Essay #2: Controversy Analysis
“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself,” famous American author of 19th century Mark Twain said. Problems with self-esteem and confidence in yourself are very common and usually underestimated by society, while in fact it can be the reason for such consequences as domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety or even suicide. Coyle’s short story “Fear itself” shows how Kara’s low dignity led the girl to an unhealthy relationship with surrounding her people.
The main character of short story “Fear itself” by Katie Coyle, Kara, can be presented as a victim of her own attitude to herself and consequences of it. From the first pages, the author shows the reader position which …show more content…
Through all the story girl has thoughts about her unhappy life and takes it for granted without any attempts to change it. First of all, thinking about own virginity Kara sees it as “dead weight”. In her opinion, the situation with her friends is totally different, because both of them prettier and better than she is. “Kara is not so skinny as Ruthie and Olive, not as take-off-your-glasses-and-let-down-your-hair secretly beautiful as Ruthie and Olive” (Coyle 357-358). Besides, the attitude of her friends mentioned before, put the idea that “no one will ever love [her]” in a head of a girl (Coyle 358). This belief makes her commit relationship with was a copy of Franklin D. Roosevelt – “the only man who has ever called her pretty” (Coyle 366). This situation is not the rear scenario of a daily life of thousands of women all over the world. According to US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 45 percent of domestic violence victims experienced family/friend relationship problems, the same as 42 percent of intimate partner violence victims and rape or 37 percent of sexual assault victims (Statista 2016). This percentage could be lower if schools, families and society, in general, would pay more attention and provide help to people, who’s self-esteem is very low. Instead of underestimating the problem and ignoring those people, who usually as a result …show more content…
Talking again story “Fear Itself”, we can see Kara going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt again after making her cry (“She’s kneeling in a wax museum on her first date, crying…” (Coyle 366), sending her vulgar messages (“Send me a pic of ur boobs, says the third [message]” (Coyle 368), and giving her a “gift” which makes her friend Ruthie to scream and furrow her face in disgust, and which Kara will find horrible later. It shows us that that despite all the negative stories and emotions related to FDR, girl still keep seeing him as a good man for her, what makes it look like some type of addiction, similar in some way to Stockholm syndrome, when “victim” stops seeing any negative sides of relationship with “offender”. Through this “addiction” people are trying to avoid the reasons for their self-esteem problems, explaining to themselves that offender is the only person who doesn’t think they are ugly/stupid/useless/etc. In this case, this addiction can be compared with our attitude to celebrities. The general level of self-esteem of the society as a whole is also not so high, that’s why people try to avoid their own flaws replacing it with perfect lives of stars. Carol Brooks in her article “What celebrity worship says about us”,
“The worst loneliness is to not be comfortable with yourself,” famous American author of 19th century Mark Twain said. Problems with self-esteem and confidence in yourself are very common and usually underestimated by society, while in fact it can be the reason for such consequences as domestic violence, drug or alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety or even suicide. Coyle’s short story “Fear itself” shows how Kara’s low dignity led the girl to an unhealthy relationship with surrounding her people.
The main character of short story “Fear itself” by Katie Coyle, Kara, can be presented as a victim of her own attitude to herself and consequences of it. From the first pages, the author shows the reader position which …show more content…
Through all the story girl has thoughts about her unhappy life and takes it for granted without any attempts to change it. First of all, thinking about own virginity Kara sees it as “dead weight”. In her opinion, the situation with her friends is totally different, because both of them prettier and better than she is. “Kara is not so skinny as Ruthie and Olive, not as take-off-your-glasses-and-let-down-your-hair secretly beautiful as Ruthie and Olive” (Coyle 357-358). Besides, the attitude of her friends mentioned before, put the idea that “no one will ever love [her]” in a head of a girl (Coyle 358). This belief makes her commit relationship with was a copy of Franklin D. Roosevelt – “the only man who has ever called her pretty” (Coyle 366). This situation is not the rear scenario of a daily life of thousands of women all over the world. According to US Bureau of Justice Statistics, 45 percent of domestic violence victims experienced family/friend relationship problems, the same as 42 percent of intimate partner violence victims and rape or 37 percent of sexual assault victims (Statista 2016). This percentage could be lower if schools, families and society, in general, would pay more attention and provide help to people, who’s self-esteem is very low. Instead of underestimating the problem and ignoring those people, who usually as a result …show more content…
Talking again story “Fear Itself”, we can see Kara going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt again after making her cry (“She’s kneeling in a wax museum on her first date, crying…” (Coyle 366), sending her vulgar messages (“Send me a pic of ur boobs, says the third [message]” (Coyle 368), and giving her a “gift” which makes her friend Ruthie to scream and furrow her face in disgust, and which Kara will find horrible later. It shows us that that despite all the negative stories and emotions related to FDR, girl still keep seeing him as a good man for her, what makes it look like some type of addiction, similar in some way to Stockholm syndrome, when “victim” stops seeing any negative sides of relationship with “offender”. Through this “addiction” people are trying to avoid the reasons for their self-esteem problems, explaining to themselves that offender is the only person who doesn’t think they are ugly/stupid/useless/etc. In this case, this addiction can be compared with our attitude to celebrities. The general level of self-esteem of the society as a whole is also not so high, that’s why people try to avoid their own flaws replacing it with perfect lives of stars. Carol Brooks in her article “What celebrity worship says about us”,