Realness Of The Situation With His Mind example essay topic
Bill had escaped injury, but as his body was still at the crash site, his mind wasn't. He was in total shock at what had happened. If I only left the car in the garage and didn't try to "borrow" it, Lisa might still be alive... Bill tried to imagine that it wasn't real, that he was in his bed dreaming, but no, he was responsible for the destruction of his parents' car and his the death of his girlfriend.
It was as if his mind wasn't registering, as if it was in some far away place. He just couldn't come to grips with what had happened. This is a classic example of severe shock. The event that took place was so strong that the mind has trouble working. While in Bill's case where he had indeed had an accident, the realism of the situation dwarfs the mind as if a small comet hurtled towards a blazing sun.
But this is just one aspect of realism. The whole of realism is made up of the fact that our lives, the world, the universe, it's all real. And as much as our minds would want to deny it, everything will stay real, and for most people they just make the best of it. But for the rest of the people, they invent new ways to get around the feeling that a wall has been placed in their path. All this goes to say that people must be original and "keep it real" to survive the physical and mental fatigue life throws at them and also that everything will always be real and we must be in touch with our minds to harvest the realness. Bret Harte tells of a story where a group is outcast into the world to fend for themselves during the winter season.
After they have been exiled and are outside the city walls, most of the group can't handle the situation presented before them, as quoted, "As the escort disappeared, their pent-up feelings found vent in a few hysterical tears from the Duchess, some bad language from Mother Shipton, and a Parthian volley of expletives from Uncle Billy. The philosophic Oakhurst alone remained silent". John Oakhurst, an experienced card player, is one of the outcasts exiled from the city. But instead of crying or yelling or screaming about how unfair the situation is, he instead creates a new situation from the old one where he is in control.
As for the rest of his company, they can't believe they " ve just been left alone to take care of themselves, and as a result their minds can't handle that pressure. The world showed it's real side and it kicked them in the face. Later on in the story the group encounters two friends of Mr. Oakhurst's. One is no more than a child at fifteen years old and the other, Tom, is an old poker buddy of Oakhurst's. They become trapped along with the rest of the group, and as they find themselves running out of rations, one member of the outcasts saves her rations for the "child", demonstrating tremendous courage. She realizes that all of them will not survive, so she sacrifices herself in order to save another.
The moment where she sees the realness of the situation is shown here", Only Mother Shipton-once the strongest of the party- seemed to sicken and fade. At midnight on the tenth day she called Oakhurst to her side. "I'm going", she said, in a voice of querulous weakness, "but don't say anything about it. Don't waken the kids. Take the bundle from under my head, and open it". Mr. Oakhurst did so.
It contained Mother Shipton's rations for the last week, untouched. "Give 'em to the child", she said, pointing to the sleeping Piney. "You " ve starved yourself", said the gambler. "That's what they call it", said the woman querulously, as she lay down again, and, turning her face to the wall, passed quietly away". Near the end of the story, even Mr. Oakhurst can finally see that not all of them will survive even though he had created hope where there had been none at first. He sends Tom to the city where he was exiled from.
His own personal reason is to at least save Tom from death, but he tells Tom to go for the sake of the remaining survivors. His mind was able to take in the situation and make sense of it instead of completely twist and distort it. As a personal way to accept this defeat, he releases himself by committing suicide, knowing that he has done everything he possibly could to better the bleakness of the situation. There is also a touch of nature in the story. As John and Tom are gone, only the Duchess and Piney remain. They too realize their fate is sealed, and they die in each other's arms.
At this moment it almost seems that nature pays its' respect to the pair, as read", And so reclining, the younger and the purer pillowing the head of her soiled sister upon her virgin breast, they fell asleep. The wind lulled as if it feared to waken them. Feathery drifts of snow, shaken from the long pine boughs, flew like white-winged birds, and settled about them as they slept. The moon through the rifted clouds looked down upon what had been the camp. But all human stain, all trace of earthly travail, was hidden beneath the spotless mantle mercifully flung from about". This is a great story that shows how amidst all the suffering and the futile ness, one person was able to overcome all the emotion and create a new path to overlap the one that had been laid out before them.
The person overcame the realness of the situation with his mind, and instead of accepting what he had been given, he became original and made new hope in light of the groups low moral. The world is very real and can be frightening at times, but we must overcome that fear and forge ahead to better ourselves and other people.