Sarton's Essay example essay topic

There are people that completely terrified of the thought, being alone, and thus never sincerely attempt to know themselves. Others enjoy solitude in some extent while also appreciating the exploration of new inspiration and ideas from others around. Then there are others who shared May Sarton's opinion that she expressed in her short essay "The Reward of Living a Solitary Live", where she insisted that life in solitude is the "rewarding"-an idea that somewhat persuasive but not very convincing. May Sarton's "The Reward of Living in Solitary Life" is persuasive because of her effective writing skills.

The essay is really easy to follow because her intention in the essay was not to make a statement or create an argument, but rather the intention to understand the idea of solitude life. Her organization was very simple and her thought flow very smooth. She organized her essay to start out with example to definition and back to her personal experience. The essay opens with an anecdote about her friend, spending time at the Whitney and enjoying the solitary moment-an example she set to illustrate how people come to enjoy a solitary life. Then she defines the state of being "alone", and differentiates it from the state of being "lonely". Then she incorporated her personal experience to support her perspective.

Throughout the essay she continues to explore the nature of solitude. Although Sarton expressed her voice clearly, still the essay is unconvincing. Her ideas of a solitude life could be argued against; one instance is when she said: His every perception will come to him with a new freshness and for a time, seem startlingly original. For anyone who can see things for himself with a naked eye become, for a moment or two something of a genius. With another human being present vision becomes double vision, inevitably. (870) She assumed that our opinion is more accurate when our perception was not altered by outside influence or point of view.

I disagree with that statement because I truly believe that human learn through others. Incorporating other's thought or opinion help elaborate our perspective. I guess the problem with her issues is that she had neglected the fact that humans make mistake; with an outsider's feedback we acknowledge our mistake clearly. Sarton prefers the state of being alone, because being alone she wouldn't have to "suffer from differences of taste, temperament, mood" (870). What she describes as "suffer" when surrounded by people, is what I believe is an important factor that helps develop the person within us. Interacting with others help define our feeling.

Only being with others we know how to love and be loved. Though there are emotions that we shy away, like the pain of losing a loved one and stress when we fought with someone, still those are factors that helps define the person that we are. And with others we learn how to care because we feels obligated to consider the reaction or feeling of others before we act. Throughout the essay she never stops defining the idea of a solitude life, but toward the end of her essay there are some aspects that contradicted her perspective. Her essay rewards the solitary life but she does indicate that sometime she needs people around: Then for a little while the house feels huge and empty, and I wonder where my self is hiding. It has to be recaptured slowly by watering the plants, perhaps, and looking again at each one as though it were a person, by feeding ht tow cats, by cooking a meal.

(871) This contradict her statement when she said, "Loneliness is most acutely felt with other people" (870). Though being with people with create conflict, but still there are interactions between two humans therefore eliminate the state of being lonely. May Sarton's essay is pervasive because she used her writing skill very effectively. But in the end, her essay was not convincing to me. Her essay make it seems that only her opinion matters to her and no one else, that why she choose to lives her life in solitude.