Statement Of Purpose: Plans And Aspirations

In line with the requirement as prescribed, I would like to put across my plans in three different parts; the first being the genesis of my aspirations and dreams; second- describing what I have done so far in making my aspirations and dreams come true; third- the role of these aspirations which helped to reach my dream destination. These are the motivating forces behind my professional accomplishments. These forces, I believe that would lead to brighter avenues in the field.

My quest for knowledge and ability to think critically resulted in moulding myself into an inquisitive learner. My interest in International Tourism dates back to my school days. Coming from a good education backdrop family- father being a Government employee . Thus, I became a close knit family giving utmost preference to Hard Work and Discipline which were imbibed in me since childhood. During my rigorous ten years of schooling where my natural propensity towards problem solving and analytical thinking made me actively involved in the education I presumed, I always had an inclination towards research and a strong desire for teaching. My Parents inspired me for having a strong quest for knowledge.

COURSE SELECTION

I have always been passionate about Computer Science since childhood. I often wonder how to code programs for Computer Games and Animation. The interest led me to pursue Computer Science where I was fascinated about subjects Operating System, Database Management and Java. I used to write codes for Java Applications related to Android. The passion led me to achieve Job at a reputed company and while working at Rising Global Solutions I decided to pursue my Masters abroad as this will help me excel myself in the field of Computer Science and will give me immense knowledge which will help me achieve bigger goals after my Masters back in my home country.

Why UK

UK education is a synonym of high quality education as it is one of the best English speaking countries. This, I believe, is one of the reasons why students from all over the world prefer to study in the UK. Apart from being a great place to get education, the UK is also a fantastic place to live. It is home to people who come from diverse cultural backgrounds, it is quite alluring and not just for its sandy beaches and exotic wilderness but for all the other important amenities. As an International Student, I found the UK to be the best place to avail my Masters Education.

The essence of Institution education lies in the success of symbiotic relationship between the students and the department. Therefore my choice of this university is backed by the prestige it carries. It would help me achieve my long-term intellectual aspirations and goals. I am confident of contributing meaningfully to the programs offered at this institution. It is with this in mind that I am looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship with Anglia Ruskin university .​Anglia Ruskin was awarded Entrepreneurial University of the Year in the 2014 Times Higher Education.

It would also help me adapt the international global standards of the competitive spectrum. Thus, my goal is to pursue a career, wherein I could master an analytical approach to Engineering that can be fulfilled from an esteemed UK University, which enables me to fulfill my dreams and to equip myself

professionally and gain the competitive edge to move ahead in my ladder for a promising career.

Why not study in India

Even though technology is a top employment seeking sector in India and many high skilled people are working in this field in India, yet the available higher education in the country which includes ​Computer Science as a discipline, has not evolved over the years. There is lack of practical training, lack of infrastructural support and lack of updated syllabus in all streams of higher education in India. As a result it has created a need-supply gap and unemployment among educated individuals in the country. Unless and until someone is a pass out of a high ranked institution, the future for him is pretty dismal and the numbers of seats are very limited at the top ranked institutions. Moreover, there are very limited courses in ​Computer Science at a degree level in India and as a result of all the reasons stated above, I wanted to take admission in an overseas institution.

Future Plans

My future career plan is to complete Masters at Anglia Ruskin university and return back to my country and be a part of the developing country. There is a bigger scope for jobs since my city Hyderabad is the Information Technology hub for various International companies including Microsoft. Completing Masters will help me attain my future prospects back in my home country.As well as I have to make myself as a responsible and supportive citizen of my country and I will definitely have a high chance of making a great career out of it.

The Presentation Of Social Aspirations In The Great Gatsby And Revolutionary Road

Critic Kurt Vonnegut pronounced that Richard Yates’ ‘Revolutionary Road’ was the Great Gatsby of his time. As genre-defining American novels there are definite similarities as authors present post-war societies, with characters coming to terms with newfound lives outside of warfare. As Fitzgerald and Yates’ characters struggle with fresh existences, often they cannot project into the future, portraying a single aspiration socially, yet truly desiring something else. The authors use of a second genuine aspiration allows for complex, layered presentation of characters, creating conflict as some are unable to see the others ‘true’ aspiration. Hence, the nature of social aspiration is ambiguous across both novels, leading to endings tainted by unfulfilled aspirations.

