The Australian Film Look Both Ways by Sarah Watt

When reading through Audre’s experience of having to wait three weeks to figure out if she had cancer or not, the first time, she was struggling with the uncertainty of her life. Her mortality was put front and center and she had a lot of self-reflection during this time. In The Sick Wife by Jane Kenyon you can see an example of how uncertain life is and how quickly it can change. In The Sick Wife there was a wife who is not even fifty, yet they are not able to button a button. Even when diagnosed with cancer it is not just life and death that people are uncertain of, but also the quality of life after cancer.

When Jack’s dad leaves he feels lost because his whole life he had always helped Jack with his illness. Jack discovers his dad once worked at Bioscience Discoveries, a testing facility. Jack’s dad created a “super strength” sun lotion for Jack that gave him a little more time in the sun (Forster, page 41). All that Jack ever knew was that when his dad was around his disease was better than after he left. He was probably not better because his dad helped him with his disease, but because when he dad was around he was happy and always at ease. Jack was constantly worried when his da was gone and his illness dramatically got worse after his dad left(Forster, page 107). Because of Jack’s dad leaving his illness had gotten worse due to the stress that was put onto him.

Distinctive visuals allow us to view how negative experiences can act as a catalyst in ones search for a better life. Luke and Anna’s bleak,

Our Life is a matter of choices. Live well and have faith and it will never go wrong. Our lives can be full of crazy ups and downs that shape our views on how life should be lived. With a similar ideology, author Flannery O’Connor’s depicts her own life struggles using different aspects and details throughout her novels and short stories. O’Connor lived by the basis that life must go on no matter the hardships. In her novels she represented various characters who made wrong choices and due to those choices suffered extreme negative consequences. Despite her struggles, O’Connor made the choice to continue on in her life yet many of her novels contradicted that same idea by having characters in her novels and short stories suffer consequences for making the wrong choices. Because the

After the doctor meets with Nick and Nick cannot bend his knee, the doctor tells Nick to be positive and hopeful that his life will be normal again: "That will all pass. You are a fortunate young man. You will play football again like a champion" (Hemingway 169). Nick understands why the doctor calls him "fortunate" to only walk out of the war with a hurt knee because soldiers in rooms next to him received more traumatizing injuries. Later he meets about his future with a major. Nick talks about his plan to marry, and the major tells him that marriage hurts a man: "If he is to lose everything, he should not place himself in a position to lose that. He should not place himself in a position to lose. He should find things he cannot lose" (Hemingway 173). Nick hopes that his return will be simple, but he still has much to experience and adventure. The war changes Nick from an innocent, young man with many hopes and aspirations to a scarred man with an arduous return to his regular life

Life is what you make it as we go through life’s journey. We all have different experiences that are unique to us individually. “Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.” - Virginia Satir. There are typical aspects of our journey that are similar, but different; we share commonalities along the way with others. In life, we will face challenges that bring about change, which is what happens to us along the way when we are younger, and it makes us who we are when we are older. Change is the opposite

Nick throughout the story shows little to no effort to even pursuit the idea of trying to fix things with his father. It is because of this reason that their relationship is where it is now. At one point in the novel Nick explains “If I went to the drowning man, the drowning man would pull me under” (Flynn 11). With this type of bias attitude, Nick will never completely understand the troubles his father is having. Nick does not have the desire to reach out and help his father from drowning, even though he can aid Jonathan from his drowning. Nick explains that

Many people break down when handling adversity, but Nick in fact wielded a different approach to adversity. “ My encouragement to you is that what lies ahead may be far better than you have ever thought possible. But it's up to you to get over it, get up, and show up” (21). He takes adversity head on with a positive attitude. This is how the author answers the question over and over throughout the novel, he always stresses the importance of the role of attitude.“... By changing our attitudes we can change our lives” ( 91). The theme of adversity resurfaced again and again. Nick was telling about why he’d been so successful, and why other famous people had become successful despite their treacherous moments in life. “Pick any true life hero,

