We all fall down – Essay in speech format

Good morning thank you for turning up to what will be an engaging analysis of the complexity of conflict in literature. If you ponder upon it, how many of us have experienced some form of conflict in our lives? No doubt all of you. But year 1 1, It Is the way In which we handle this conflict that moulds us Into the individuals we are today. My work In the novel We all fall down' has caused some controversy In schools simply because I paint the picture of characters who fall to metaphorically 'get back up'.

I've no doubt that if you look closely enough around this room you will associate money with these problems and that's what I'd like to explore today; the complex character that is Buddy Walker. The thing that really got the critics cranky was Buddy's escapist tendencies. The reason being that Buddy drinks, he drinks a lot to assist him in sanding down the rough edges in his highly conflicted life, and that will be the focus of our discussion today.

Year 1 1, I would now offer you some valuable advice in the hope that you will learn from Buddy's mistakes, and that is that in life, it's not about how you fall down... It's how you get up. Now, the main theme I implicitly explored In this novel through the experiences of Buddy Walker and Jane Jerome Is the concept of resilience. Evidently, these two vastly different characters both have vastly different levels of resilience, seen through the way they handle the conflict In their lives. But what exactly Is resilience?

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Resilience Is a person's ability to bounce back from setbacks, major or minor, and just the all-round ability to keep going, you could describe it differently as mental toughness. Buddy, as stated before, is an escapist. He uses many different things as tools for his escapism, the major one being his metaphorical 'life crutch', his gin (alcohol). He uses alcohol as a form of escapism in many different instances, and I feel that the way I described the gin's significance to Buddy's escapism perfectly sums up the character that Buddy is.

A few of my favorite descriptions are "the way it (the alcohol) soothed and stroked him. " The alcohol was like his only friend. " and "The way it kept a certain haziness on the harsh realities of his life. " These quotes especially emphasize the high level of penitence Buddy has on the alcohol to act as a beacon to guide him through the fogginess of his existence, If you will. The alcohol symbolizes Buddy's weakness, It depicts his inability to overcome conflict on his lonesome and essentially characterizes him as someone who cannot 'get back up'.

Now year 1 1, Buddy is by no means a resilient character. He has little to no willpower and is perfectly happy to stand idly by while something despicable happens in front of him. I expressed this in the opening scene, the trashing. While I set the scene with a sinister tone and suspenseful language, I placed Buddy in a difficult position. A position where he had to choose to either test his courage and 'be a hero' while running the risk of the losing his friends', or sit back and Just allow an utterly despicable act occur right In front of his own eyes.

Of course, being the weak and nearly morally void character Buddy Is, he chose to let It happen. A stronger, more resellers character would more than likely opt to Intervene In this because they would have the mental strength to overcome It. Unlike Buddy, Jane Is a very resilient character and through all of the inflict and problems in her life, she always has the strength to bounce back. Two trashing, despite the considerable amount of physical damage to the house, mental damage to the whole family, and both physical and mental damage to Karen, Jane still finds the strength to get on with her life.

Sure, she is noticeably rattled from the occurrence, but she still finds a reason to smile. That reason is Buddy. But after things with Buddy go down the drain and she is forced to part ways with him as well as her claim to happiness and respite from everything bad in her life, she still engages to move on rather steadily. Ask yourselves year 11, if there is anyone you know that you would associate with either of these characters' traits. If you do, I'll wager that the Jane type character you know does not get along all too well with the Buddy type character.

This is because strong and weak individuals obviously oppose each other, and their two personalities often conflict with each other. Likely, the Jane type character somewhat dislikes the Buddy type character you know, but the Buddy type is rather impartial to the Jane type. The Buddy's in our lives are often the type of errors to Just let things happen around them, while something may affect them in one way or another, they are generally not too bothered by it unless it is quite a burdening occurrence.

We begin to detect this Buddy-Jane conflict in the scene where Buddy goes to Cane's temporary apartment to try and talk things over with her. Jane, of course because of her new discovery that Buddy was involved in the trashing of her house, is tired of Buddy. Tired of his hesitance and general indecisiveness. It is evident that she has gotten sick of Buddy's weakness as a person, and the resilience f their relationship has now worn out.

Year 11, resilience is a fundamental human characteristic that we all need throughout the course of our lives. If you as a person are struggling to 'get back up' time and time again, my advice to you is this: Don't let things get to you too much, and block out unnecessary sources of conflict. Like Jane, causes for grievance should be grieved over, but briefly and very occasionally. Because the most important thing in life, as corny as it sounds, is happiness. As they say year 11, life's for the living, so live it. Or you're better off dead.

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