Life is packed of beautiful successes and filled with hefty obstacles. Because of its simplicities and its difficulties, life is the inspiration to many great authors of this world. Solitude is known to be one of the greatest complexities of life. It can be defined has a state of social isolation or a situation of being alone . Penance, sufferance, and redemption are three state of mind inherent to solitude, which are well reflected in both literature and in real life situations. They are easily noticed through various texts such as The Stone Angel, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Bible stories, and Death of a Salesman.
Penance is a characteristic of solitude that is relevant to literature and to real life. It can be first demonstrated in the story Death of a Salesman. Willy, an old salesman, is a man obsessed with imagery. He is a man who will make decisions based on the image of an ideal person in life. For example, Willy denies his actual talent for carpentry because he thinks that such career would be beneath him. The consequence of his decisions was loneliness; in a way, it was his penance. Very much like Willy, some individuals prefer people with higher standard to themselves. This creates a feeling of loneliness in their hearts. Penance can also be proven in the Bible stories. In Genesis 9:6, the Bible says that whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. This quote means that if an individual makes an awful decision, eventually, such individual will be penalized with, for example, solitude. The Stone Angel is another story that surrounds fairly well penance. Hagar Shipley is an old woman that experienced a lot of events in her life. When she was young, she made decisions based on her pride. For example, she chose her husband because she thought he would make her look better. In reality, he doesnt even care about her. Also, when her son John dies, she refuses to cry in front of the nurse because he would not allow a stranger to see her emotions. But then, has a penance, she felt terribly alone. In todays society, there are still many people that are punished just like Hagar because of their way of making decisions. Some people choose their husband or wife because of their belongings and not because of true love. Such couples experience solitude has a penance of their decision. Obviously, penance is a consequence to solitude that often leads to an individuals sufferance.
Another characteristic of solitude that can be related to literature and real life is sufferance. It can be initially observed in the ballad The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The Mariner is man who committed a sin by killing a poor albatross. By doing such act, the Mariner suffered the consequence of his act, which was solitude. For example, one by one, all of his crewmembers died, but he lived on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the crew's corpses, whose last expressions remain upon their faces. After such a seen, the Mariner could of only suffered solitude. Sufferance is additionally demonstrated in Death of a Salesman. Willy is a man who constantly suffered because he felt lonely. For example, he felt solitude in his work environment and with his family. He suffered so much that he decided to take his life away by committing suicide. Just like Willy, people in todays society suffer and suffer because solitude has invaded their hearts. And much like Willy, too much people nowadays commit suicide because for them, it is the easiest way to make the pain of solitude go away. Sufferance is as well presented in The Stone Angel. Hagar Shipley suffered her whole life because she was alone. Such solitude made Hagar a very miserable person that did not appreciate what she was given. For example, She felt solitude and she suffered in the presence of her dad because her pride would not permit her to deliver herself from unpleasant emotions. Just like Hagar, many individual refuse to show any emotions when they suffer. Today, someone can be tremendously rich and yet still be miserable because they are unable of sharing or tacking care of others. They try to consume more to fill their sense of loneliness. Evidently, it is easy for someone to less suffer when they deliver themselves from their horrible emotions.
Finally, a very last characteristic of solitude that is relevant to literature and real life is redemption. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Mariner delivers himself from all unlikable emotions when he speaks to the wedding guest. His conversation made him understand that his own act set him apart. Because of this, the Mariner became a sensitive, understanding person. Redemption is a feeling that is very present in this world. It is a feeling of deliverance because you realized something; in this case that solitude came because of your own choices. Redemption is also shown through out the Bible. In 1 John 1:9, the Bible says that If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you have the courage to say what you have done wrong, you will be able to forgive yourself and able to deliver yourself from all unpleasant feelings. Redemption is also demonstrated in The Stone Angel. At 90 years of age, Hagar realizes that her solitude has been caused by her pride. For example, when she was at the hospital, she delivered herself from unhappy thoughts to her son Marvin. Very much like Hagar, a great number of older people in todays society realize that the decisions they took brought them unhappy and lonely lives. It is then that they start to enjoy every minutes of their remaining lives. Clearly, there is a lesson to be learned by us.
To conclude, penance, sufferance, and redemption are three characteristics that are proving very well that solitude is a state of being present in the Stone Angel, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Biblical texts, Death of a Salesman, and in real life. The question that can now be ask is if solitude wasnt present in our everyday living, would life on earth be more enjoyable, more pleasant, and more peaceful?
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