This is a reaction to the short story Glass Roses, written by Alden Nowlan.
After initially reading this story I didn’t really relate to the main character or many of the themes of the story. This is because I have never shared any similar experiences or felt any of the same emotions.
Or that’s what I thought.
But after reading it a second time, I was able to make a much better connection with some of the deeper themes because I realized that this story isn’t really about what happens. It is more about what the character feels. It is about what he goes through and how he changes. And I think this applies to everyone because everyone changes through different experiences over the course of their life.
For me, for example, I connected with the whole idea of having to fit in. There’s always this constant pressure in high school and in life in general of being a certain way. This could be being the perfect son, or the number one student, or the MVP at every sports game.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert Einstein.
There is always this negative thinking associated with not being able to be the best, or not being able to fit in with the rest of society. But that is so wrong. As shown in the story, this can negatively affect individuals and lead them to question who they are and this should never be the case. In the short story Glass Roses, the main character ends up accepting who he really is but this isn’t always the case. Sometimes the pressure can become so much that it can lead people to do insane things all because of a messed up thinking.
I believe that all people are unique and that being able to accept that will make society a much better place. Getting rid of this constant pressure for all people to be a certain way is impossible. Some societies pride their diversity and others do not. And the societies that do not… these are the societies in war and chaos.
These are the societies in self destruction.
Dear Bhawan,
Your piece was a great read. You really connected to the main character and gave us a real life example to help us as the audience to connect to that character as well. The structure of the writing and how it flowed very nicely kept me reading all the way through.
My only suggestion is if you could add more what the character felt? What did the character go through? How did he do it?
Overall a great piece, and I look forward to read some more from you.
Sincerely,
Akash
Dear Akash,
Firstly thank you for taking the time to read my piece. I am glad to hear that my examples helped to make my piece more effective. I believe flow is very important and so I am happy that you were able to notice that.
I appreciate your suggestion and it is very true. I do agree that adding more perspective in terms of the character can make the piece deeper and give it more emotion. I will use this suggestion in my future writing pieces.
Once again, thank you for time and comments,
Bhawan