F. Scott Fitzgerald uses narrator Nick’s aspiration to move away,as a means to illustrate his real desire for freedom. Nick’s aspiration is introduced in the opening pages of the novel, as a part of Nick’s ‘foreword’ in the ‘present’. Because of the position of Nick’s desire to move, Nick’s attitude to his previous desire is tinged with cynicism, perhaps acting as Fitzgerald’s comment about naive Americans aspirations. Nick comments on his reasoning for moving being that the Middle West has changed in what it represents for him, how he ‘left a country of wide lawns and friendly trees’ This illustrates how Nick no longer feels the previous comfort associated with his home, through adjectives such as ‘friendly’ with that previous homely solace now being substituted for boredom, describing how he ‘came back restless’. Nick’s boredom with the Middle West is complemented by the suffocating nature of it also, as Fitzgerald touches upon how Nick’s family have been ‘prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations.’ This evokes a nature of legacy, however, also creates an essence of suffusion, as if Nick’s family are present in every aspect of Nick’s life. Moreover, Nick implies the pressure imparted on him by his family, expressing how his family discuss his decision to move East ‘as if they were choosing a prep school for me’. Thus, readers can gather the amount of pressure Nick is under to maintain social standards for the reputation of his family, portrayed in how it appears Nick is being reduced to a child. Hence, it is plausible to conclude that Nick has a desire to move as a means to escape his family, but also the Middle West and the dullness he believes is now synonymous with it. There is no doubt that Fitzgerald drew on inspiration from contemporary America, with the population of New York increasing from around 3.4 million in 1900 to 5.6 million in 1920. Migration to cities became increasingly popular, due to mechanisation of American industry, meaning many were forced to seek job opportunities outside of their small town.

In Richard Yates ‘Revolutionary Road’, the main characters April and Frank Wheeler plan to move from their Connecticut suburb to Paris. The idea is largely April’s concoction, and she implicitly expresses similar desires to Nick for wanting to leave behind her suburb. The Wheeler’s contempt for their home and fellow residents is made no secret. At one of their soirees with The Campbells, it is commented upon how they’re able to fascinate themselves in the ‘elusive but endlessly absorbing subject of Conformity, or The Suburbs or Madison Avenue, or American Society today’ Yate’s paradoxical presentation of the subject of effectively their lives as being ‘elusive but … absorbing’ perhaps illustrates this perceived feeling of superiority from them. This feeling of cultural superiority and awareness of their position within American society, is a defining factor in Frank and April’s move; which is touched upon by critic Lionel Shriver, who states that The Wheeler’s are afflicted by ‘the angst and dissatisfaction that teems beneath the placid suburbs’. This idea is proven true as it oftentimes appears Frank and April’s aspirations, especially to move, feel naive and almost petulant mimicking the ‘angst’ which is expressed in flashbacks to Frank and April’s younger days. Furthermore, it can be argued that April’s dissatisfaction is a key part of her aspiration to move, similar to the contempt felt by Nick for the Middle West. April expresses that she feels Frank wants to move because she believes it’s unrealistic for him to continue ‘coming home to a house he can’t stand in a place he can’t stand either, to a wife who’s equally unable to stand the same things’. Whilst April’s reasoning for her aspiration to move is made clear here, it is notable that Yates tends to illustrate April as projecting her aspirations onto Frank, exhibited here through her relegating herself to the role of ‘wife’. This could be interpreted as Yates describing the attitudes of 1950s society, where it was social convention for women to act as subservient wives, Alternatively, this could be read as Yates implying April’s intelligence, as she makes it seem as if Frank shares this reasoning, appeasing his egotistical selfishness. This aligns with the ending of the novel, as April is able to fulfil her own aspiration of freedom through the abortion, without Frank knowing, similar to the way she is able to convince him to commit to moving to Paris. So, similarly to Nick, one of April’s main reasons for wishing to fulfil her aspiration to move is her contempt for Revolutionary Road.

However, for both characters the authors present similar ideas about other reasons for wishing to leave their suburban existences. Within April and Nick, there seems to be an aspiration to fulfil their ideas of what each place represents, through both New York and Paris’s cultural capital. Fitzgerald presents this very paradoxically through Nick, as upon retruning from war Nick describes how he wanted the world to be ‘at a sort of moral attention forever’. This seemingly acts as foreshadowing as Nick eventually returns West disgusted by the moral degeneracy he experiences, eventually explaining how the East had always had ‘a quality of distortion’. Foreshadowing exacerbates Fitzgerald’s use of perspective to illustrate the more mature, retrospective Nick reflecting on aspects of his time in the East. However, it is also at this point where the question of Nick as an unreliable narrator comes into question. At the beginning and end of the novel, Nick frames himself as a moral, upright character who transcends the corrupt nature of Eastern life. Yet within the middle of the novel, the readers see Nick begin to indulge in this behaviour, as he comes to like the ‘racy, adventurous feel of [New York] at night’. This presentation of Nick as an almost moral saviour at the opening of the novel, becomes increasingly ironic as the readers see Nick partake in this behaviour, arguably a conscious choice by Fitzgerald to encourage readers to doubt the testimonies of Nick. And with that, New York is typified as this place where there is a looseness of righteous behaviour which could arguably be represented in the symbol of alcohol. Following the passing of the Eighteenth Amendment in January 1920, manufacture and sale of liquor was outlawed and hence consumption of alcohol comes to represent a certain loosening of morals and of the very behaviour which drives Nick away from the East. Nick himself indulges in alcohol and other aspects of immoral behaviour, yet is ironically driven away by things such as Jordan’s dishonesty and Tom’s infidelity. Thus Nick’s aspiration to move is triggered by his willingness to partake in a new cultural and moral milieu, which paradoxically forces him to leave.

