My Understanding Of Personal Choice example essay topic

From Arthur Miller's chilling play script of the Salem Witch trials in 'The Crucible', the determining and though provoking 'Tracks' by Robyn Davidson and Creed's powerful song of past choice 'My Sacrifice', have proved effective in shaping my understanding of the meaning of 'personal choice'. These topics that have been studied this year are all relative to issues that people go through today. From discrimination, to the loss of a family member or friend, these happenings may influence choice on behalf of a person and what their future paths may be. For reasons like these I have a better understanding of my personal choice and respect for other peoples decisions. When Arthur Miller wrote the real life based play script of 'The Crucible', he got into the minds of the characters, allowing for the reader to relate to the character throughout what actions they were carrying out. Play script is easy to understand as it provided the emotion that the character is feeling and how they portray this.

Based in 1692, there was little choice for people outside the law that was the church. Everything in those days that was unexplainable became an act of God, from a bad crop to a bad cold, this person must have done something wrong therefore God is punishing them. These people were small-minded when it came to looking at the bigger picture, everything was about their 'creed' (religion). This showed me that today a lot of choices that we make are taken for granted, as in 1692 there was no real personal choice. All choices were made on behalf of the community from the church, or more likely the Reverend Parris, a self-centred, bitter, paranoid man who believes that people are trying to give him a bad name. Abigail, his two faced niece, and the other young girls from the town have all been caught conjuring spirits out in the wood.

The only way for them to save their lives is to choose to play possessed so that the town will pity them and let them live. The story evolves with this and it gets more and more extreme with innocent people being accused and dying. It's sad and if people don't confess then they are lying to God and will face the subsequences when they die from God. The biggest decision that sets the ball rolling in 'The Crucible', after Abigail has denied that they were conjuring spirits in the wood is when she turns to the other girls in Salem and says to them, "now look you.

All of you. We danced. And Tit uba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.

And you know I can do it... ". From the Abby takes control over the girls and their decisions, and their choices become insufficient and everything they do is controlled by Abigail. This text, shaped my understanding through the fact that I have a better idea of what personal choice was like in those days.

People were generally run by the church as it was their law more than they " re following. People's choices were biased and everything was done to please other rather than them selves. It showed me to take my decisions and value them because I have a lot of freedom, as does the rest of the world these days. We are lucky enough to have freedom of speech and the right to believe what we want. 'Tracks' is an inspirational story of determination and courage. Robyn Davidson is set that she is able to travel to Alice Springs...

"The lunatic ides was, basically, to get myself the requisite number of wild camels from the bush and train them to carry my gear, then walk into and about the central desert area". Looking back on what she had read about camels, she made the decision that this was a good choice. But once she got there her ideas weren't exactly matched to what she originally had thought. When travelling on the train Robyn looks out the window and describes the area as "God's majestic hide-hole, where men and women are an afterthought". Robyn arrives and gets a job at the local pub, meaning she could stay in a back room with meals provided.

From here Robyn became more confident and her choice to come to the middle of no-where wasn't as lunatic as she originally thought. Through the regulars she discovers there are three camel-men in town, and was offered a ride out to meet S allay Mahomet. A man that showed "it was apparent he knew what he was doing". When Robyn approached Sally he blew her off making Robyn feel "like a complete idiot". He was rude and basically told her that she wasn't going to accomplish what she was set out to do.

Which is a let down to anyone who has put so much effort into something and then told that "they don't think they can help you out" it makes your goals harder and you feel the choice you made was insufficient. This text studied has shaped my view of personal choice through the fact that even though other people may find your choices and decisions ridiculous and to you find them too hard for you to accomplish you should believe in yourself and go for it anyway. Because if you believe in yourself then that's what matters. Determination gets us through. As Robyn said in her case "this was going to be harder than I thought, but then it was only the first day". Creed's song my sacrifice is touching and has a lot of meaning associated with personal choice.

It talks about going back to a place that is significant in the singer's life where a possible death has taken place. He believes he has moved on but in actual fact he has left a piece of him behind. He wants to carry on with his life and believes that to do this he has to re-visit himself as suggested in the song, "hello my friend we meet again, its been a while where should we begin? Feels like forever".

This songs line is powerful and shows the life that a man has lead and where a choice he made to try and forget something has be brought back up in another way much later in life. To get past this the singer has to go back to the situation, the possible death of a friend, and not to necessary say hello to his friend again but to himself. To me this song is about a journey through life, where one significant happening has taken place and from there you follow a path of finding yourself. This song could be interpreted many ways, but because it was recorded and released around September 11th to me the meaning stuck out as the death of a friend or family member that was not fully finished in the singer Scott Stapp's mind. While listening to the song you can feel his pain and believe that this has actually happened to the singer. This song has shaped my meaning of personal choice in a more touching way than the other two texts studied this year.

It is more relevant to today and deals with things that people go through every day of their lives. To me it showed me that if something needs to be resolved with a friend or a family member and myself then to do it. Otherwise it may be too late to say what you wanted to say and you can't and the last thing you would have needed to say to them is goodbye. These three texts have shaped my understanding of personal choice not only on a personal level, but also on a level where I can understand other peoples points of view. To make decisions not only on behalf of myself but for others also.

But also to make decisions that I am happy with and that I can feel comfortable with. Ones that benefit me, that are at best interests for me and the people around me, and allow flexibility. Those like in 'The Crucible' that all choices made are made for a specific reason and have to be followed word for word. Not to be like that, because that's when it becomes hard to be yourself and to do things for yourself and the people around you. it is important to be comfortable with yourself and to let yourself make choices for you and not follow choices made for you, to live your own life. In 'Tracks', it is important to stand up for what you believe in and not get down when you " ve only just started to do something. Even tough it seems hard at first the decision to go on may prove the better choice, as it will hopefully lead to success.

Stand up for your choices and your self with the decisions we make. Creed's 'My Sacrifice' is powerful on my personal choice, it's a passionate message to not leave things unresolved because in the long run you will most likely have to go back to that place and say "hello again". To understand the choices you make, to believe your choices are the right ones and to live them when the are right for you. These texts all motivate in one way or another, motivate to be what you want to be and to choose the right decisions in life to make what you want out of life a reality. Now choices that I look at will not only influence me but also make me look at the bigger picture, as in dong this "what may it do to the other people in my life?" Personal choice is important as its what creates the path that we follow for our lives. These texts have helped me shape my path and make it a little bit wider so that I can open it up to more experiences and choices.