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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

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