At times when you are at your lowest point, you often find yourself coming out as a changed person and either you changed for the better, or for the worst. In the silence by Peggy S. Curry is a short story about a boy's path to becoming a young man. Jimmy, the main character, sets out to the mountains of Wyoming to learn about the sheep-keeping business. On his journey, he faces challenges that force him to encounter his fears and mature. As the story progresses, Jimmy loses his sheep, symbolizing him losing his innocence. In the silence is a story that focuses on how too much time alone, in your own thoughts, changes a person forever. Jimmy’s person vs self-conflict guides him to maturity and helps him become a real man.
Because Jimmy faces internal conflict throughout the story he is forced to change and learn from the struggles he encounters. Person vs. Self conflict can not only occur through the feeling of loneliness but also in
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When Angus confronts Jimmy on why he carries a never-grow-up trinket, “Jimmy could not answer. There was no way to put into words what he felt about the brooch. It meant home, the home he had left to be under the guidance of this distant cousin of his father, the home he had not seen for two years.” (190-191) This quote proves how hard it is for Jimmy to overcome the distance between him and his family, although he is yet to enter ‘the silence’ he already feels trapped in his own solitude battling his own mental health, he is yet to know that this battle teaches him all the lessons he needs to mature. Person vs. Self conflict can be triggered by others; one's comment can affect a character's thought process and cause self-deprecating