Essay/Term paper: Courage

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Persuasive Essays

Courage. In my eyes it is a good thing. It can make hard times easier and easy times easier. Courage is overcoming a fear for a worthwhile purpose, such as jumping in front of a train to save someone. I will be defining the courage of three very unique individuals from previous stories read. They are Mr. David Raymond from the bock On Being Seventeen, Bright and Unable to Read, written by David himself. Mr. Rainsford from The Most Dangerous Game written by Richard Connel, and Mrs. OÕNeill from Giving Blood, written by Roberta Silmen.
David Raymond, from the book On Being Seventeen, is courageous in a psychological way. He is a high school student who was born with dyslexia. He writes about his life and how difficult school and learning to read was for him. All he wants is for people to accept him the way he is. ÔÓ...anyway life was awful. More then anything I wanted some friends.Ó By the end of high school he was more excepted in places where he once was ostracized. He even tries to help people with the same problem he has. ÒMaybe he was scared like I was....In elementary school it was not easy....In high school I made honors and even won a letter on the cross country team.Ó He put his fears aside to do what had to be done. To learn the best he could in school for later life. The next story deals with courage in another way. Physically.
Mr. Rainsford from The Most Dangerous Game is a sailor who is shipwrecked on an island inhabited by only one person. A bestial hunter. During RainsfordÕs stay he becomes the hunted. He has to put his life on the line in order to escape. ÒHe stopped, held his breath. The baying of the hounds stopped abbruply. Close. His heart stopped.Ó He ends up escaping the dogs only to find himself in a dual with the hunter. ÒOn guard Rainsford. Afterwards one of us will be repast to the hounds. The other will sleep in my bed........Rainsford never slept in a more comfortable bed.Ó
In that story we are left only to wonder what Rainsford did with his life. Did he stay at the estate or did he go back to sea?
The final person is Mrs. OÕNeill, from the story Giving Blood. She is couargeous mentally, physically and socially. She is a middle aged women who is mother to a girl taken by leukemia. Mrs. OÕNeill is forced to go door to door in order find blood donors to give platelets. Ò My daughter is in the hospital. She needs blood....could you give. She has leukemia.Ó This takes a lot out of her both physically and mentally. She is scared to go to the houses in fear that people will say no. ÒÓYou can give platelets. She only needs platelets. Please.Ó She finds many people to give blood for her succumbing daughter that prolongs her life.
As proven in this paper each one of the individuals shows one or more types of courage. Mentally, physically, socially, and psycologically. If courage was not a part of human life, maybe Mr. Rainsford would have given up and been killed. Maybe Mrs. OÕNeÕillÕs daughter would have died from deficiency of blood platelets. And probably David would not have been half the man is is today. Courage is an essential part of life.