ENGLISH THEME STUDY
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
The theme that I studied is about Overcoming Adversity. I decided to look at medias that involved people overcoming some sort of obstacle to gain some happiness or closure. I know that the topic is very broad so for some of the medias I looked at specific areas of overcoming.
Medias studied:
FILMS:
Run, Fat Boy, Run
Hitch
NON FICTION BOOKS:
My Left Foot by Christy Brown
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
POEM:
Seventy Seven Thousand Service Trees by Sri Chimnoy
FICTION:
God Guy: Becoming the man you’re meant to be by Michael DiMarco
Run, Fat Boy, Run:
The first movie I studied was called Run, Fat Boy Run. It is about a man, Dennis, who had left his pregnant fiancée at the altar. After 6 years, he realises that he made a big mistake and now wants her back. To prove to her that he is a changed man and that he can finish things in his life, he runs a marathon. During the race, he gets tripped by Libby’s boyfriend, who wants Dennis out of the picture, sprains his ankle and still continues to the finish.
“Commentator: Dennis Doyle, clothing store security guard, running for the last ten and three quarter hours on basically one leg, He’s refusing to rest until this race is run, unbelievable!”
And when he completes it the commentator says: “He’s done it! He’s actually done it! This morning, Dennis Doyle was a humble shop worker from north London, tonight, he goes home a hero!”
Now in this movie he not just overcomes the adversity which is the marathon, he overcomes his lazy attitude. He now realises that he can finish things in his life which helped his esteem, his relationship with his son and ultimately rekindled the relationship between himself and Libby (ex-fiancée).
Hitch:
The Second movie I studied was Hitch. It is about a ‘date doctor’ called Hitch who gives advice to clients on how to be the perfect gentleman so they can get the woman of their dreams. Ironically, he is single. Now in the movie he advices a large man called Albert who likes a woman in his firm called Allegra. As things start working out between those two, Hitch finds someone as well (Sara). However, when things start to go sour in the relationship, he doesn’t even use his own advice to mend it. It’s almost like he wanted his clients to go the extra mile and be courageous yet he was being a coward. In the end, he confronts the insecurity in him and gets back together with Sara.
What rounds off the moral of the movie is that when Hitch finds out how Allegra fell for Albert, it was the complete opposite of his advice. The clients just had to be themselves.
My Left Foot by Christy Brown
For this book, I focussed on overcoming a disability. This book is about Christy Brown’s life.
In his early years, Christy was handicapped after his birth. He couldn’t write at all. He also spent his early life being mute and distant from his family as they didn’t know how to help his condition.
One day, he used his left foot to draw the letter A with a piece of chalk.
After doing that amazing achievement his dad lifted him up and swung him around. His mum cried and Christy said “I couldn’t speak with my lips, but now I could speak through something more lasting than spoken words – written words”. That was his attitude. At that young age he was encouraging himself to push on and make the best out of his situation.
Soon after, he started using his left foot to write and communicate with people. It was the only thing he could control. Years later, he went to France to improve his speech and condition. While there his self esteem was very low and he thought he had nothing to live for. “I wanted my life to have a purpose, a value, but there was none. It was hollow, meaningless”. But he persevered, got into a treatment program and improved his life.
He eventually went on to become a painter, author and writer.
Gifted Hands:
This book is about a man called Ben Carson who went from being a class clown to being a world renowned neurosurgeon.
The story starts from his early years where he struggled in school a lot. Because of this he became the class clown. He had no self belief which caused him to have anger problems. But after inspiration from his mother and God he finished school with good grades. He moved onto university and then medical school. After completing medical school he then became a neurosurgeon. His groundbreaking procedure involved separating Siamese twins. After many challenges and complications, the surgery was successful. Following that he went on to complete many more. Some were successful, some were unsuccessful but through all of it he knew God was with him.
Some of his motivational quotes were:
“Success is determined not by whether or not you face obstacles, but by your reaction to them. And if you look at these obstacles as a containing fence, they become your excuse for failure. If you look at them as a hurdle, each one strengthens you for the next.”
“Do your best and let God do the rest.”
These were just a few of many positive things he said to himself to push him to succeed. He knew he could do all things through Christ who strengthens him. (Phil 4:13)
Seventy Seven Thousand Service Trees by Sri Chimnoy:
This is a very inspirational poem. It doesn’t just talk about overcoming adversity, it talks about life in general and how to be your best and not let your problems overpower you.
Some of the statements he makes are:
“Optimism, optimism, Keep a profound optimism.” Stay hopeful in any situation.
“We shall definitely be successful in life, if we take each outer difficulty
as an opportunity.” If we look at the positive side of life, we will succeed.
This poem of inspirational statements links in perfectly to my theme study because it speaks of having an encouraging attitude to overcome problems and succeed.
God Guy:
God Guy is a very unique and inspirational book. It talks about a ‘God Guy’. Now the God Guy is the ‘most amazing guy on Earth’. He loves God, he knows his purpose and he knows how to overcome adversity with the help of God.
Now this book teaches us guys to be like the God Guy. It is like a Christian devotional but it uses a person to base the information on.
Some of the truths that are said in the book are:
“The mind of ‘God Guy’ isn’t set on finding happiness only in the world”
“He defines his life by the fact that he belongs to God”
These are some of the things said in the book that God Guy is. This is what I and all Christians want to become, someone who knows himself in God and uses that to overcome any problems that this world throws at us.
React!