April of ‘Revolutionary Road’ has similar sentiments, motivated to leave behind her home in suburban Connecticut for the opportunity to experience the cultural implications of Paris. For April, Paris seems to represent the chance at financial freedom, a subversion of gender roles. April’s dreams about Paris involve her becoming the breadwinner for the family, becoming a secretary for ‘NATO and the ECA and those places’. Frank can see the absurdity, as she chastises him ‘Don’t laugh’. Frank’s doubt would have been plausible in 1950s society, as in 1950 there were roughly 32% of women in the workforce in America; but he can recognize the cultural capital associated with Paris, how he can picture ‘her coming home from a day at the office – Parisian tailored suit, briskly pulling off her gloves’. Financial freedom seems fairly key in April’s aspiration, as well as cultural prominence, a key point in the plan she creates. Furthermore, financial liberty seems pertinent in April’s wish to break away from Frank, as she acknowledges ‘“Just because you’ve got me safely in a trap”’ It could be argued that April’s true aspiration is freedom from the constraints of her husband, children and suburban life, a freedom which she invests in the dream of Paris. Her fulfilment of freedom is illustrated in her final moments as the narrator states that April knows ‘that if you wanted to do something absolutely honest, something true, it always turned out to be a thing that had to be done alone’. Yates’ uses a similar method to Fitzgerald to present Nick’s real aspiration which involves using an almost regressive character arc. Both characters have thoughts in the opening pages which illustrate their true aspirations – Nick’s need for moral cleanliness and April’s desire for freedom – both come close to fulfilling these aspirations, yet in some way drift from it, before finally fulfilling it through their own inhibitions.

Gatsby and Frank’s real aspirations are closely linked to themes of masculinity. Throughout the novel, Gatsby has the unattainable aspiration of being with Daisy, visualized through the motif of the green light. The green light is situated at the end of Daisy’s dock in East Egg and is ‘minute and far away’, hence illustrating how Gatsby’s dreams are inevitably unachievable. Fitzgerald conveys the nature of Gatsby’s aspiration through the use of colour imagery, with green signifying envy, perhaps portraying Gatsby as almost more jealous of Daisy’s lifestyle. Along with this, green is the colour of the American dollar, evident of what Daisy comes to represent, as Gatsby almost admits ‘“Her voice is full of money”’ . This conflation of Daisy and status and wealth represent this blurring of Gatsby’s real aspirations. Some critics have attempted to engage with this, such as Robert Berman who states ‘‘His [Gatsby’s] idea of the good life seems to merely to be the acquisition of money, things, property.’ Whilst status and wealth seems to be integral to the concept of the life of the conceptualized Gatsby, there is no doubt that Daisy pays an intrinsic role too. A definite part of Gatsby’s aspiration is to relive his days pre-war with Daisy as he tells Nick ‘“Can’t repeat the past?”… “Why of course you can!”’. Arguably, it is only to attain Daisy that Gatsby begins to earn money, in order to facilitate his aspirations. Despite the place of status and Daisy within Gatsby’s aspirations it can be suggested that Gatsby’s aspirations are tied strongly to his masculinity. When Tom begins to question Gatsby, he becomes defensive ‘denying everything, defending his name against accusations that had not been made’, as he knows it threatens the facade he has created to entice Daisy but also the legitimacy of his place within society, clearly entwined with his perception of masculinity. It is possible that Gatsby interprets this closeness of masculinity and status from Dan Cody, ‘a product of the Nevada silver fields’. Cody seems to act as Gatsby’s inspiration, and represents a man who has achieved some fledgling of the ‘original’ American Dream – the belief that if anyone worked hard enough they could achieve greatness. This link between masculinity and status has a clear impact on Gatsby’s aspirations, causing him to aspire to something wholly unattainable.

