Taekwondo: Reality vs. A Novel
The novel, Eliza Bing Is (NOT) a Big, Fat Quitter by Carmella Van Vleet, explored an integral part of my life, which is Taekwondo. Though the novel explained Taekwondo to some extent, Van Vleet poorly portrayed the relationship between the student and their sport. The main character, Eliza, and I experienced different introductions, contradistinctive emotional experiences, and contrasting achievements.
Eliza and my own introduction to Taekwondo differed greatly. Eliza requested to take her brother’s unwanted spot in a Taekwondo class not because she wanted to, but to show she had diligence. “It was the perfect way to get into the fall cake class… and to prove to Mom and Dad that I wasn’t a quitter… If I take Sam’s place in the taekwondo class all summer” (Van Vleet 15). She did not want to start …show more content…
In contrast, when I asked my parents if I could start Taekwondo, it had already piqued my interest. However, unlike Eliza’s parents, mine did not immediately agree, and I constantly wrote handwritten letters, begging them to let me join, until my parents consented. When we started our first classes, our experiences were dissimilar. On Eliza’s first day, she did not aspire to improve, and set no goals. She never expected to pursue Taekwondo; rather, that she would finish her brother’s classes, then move on to another activity that she wanted to do. On my first day, when I attended Taekwondo, I was elated, and as I was assisted by black belts and instructors, I decided that I would pursue the sport until I attained my black belt and instructor qualifications. Eliza and my initial relationship with Taekwondo was different in every way. Our emotional experiences in Taekwondo were contradistinctive. Since Eliza viewed Taekwondo as just an activity, she had little emotional connections to the activity. It had no connections to Taekwondo. She regarded it as just an activity, nothing more.
The novel, Eliza Bing Is (NOT) a Big, Fat Quitter by Carmella Van Vleet, explored an integral part of my life, which is Taekwondo. Though the novel explained Taekwondo to some extent, Van Vleet poorly portrayed the relationship between the student and their sport. The main character, Eliza, and I experienced different introductions, contradistinctive emotional experiences, and contrasting achievements.
Eliza and my own introduction to Taekwondo differed greatly. Eliza requested to take her brother’s unwanted spot in a Taekwondo class not because she wanted to, but to show she had diligence. “It was the perfect way to get into the fall cake class… and to prove to Mom and Dad that I wasn’t a quitter… If I take Sam’s place in the taekwondo class all summer” (Van Vleet 15). She did not want to start …show more content…
In contrast, when I asked my parents if I could start Taekwondo, it had already piqued my interest. However, unlike Eliza’s parents, mine did not immediately agree, and I constantly wrote handwritten letters, begging them to let me join, until my parents consented. When we started our first classes, our experiences were dissimilar. On Eliza’s first day, she did not aspire to improve, and set no goals. She never expected to pursue Taekwondo; rather, that she would finish her brother’s classes, then move on to another activity that she wanted to do. On my first day, when I attended Taekwondo, I was elated, and as I was assisted by black belts and instructors, I decided that I would pursue the sport until I attained my black belt and instructor qualifications. Eliza and my initial relationship with Taekwondo was different in every way. Our emotional experiences in Taekwondo were contradistinctive. Since Eliza viewed Taekwondo as just an activity, she had little emotional connections to the activity. It had no connections to Taekwondo. She regarded it as just an activity, nothing more.