Choosing Destiny

A detailed Summary of Choosing Destiny

Throughout life, one will encounter many ups, downs, highs and lows. It's quite obvious that some will handle the downs and lows better than others. These problems can range anywhere from something serious such as family conflicts, or it may be something foolish like laundry issues. Others find that their lows in life are due to the fact that they face the same daily obstacles, and tend to get annoyed with the repetition behind them. Life all of a sudden seems to have no particular meaning, and a person begins to feel worthless. Life in itself is repetitive, however a person can only take so much until they begin to need a serious modification.

The concept stated above is demonstrated in A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence and The Book of Eve by Constance Beresford-Howe. In A Jest of God, Rachel is deprived of a fulfilling lifestyle mainly because of the limits she is placed under by her mother. Day in, and day out, Rachel is living a confined life and feels there is no possibility of changing it. Her sister Stacey has married and moved away and Rachel is the only support her mother has. Rachel feels obliged to provide and care for her. After her affair with Nick Kazlik, Rachel begins to have a different outlook on l

In The Book of Eve, Eva is getting frustrated because her sick husband is treating her as a servant. Eva finds herself following a very strict lifestyle due to Burt and she therefore runs away. She runs not only from the servitude of nursing Burt, but also from running the house, shopping, cleaning up and that dull routine. It's actually quite selfish of Eva to leave Burt after being devoted to him for forty years, however, she had to act quickly because her life was slowly being consumed.

Eva has changed in order to accommodate to her needs. In this case, her needs are nice and simple. What Eva needs is solitude; she needs time to be with herself. Now that Burt is no longer a burden to her, she can lead her own life and make her own decisions without the constant worry of his harassment.

Laurence, Margaret. A Jest of God, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Inc., 1989

Rachel changed mainly after her close encounter with motherhood. Regardless of what society would think of her, Rachel was willing to keep her child. For Rachel it would be an escape from her present life. This baby is just what Rachel needed, someone she could love and care for, someone that was part of her.

All the suffering and economizing that Eva goes through is basically to prove not only to others, but mainly to herself, that she doesn't have to put up with other people's problems. In this case, since the problem is her husband, it makes it that much more difficult to restrain herself from returning home. Eva must have complete dedication to herself and to her goals to allow for such heartless behaviour towards others.

After Rachel discovered that she wasn't pregnant but actually had a tumor, she took 'her' life into 'her' hands. Until then it had been partially or almost fully controlled by her mother, but things were just about to change. Life had to change for Rachel. The whole concept of living in the same small town, with the same people was getting to her. Rachel was watching everyone else grow up, except herself. She barely recognized students she had taught in grade one because they had obviously changed. However, her students recognized her, same old Miss Cameron! That's exactly why things were getting out of hand. Rachel was getting older and nothing was changing. That's why she decided to move, because it was time. For once, Rachel did not consider her mother's suggestion to stay in Manawaka. She insisted on leaving and that would be the final say. A new city would bring a new job, new friends, and hopefully, a whole new lifestyle.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1760
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English