Essay/Term paper: Life's not over yet

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Literature Essays

Life"s Not Over Yet


Throughout this course we have focused primarily on families, their relationships, problems, lifestyles, and even death. I have read many pieces of writing, and between these different I have chosen to concentrate on the roles of the elderly people. How they affected families, and what kind of influence they had on the family, and how they influenced the future generations. I have gathered examples from three different short stories and will discuss them in detail regarding the topic I have chosen and focus on the aspects that I thought were of significance.
Four generations, written by Joyce Maynard is one of the stories that I remember the most, because it was understandable and about a realistic topic. "My grandmother is a woman who used to crack brazil nuts open with her teeth, a woman who once lifted a car off the ground." The grandmother was a symbol of strength and courage, the narrator recalled her grandmother always saying she was about to die, she did not think it would actually ever happen. The narrator wanted to empress her grandmother by bringing her own daughter and dressed her up, this went to show that she really cared allot about what her grandmother thought about her.
I thought that the grandmother influenced the characters in a positive way, because she made the people she influenced always want to do the best in life, as the people seemed to really care about and want her approval.
The second chosen story, God is Not a Fish Inspector by W.D. Valgardson was my personal favorite, the main character was Fusi, a man who himself knew he was getting old, but that didn"t mean he had to accept it, as Fusi was a n old man with attitude, an attitude determined to not let himself down or life.
"God will punish you." She promised in a low, intense voice. Emma, Fusi daughter was saying this to Fusi concerning him going fishing alone early in the morning with his age and health problems. That statement and similar statements made herself seem as if she knew everything which showed she had no respect for her father by not even trying to understand him. All she wanted was to see him leave. Fusi should be applauded for his determination in continuing to do what he likes, even though his daughter Emma is making it hard for him to do so. Emma should take his examples and try to have more fun in life, instead of having her fun by hurting other peoples' feelings. If Emma just took a little time to see her dads point of view, instead of taking up her time to get rid of her father so she can use the house and God to make profit for herself and that snobbish spouse of hers. If she didn"t think about herself all the time she'd realize a valuable lesson "Life"s short so try to have fun while you can, always try to get the most out of it, because before you know it, life might be gone. Fusi should have had a positive influence on his daughter, because of his zest for life, but unfortunately Emma was so selfish and close minded, that unfortunately her opportunities were wasted, I think that it was a shame that Fusi didn"t have any grandchildren, he sure could"ve taught them many things from his many experiences with life. But the biggest experience he could"ve ever taught anyone was that just because people got old, it didn"t mean that life was over it just meant life became more difficult, and if you let that difficulty get in your way you would end your life yourself, so that"s you must always try to overcome your difficulties and try to solve them.
The final story To Set Our House in Order by Margaret Laurence was a story that showed different kinds of relationships between a grandparent and a family. Unlike The other stories, Grandma Maclaod tended to have a negative influence on the rest of the family, in her own mind she thought she was doing the right thing. In actuality she was way too controlling and selfish. "Even I wish you would call him Roderick." His face changed "I would rather not." "I think you should." Grandmother Maclaod insisted, in a voice as persuasive as a death threat. This conversation concerning what they should name their new baby. It was unfair of the grandmother to insist on the name of her dead son. She felt that she had the right to fulfill her emptiness in the life of her other son. Even though she did have a hard life, with her favorite son a husband dying, I did not feel the least bit sorry for her. She did nothing for the other family members and only thought of herself. While the mother was in the hospital and Vanessa was upset and worried, she just ended up making her worst, she tried to confront her but was not able to, she was so wrapped up with herself that she couldn"t give her grandchild the proper love and comfort she deserved at the time. Grandmother Maclaod definitely had nothing positive to contribute to her family and it wasn"t healthy the way she wanted everything to be kept from the past, focused on death. She had nothing beneficial to pass on to Vanessa because she was so bitter and was not able to cope with the ups and downs in her life.
After completing this course my opinion of elderly people has changed that they have many things to offer a family. Their experiences with life has made them able to see things in a different then the rest of us. In most families I believe that the grandparents have to contribute that, it would be very beneficial to the family. The most important lesson I have learned in these stories was that just because old people seem old on the outside it doesn"t mean that their just as worthless as their age, as elderly people have allot to offer the world still mentally, as they"ve lived life almost to the end while I"ve only started so alittle help from an experienced person in life can sure help allot.