Pessimism Essays

As a child one learns the proverbial lesson of the question “Is the glass half empty or half full?”. The question is generally associated with pessimism and optimism, and the only acceptable answers are half empty or half full. Yet, when one grows up he or she learns that the glass, just like life, can never be looked at as bluntly half full or half empty; it has to be somewhere in between. Those who do not learn this lesson are destined to live a life of both disappoint and malevolence. John Steinbeck

Villaseñor uses hyperbole to highlight the radical ideas that pessimism can cause a person think, while the use of imagery presents the better option of acknowledging the positives. Reader do not want to feel the need to massacre those that have caused Villaseñor pain and suffering throughout his childhood. However,

them. Steven Galloway explores how the presence and absence of hope affects Kenan, Arrow and Dragan’s outlook on the war. To begin with, Kenan remains hopeful by taking on the role of a provider for his family, staying optimistic in the face of pessimism, but eventually loses his hope after a near death experience. First of all, Kenan’s need to care for his family gives him strength to overcome his anxieties. Before Kenan goes out to fetch water from the brewery, he reflects how exhausted and afraid

A person is driving and stops at a red light. Suddenly a strange man approaches the window begging for money because he had lost everything. Does the driver hand over money to the seemingly distressed stranger who needs a helping hand? Or are they being played like a violin? Did that person really lose all he had? Or are they just looking for an easy way to make money? The person drives off doubtful of the stranger’s situation believing the stranger was driven by an ulterior motive of scamming people

A Changed Life: Pessimism to Optimism Just like no one can escape death no one can escape the aftermath of a traumatic event. Even though trauma isn’t escapable it is overcomeable. The traumatic events that occur throughout A Separate Peace would lead most to say that it is a pessimistic book, but there are much deeper findings that is optimistic in the book. The optimistic view of the book is looked upon and isn’t the most obvious choice of the two but has many provable points. These pieces of

In the profound poems “Lament” by Gillian Clarke, “Report to Wordsworth” by Boey Kim Cheng, and “Before the World Intruded” by Michele Rosenthal, the theme of nostalgia is explored through unique stories. Initially, the poem, “Lament” describes the horrible scenes that occurred during the Gulf War, the poem “Report to Wordsworth” is written as a report to Wordsworth, who greatly appreciated nature during the industrial revolution where he defended it, which as a result urges humans to feel empathy

Knowing nothing about baseball before reading the book, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea can open a reader's eyes to the importance of this sport to the main character, Santiago. He is a struggling fishermen and baseball keeps him going despite the hardships he goes through. He frequently refers to this beloved sport and to a Yankees’ player, DiMaggio. Baseball is the old man’s moral courage. DiMaggio is a model for the old man, baseball keeps him going, and brings him a spirit of competition and

Choca-Cola Did you know that 3 minutes of mediocre soda leads to a short life of heart problems, discomfort, and pain? Well, that's what I'm here for, not to scare you, but to inform you on coke and it's side effects. The sugars in coke and other sodas really damages the human body. Did you know that within 10 minutes of consumption of a 12 oz bottle of coke 10 ounces of sugar hit your system, I'm sure this isn't what you paid for. When the sugar immediately is sent to your liver, which then causes

Breanna Miller Prof.Long English 83 December 6, 2016 The Old Man And The Sea The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible . The positive traits in good people really depends on someone's personality, you can’t also judge a book by its cover. In the book Ernest Hemingway it

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? These kinds of questions usually say a lot about how your mind works and how you perceive the world. Both positives or negatives are a valid point of view though optimistic perspectives are usually more common. From poems and essays to short stories and articles, the perspective and tone matter. In the poem “Speech to the Young” by Gwendolyn Brooks she writes about how the old had self-sabotaged themselves with their pessimistic attitude and elucidated on how the

Optimism; A small, eight letter word that can describe the whole world. It is a word that brings this world together. Optimism is the feeling we get when we’re hopeful, when we’re inspired, and when we’re just plain happy. But, attaining this feeling can be difficult in some circumstances, especially in our world today. It is believed that if we all could overcome these obstacles, our world could be a much happier place. Take 2016 for example. It’s been said that 2016 has been one of the worst

Success is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence”, and this can be seen in the majority of modern American culture today- in television, books, and movies, the end goal of the protagonist is to get rich and get famous. But to others, the appeal of a more helpful, generous life can be seen as successful. This is demonstrated in a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, stating “To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;

Throughout life, one learns through experiences to cherish even the simplest of comforts. Through pain and unimaginable suffering, it is impossible for one to not lose faith or hope in life. Throughout the book Night, Elie Wiesel’s experiences from before he even enters the camps, to the end where he is free. Explains the mind of one who has endured great suffering and lost, causing them to finally break after continuous torture. Leading to loss of faith in religion, life, and even humanity. Where

How to become a successful entrepreneur? There is no single absolute profile on who can turn out to be an entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs arise in different gender, race, ages, and income levels. They differ in experience and education. According to research, most successful entrepreneurs have certain personal attributes in common. They include determination, leadership, flexibility, creativity, self-confidence, passion, and ‘smarts’. Possessing these personal attributes is just a start, executing

In the film What’s eating Gilbert Grape directed by Lasse Hallström a character who changes is the protagonist, Gilbert Grape. Gilbert experiences the troubling feeling of being trapped in Endora by the heavy responsibilities of taking care of his family. Throughout the film, Gilbert’s pessimistic outlook on life at the beginning evolves into a more opened and positive attitude. These changes occur when he meets Becky, who forces him to re-think and fight against his strong conscience that is not

Imagine you walk into a room and there is a table with a glass of water on it. You sit down at the table and look at the glass. The glass is filled halfway. You start to ask yourself: Is the glass half full or half empty? Then you ask how would someone else think about the glass? Then you ask yourself the percentage of Americans would see the glass half full. According to statista.com, only fifty percent of Americans would see the glass half filled. Then, other questions pop into your head. You ask:

“Optimism isn't a belief that things will automatically get better, it is a conviction that we can make things better” - Melinda Gates. Optimism is not assuming today would be good, it is believing tomorrow is going to be better. Which is why the book “Brothers” is an overall optimistic novel. This is because Michael and Aisha had survived their grief and were able to live on as normal human beings. That in itself is very optimistic. Secondly, The last two paragraphs of Brothers heavily indicate

Oratory Speech: Being Optimistic From the beginning of our lives, all of us have experienced some form of embarrassment. And for me, I tend to drop a lot of things. A while back, I was at a party with a lot of people I knew. My parents, my friends, and their parents were all there. I had two slices of pizza on my plate. They were the last slices of pizza, and I was getting them for my friend. While I was walking, I didn’t realize that my plate was slightly tilted, and soon one of my slices fell

Friends can come and go like leaves, but loyal friends are like the branches, they never leave you. In times of hardship like the winter, leaves fall down, but the branches still stick on. This is like the correlation in friendships. "Wonder" is a book about a boy who has Treacher Collins, which makes him look different from other children. Throughout the story, he learns about the world and he makes friends that stay loyal to him even though he looks different. In the book “Dog of Pompeii”, there

“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe exposes a tragic figure, Okonkwo who possesses tragic flaws that eventually lead to his own downfall hence; it categorizes Okonkwo as a tragic hero. As Aristotle defines, “tragic hero is a noble man that displays tragic flaw or hamartia”. A tragedy will frequently promote the feeling of deep condolence towards the tragic hero because it often ends deadly. The protagonist character, Okonkwo embrace the absolute fit of tragic hero. He performs fatal flaw and banishes