[English] Context(Persuasive) - Stolen

[DVlahos]

Text Type: Persuasive (Context)

Prompt: Individuals have the right to feel valued by and connected to the society in which they live.


One very important part of human nature is that humans can adapt to almost any environment, we can say it’s our human endeavor to adapt or connect or simply we are entitled to this, as our nature demands it.  This adaption comes into play in many aspects of life, whether it is moving homes, moving schools or even changing paths in life as we progress.  When something changes how long does it take us to adapt, psychologists say it takes 21 days to create a habit, isn’t connecting to our surroundings creating a habit? When something is preventing us from changing an issue arises, which essentially is blocking our development as people. When we are being prevented in our own society to progress issues arise, human development is how our race has survived. Whether it be physical development or mental development both are required.

Miguel de Cervantes, a famous Spanish novelist and poet once said “Make it thy business to know thyself, which is the most difficult lesson in the world.” It is a tough task to find out who you are, this is the case because of many reasons, people are categorized by different criteria which simply makes it difficult to aim to find who they are because of the pressures applied on them by the society in which they live, this is the case now and has been the case since the beginning of time. We are all entitled to find who we are and we have enough struggles on the way there without the added pressure. Cervantes states that knowing our selves is the “Most difficult lesson in our lives”, he doesn’t say the easiest lesson, the task is hard and life consuming. We are all equal, we were all born essentially the same way and we all have this “difficult” lesson of finding ourselves yet we make it hard for one other gain this despite we aspire for the same goal. If every person made it their business to know who they are as Cervantes recommends it would not only be a God given right but also a social and man given right.

When someone begins to live somewhere they abide in that place and that place becomes a part of them, fair treatment doesn’t seem to be followed here.  When someone attacks someone they are attacking a part of him or herself, our society links us all together. Would you attack your mother or father, your brother or sister or better yet yourself? Society is the ultimate bond between people; every other bond comes under that. Respect is the glue that holds society together, without this mutual respect nothing can be done, how do you build a house without bricks and mortar? Short answer you cant, not being able to have this value or respect for other people is misanthropic, for society to survive this value must be a given and not selectively applied. What would happen to the world if everyone strived to make life hard for the next person? Basic answer: social abrogation.

There are many cases where people are born somewhere, their whole ancestral chain abides from there but they simply do not belong, we see this with Jimmy, in Jane Harrison’s play Stolen, who simply isn’t valued in his society because of his colour as opposed to Anne who is very much valued, both their lives start the same but end very differently with Anne who is valued coming out favoured. Who out of the two has a better life, lets revise. Jimmy is not valued, he has a difficult life and struggles day by day, the end result is him deciding to end his own life, on the other hand we have Anne who has a confortable life and loved by her foster parents to a certain degree then also has the fortune of meeting her biological parents. The play ends with Anne being happy and Jimmy being 6 feet under. The difference? One was valued in their society the other was not.

Many say that we get more out of a difficult endeavor than out of an easy endeavor and not being valued give one a stronger character. Finding ones self is already a lifelong process and will never quite be completed with the rest of society behind us though we will get that little step closer, we will struggle but with experiences worth struggling with not being respected. If mutual respect was a given humans would progress further.  Some further state that conflict between people is part of the fabric of civilization and it drives intuition. Debating is constructive in the world but not giving someone the time of day because of who they are simply contradicts this. We are eliminating many new ideas buy cutting people out of society.

To conclude it is only natural for humans to adapt to any environment that is put in front of them buy not valuing people in society we are restricting one of the main aspects of human nature, which opens up other issues. The task or lesson of finding who we are is already a life long and perhaps the most difficult endeavor in our life without mutual respect this could become impossible.  We see the comparative effects of one being and not being valued in Stolen with Jimmy and Anne which shows clearly the effects of someone not being valued in their own society.  Would you be happy if you were shunned and not valued in your society?

I appreciate any feedback no matter how harsh, my skills aren't quite up to scratch.

Thank you,
Dimitri