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Chesterton's Essay: A Unity To The Human Experience

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Chesterton's Essay: A Unity To The Human Experience
Tyler Brett
Mid-Term Exam Essay
October 15, 2012

A Unity to the Human Experience Throughout the introduction and the five individual essays, a common theme was presented: unity. The understanding that the personal essay was created not only to form a more intimate experience between the reader and the author but also to unite the whole human race united all the essays and the introduction. The introduction explains that all personal (informal) essays are united because even though they are personal and original to the author, the author always makes his/her story relatable to mankind. It gives the essay a more macro view on life and the author’s experiences. I felt that the introduction explained a lot of the reasoning behind the personal …show more content…
I found the essay A Piece of Chalk by G.K. Chesterton to be very interesting. This for me was an example of how a personal essay is relatable to the human race. The entire time I read the essay I related it back to God and my religious belief. “Brown paper represents the primal twilight of the first toil of creation and with a bright-coloured chalk or two you can pick out points of fire in it, sparks of gold, and blood-red, and sea-green, like the first fierce stars that sprang out of divine darkness” (Chesterton). He says that the brown paper represents creation and the chalks are what God created because just like all that God created, chalks bring beauty to the brown paper. The overall moral of this essay is that the human race is missing white chalk in their lives. The white chalk is the purity, positivity and essential: a shining and affirmative …show more content…
Mercy does not mean not being cruel or sparing people revenge or punishment; it means a plain and positive thing like the sun, which one has either seen or not seen. Chastity does not mean abstention from sexual wrong; it means something flaming, like Joan of Arc” (Chesterton).
This quote asserts to the human race that this piece of white chalk is necessary. It is needed just be a valuable person to society. It is everywhere we (humans) need to find it, understand it, and live it. The other essays like Slaves, My Face, and Hateful Things just give more examples about how something as un-relatable as being a slave can in fact be related to. In Slaves, Seneca says, “Treat your inferior as you would wish your superior to treat you.” This is something everyone should be aware of because no one knows what the future holds. Maybe one day you will be inferior to people you were superior to. All the essays hold morals like in Slaves that should be contained in your knowledge base for life
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