Frank’s aspirations are similar as there is a definite link between his masculinity and his aspirations. Franks masculinity is threatened by April’s aspirations, arguably because of their closeness to April’s independence. However, we see Frank’s fragile masculinity from the onset of the novel as Yates invokes a physical reaction in him as April questions how ‘“by any stretch of the imagination you can call yourself a man!”’ and then as Frank ‘brought the fist down on the roof the car with all his strength’. Frank’s willingness to resort to violence illustrates his inhumane qualites and furthermore, the dysfunctionality of their relationship. Moreover, this portrays how Frank has issues surrounding masculinity – which is exacerbated by the abortion. Frank’s initial aspiration is to ‘find’ himself, as ‘All he would ever need …. was the time and freedom to find himself’, yet when he realizes this dream involves allowing Apil to have financial freedom he begins to detest this. When April becomes pregnant it seems apt to cancel their plans to move to Europe, yet April begins to contemplate abortion which enrages Frank. He himself states ‘that my masculinity had somehow been threatened by all that abortion business’. Yates clearly illustrates how Frank’s masculinity is threatened by April’s true aspiration for freedom, hence potentially suggesting how Frank has a true aspiration to remain in control of April. Yates drew on contemporary attitudes about abortion and masculinity. In the 1950s there was an estimated 200, 000 to 1.2 million unsafe, illegal abortions each year. Despite being dangerous and incredibly unsafe, abortion enabled women to express some form of autonomy over their own bodies, which were socio-politically regulated by men. Within the early 1960s, the time of publication, ‘abortion … transformed into a public problem’ becoming an area of controvesy within the early feminist movement. Amongst many it was felt that female liberties regarding their bodies threatened the patriarchal system of America. Franks aspirations morph based on the position of his masculinity, thus revealing Frank’s true aspiration to be maintaining the essential place of his masculinity.

Both authors delve into the nature of female aspirations with the largely male narrative perspective aiding in portraying the male attitude to these issues Fitzgerald writes from Nick’s perspective with a largely misogynistic view towards women. This is exhibited through the disparaging addressal of Jordan. Nick states how ‘Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you never blame deeply’ after the revelation that at Jordan’s first proffessional tournament there had been ‘a suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round’. This perhaps servies as Nick attempting to justify his harsh treatment of her later in the novel, it also serves to illustrate the nature of Jordan’s aspirations and the male attitude to them. Nick assumes Jordan’s reasons for allegedly moving the ball is purely superficial and fails to see how it could be associated with her aspiration to truly succeed at something after years of diligent hard work. This patronising view is similarly held by Tom, who tells Daisy and Nick that Jordan is a ‘“nice girl”’ and that her family shouldn’t ‘“let her run around the country this way.”’. This view is ironic given Tom’s ability to, effectively ‘run around the country’ too. Furthermore, it adds to the diminishing of Jordan’s considerable professional career as a golf player. Tom and Nick may take up this opinion given Jordan’s place within society. Jordan represents a new woman in society – adopting an adrogynous style, taking advantage of the increased liberties for women and taking up a means of income. From this reader’s can presume Jordan has high aspirations, however, due to Fitzgerald’s portrayal of women through men’s perspectives Jordan’s true aspirations are hidden.

Similarly, Yates uses perspectives to diminish the female aspiration, most notably through the female character with the highest career aspirations, Mrs Givings. Mrs Givings aspirations are tied to her job as she states “ I love it,”’. Yates demonstrates the diminishing of Helen’s aspirations through her husband’s questioning of it as he expresses that ‘“it certainly isn’t as if we needed the money”’, as if the only purpose for Helen’s work could be monetary as opposed to her passion. Values like this are expressed by critic Robert Sklar who states that ‘Helen Givings the realtor… [is a] women worker in an era when ideology placed women in the home’, a viewpoint which is largely true. However, it is noteworthy to include that there are aspects other than ideology which kept women in the home, one of which being the fragile male ego. The limiting of women’s careers fits with attitudes of the time which placed heavy belief in the system of patriarchy: a male breadwinner and domestic wife with few alternatives to this rigid system. Perhaps inadvertently, Mrs Gvings challenges this system, suggesting something different about the system or feminism. Despite this Yates does continue to conceal Helen’s true aspiration through the perspective of the piece.

In conclusion, the authors use of social aspirations across the novels, illustrates the paradoxical nature of society in both the 1920s and 1950s America. People were aspiring to new heights socially, yet oftentimes could not shake the past, leading to potentially unfulfilled aspirations. Both Fitzgerald and Yates’ use social aspirations in this way structurally, through an almost height of optimism existing around the centre of each novel. The authors may do this to reflect society, the idea that from this point there is only bleakness.

Goals, Aspirations And Happiness As A Consequence Of Connections And Communication

We have all had childhood dreams. That one thing that seemed so possible and achievable. However, then you grow up and reality kicks in. A study show that only 6% of people achieve their childhood dream. Nearly all people desire progress. Nearly all people fear falling short of their own and others expectations. Why don’t we achieve our dream? Nearly all people struggle to make their aspirations a reality because of fear, lack of motivation, or a simple lack of understanding on how to realize them. Ken sheldon did a study on intrusive vs extrusive goal setting. They found out that connection to others throughout a goal-setting process lead to happiness.

Goals therefore enhances our happiness. Your dopamine system, which is a chemical that is released every time you experience a reward, is reliant upon goal setting and achievement. So as dopamine is released into the part of your brain responsible for positive rewards, you are essentially motivated to repeat this occurrence. When you set goals and accomplish them, you and your brain are rewarded leading to a happier spirit. Through pieces of literature, we see examples of characters going through spirals of trying to achieve their goals and asirations. However, most of the characters are not able to reach their ultimate finish-line and end in despair and tragedy. In the three pieces of literature Hamlet, Passing and Mrs. Dalloway, circumstances, lead the characters to failure in achieving their aspirations because of their fear of success, not feeling worthy of it, being afraid someone is going to take it away or the need of other people’s approval lead them to despair showing readers that dreams aren’t achievable or lead to unhappiness. That begs the question whether or not we need dreams and if they are worth it in the long run?

