Circumstances; they rule our lives. One has if not no control, then VERY little control, over their actions when they are placed in harsh circumstances. It is very difficult to break through your surroundings, to beat everyone around you. There is a quote “Circumstances rule men and not circumstances.” The idea of this quote, that one doesn’t have control over their turnout when they are placed in harsh circumstances, shows up in other places as well. There is another quote which is similar to this one. The quote is “Circumstances define us; they force us on one road or another then they punish us for it”. “Circumstances define us…” we are only who the people around us make us out to be.
We take after our surroundings. It is hard to stay away from bad things, if all that surrounding us is bad. It is difficult to resist peer pressure. In the novel Make Lemonade, by Virginia Ewer Wolf, LaVaughn wants out. She wants to get away from all of the violence, all the drugs. She wants to get out of where she lives, which is very similar to the projects, some neighborhoods near her ARE the projects, and to go to college.
She wants to escape from all of the peer pressure. She understands that she is not capable of becoming the type of woman she wants to be if she never experiencing life outside of her circumstances, life outside of drugs, violence and other things of the sort. Her surroundings, the circumstances she was in, they would only keep her back from achieving her dreams. “…then they punish us for it”. LaVaughn would definitely be punished. She would be stuck.
The Essay on Your Time is Limited, So Don’t Waste It Living Someone Else’s Life: A Quote by Steve Jobs
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ” Here is how I interpret what Steve Jobs was saying: Don’t drink just to make your friends, partner or anyone else happy, because then you’re just living someone else’s life. Don’t go places your friends’ want you to just to please them, because then you’re living someone else’s life. Don’t act a certain way and do things just ...
She would always have to live in a neighborhood similar to her present one. One of the problems that were holding her back from achieving her dreams was her addiction to caring for Jolly’s children. It is holding her back from getting good grades. In the book Make Lemonade, LaVaughn’s mother says “Jolly made her own bed, now she must lay down in it”. She is choosing to look past that it wasn’t Jolly’s wrong deeds that got her in the predicament that she was in. That it wasn’t her fault she had two children and very little money.
After Jolly was put in her predicament, she was stuck. She didn’t know how to get out. She let her circumstances shape that she is. Now that she is put under these circumstances, she must deal with them. She must try to make the best of it. She must make things manageable for her children to survive.
“…they force us on one road or another…” If LaVaughn continues trying to help Jolly, then she will be forced onto the wrong road. She will be forced to not go to college. She won’t get in. Jolly’s circumstances will ruin LaVaughn. LaVaughn will never be able to get out of her neighborhood. Circumstances rule our lives.
They ruled Jolly’s life. They ruled LaVaughn’s life. People are constantly being punished for their actions, even when they are forced to do so because of their circumstances..
