The Right Book at the Right Time by Brittany

The Right Book at the Right Time by Brittany - July 2013 Scholarship Essay

                 For me my junior year was really tough. I had just returned from my 6 month long stay in Germany as an exchange student. The experience itself was amazing but my friendships with my closest friends suffered. Coming back I had no confidence and I felt extremely lost. On top of not having any friends any more my family lost a dear friend, and my grandmother, and then my aunt got diagnosed with cancer. At this point school was my life, and I tried to keep my mind off of everytthing by focusing on my school work. I am an International Baccalaureate Candidate, so my schedule was filled with intense courses. Towards the end of the first semester I slowly started to rebuild old friendships and make new friends but my confidence was still shattered.
               The last book that we read before the end of the semester was called Their eyes were watching God. I absolutely loved this book. It was written so that if you read it out loud the characters came to life. They all spoke differently and it was like you could get wrapped up in the story. Not to mention you could analyze this book for days. One of my passions is clothing andI love learning about its history so when reading I always pay attention to the symbolism behind clothing. For IB (International Baccalaureate) English we had to do an Oral presentation on one of the three books we had read that semester. I chose Their Eyes were Watching God and did my presentation on the symbolism behind the main characters clothing.
                The main characters name was Janie. I identified with her more than anything and she inspired me beyond belief. I know it’s silly but to me she was real. She was exactly the kind of women I wanted to be. In the novel she was married to a man who she didn’t love, and then she runs away to marry a man who after not to long treats her like nothing. Then when she finally finds true love she he gets sick with rabies and she has to shoot him before he kills her. Now my problems were not that serious by any stretch but in the end of the book she is still able to hold herself together as an independent and amazing women even after all she had been through. In my mind, if she could do it so could I.
                Ever since reading that book I promised myself that I would never let myself be stopped by anything. Since then life has gotten better each and every day. I of coarse still have to deal with the everyday bullying and the intense classes but I finally believe in myself. I know that I have control over where I go in life. I see a piece of Janie in myself, and I hope to never lose that. Like Janie says “Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves” (Hurston 230)