Horace DRQ--Success Story

Horace's quote that essentially characterizes an underdog, can be supported by the story of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, and the life Sojourner Truth. Although not all talents "elicited" when faced with hardships are necessarily positive talents, otherwise how would any villians backstory be created? The perfect example of a character whom has the worst of herself brought out, becasue of a hardship in her life, is the Wicked Witch ofthe West from "The Wizard of Oz."

Jane Eyre was very mistreated throughout her life; her aunt (Aunt Reed) physically abuses Jane and even locks her in a room with Jane's dead uncle at one point. Despite all of that suffering that she goes through, Jane becomes a well-educated tutor at the home of the Rochester's. Without Jane's hardships that caused her to yearn for a better life and gave her the morals that she carries with her in her life.

Sojourner Truth was an African-American woman who fought for the abolition of slavery as well as the early women's rights movement. The adversity that she faced was slavery and the domesticity of women. Truth was able to escape with her daughter, and become a speaker as well as a writer. Truth's hardships allowed her to become an activist and give speeches such as "Ain't I a Woman?" and write books such as "The Narrative of Sojourner Truth." Truth was also able to speak as the first National Women's Rights Convention. Through her adversity, Sojourner Truth was able to find a voice and become a respected woman in the activist community of the early 1800's.

The Wicked Witch of the West was born with green skin and sharp teeth. Her physical characteristics caused her to have a poor childhood where she was unwanted and this cause her to becom "wicked." She does not overcome these challenges though, instead she seeks revenge, and the opportunity to cause others (particularly Dorothy, who is a beautiful and loved young girl, which causes jealousy to rise in the Wicked Witch) pain, mainly mental suffering.

Adversity can have different effects on a person's character, whether it's a positive or negative outcome. It is how we handle the hardships we are faced with that shapes the person we become.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was my favorite DRQ to write because I was able to connect two of my favorite literary characters: The Wicked Witch of the West and Jane Eyre. DRQs are the most difficult essays to write in my opinion because you have to connect real life material to a quote or concept, and more than likely the connections are almost impossible to see which makes it even harder to prove to the reader of the essay. That part of it came easily to me in this essay; I was able to immediatly think of underdogs such as Jane Eyre that fit the bill.