Lit Major Paper
ONG, Ana Czarina S.
Literature 13 – E26
Professor Cori Perez
January 12, 2013
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
― Mother Teresa
It’s frightening to think how those who live under poverty in our country would seem so powerless when in reality are just as powerful. Poverty has the power to disable people from seeing the sun on bright days, while it can enable them to think about the gloomiest ones, desperately resorting to unwanted ways to get what they need. They are equipped with a valid reason for committing crimes and immoral acts, rooting back to poverty, just exactly something we find hard to give solution to. It is hard to embrace them fully, but is harder to condemn them for feeling so hopeless about their situations. Hopelessness is what fuels these people and it’s a sad reality that the society cannot help but let them do the driving – their own dirty way. Loneliness is another type of poverty, as mentioned by Mother Teresa, and even claimed it as the most terrible of all poverties present.
Sadly, such was what the three major characters in the stories Cat in the Rain, Miss Brill, and A Rose for Emily, experienced. The traits they had in common rooted back to loneliness, being the reason why they thought they had to do unique, and at a point, questionable ways to be accepted and loved in return. The story Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway focused on the character of an American woman who tries hard to get her husband’s attention by saving a kitten from the rain. As the story develops, it is noticeable that there’s a slight tension between the American couple as emphasized by the husband’s cold treatment to his wife. The wife, in return, recites her desire for things she knows she could not immediately have and will require great effort from her husband to have them. The American wife, enslaved by loneliness and insecurity, displayed selfishness as she repeatedly said, “Anyway, I want a cat. I want
Literature 13 – E26
Professor Cori Perez
January 12, 2013
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
― Mother Teresa
It’s frightening to think how those who live under poverty in our country would seem so powerless when in reality are just as powerful. Poverty has the power to disable people from seeing the sun on bright days, while it can enable them to think about the gloomiest ones, desperately resorting to unwanted ways to get what they need. They are equipped with a valid reason for committing crimes and immoral acts, rooting back to poverty, just exactly something we find hard to give solution to. It is hard to embrace them fully, but is harder to condemn them for feeling so hopeless about their situations. Hopelessness is what fuels these people and it’s a sad reality that the society cannot help but let them do the driving – their own dirty way. Loneliness is another type of poverty, as mentioned by Mother Teresa, and even claimed it as the most terrible of all poverties present.
Sadly, such was what the three major characters in the stories Cat in the Rain, Miss Brill, and A Rose for Emily, experienced. The traits they had in common rooted back to loneliness, being the reason why they thought they had to do unique, and at a point, questionable ways to be accepted and loved in return. The story Cat in the Rain by Ernest Hemingway focused on the character of an American woman who tries hard to get her husband’s attention by saving a kitten from the rain. As the story develops, it is noticeable that there’s a slight tension between the American couple as emphasized by the husband’s cold treatment to his wife. The wife, in return, recites her desire for things she knows she could not immediately have and will require great effort from her husband to have them. The American wife, enslaved by loneliness and insecurity, displayed selfishness as she repeatedly said, “Anyway, I want a cat. I want
Cited: [1] "Mother Teresa of Calcutta quotes." Find the famous quotes you need, ThinkExist.com Quotations.Thinkexist.com, Web. 4 Jan 2013. [2] Hemingway, Ernest. “Cat in the Rain.” Lit 13 English Dept. Ateneo de Manila University. Quezon City: np., 2012. 103-106. Print. [3] Mansfield, Katherine. “Miss Brill.” Lit 13 English Dept. Ateneo de Manila University. Quezon City: np., 2012. 48-51. Print. [4] Faulkner, William. “A Rose for Emily.” Lit 13 English Dept. Ateneo de Manila University. Quezon City: np., 2012. 57-64. Print.