For the majority of the time, they carried themselves with pride, a sense of self-confidence. However, sometimes everything just got too overwhelming, when even taking a deep breath couldn't help and there was nothing they could do but beg the teacher to round up their grade and lessen the homework load because there was a band invitational and there was no way they could sleep before two tonight and they begged and cried and lamented and moaned and shouted and screamed for a good grade on their test tomorrow and made a far-reaching promise to their parents that they would work hard, hoping to achieve a four point o. In all forms, this happened to everyone. Afterwards, when the test was over, they would sigh. They would close their eyes, feel tired, and quickly blink it away. They would make themselves look around. As if entering a new realm, piece by piece, everything would fall into place- the champagne colored desks, then the two freshly sharpened number two pencils, then the squeaky blue seats. Slowly, they would immerse themselves in conversation, first with those around them, then to their closest friends, becoming students again. They would shake their cramped hands from writing. They would look around them, check for a familiar face, try to keep their heavy eyes open, try to start a conversation, shake their head and start thinking about their next class. After everyone turned in their test, the class extrovert would say, no kidding, I was so stressed about that test, and the introvert would smile, which meant she was stressed, but she would never say that out loud, that wasn't her personality, and everyone thought she was supposed to be the smart one and never get tense over a test. Then everyone would be silent again, seeing the stress leave everyone's tense bodies, relaxing, savoring the peace that lasts until the bell rings.
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| We all carry ourselves with pride, with confidence. |
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| But sometimes, it just gets too much. |
(Disclaimer: This post is mimicking Tim O'Brien's style of writing in a passage from his book- excerpt is provided above in picture format)
Source:
O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.
CHRISTINAAA!! omg your blog page is rlly cute!! i love it! okay well for your blog post I smiled white reading it! I really liked how you included the images under it and included the captions. (the Obama ones made me laugh) I strongly agree with how you said that everyone lives their lives with pride and confidence at one point, but then an overload can cause you to be rlly stressed and burnt out. GOOD JOB:)
ReplyDeleteHey Christina! First of all, I love how your blog is fall themed even though I'll never be ready for summer to be over. I loved your post because I could connect with it and I could see everything you were talking about in my head and I was like "Omg this is so true". I really liked the introvert and extrovert part because I thought it was kind of funny even though I know it's true. Nice Job on your post!!
ReplyDeleteChristina, your post did make my week a little bit better!
ReplyDeleteGood work mirroring the style of O'Brien's writing, I loved the way you captured stress and pressure in the tone of your writing. And your note about the extrovert and introvert was really nice and made me think about which applies to me in that setting. Nice work!
Wow Ms Xu, your post seems to speak for all high schoolers nowadays. Your heartfelt plea and your vivid description of the stress you endure everyday is a mirror image of the silent struggles of ever person who wishes for nothing more than to lead a successful lives. I'm sure that many tangible items the soldiers of the Vietnam had to carry are but a fraction of the mental burden of homework, tests, quizzes, presentations, and essays that you must be carrying. The emotional pain that you are experiencing is the most malicious in nature since you cannot share it with anyone and it eats away at your life everyday without the solace of achievement. The world around us is indeed changing. The last generation is handing us a torch of life; however, the quiet flame that it once harbored has given way to a deleterious wildfire that our predecessors expect us to hump with a similar grace and finesse as they once did; the bar of success has risen and we are expected to jump over it with the same ease that the people of the past trotted over it with. There is but one word to describe the situation that us high schoolers face: unfair. The quagmire of success is one that we have been forced to be stuck in, and the more we try (as Sarah Vowell says) "the quaggier the more gets". As the soldiers in "The Things They Carried", we too must carry ourselves with pride and continue our endless hump.
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