please help this is the last essay for U of M and its supposed to 500 words mine is 540...does that matter? Also, i really need help editing it. Tell me what you think please be honest, all suggestions are appreciated!
heres the prompt: Tell us about a book you have read that you found especially challenging, stimulating, or provocative. Explain why it made an impact on you.
The first day of junior year my American literature teacher handed us the sheet with all the books that we would be reading that year. At the very top of the list was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. At first I was a bit apprehensive about the book; I mean in all honesty the books that I read in school are not exactly an exciting pass time. They are written years ago in times that are completely different to ours and yet the teacher still expects me to relate to the characters and their peculiar life styles. However when reading Ethan Frome I found my life was in a way parallel to Ethan's.
Ethan Frome is a man torn between what he wants to do, and what he should do. Though too intelligent for rural life, Ethan finds himself stuck in an average man's shoes. His love for learning and keenness for engineering could have led Ethan to a much better life. Unfortunately, the town's people make Ethan feel obligated to marry his cousin Zeena in return for all the care she brought to his ill mother. Depressed by his now ill wife and failing farm, Ethan begins to fantasize a better life with Zeena's cousin Maddie in the west and wonders what life would be like if he had finished his engineering studies. In the end he believes his only way to happiness is escaping his miserable life through death.
I, like Ethan feel obligated to stay at home with my family for college. Traditionally a Middle Eastern girl stays in her parents' home till she marries, and with all that they have done for me how can I leave them? After finishing the book I came to realize that I had two options; I could follow Ethan's example as he did what people expected him to do by marrying Zeena and staying on the farm; or I could be assertive and challenge myself at great institution such the University of Michigan Ann Arbor? The answer if one could not realize by reading this essay, is to challenge myself and pop out of the traditional Middle Eastern bubble also known as my house. If there is one thing that reading Ethan Frome taught me is to not conform to other people, but rather take my own lead on life and do what it is that I believe will make me happy. My intelligence and love for learning can take me too many different successful places as Ethan's could have, and although I value the opinions of my family I do not want to be like Ethan wondering 'what if" everyday searching for a way out of a life I did not choose. I learned from Ethan that if I want to be happy in my future then I should start making the decisions fir it myself and not let other influence it. I need to be challenged not only with intelligence but also with how well I can stick to tradition when I am surrounded by many other differing ones. I feel that University of Michigan Ann Arbor is where I need to be in order to not follow Ethan's mistake and lead a life of success and happiness.
heres the prompt: Tell us about a book you have read that you found especially challenging, stimulating, or provocative. Explain why it made an impact on you.
The first day of junior year my American literature teacher handed us the sheet with all the books that we would be reading that year. At the very top of the list was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. At first I was a bit apprehensive about the book; I mean in all honesty the books that I read in school are not exactly an exciting pass time. They are written years ago in times that are completely different to ours and yet the teacher still expects me to relate to the characters and their peculiar life styles. However when reading Ethan Frome I found my life was in a way parallel to Ethan's.
Ethan Frome is a man torn between what he wants to do, and what he should do. Though too intelligent for rural life, Ethan finds himself stuck in an average man's shoes. His love for learning and keenness for engineering could have led Ethan to a much better life. Unfortunately, the town's people make Ethan feel obligated to marry his cousin Zeena in return for all the care she brought to his ill mother. Depressed by his now ill wife and failing farm, Ethan begins to fantasize a better life with Zeena's cousin Maddie in the west and wonders what life would be like if he had finished his engineering studies. In the end he believes his only way to happiness is escaping his miserable life through death.
I, like Ethan feel obligated to stay at home with my family for college. Traditionally a Middle Eastern girl stays in her parents' home till she marries, and with all that they have done for me how can I leave them? After finishing the book I came to realize that I had two options; I could follow Ethan's example as he did what people expected him to do by marrying Zeena and staying on the farm; or I could be assertive and challenge myself at great institution such the University of Michigan Ann Arbor? The answer if one could not realize by reading this essay, is to challenge myself and pop out of the traditional Middle Eastern bubble also known as my house. If there is one thing that reading Ethan Frome taught me is to not conform to other people, but rather take my own lead on life and do what it is that I believe will make me happy. My intelligence and love for learning can take me too many different successful places as Ethan's could have, and although I value the opinions of my family I do not want to be like Ethan wondering 'what if" everyday searching for a way out of a life I did not choose. I learned from Ethan that if I want to be happy in my future then I should start making the decisions fir it myself and not let other influence it. I need to be challenged not only with intelligence but also with how well I can stick to tradition when I am surrounded by many other differing ones. I feel that University of Michigan Ann Arbor is where I need to be in order to not follow Ethan's mistake and lead a life of success and happiness.