How Was Sarah Watt Explore the Ways People Deal with Their Personal Tragedies in 'Look Both Ways'

Kelly Sundberg wrote the essay It Will Look Like a Sunset, a story that depicts a major dilemma in her life, and wishes to share her experience in order to inform those who have found themselves in a similar situation. Sundberg speaks to her audience with a well-crafted description of the traumatic struggles while in an abusive relationship. Also, she does this with a purpose, not only does Sundberg recount her afflictions with chilling detail, but she does this for a reason. She has a purpose for what she writes, rather than just telling a story of her trials throughout her relationship, she writes with the intent to inform and encourage those who are in a similar situation to herself. Furthermore, her delicate and precise use of

In the short story “The Harvest” by Amy Hempel, an unnamed narrator is in a horrible car accident, where her leg is permanently disfigured. The story takes place after the accident, when the narrator is attempting to process the life changing event that’s just happened to her. The story is broken up into two parts,in the first part she describes the accident and the aftermath - the accident, the hospital, the recovery. But she opens the second half of the story by admitting that not everything we just read is factual. The struggle she is having throughout the story is to cope with and understand her accident, but her emotional distress inhibits that. The narrator conveys her instability and vulnerability that the accident caused in through the ways she decides to alter the details of her story. Although she goes through the process of reflecting on why she does this, she doesn’t come out the other side feeling less confused about why her accident happened to her, or any less unstable and vulnerable.

When it comes to the personal, uncontrollable misfortunes in life, there seems to be two main ways to handle it: either ignore it, or face it then and there. Ian McEwan’s Atonement is a prime example of this struggle in dealing with traumatic situations. In Paper One, I stated that McEwan suggests the best way to deal with life’s traumas is to face them head on rather than to completely ignore them. McEwan shows this through the mistakes Briony makes as her innocence misguides her into a divided relationship with her sister Cecilia. Similarly, Robbie faces the traumatic war experiences and separation from Cecilia which puts himself in a tense situation that he cannot entirely grapple. In both cases, it’s apparent that facing traumas head on leads the characters to reflect upon their choices and overcome weaknesses. However, in Parts Two and Three, Briony’s personal stories, interpretation of events, and reflection of her choices imply something else. I think it’s clear that McEwan ultimately emphasizes that a better way to cope with trauma is to write about them in the form of stories. Doing so allows one to not only acknowledge the traumas, but also to move beyond it, control it, and lessen its severity. These beneficial effects can only be achieved through means of writing stories.

Death is inevitable. Death is unforeseeable. Death is unknown. One of the most difficult aspects of life is the prospect of death. In Lament for A Son, Wolterstorff reflects on the agony and lamentation of losing his son in a tragic accident (Wolterstorff, 1987). He explains the grief and pain associated with the death of someone close (Wolterstorff, 1987). One of the main themes present is the premature death of the author’s son, which alludes to the five stages of grief (Wolterstorff, 1987) (Kübler-Ross, 1972). The last stage is the stage of acceptance (Kübler-Ross, 1972). Death is possibly one of the most difficult things to accept and understand. Through the analysis of Wolterstorff’s Lament for a Son, this paper will attempt to understand finding joy in loss, the meaning of death in the light of the Christian narrative, and the role of hope in the resurrection.

An apparent strength found in Sarah’s case, is the support her sister Gloria has provided. Her concerns for Sarah’s current state also support this assertion. The fact that Sarah has been competent enough to land high paying positions and administrative jobs also represent high cognitive and executive functioning when her symptoms are regulated, or at a minimum. Going back to her adherence of her Christian values, can also represent a faith based strength, which at the very least has helped in mitigating suicidal ideation. Sarah’s reasoning and social expectations of what her life should be, further complicate and add pressure to her having a stable life, also causing huge distress for Sarah. In essences, her unreasonable, and unrealistic expectations of herself and of those around her, have only set the stage for disappointment and despair when these expectations fail to unfold in reality. This also debilitates her ability to make new friends and carry

The difficult interactions we encounter within a family unit influences our identity and our behaviour towards others. Elissa Down’s film ‘The Black Balloon’ effectively demonstrates the conflicting views of autistic people within society and explores the dynamic family unit and how it functions within a modern society. Complementary to this, Shaun Tan’s highly idiosyncratic graphic novel ‘The Rules of Summer’ explores companionship and how a brotherhood can be effectively created and maintained. As a result, both Tan and Down effectively explores the notion that harsh relationships can create bonds between family members which grow significantly due to the challenges that we face in our lives.

