The Dynamics of Life on Literature Examples Essay

The only thing constant in life is change. Every human being is subject to change in every aspect of life, and they all respond differently towards it. Some resist the change thereby making their lives harder than it ought to be, some reluctantly accept the change and their lives are turned around unexpectedly while others respond to these changes with the same magnitude and significant that it has come with. They learn to cope or compromise with these changes, and they do not allow these changes to become their masters but they instead become masters of the changes (Kjeldgaard, 22). As Charles Darwin, the father of classification once said, "it is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change."

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Malala you safzai, in her book 'I am malala' narrates of a time when the girl child was of no significance in the society. When she was born, there were no rifle shots fired as in boy births, and only her dad celebrated her (Yousafzai, 1). Girls were not educated as they were only grown to be married off and perform wife chores to their husbands and families. This partiality even extended to the meals. Malala's mom had attended school at six for only one term, but this was a new thing as she was the only girl in a class of boys. Envying her cousins who spent all day playing, she sold her books for nine annas and went back home (Yousafzai, 14). Malala attended the Khushal School, and more girls were attracted to the school. She was often at the top of her class, with her closest competition being Malka-e Noor. This was a time that the Taliban were strongly opposed to the education of the girl child. The change that had come with educating girls was a threat to many, and it made many a foul than friends. Ghulamullah had tried to force the closure of the school and instead establish his madrasas. He offered a bribe to the woman who had leased the building to malala's father to see to it that the school was no more. He referred to the educating of girls as haram and a blasphemy.

The dynamic perspective of life necessitates the need for survival and being superior or intelligent doesn't guarantee the survival past the change. One needs to be as parallel as possible to change to know how to overcome or cope with it. In Arthur Gordon 's the sea devil, a middle-aged man, late 20s goes fishing in the brim of the night, not for food but the fun and the labor of it, and he catches a mallet (Gordon, 1). He is at the command of the sea that he even returns an angelfish that wasn't mature enough. But within a split of a second, the chain of command changes and he is caught by the net he uses to catch his fish. The net traps a giant ray and while struggling to break loose, drags him into the water. For once in his lifetime, he knows how it feels to be the hunted and not the hunter. A change in hierarchy instantly puts his life in jeopardy, and he is at a leveled ground with all the sea creatures. As the ray fish is dragging him down, his ability if controlling the sea is gone, and he has to struggle like all creatures to come out alive. He decides to go in the direction the fish is going, and he gets out of the net, bruised and bleeding. He returns the mullet he had already fished into the water. His response to the captivity feeling he had experienced led him to release the mullet. He swore never again to go fishing in the dark of the moon (Gordon, 6).

Nature is a cruel beast to the weak and the timid. It is a death sentence to the hunted, an unfair setting for the disabled and a crisis for the extinct. It is a battlefield where only the fittest survive. Santiago, an old man from Cuba, was a very successful fisherman in his teenage, but old age has come with failure and bad luck. He spent 84 days and nights fishing in vain. His counterpart fishermen make jokes about him and mandolin; his young friend is urged by his friends to leave the old man and join a new fishing crew. Nobody willingly associates with failure, and this was a big blow to the ego and self-worth of Santiago. The change from Santiago's boat to the new boat surely elevates the days fishing outcome, but manolins heart belongs with Santiago. The 84 failed attempts demoralize Santiago, but he remains hopeful that tomorrow will bring more success (Hemingway,8). This new stink of shame, failure, and bad luck prompts Santiago to go for a 2-day fishing heist further into the Gulf Stream. He captures a big marlin fish to prove he still got it in him, fights the school of sharks attacking him on the way. This is the price a man's pride and ego holds. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated." (Hemingway, 29)

The coming of the Taliban extremist group changed the entirely peaceful environment for the learning in Khashal School. The well-established school that educated girls was no more. The fight they had put to acquire the magic pen that would wipe out the misery of women was all whipped away in no effort at all. Malala had become an activist for women education, and her efforts bore a bounty. Talibanisation led to the displacement of Malala and her family (Yousafzai 234). They later returned home and afterward; she got shot while going home in a bus, alongside her friends and classmates. An infection had set in, and her injuries were predicted to cost her speech and locomotion. She was taken to Birmingham where she had to start from scratch as her fingers could not write. Her parents joined her, and she was discharged from the hospital. The new life, without her friends, her village, and her school was challenging, but it was a better one.

Adaptability to changes requires one to have the heart of a tiger. The belief that only the bravest survive (Kjeldgaard, 24). The audacity to face the impossible with an unshaken heart and personality. The tiger is a hunter, but when there is no prey, it resorts to eating leaves and tree barks. It cannot go hungry just because there is no mole bone to crack. The art of improvisation is key to adapting to changes around us. The spirit to go an extra mile to counter completion is also vital especially when it comes to the survival of the fittest.

Works cited

Gordon, Arthur. The sea devil. Mosdos press, Cleveland, Ohio. 2001. Pp. 1- 6

Hemingway Ernest, the old man and the sea. 1995. Pp. 1-30

Kjeldgaard, Jim. The tiger's heart. Pp. 19-34

Yousafzai, Malala. I am malala. The girl who stood up for education and was short by the Taliban. 2013. Pp. 1-240