Lindsey's Big Question

When faced with adversity, everybody acts differently. We all have to look inside of ourselves to see what we are really made of. Some thrive off of the misfortune and walk away with a better understanding of who they are and what they stand for while others crumble under the pressure. This contrast forces me to ask "In the face of adversity, what causes some people to prevail over others?"

Throughout literature, this question presents itself in many different ways. In The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner poses this idea through the bulk of his novel through the members of the Compson family. Benjy, the youngest brother of the family, suffers from a severe mental retardation. He is babied, blamed, and pushed aside by the others members of his family and his community for his disability, but he ultimately turns out to be the most important character in the novel. He allowed the reader to see his family without any films or facades, but for who they honestly are. While it may superficially hide it, it does not impede his ability to truly understand the world around him. His oldest brother, Quentin, faces a different kind of adversity. He is the most intelligent of the Compson family, but he becomes obsessed with his his sister's virginity, or lack thereof. Quentin cannot accept her impurity and suffers the greatest downfall because he is not able to "step up to the plate" in his most tortured time. Even though both of these two characters faces hardships and misfortune, Benjy was ultimately victorious because he accepts his disabilities and uses them to his advantage while Quentin allows them to consume him.

We can also see this theme in music. In She's Gonna Make It, Garth Brooks illustrates the lives of two people who have recently been divorced. Through the lyrics, Brooks shows how differently the man and woman deal with the downfall of their relationship. The man can't move on and he becomes obsessed with his ex-wife while his wife starts a new life. While the two suffer the same fate, what they do with the outcome differs drastically and, again, we are left wondering what caused these two different outcomes.