Forgiveness In Looking For Alaska

Thematic Statement: Forgiving someone for their mistake can make yourself free of anger and bitterness.

Life, as we all know is saturated with misfortune. Most of us are able to go through these and learn from and exempt ourselves. Yet, this isn’t always the case. People are faced with bone riveting experiences that often take a long time to get over, if they ever do get over it. These episodes brew in our brain popping up at the most random points often bringing our tone down. Although these experiences may scare us and fill us with ruefulness and penitence, we can’t continue to live in the past and let these regrets habituate us. Self forgiveness is a remedy to healing and to moving on in life, no matter how hard it is.

My grandmother, who is the mother of my mom, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 87. Since I was 6 or 7 she had been living in our house. The reason for that was, my grandfather, that I was named after passed away a year before I was born, so she was alone, and she was starting to get old. Since she lived with us for so many years, she had been a very important figure in my life. I can honestly say that she was like a 3rd parent for me, and losing her, made me fell horrible and helpless. I witnessed how real death is because of her passing. Combined with puberty, my grief caused me to become depressed for a long time. As I’m looking back it sounds really extreme, but there were some days that I did not even leave the bed thinking that there was no point to our existence. Thanks to some psychological counselling however, I was able to overcome that mental

In FYS we were taught many ways to live in the world through the stories we read, speeches we listen to, and the projects we did. In the book, Ordinary Grace, by William Kent Krueger, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, and Destiny of The Republic, by Candice Millard, I saw a few prominent themes of how one should live. In these three books I learned about the author 's voice through their writings. I saw how one should live their life. In these books the authors shared common themes through their writings. The authors showed how to live life with forgiveness and live life with faith. Krueger and Potok both showed me through their novels how to forgive someone and they did this by showing that there is a bigger picture in

“Like any book about mistakes and redemption, the mistakes are far more interesting to read about and write about,” as said by Jack Gantos.

In the novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, a kid named Chris Mccandless abandons his family and goes into the Alaskan frontier with only a pair of boots, a 22cal Remington rifle, and a 25 pound bag of rice. He goes out there to find joy. The theme of this book is forgiveness and the inability to forgive. Also, in the novel, Into the Wild, the book proves that going into nature unprepared leads to death.

Sometimes, forgiveness is used as an excuse to make the mistakes conducted okay. Eventually, the ones that are forgiven take advantage of the idea of forgiveness. In the memoir, The Glass Castle, the protagonist, Jeannette Walls and her siblings face difficult situations where they're forced to accept and learn from a young age to forgive those who are responsible. Jeannette’s parents struggle with being strong and stable parents for their children, making mistakes that have consequences that affect not only themselves but also the the Walls children. Jeannette chooses to believe that by letting go of the grudges she holds about parent she can avoid a bitter life, even though it is her parents responsible for her pain. Through Jeannette Walls journey she is able to capture the hard reality of forgiveness.

As Christopher Johnson McCandless once said: “The core of mans’ spirit comes from new experiences” (Krakauer, 57). Society has given the majority of the human population a predetermined cookie-cutter lifestyle for which they must follow in order to be accepted. This includes which virtues to follow, how to interact with others, and what is and what is it not acceptable. For many people, fitting into this mold is the only way they know how to live, but for a select few, it is quite the opposite. This small group of individuals dedicates their lives to living outside of social norms and opposing others’ instructions of how to live their lives. They are known to many as

The novel After You by Jojo Moyes and poem “Everything Happens for a Reason” by Katie both contain a similar message that moving on from the death of a loved one is difficult initially, but as time progresses the pain will ease.

Violet Markey has lost her older sister (and best friend) in a fatal car crash on an icy bridge. She is overwhelmed by guilt, as she was the one who begged her sister to take her home, and told her to take the shortcut, ultimately leading to Eleanor’s death. When this happens, she loses friends and is afraid to make any, afraid she will lose them too. After losing Mitch, I also lost my Nana and Papa (grandmother and grandfather). My cousin, Dimity had bowel cancer and although she is alive and well now, it is still scary to think how close we were to losing her. This made me realize, unlike other people my age, how close death is in our everyday lives, and, unlike cartoon character, we cannot peel ourselves from the rubble and complete our quest or journey. Losing some of the major people in my life has, just like Violet, made me scared to let go of people and even more scared of letting them into my heart. However, just like with Violet, her friends help her world to grow.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but enlarges the future” -Paul Blose. When you don’t forgive others it is like a burden on yourself. When you hold a grudge it does more harm to yourself than the other person. People make mistakes. If you never forgave them you couldn’t be happy; you will always be angry at that person and you would be miserable. Forgiveness allows someone to clear their conscience and move on with their life. Forgiveness is a theme of The Red Kayak because Brady needs to forgive Digger and J.T. for going behind his back and drilling a hole in the kayak.

When I read “Once More to the Lake” by E. B. White, I was jealous of the father and son’s close relationship as it reminded me of my grandmother and mother’s close relationship. When I was younger I always loved hearing stories about my mother’s childhood because i didn’t feel close to her due to her job. She would often tell me stories about her mother, my Lola, who had died a month before I was born. They were best friends, and my mother would tell her everything. At first they were nice to hear, but as I grew up the memory of the stories became a burden, a constant reminder of my inability to share my feelings, thoughts, opinions, and experiences with my mother. It made me feel guilty that I could not give her the relationship she had with

Although I hated to see her go, I knew that I would never branch out and meet new people with my mother present. As we said goodbye, the tears swelled up in her eyes and it seemed like the harder she tried to prevent the tears from falling; the faster they streamed down her cheek. Eventually my mom got back into her car and began the long trip home. There I was, alone in the middle of the street outside of my dorm. I walked back into Cowden, up the flight of stairs and into my dorm room in a trance.

I was only four years old when my mother was murdered by my father I was there when it all started and I was there when it ended. Her death was a quick one so I was happy that she didn’t have to go through a painful death like the ones that I would have to witness first hand. After my mother’s death my life has been full of pain and sorrow. I miss mother but I know missing her won’t do me any good. The instant that father had murdered mother he put me inside of a facility where kids are not wanted.

Every morning I still wake up thinking that she is there drinking her tea in her room , watching tv. Then suddenly the truth comes rushing up to me and I realize that it is just a dream hanging around me still, and a cold despair fall upon me. I feel empty inside. My mother’s death was a really sobering experience I’ve passed through. It was the most devastating loss in my life.