Character Lessons That Transfer to Life by Katelyn

Character Lessons That Transfer to Life by Katelyn - October 2021 Scholarship Essay

There is an abundance of books that have characters that endure and experience imperative lessons. Some characters relate to readers more than others, and the lessons taken from a book normally represent one's relationship to a character. The one character that stands out to me is Clary Fray from The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. This series is composed of six books, but the one that captivated my interest the most is City of Bones. This book begins the journey of following Clary Fray, the protagonist, who is an ordinary girl that finds out that she is part of a group of people, called Shadowhunters, that ordinary individuals are incapable of seeing. This series is full of life lessons that I resonate with, but the one that stands out the most to me is: never underestimate yourself.

In the book, Clary is seriously underestimated when she begins to take the journey of becoming a Shadowhunter. She is undertrained and inexperienced, which places her behind the ones who were born into the realm of being a Shadowhunter. Throughout the book, Clary continuously proves her worth when encountering the suspenseful battles with demons and gains respect from her fellow peers. Since Clary never gave up, never underestimated herself, and pushed herself to be the best, she became one of the most elite Shadowhunters. This is a lesson that I incorporate into my daily life. When I am in school, I always complete all my work no matter the amount of time it takes, study for all my tests, and continue to take the most rigorous classes because I know deep down that I can. The lesson of never underestimating is one that is essential when I weightlift. Personally, I try to be the strongest version of myself, so to fulfill this, I push through mental boundaries to increase my weight for my lifts. I do not underestimate myself because if I did, I would not be able to continue to grow both physically and mentally. The idea of never underestimating yourself is something that I apply every day: academically and athletically.

There are many people who read books either for fun, to complete a school assignment, or to learn something. In any way that one reads, lessons are bound to be learned, either from the words written down or from the experiences taken from characters in the book. Some people apply these lessons to their everyday lives, such as I do with the lesson of never underestimating yourself that I learned from Clary Fray.