Grief Observed

I have loved reading the Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis. He is a profound writer and a compelling author. He has written stories that touch our souls to stories that make us think and wonder. He is a man chasing after the affection and love of God. He is truely a great idol that will live in literature forever. The Grief Observed was such a great book not only for it's exposure to great details to which I (as a reader) can connect with his sadness for his lost wife but also for his bravery to question God. I have never lost anyone who is close to me, and I praise God for that but I still could feel C.S. Lewis' heart. I could feel the pain that he went through and that is what a great writer do, they have the ability to make the reader connect with their stories whether the reader has experienced the event before or not. He also was brave to question God. One of the greatest theologian and a great follower of God was not afraid to question what he knew. When his wife died, he rethought everything he stood for. He questioned where his wife was, what Heaven would truely be like, what she is doing and how our time effects her. These things we (if grown up in a church) were taught and we don't really question it but here, a grown man, a great theologian steps back and wonders what happens if we were taught wrong. As he said "Not that I am in much danger of ceasing to beliebe in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful things about him." Even in this tragedy he never doubted the exsistence of God just questioned his situation. As Professor Corrigan states over and over again, "it is alright to question." Through this book we learn to question God and to question the world that we live in to truely grasp how wonderful life is. We must reach outside of our daily thoughts to see that the world is greater and that there are great things we can accomplish with the right questions.

grief observed. ch1

"Why is he so present commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent of help in times of trouble?"

So why does God remain silent in our pains and suffering? What is he waiting for? I understand what C.S. Lewis was trying to say here. It seems like in our times of prosperity he's there with us. And if we are Christians then we must not forget to thank him for his blessings. But In our greatest feat we hear nothing, we feel nothing. It's almost like he is sitting there, watching us toss and turn in our sleep, walking through life numb. As Christians we'll cry out for him, look around hoping he'll show up in some sort of way so we can see that he is there. Maybe even hoping for an epiphany, anything to take us our of our monotony. Sometimes in our hardest times he refuses, for whatever reason he makes us suck it up and wait. Waiting is what hurts the most, he doesn't even say "wait for me" he just does nothing so if we're in faith we assume that we are to wait. This is where some people give up on him, waiting to us doesn't feel like we accomplishing anything but sometimes that's exactly what we need.

Also I went through a phase in my life where things just went wrong, ALL THE TIME. I was a believer at the time so I would call to God, pray and seek him but i heard nothing, felt nothing. This went on for 2 years and little by little I just lost my faith. I felt like life had stopped. I lived like that and finally realized that I couldn't do that forever. So I started going back to church, read the Bible, tried so hard to feel God again. To be back in his presence and for him to pull me out of my situation. For months nothing happened, I remember asking God "Why won't you help me? You said ask and you will receive." Nothing, I felt like he was just sitting there in Heaven, watching me in my despair. The thing is I know without a doubt that God is real but at that time it felt like when I prayed I was talking to myself. I felt dumb for talking to myself so I quit praying. I had no idea what he was doing, waiting for something and honestly to this day I still don't know. But during that time I talked to my pastor and I said "I can't feel him, I can't feel God." He said to me "You won't always feel him, you don't have to. Just know that he is there, like he promised." This is when I started feeling hope again, even though he didn't come to me in an epiphany but in human.

Happy Endings

I Thought this story was intriguing yet insightful. The best part is that it was short, keeps your interest and easy to read. After reading this story I thought about what I would take away from this story and to me it's the choices that we make. In our life we are given free choice, no one can take this away from us; not even God. We can choose how we can live our life and what the end looks like.

I will be discussing the first three options: Of course as we look at A, it was the happy ending so somehow they managed to make the "correct decisions" in their lives.

But as we read option B we see how a bad choice ends in tragedy. If we will discuss Mary's choices. She did not have to continue this relationship with John. She knows he is not any good for her nor does he love her. Personally I think she's stuck in a rut because John keeps coming back to her for her body therefore she is not able to make a clean start. Now John's choice is the fact that he won't commit to her nor does he leave her completely because she has become reliable to him.