She had ______ cancer. My uncle had stepped out for ten minutes to purchase some medicine from the pharmacist. Nancy thought she had a cold. As soon as he left, the doctor’s say, she fainted, and died. It was sudden. The news hit everyone hard. Her funeral was somber, and everyone wore black. Not one person uttered a word. Even so, I knew what everyone was thinking. How could someone who was so generous die at such an early age? I was thinking it too. How is life so unfair? If the one person that is truly constantly happy and giving just dies, what is that supposed to mean? Should we no longer be happy? Should we no longer give? I thought about Nancy’s life. How it meant nothing. She gave and gave, and still she was taken away. A single tear escaped from my eye. It froze, in the center of my cheek. I didn't wipe it

The life story of Nick Morton isn't all that incredible, but thats why makes it incredible to Nick Morton himself. It’s the year 1999 in Milbank, South Dakota in a small hospital called Saint Bernard’s Hospital and a young father and mother have their first child together a boy named Nicholas. Then comes the early years growing up in Milbank for two years, and a little sister named Haley comes into the picture and Nick telling the doctor “You take her home I don't want her”. After two years of life in Milbank the family had to move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota because of the young sister who had multiple seizures and the doctors were more advanced.

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

When I turned 11-years-old my whole childhood began to change my life went from being perfect to everything but perfect. One day I came home to hear the news my father, my best friend; my hero was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. Not knowing the struggle my family was about to take on I just began to cry. I had a million things running through my head what’s going to happen? Will everything be okay? Why him? What is going to happen? With all these things rushing through my head all I could do was cry not knowing this was least worse to come.

	This illness Johnny had was incurable, and Johnny knew that, but Johnny had such hope he didn’t believe that. Later in the book, Johnny finally accepts he is going to die. " A desperate charging hope shone in his eyes. Very slowly the hand went up. He felt his head tentatively, felt it again with full palm, and then, limply, helplessly, hopelessly, the hand fell down, and this was the only time I ever saw his eyes actually spill over with tears."(p85) Johnny finally realized that death was a possibility now. Throughout his battle with the brain tumor, Johnny’s dad recalls that this moment was the only time Johnny ever shed a tear. The doctors finally come to a conclusion about Johnny’s condition. " He’s dying. Shall we do anything or not?" (p110) Now that Johnny knew he was going to die, he had nothing to look foreword to, but he still kept a positive attitude and faced death with courage. Each day, until his last, the determination Johnny had to get well and to live a normal life was phenomenal.

Everyone is born to live and to die. People go through life fearing the inevitable which in the end is always death. Ernest Hemingway wrote two short stories that examine this idea of life and death through the use of a variety of different symbols. In both “Indian Camp” and “The Killers”, Hemingway examines these ideas by putting forth a character named Nick Adams. Nick Adams develops as a character throughout these stories ultimately learning lessons about life and death that will better his understanding of the world. Nick goes from having an imperfect immature understanding of death in the “Indian Camp” to a more mature and grown up understanding in “The Killers”. In “Indian Camp”, Nick believes that the only way one will die is if they kill themselves. Nicks father also brings Nick to the Indian Camp where his father will deliver a baby. Nicks father wants Nick to watch the birth and learn the importance of life, but instead the procedure takes a turn for the worst and Nick becomes disturbed by what he sees. In “The Killers”, Nicks understanding of death becomes more understood when he notices how Ole Anderson has given up on life and has ultimately taught Nick the lesson that death is inevitable. By his use of light and characters lying down in bed facing the wall in both “The Killers” and “Indian Camp”, Hemingway is attempting to show us how Nick develops a better understanding of light and death.

Well, not quite. She doesn’t say cancer right away. Mom and Dad don’t know all the details yet, and Mom doesn’t reveal the cancer part right away. But she tells you that Henri has to have his kidney removed. And that’s scary. It’s scary to me and I’m seven years older than you are. Your little brother has cancer. You’ll cry, right there in the car, with Henri’s friend Ava in the back seat. Mom will cry a little too. Mom will cry a lot in the next year, she’s just as strong as Henri is. You get home and Henri is in the front lawn. He got to go to Burger King for lunch, in between his tests, and he got a green dinosaur toy. He’s just sitting there, playing. Happy. Looking back on that, I know now how miraculous that is. How incredible bravery is amplified by youthful innocence. You won’t understand that, and that’s ok. There are a lot of