In the The Stranger by Albert Camus, Meursault shows no interest in dreams, also leading him to death showing that society can’t run on an undreamable population as a world without dreams is a society that does not progress hence dreams and aspirations are crucial both to the individual but also to society as a whole. In all these pieces of literature the characters seem to feel abandoned by people close to them or lack communication leading them through distress and failure. The feeling that society or people close to you aren’t listening and not paying full attention to you makes humans naturally give up on dreams and hopes as we feel they have given up on us. Humans have a tendency for attention from others, and if we lose connections with the people around us our rational thoughts lead us to despair and chaos. Having goals and dreams can lead to happiness but this literature shows how humans easily can get lost and sidetracked by our current relationships and rational thoughts in our goal-setting process and finish-line.

On the outside on the book Hamlet written by shakespeare, Hamlet’s ultimate goal is to avenge his father by killing Claudius, his stepfather. Although Hamlet does execute his dream in the end of the book, he is essentially lost in the process leading him to his famous quote “To be or not to be” (3.1.64), contemplating if he should commit suicide and weather or not it is worth living. Through Hamlet’s mother’s rejection both by marrying Claudius and for not paying enough attention to Hamlet and Ophelia throwing away his love letters and her rejection of Hamlet results in him feeling alone and rejected. Therefore, Hamlet’s relationships and his rational thoughts disrupts his goal. Hamlet shows us that even though his dream is achieved, his loss of connections with others lead him to be emotionally lost therefore destroying his psychological success of his dream. Not long after King Hamlet’s funeral, Gertrude remarried his brother in “wicked speed” (1.2.161) which clearly has upset Hamlet and causes Hamlet to feel abandoned, forgotten, and left behind. Since he feels rejected by her, he keeps his distance, doesn’t want to speak with her or interact with her. Essentially he is punishing her for marrying another man so soon after King Claudius’s death.

As the play progresses, Hamlet becomes more and more outraged with her as he feels she becomes more and more distant with him. At the end of act three Hamlet decides to confront his mother: “mother you have my father very offended” (3.4. 15). Gertrude has offended the memory of his father by marrying so fast leaving Hamlet hurt by her ignorance which leads him to a stronger drive for revenge on Claudius. Not only is Hamlet mad about Claudius murdering his father, but he is more so disgusted by the new marriage. Contributing to Hamlet’s yearning for suicide is Ophelia. Ophelia agrees together with Polonius to ignore Hamlet and spy on him. This creates tension toward Hamlet who feels rejected and punished. Ophelia is told to give back Hamlet’s love letters “I pray you now receive them” (3.1.104). Hamlet views Ophelia’s sudden disinterest in him crudely. Arguably, Hamlet doesn’t know how to respond to Ophelia and his natural tendency is to get angry with her. “Get thee to a nunnery, farewell” (3.1.149), implying that Hamlet maybe feels guilt or embarrassment for once loving her when she rejects him. Hamlets rational thoughts get the better of him when he feels everyone leaving him he ends in moral distress, making his end goal less valuable. Ophelia and Gertrude ultimately shows us that connections with others is crucial if you want to achieve your goal without losing yourself. Hamlet gets lost in his process of achieving his goal because of him feeling abandoned by people close to him letting him feel depleted morally. Hamlet shows us how important other people’s approval are for humans to keep on track with our hopes, dreams and aspiration.

In Passing, Clare passed as white, but as she regains contact with her childhood friend Irene, she realises she regrets her decision and makes it her goal to rejoining the black community. However she fails as as she doesn’t communicate her aspirations to anyone, arguably even herself which results in failure. This is mainly because she is scared of her husband and society to find out she passed as white as it was seem dangerous and illegal at the time. She uses this as an excuse to not be persistent with her dream therefore failing. In the end Clare doesn’t persecute her dream, as she dies therefore showing how important communication it to making goals successful and reaching the ultimate humanitarian goal: happiness. Clares rational thoughts, her avoidance and her anxiety about her goal lead her to ultimate failure and moral distress. Ultimately Clare fails at her dream because is is afraid of it and what other people think of it. Clare is different to Hamlet in that she only deep inside seems to know her real dream and she does not express this to Irene, her husband or anyone else. She does at one point in the book see Irene and feel jealous of the life she has, she sais: “You can’t know how in this pale life of mine I am all the time seeing the bright pictures of that other that I once thought I was glad to be free of….It’s like an ache, a pain that never ceases.” (12).

