Blog 6: From Testament of youth / Vera Brittain

-

 Blog 6: From Testament of youth / Vera Brittain

In Vera Brittain autobiography, From Testament of youth she writes her stories from serving as a nurse in world war 1. She experienced extreme hardships and devastating loss throughout. Something that stood out to me a lot From the Testament of Youth, by Vera Brittain was this quote on page 85. Vera says, "I knew no one in the world to whom I could speak spontaneously, or utter one sentence completely expressive of what I really thought I felt. I "stood alone" in very truth- and I hope profoundly that I may never repeat the experience." This quote she writes stood out to me because she was expressing the pain she felt while coping with Edward's death, and how she felt silenced. She felt as though she could not express her emotions, which made her feel very alone. It was interesting how she writes that she never wants to experience that again because of the pain that holding back your authentic thoughts and feelings bring up. The end of her story seemed very depressing and dark as she says, "I felt enormously, interminably tired; that was all. One had to go on living because it was less trouble thanfinding a way out, but the early ideals of the War were all shattered, trampled into the mud which covered the bodies of those whom I shared them." She is courageous to be able to speak up about the mundane, depressing life that follows losing many people that you care about. It shows her courage and character for her to share these stories and she did it to "rescue something that might be of value, some element of truth and hope and usefulness.."  

Comments

  1. savannah shockleyMarch 3, 2023 at 5:46 AM

    I like the quote that you picked out. I feel like it really ties together the full essence of her story. I remember how she said that she had to keep all of her feelings in because that's what everyone else had to do in order to cope with the war. However, when she broke down when she saw her brother's portrait after hearing about his death, that really spoke to the fact that nobody was really thriving in those mental/emotional conditions.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead

-
 Jordan Miles  Blog 16: Blackberry Winter / Margaret Mead Margaret Mead writes a personal coming-of-age story in Blackberry Winter. She was a student at Barnard, focusing on Anthropology. She writes a lot about how Americans can learn many lessons from Polynesians regarding handling the many problems that adolescence consists of.   She discusses societal issues about topics like women's rights, race, and different cultures. I think that the quote she ends with helps conclude her main passions and focus of the work that she does. She explains, "On all my later field trips when I was working on cultures about which nothing was known, I had the more satisfactory task of learning the culture first and only afterward working on the special problem. In Samoa that was not necessary, and this is one reason why I was able to carry out my work on the life of the adolescent girl in nine months." (568).  She demonstrates the love and care she has for different cultures and ...
Read more

Feminism Reflection

-
 I have gained new perspectives and ideas on my view on feminism and what it means to me throughout this course. Through discovering and discussing so many influential female figures, I have seen numerous examples of courage, strength, and resilience. These are the main traits I’ve taken from authors such as Eva Hoffman, Audre Lorde,   Maxine Hong Kingston, Beryl Markham, and Sara Suleri. One aspect I think that all of the authors carry is their ability to rise above the odds and the barriers that females faced at the time. For so many of these feminists, they grew up at a time when society said they were less than and not good enough or should have the same opportunities as men, but they all defied this norm and pursued a passion and life they built for themselves.       First, Eva Hoffman's work "Lost in Translation" highlights the challenges of adapting to a new culture and the impact of gender roles on one's identity. Her story shows the importance...
Read more

Blog 4 - The prime of life / Simone de Beauvoir

-
 Blog 4 - The prime of life / Simone de Beauvoir Jordan Miles  January 13, 2023  In Simone de Beauvoir's coming-of-age story, The Prime of Life, she discusses what she has gone through in life and perspectives on freedom for women. I really enjoyed and agree with her views on freedom. She believes that our freedom can be found through pursuing our dreams and goals and should not be limited to our gender or certain social roles and standards that society tells us we are limited to. I like how she feels strongly that we all should have the moral freedom to make our own decisions and have a personal destiny. An interesting quote I read by Simone de Beauvoir is, "There is a good principle that created order, light, and man and a bad principle that created chaos, darkness, and women." I think the ideas behind this quote mean that men have always had an advantage over women for nothing other than the fact that they are men. They are naturally just viewed as right and orderly wh...
Read more