karinaestrada16
Oct 10, 2012
Undergraduate / Common App Essay- A Fictional Character (Hazel Lancaster) [2]
This is my response for the following essay prompt:
Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, influence on you, and explain that influence.
Please help me edit it or give me any advice to make it better. That would be so much help! (My deadline is November and i am applying to NYU) Thank you.
Many times in life I found myself complaining or thinking that others had a much better life than I did. For a long time, I believed that happiness in life was associated luck. Thinking that only some lucky humans came to this world to enjoy it and the rest came to suffer. I was blind with the idea that my dreams would always be just dreams because I was simply not born with any luck. The book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green helped me get rid of this unwise idea.
This book tells the story of Hazel Lancaster, a sixteen-year old who is a victim of cancer. She is not brave, courageous or has a positive perspective of life. On the opposite, Hazel lives in a severe depression and it is clearly shown that her disease has consumed the majority of her happiness. In fact, her story does not have a happy ending; on the contrary, it leaves you filled with sadness. This allowed me to see what it's like to live with an incurable disease and from a point of view of someone who is dying. Personally, I found so much of myself in Hazel to the point where I knew exactly what she was feeling, allowing me to understand her thoughts of desperation almost perfectly.
The moment I closed the book, I realized something I had never thought of before. I discovered that I am one of the lucky ones. I am lucky simply for being alive. I found that unlike Hazel, I am being given the chance to live my life. So I asked myself, why do I sometimes feel like I am incapable of doing certain things? What stops me from dreaming and going after what I want? Truth is, only my mind can stop me from doing these things I desire, but nothing else. I am not sick like Hazel, which means I am able to get up every morning and do anything I want. I don't have major issues in my life that are holding me back from living. Therefore, I told myself that I would not stop living, and I would overcome the negative thoughts that kept coming to me as obstacles. For people like me, a tomorrow is not guaranteed, but chances are that they will keep coming. On the other side, for people like Hazel, the "tomorrows" they get come to an end at an early age. There are so many young people dying every day and as they die, their dreams die with them. This book reminded me how lucky I am to not be one of them and that my dreams are achivable. Hazel inspired me to go after what I want and not miss the chances that life is offering me.
Thanks to this character that changed my perception and view of life, I feel more powerful and eager to chase my dreams than I ever did before.
This is my response for the following essay prompt:
Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, influence on you, and explain that influence.
Please help me edit it or give me any advice to make it better. That would be so much help! (My deadline is November and i am applying to NYU) Thank you.
Many times in life I found myself complaining or thinking that others had a much better life than I did. For a long time, I believed that happiness in life was associated luck. Thinking that only some lucky humans came to this world to enjoy it and the rest came to suffer. I was blind with the idea that my dreams would always be just dreams because I was simply not born with any luck. The book The Fault in Our Stars by John Green helped me get rid of this unwise idea.
This book tells the story of Hazel Lancaster, a sixteen-year old who is a victim of cancer. She is not brave, courageous or has a positive perspective of life. On the opposite, Hazel lives in a severe depression and it is clearly shown that her disease has consumed the majority of her happiness. In fact, her story does not have a happy ending; on the contrary, it leaves you filled with sadness. This allowed me to see what it's like to live with an incurable disease and from a point of view of someone who is dying. Personally, I found so much of myself in Hazel to the point where I knew exactly what she was feeling, allowing me to understand her thoughts of desperation almost perfectly.
The moment I closed the book, I realized something I had never thought of before. I discovered that I am one of the lucky ones. I am lucky simply for being alive. I found that unlike Hazel, I am being given the chance to live my life. So I asked myself, why do I sometimes feel like I am incapable of doing certain things? What stops me from dreaming and going after what I want? Truth is, only my mind can stop me from doing these things I desire, but nothing else. I am not sick like Hazel, which means I am able to get up every morning and do anything I want. I don't have major issues in my life that are holding me back from living. Therefore, I told myself that I would not stop living, and I would overcome the negative thoughts that kept coming to me as obstacles. For people like me, a tomorrow is not guaranteed, but chances are that they will keep coming. On the other side, for people like Hazel, the "tomorrows" they get come to an end at an early age. There are so many young people dying every day and as they die, their dreams die with them. This book reminded me how lucky I am to not be one of them and that my dreams are achivable. Hazel inspired me to go after what I want and not miss the chances that life is offering me.
Thanks to this character that changed my perception and view of life, I feel more powerful and eager to chase my dreams than I ever did before.