despite slavery coming to an end in the mid 1800’s, African Americans struggled to live a truly free life. Even in the 20th century, poverty proved to be an inescapable burden that kept them stuck on the lowest levels of society. Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody is an autobiography about the struggle of growing up on a plantation in rural Mississippi during the Civil Rights era. Sharecropping played an extensive role at keeping former slaves in poverty. Sharecropping dominated the South, but this type of job inequality was widespread throughout the entire country, making it near impossible to obtain a respectable job, even branding a college degree.

Read More
495 Words | 2 Pages

In Liz Addison’s rebuttal to Rick Perlstein’s comment that “college as America used to understand it is coming to an end” she argues that the quality of college is not determined by the amount of years and it still matters just as much as it did before. She uses personal anecdotes and a sense of ethos to gain her readers’ trust and reach their emotions. These strategies assist in proving that her claim is credible. Addison talks about her college experience and how community college compares to a four-year college. Her goal is to persuade her readers that community colleges have great value in preparing students for attending a four-year university.

Read More
1606 Words | 7 Pages

Anne Moody wrote the autobiography Coming of Age in Mississippi where it begins in 1944 highlighting the struggles of her childhood as it progresses to her adult life in 1964. Moody sought a different path than the rest of her family which led her to be apart of the civil right movement that occurred. Coming of age in Mississippi starts by introducing the narrator of the story, Essie Mae. She discusses her childhood where her father left their family for another woman, and her mother struggles providing for her family. Essie Mae had a traumatic experience in her time on the plantation to where in her adult life she was “still haunted by dreams of the time we lived on Mr.Carter’s plantation.”

Read More
521 Words | 3 Pages

The author Brandon King in his essay on, The American Dream: Dead, Alive or on Hold. Employs many different types of repetition, contras, anomalies and literary devices to help get his point across on why the American dream still lives despite the recession the country has faced where the existence of the American Dream has been questioned. Brandon begins to use repetition both positively and negatively with words such as dead and alive that describe the so called American Dream and where it stands in the eyes of many, although many think its dead for King it seems to be much alive and it’s no longer a rags to riches idea but rather an idea of the potential to, “work for an honest, secure way of life”. He Uses negative repetition to also point

Read More
289 Words | 2 Pages

In “Cultural Knowledge aand Social Inequality”, By Annette Lareau, she address interesting data’s that demonstrates the upward mobile adults from middle class. Under instituitions and cultural knowledge, she discusses how cultural knowledge matters when white and African American young adults of differing class backgrounds navigate key institutions. She found that middles class young adults had more knowledge than working class regarding how institution worked. This study is and can be very useful for working class young adults, and is topic we should dig deeper into. In the article “Black America and the Class Divide” an interesting data from Du bois, which really connects to this reading I believe is “Du Bois knew, of course, that any black

Read More
642 Words | 3 Pages

Reaching the American Dream is frequently portrayed as requiring individual effort and tenacity. This narrative holds that everyone can prosper in America if they put in the effort and seize the opportunity. The memoir "Growing Up" by Russell Baker, however, provides a different viewpoint on the difficulties and complications of realizing the American Dream, particularly during the Great Depression. Baker's own experiences highlight the effects of financial stress on people and families.

Read More
929 Words | 4 Pages

The second principle is: Conflict is an inevitable part of life, but we determine our response. Trying to avoid all conflict is useless. Disagreement is inevitable because we live in a fallen world. People disagree with each other for many reasons. Conflict may result from different opinions, a personality clash, miscommunication, or jealousy.

Read More
779 Words | 4 Pages

(Gilman 445). This impactful sentence proves to the audience that when the day for the woman to leave the room came, her sickness was now in full control of her mind and she embraced it. The personification used in the short story followed the reactions of how the ill

Read More
1295 Words | 6 Pages

Abstract Preventive medicine has proven to be one of the most effective ways to prevent various major chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and involuntary pregnancies, amongst countless others. Nearly half of Americans do not make use of the preventive services offered due to high insurance costs. For those who form part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community, their main concern has nothing to do with costs; actually, these individuals are fearful of the stigma related to their sexual orientation. Aside from this, the physicians caring for these individuals tend to lack knowledge in regards to the common and uncommon health care issues that arise within this community.

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

Tuesdays With Morrie is a heart wrenching philosophical movie about a rekindled relationship between a former student Mitch Albom and his college professor Morrie Schwartz, who’s dying from ALS. Every Tuesday, Mitch visits his college professor and learns a valuable lesson on some of the most complex problems life has to offer such as dependency and fear. Throughout the film, there were numerous amount of quotes that represented a significant lesson regarding life, but there were three in particular that stood out to me. “When we’re infants we need other to survive, When were dying, we need others to survive. But here’s the secret.

Read More

More about This American Life: A Better Mousetrap By Angela Erickson

Related Topics

Open Document