Challenges in life are inevitable. Whether they are external or internal, they can have a significant impact on the individual. Therefore, one should be thoughtful of his or her response to the challenges he or she is encountering. This idea of one managing to respond to challenges in a myriad of ways is often explored in literature. In the short story "Wing's Chips," Mavis Gallant makes powerful use of character development to suggest that when one is faced with challenges, one may respond with acts of ambition, or one may respond with acts of doubt and insecurity.
Mavis Gallant faces the challenges she encounters with determination and aspiration. For instance, Mavis strives to achieve acceptance within society through prejudice. This is established when an English father asks Mavis, "You people Catholic?" And she "mercifully" replies no. This reveals that the protagonist, Mavis, does not want the Anglophones to affiliate her with the Francophones. Ultimately, she acts with discrimination because she is immensely determined to belong to the community. Furthermore, Mavis aims to be normal in a place where she is different from others. For example, she is an Anglophone that lives along the French side of the river, making her look strange to the Anglophones. Also, she is not Catholic, unlike everyone else on the
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This is portrayed when Mavis acts with perseverance to achieve acceptance in society, to feel ordinary, as well as to persuade others to appreciate her father. On the other hand, Mavis confronts her other challenges with insecurity, she does not accept herself, she disapproves of her father, and she neglects her values. In society, individuals face challenges continuously, but they may respond to them in different