Sarah Watt’s film, “Look Both Ways” depicts the initial inability of people to deal with grief but with understanding and communication its shows everybody is capable of dealing with pain. Presented when fear had taken control of the Western World as a result of the horrific terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, Watt convinces the audience that there can still be optimism which leads happiness even when people are fearful. Watt’s portrays a view that pessimism can lead to optimism when the characters develop their own individual ways of coping with grief through strong animation, photo montage and subtle symbolism. Nick struggles at first but develops an

How we react and understand relationships with other people is a recurring theme in the majority of the subcategories of the Grad @ Grad “loving.” For example, in subgoal 6, it says a graduate at graduation “is alert to the signs of emotional and mental distress in others and follows appropriate referral measures” (JSEA). This, along with many of the other subgoals, explore different areas of the subject. However, subgoal 12 says that one “has begun to appreciate deeper personal friendships, while also learning that not all relationships are profound and long lasting” (JSEA). When it comes to breaking down the individual words of this goal, you start to better understand its purpose and meaning. To do this, we need to break down the goal, word

In the film Look Both Ways, director Sarah Watt explores the theme that perspective can determine experience in life. The film demonstrates that life is an unscripted event where no one knows the final outcome and we can often become overwhelmed by how seemingly little control we exert over the navigation of our lives By using main characters Nick, Meryl and Andy, she suggests that changing a person’s outlook on life can enrich that person and help overcoming problems. Nick learnt that cancer does not necessarily implicate death, Meryl freed herself from her fears by realising risks

In novels, there are characters that you can relate to personally. In the realistic fiction novel, Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen, Juli Baker faced many challenges. The challenges that Juli and I both share deal with family issues and it’s very difficult sometimes.

Manisha is a woman who has overcome many struggles throughout her life so far. She went from living a happy life with a family, to having her world flipped completely upside down. Throughout a case study conducted by Beverly B. Koerin and Elizabeth D. Hutchison, Manisha explains multiple events that affected her life and the way she acts tremendously. Factors such as Manisha’s physical, emotional, and spiritual self along with the environment, and time influence her behaviors in many ways.

Each individual reflects whom they spend the majority of their time with, usually being family members or immensely close friends. The situations and experiences one has gone through are believed to be what shape a person’s personality and perspective towards life. However, three different persons can be put through the exact same situation, and despite going through the same experiences, the manner in which they choose to handle those situations may not be the same. This is because humans differ in more ways than anyone can imagine. I was born into a fairly decent life. I have a mother, father, siblings, food, and shelter. Of course, no one lives a perfect life, for with my family along came frustration, conflicts, betrayal, anxiety, and depression. Unfortunately, I was present for the entire show, there to witness the

The second article, “I just have to move on: Women’s coping experiences and reflections following

“Close friends are truly life’s treasures. Sometimes they know us better than we know ourselves. With gentle honesty, they are there to guide and support us, to share our laughter and our tears. Their presence reminds us that we are never really alone” (Vincent Van Gogh). In the novel, All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr shows the beautiful connection between characters who motivate each other to achieve greatest potentials. Helpers are essential in many lives because their unwavering support and encouragement make people feel safe, important, and capable of making the right choices and maximizing their fullest potentials. Werner’s sister, Jutta helps him by giving him hope when he needs it to get through the day. Marie-Laure’s supporter her father, Daniel Leblanc helps her gain independence with being blind by building a model of the town so she understands her surroundings. The person who supports Jasmine is her older sister Kathrine because she is always there for her. Jasmine knows she will be understood and heard by her because she makes sure I know she will listen to me.

Once a fiercely independent woman, Susan now felt condemned by this terrible twist of fate to become a powerless, helpless burden on everyone around her. “How could this have happened to me?” she would plead, her heart knotted with anger. But no matter how much she cried or ranted or prayed, she knew the painful truth: her sight was never going to return. A cloud of depression hung over Susan’s once optimistic spirit. Just getting through each day was an exercise in frustration and exhaustion.