As Clare realises she is not happy in her white community she sees what a “perfect” life Irene has, Larsen shows us that Clare regrets her decision of passing and how jealousy impacts Clare’s thoughts contributing to her failure. Enriching the idea of Clare’s confusion with herself and the people around her is the fact that she doesn’t communicate with her husband John Bellew. She doesn’t tell him about her real black identity or her sudden interest in getting back into the black community. Irene tells Clare: “You didn’t tell him you were colored, so he’s got no way of knowing about this hankering of yours after Negroes, or that it galls you to fury to hear them called niggers and black devils. As far as I can see, you’ll just have to endure some things and give up others. As we’ve said before, everything must be paid for.”(45) Larsen is conveying the drawback of their relationship as a factor resulting in Clare kendry’s death. Clare is turning away from her goal and therefore creates a fear of persisting with her goal. Her avoidance with John, her fear of the finish line, her jealousy toward Irene in the end effect Clare’s mind resulting in her aspirations failing.

In “Mrs Dalloway” Lucrezia and Septimus are interesting characters as Lucrezia wants Septimus to get better at the same time that Septimus wants to please Lucrezia by getting better essentially motivating each other. However they never end succeeding this eventually ending in septimus’s suicide and Lucrezia being left alone. Septimus failure is partly because of his lack of communication, his feeling of n unmeaningful world as well as his unworthy feeling in society. Even though Septimus and Lucrezia does have a momentary moment where Septimus acts “healed”, from his PTSD resulting from the war, and they seem to be happy together, moments later Septimus commits suicide as he contemplates that: “It might be possible that the world itself is without meaning” (52). Woolf shows us that Septimus can’t find enough meaning in life to proceed with his dream resulting in both of their dreams failing. Septimus and Lucrezia are different from Hamlet and Clare in that Septimus doesn’t feel worthy of success and deep inside maybe can’t find enough meaning in the world to execute his ultimate goal of really getting better. Contributing to Septimus’s failure is his lack of communication with the outside world.

He can’t find enough meaning to reach out and feel connection with others for his dream to become reality. As he sits in a park he ponders “(…) looking up, they are signalling to me. Not indeed in actual words; that is, he could not read the language yet; but it was plain enough, this beauty, this exquisite beauty, and tears filled his eyes as he looked at the smoke words languishing and melting in the sky” (60) Septimus considers that birds and airplanes are trying to tell him something and communicate with him. In the the of the book his lack of communication and connections lead him to suicide. This indicates that Septimus’s “madness” is striving for communication.

From this, Woolf is showing us that Septimus’s ultimate failure is a direct result from his lack of communication. Therefore we can say that his aspiration of getting “healed” would never have worked no matter how much therapy or medication he would have gotten, because the problem was rotted from his lack of communication and connection with his outside world. From Septimus we can conclude that his dream failed because of his lack of communication, lack of meaning in the outside world and his feeling of unworthiness of happiness from his experiences in the war. In the book “The Stranger” by Albert Camus, the main character Meursault doesn’t show much consideration or interest in other people.It seems as though he can’t show emotional or social connections and communication with others or even society as a whole. He says: A soldier smiled at me and asked if I’d been traveling long. I said, ‘Yes,’ just so I wouldn’t have to say anything else” (4). He essentially doesn’t feel like he has a purpose.

Compared to the other characters in Hamlet, Passing and Mrs. Dalloway, Meursault doesn’t seem to have a dream or long term goal as he lives in a more existentialist way, meaning that he doesn’t have a purpose in the world. On one hand we have Clare, Hamlet and Septimus whom all have dreams but don’t achieve them or lose themselves while trying to achieve them because they don’t feel worth it, can’t find meaning and connections enough in the world, they are afraid someone is going to take it away or affect it or the need for other people’s approval. However on the other hand Meursault doesn’t have any dreams as he lives in a unmeaningful world and even though he in his own way achieve happiness in the end of the book in the case of him dying, not having a dream lead you to live a un-meaningful life.

Arguably he does reach happiness in the end of the book as he says: “I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world (…) I felt that I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone” (123). Woolf shows us how he reached a state of peace but also that in order to reach happiness he had to feel “less alone”. From this we can conclude that even if he doesn’t’ feel like he has a drawn out goal and finish-line, every humans goal is to reach peace and ultimate happiness which he in the end does through communication and feeling connected. Therefore, in order to reach happiness or cross our finish line we need to feel connections with the people and world around us. Conclusion: Globally, it has become a humanitarian goal to reach total and utter happiness. In 2012, they even invented a “world happiness report” as a way of measuring how happy each country around the world was.