Option C has little to be desired for. John is a middle aged man who has a good life, he should have just committed to his wife and all would have probably ended well. Of course this did not happen and Mary, not in love with John, is entangled in a love triangle. If she loves James then she should just wait for him to finish his stage or learn to love what he loves, or find someone else to commit to.

I think Margaret is trying to tell us that each decisions makes a difference in our endings. This is something that I have always analyzed, even at a young age. I was always afraid of making the wrong decisions that I would regret later. So in turn sometimes I don't make a decision at all but not making a decision is in deed making one.

Frankie and Johnny

"This story only goes to show that there ain't no good in man."First off I believe that this was written from a bias point of view. We can not assume that off of one relationship (Frankie and Johnny) that all men behave in such a manner. There are good men out there who are faithful and caring to their lovers till the day that they die. Like I had mentioned before this is equally as Frankie's faults as it is Johnny's. Yes Johnny was ruthless but Frankie's response is what would have made the difference. She could have left him, talked to him, gone to a counselor but the story never said any of that. So as a reader I assume that she acted irrationally and went straight home to get her gun. Didn't really think about the fact that she will lose her lover forever, and it would be in her hands.

"This story has no morals. This story has no end." I believe that this story does have morals and I would say we could all take a little bit from this folksong. Personally for me this story was telling me that we should all think before we act. we should consider the consequences and the feelings of others. To me neither Frankie nor Johnny really realized what their consequences would be. First off Frankie probably was doing something to make Johnny cheat on her. Perhaps she wasn't giving enough into the relationship or she changed into someone different, but "lovers" don't stop being lovers overnight; even if the other woman is attractive. Even though this story made Johnny looked awful for cheating on Frankie it was half of her fault. In all relationship bot sides interact or have lack of interactions. Now we talk about Johnny; he did the naughty. I'm sure Johnny at one point thought about what would happen if he cheated on Frankie. Perhaps Frankie would leave him, or they would fight all the time, or maybe she would never find out. Either way he took that chance, he put himself first, before Frankie. At the beginning of the story it says "Frankie and Johnny were lovers." This means that they both loved each other It was not just a one way relationship. I'm sure he wouldn't have cheated on Frankie if he knew what the consequences would be. The least he could have done was left her but in all honestly they didn't try hard enough in the relationship. People assume that relationship last because they were "meant to be." Love isn't easy; sure everyone loves but love does not last without effort. We must be committed to love that is the only way it works out; even the longest relationships had rough times, but they agree to be committed to each other and work it out together.

Literary profile

My earliest memories actually happened when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I came to America then and did not speak English at all but I remember my dad showing me pictures from books like Winnie the Pooh and Barney. A little while later when I learned English my parents would read the Bible to me. Those stories always fascinated me because they were just like the princess movies that I would watch. The story of Ester was like Cinderella, Ruth was like Snow White and David was like Robin Hood. In that sense they weren't merely words on pages but they because images I saw.

I must admit I am not the most habitual reader but I had a lot of time on my hands last semester due to the fact that I was stuck on campus 24/7. So I resolved to reading this series, Ashley Stockingdale, by Kristin Billerbeck. I was fairly interested for the first book but it had a lot to do with girls wanting to get married. With all of this marriage talk in Southeastern it was just too much for me so I quit after the first book but I enjoyed it for the time being though.

Last Christmas my boyfriend gave me this book it was called The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. It had been his ultimate favorite book since he was little and he gave it to me with a little note inside saying "I will be your giving tree." At first I thought it was just cute but as time went on he has always been giving to me; just like that tree. This book isn't significant to me because of the words that the author wrote but it became significant to me because of the symbolic meaning my boyfriend made it to be.

Literature has always been a difficult subject for me. I dread reading but I love to write. There was a point in my life where I was going through a "rough spot" and I had a lot of emotions inside of me that I needed to express. I didn't trust anyone so my counselor suggested that I start writing in diaries and I've been doing it ever since I was in middle school. In a way writing has kept me sane just like books were an escape for my sister in her rough times.