“The Power of Perseverance”
“..In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud under the
bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed..I am the captain of my fate I am the
master of my soul”- “Invictus”, William Ernest Henley. We all face obstacles, some large some
small, but no matter the size of the obstacle if we don't fight through, we will not continue to
move forward in our lives. We each have a way of handling our own personal hurdles, but we
must use our own methods. If we never move past our issues, this world will never progress.
Our country would not exist, modern technology would not have been created, and we would
miss all our opportunities to improve our lives. In the short story, “ The Night I Won the Rights to
the Streets of Memphis” by Richard Wright, a boy must deal with a group of boys who bully and
harass him. When pushed by his mother, he decides to use physical violence in order to fight
off his bullies. In the poem, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes, a mother explains to her son
that she has had to persevere through life’s many hardships. She tells him that if she overcame
her obstacles, then he can too. One must fight and persevere to move forward in life.
To begin, in our fight to continue through our struggle, we may need a push along the
way. In “The Night I Won the Right to the Streets of Memphis” a boy’s mother opens the door of
retaliation so that the boy will be able to fight off his bullies. In the story, our main character’s
mother does more than not show the boy sympathy, she tells him to fight. “Take this money, this
note, and this stick. She {his mother} said...and if those boys bother you, then fight p 2.” This is
a startling statement by our character’s mother. This is the moment the main character realizes
he can move forward in his life by taking down his bullies head on. I believe this is a nudge that
opens the main character’s mind to the possibility of fighting back. A final push over the edge is
given to our main character in the story when his mom threatens to injure him herself and locks
him out of his home.The main character receives a threatening push so that he might move past
his fear of the bullies. “Go now! If you come back into this house without those groceries, I’ll
whip you! p2” She {his mother} slammed the door and I heard the key turn in the lock.” This
piling up on top of his mother’s other statement is the push he needs. The way his mother
threatens to beat the main character strikes pain and fear into his heart causing him to make a
decision to fight against his bullies by bashing their heads with a wooden stick, and screaming
at them and their parents. The main character’s mother gave her son a push she felt he needed
by threatening him and forcefully telling him to retaliate so he can move on with his life without
the fear of being bullied.
To continue, in our fight to persevere through obstacles there are many ways for us to
push forward....