Happiness ultimately come from a happy and peaceful soul. From The Stranger by Albert Camus we can conclude that even though not everyone has dream it has become a human “goal” to achieve happiness, as this too is what Camus contemplates he has reached in the end of the book when he dies. Through the study of the books Hamlet, Passing, and Mrs Dalloway we see characters journey throughout their goal-process. Most of these characters fail as they either commit suicide, or essentially loses themselves. These characters fail to achieve their goals because they either don’t feel worthy of success and lack communication and connection to the outside world in the case of Septimus. In the case of Clare Kendry she ultimately fails because of her jealousy towards Irene, her lack of communication and her fear of the people around her. Hamlet is different because he in the end does reach his goal, however, he does contemplates whether or not it is worth living which indicates that he phycologically has failed as he has no motivation to live. His dream fails because his rational thoughts takes over when Gertrude and Ophelia “abandons” him.

This literature shows us that as humans feel alone and abandoned or can’t find their place or meaning throughout their lives and in the world, we fail at keeping our rational thoughts on track with our goals and therefore don’t achieve. Dreams and goals are important, big or small for humans because it makes us live in a meaningful society. When we lose connection and attention from others we lose our drive for success and so our dreams leading us to ultimate failure. It is therefore the reason why only 6% of people achieve their childhood dream. Feeling connected and communicating are vital not only when setting goals but also in our reach for peace and happiness.

Dreams and Aspirations Essay

Dreams are always achievable but sometimes one has to overcome obstacles to reach them. Dreams and aspirations are similar, they motivate people to look forward to the future. Dreams and aspirations can positively and negatively affect people’s lives through relationships and experiences. “The Necklace” by Maupassant, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and “We Choose to go to the Moon” by John F. Kennedy all display dreams that positively or negatively affect relationships and experiences. “The Necklace” in which a character helps his spouse reach her dream of being in the upper-class. Then in Of Mice and Men one character supports their friend through life, however it may have to end. Also in “We Choose to go to the Moon” one civilian, supported by the country, carries a dream for the United States to become a better nation.

Dreams can happen through many things, like relationships. In Of Mice and Men, the relationship affects the dream wanting to be achieved. One of the dreams in Of Mice and Men is for Lennie and George to someday “we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs and an’live of the fatta the lan’, An’ have rabbits.”(Steinbeck 53) The only reason George keeps this dream is because it makes Lennie happy. George does not have to keep this dream because he is okay with working on a farm the rest of his life, “I could damn well be okay workin’ on a farm the rest of my life.”(Steinbeck 35) Another dream is affected by the relationship between Curley and his wife. Although this dream is negatively affecting the relationship because it leads Curley’s wife to die. The wife would like to not be Curley’s wife, “heck, Curley don own no one.”(Steinbeck 138) Her dream is to have other men in her life, but Curley doesn’t allow this so that leads to an over controlling relationship. Not only does Of Mice and Men show that relationships affect dreams, but “The Necklace” does as well. In “The Necklace” Mathilde is not reaching her dream without the help of her husband. Her husband gave up his money, “He grew a little pale because he was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting next summer”, for her to buy a dress.(Maupassant 3) Yet, this also negatively shows how dreams affect relationships by after achieving the dream of Mathilde getting to go to the ball they live in poverty together because of the loss of a necklace that Mathilde borrowed, “Go look up your friend, Madame Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels.”(Maupassant 3) Overall relationships affect dreams in many ways.

Achieving a dream may be difficult to reach, but experiences help. In “The Necklace”, Mathilde achieved her dream of living as an upper-class civilian momentarily through experience. She had always aspired to get the chance to no longer live in poverty of which she thought she did not belong to, “she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station.”(Maupassant 1) The way she got to achieve her dream was by her husband giving her the invitation to the ball, ”her husband reached home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand”(Maupassant 2) and giving her everything that she needed so that she would be able to go to the ball. She finally got to go to the ball and live life as an upper-class civilian. Dreams through experience are also displayed through the story Of Mice and Men. As Lennie and George are living their dream through someone else. As they are living on a farm that they want to, but they are not free. “We Choose to go to the Moon” also reaches a dream through experience, the dream of going to the moon to make our world a better more efficient place. Our generation has the dream on staying ahead of the coming age, “this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space.”(JFK 1) We fulfilled this dream by increasing the budget for resource and applied the best of our skills to advancing our knowledge of space.

Dreams and aspirations positively and negatively affect people’s lives through experiences and relationships. “The Necklace” by Maupassant, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, “We Choose to go to the Moon” by John F. Kennedy all display dreams that positively or negatively affect relationships. As hard as it may be to overcome the obstacles , reach out for dreams.

Works Cited

  1. Kennedy, John F. We Choose to Go to the Moon Studysync Accessed November 2, 2018 from https://my.mheducation.com/login
  2. Gilfond, Henry, and Guy de Maupassant. The Necklace. Studysync Accessed November 2, 2018 from https://my.mheducation.com/login
  3. Hinkle, Kevin, and John Steinbeck. Of Mice and Men. Pearson Education, 2008.

Narrative Essay on Why I Want to Go to College

“I don’t know about it”. When I think of college, new experiences and a sense of freedom come to mind. But a lot of worries come to mind too. I worry that I won’t be able to handle all the pressure. I worry that I will give up and I won’t be able to succeed. But I want to go to college, pursue a great job, and build a great career because of my mom. I want to pay her back for everything she has done and provided for me. I want to be able to give her everything to my ability and with that I have to be successful starting in high school.

It’s quiet in the house, which is rare thanks to my three little brothers. I make my way to my mom’s room and in the darkness, I see my mom on her knees over her bed silently praying. “Pasale”, she said. I went in and we started praying together: “Amen y Amen”. At this point, she already is crying because she always cries when she prays. She tells me that she wants me to try my best in school so I won’t be struggling like she is. She didn’t finish school. She tells me about what she has gone through and how life gets so hard. Seeing her break down in front of me makes me start crying too. It really impacts me hearing her and seeing her at times start crying because she’s my mom and my mom is one of the strongest women I know. Seeing that is really hard and it encourages me to try my best to make her life easier. I want her to be proud of me.

I have my major motivation to go to college and graduate. I feel like if it wasn´t for her, then I wouldn’t try my best to be too successful. I would have just taken a simple job that is enough to support me, nothing too extravagant. But I want to be able to provide her with a comfortable life and much more.

I have to get a good job to achieve my goal. So that means that I have to decide on what I want to study in college. But the problem is that I really have no idea what to do. Well, that’s a lie. I actually do have a few ideas, but I am not really sure about them. I am looking into the professions of a lawyer, a plastic surgeon, or an aeronautical engineer. These are all good careers that actually take quite a while to complete. That is one of the main problems that, in my opinion, I can’t do. I don’t know if I am will be able to determine for a long period. I am worried that throughout my studies I will feel like giving up. I don’t even know what colleges I want to go to or should consider. I used to think that if I went to college, then I would be wasting the best years of my life. But I recently talked to a cousin of mine who convinced me otherwise. She said that even though you have to work hard and everything, you still have fun in college. She said that even though you’re in college, you are still living your life and by the time you graduate, it will all be worth it. She also said that if you work towards what you want, no matter how long it takes, it will never be a waste of your time. This made me think differently about the idea of college. I just can’t seem to find a career that I will actually enjoy. I have been looking into some but I feel like they aren’t really for me. But they are the only ones that semi-interest me. I’m going to explore any possible options available to me.

Yet again, my one true goal is to be able to give my mom all to my ability. So, I am willing to work my hardest and longest just to accomplish my goal.

Narrative Essay on Why I Want to Go to College

“I don’t know about it”. When I think of college, new experiences and a sense of freedom come to mind. But a lot of worries come to mind too. I worry that I won’t be able to handle all the pressure. I worry that I will give up and I won’t be able to succeed. But I want to go to college, pursue a great job, and build a great career because of my mom. I want to pay her back for everything she has done and provided for me. I want to be able to give her everything to my ability and with that I have to be successful starting in high school.

It’s quiet in the house, which is rare thanks to my three little brothers. I make my way to my mom’s room and in the darkness, I see my mom on her knees over her bed silently praying. “Pasale”, she said. I went in and we started praying together: “Amen y Amen”. At this point, she already is crying because she always cries when she prays. She tells me that she wants me to try my best in school so I won’t be struggling like she is. She didn’t finish school. She tells me about what she has gone through and how life gets so hard. Seeing her break down in front of me makes me start crying too. It really impacts me hearing her and seeing her at times start crying because she’s my mom and my mom is one of the strongest women I know. Seeing that is really hard and it encourages me to try my best to make her life easier. I want her to be proud of me.

I have my major motivation to go to college and graduate. I feel like if it wasn´t for her, then I wouldn’t try my best to be too successful. I would have just taken a simple job that is enough to support me, nothing too extravagant. But I want to be able to provide her with a comfortable life and much more.

I have to get a good job to achieve my goal. So that means that I have to decide on what I want to study in college. But the problem is that I really have no idea what to do. Well, that’s a lie. I actually do have a few ideas, but I am not really sure about them. I am looking into the professions of a lawyer, a plastic surgeon, or an aeronautical engineer. These are all good careers that actually take quite a while to complete. That is one of the main problems that, in my opinion, I can’t do. I don’t know if I am will be able to determine for a long period. I am worried that throughout my studies I will feel like giving up. I don’t even know what colleges I want to go to or should consider. I used to think that if I went to college, then I would be wasting the best years of my life. But I recently talked to a cousin of mine who convinced me otherwise. She said that even though you have to work hard and everything, you still have fun in college. She said that even though you’re in college, you are still living your life and by the time you graduate, it will all be worth it. She also said that if you work towards what you want, no matter how long it takes, it will never be a waste of your time. This made me think differently about the idea of college. I just can’t seem to find a career that I will actually enjoy. I have been looking into some but I feel like they aren’t really for me. But they are the only ones that semi-interest me. I’m going to explore any possible options available to me.

Yet again, my one true goal is to be able to give my mom all to my ability. So, I am willing to work my hardest and longest just to accomplish my goal.