The Awakening Land" p615 What was the world coming to and what hearty pleasures folks today missed out of life! One bag of meal her pap said, used to make a whole family rejoice. Now folks came ungrateful from the store, grumbling they had to carry such a heavy market basket. Was that the way this great new country of hers was going to go? The easier they made life, the weaker and sicker the race had to get? Once a majority of the men got weak and soft, what weak, harmful ways would they vote the country into then? Well, her pap's generation could get down on their knees and thank the Almighty they lived and died when they did. How would they ever have come and settled this wild country if they said to each other, "Ain't you afeard?" How would her pappy have fetched them the long way out here on foot if he'd kept asking all the time, "Are you all right! How do ye feel? Do ye reckon ye kin make it?" No, those old time folks she knew were scared of nothing, or if they were, they didn't say so. They knew they ran bad risks moving into Indian country, but they had to die some time. They might as well live as they pleased and let others bury them when the time came. Now Libby's generation, it seemed, lived mostly to study and fret about ailing and dying. .Conrad Richter
About This Quote
The Awakening Land is a novel by Kate Chopin, written in 1899. I have to say that this quote isn't the best, but it's a favorite because of its strange use of language. The quote is from chapter 15 of the book, which was about the effects of dysentery and how it affected the people who lived in rural Louisiana in the late 1800s. According to Chopin, the people who lived in rural Louisiana were always complaining about how easy it was for them to get sick.
They also complained about how much work it took to make a living. In this quote, she illustrates how a healthy person in a rural environment could complain about having to carry a heavy market basket all the time when someone else could do it instead. The world can be a hard place especially when you are young and your only concern is school work and doing well in life without worrying too much about what happens when you die. Things were different back then because when you died, your body was buried alongside other bodies from your family and friends or if you were famous, by yourself or with other famous people.
Today things are different though because most people are concerned about their own welfare before they are concerned about others. As an adolescent, you should be thinking about yourself and not spending all your time worrying about what others think of you or what's going on around you or what will happen if you die tomorrow or next week or next month. I had this thought for awhile that maybe it's better not to be born at all than to be born into an unhappy life full of pain and suffering like many people experience on Earth today. I know that sounds crazy but don't let me fool you into thinking that I mean that everyone should kill themselves if they feel like killing themselves because I am not saying that at all. When I was talking with some friends yesterday about some issues we had with our parents I told them that my mother would always tell us to be grateful for everything we have because one day we may need things like food, clothing, shelter and medicine so why not appreciate these things? She would even tell us to be thankful for our eyesight because one day we may need these things too so why not appreciate them now? I think that's all I wanted to say today so I will end this article here for now but I will write more tomorrow if there is something else I want to talk about!
Some Similar Quotes
- Each day brings new opportunities, allowing you to constantly live with love–be there for others–bring a little light into someone's day. Be grateful and live each day to the fullest.
- Be mindful. Be grateful. Be positive. Be true. Be kind.
- Always remember people who have helped you along the way, and don’t forget to lift someone up.
- Pursue what catches your heart, not what catches your eyes.
- Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart.
More Quotes By Conrad Richter
- The Awakening Land" p628 A strange, uneasy feeling ran over him. If he had been wrong about his mother in this, might he by any chance have been wrong in other things about her also? Could it be even faintly possible that the children of...
- The Awakening Land" p628-629 Hardship and work, that's what his mother always harped on. Once when he had refused to work on the lot, she had said, "You're going to live longer than I do, Chancey. Watch for all kinds of new-fangled notions to take...
- The Awakening Land" p615 What was the world coming to and what hearty pleasures folks today missed out of life! One bag of meal her pap said, used to make a whole family rejoice. Now folks came ungrateful from the store, grumbling they had to...
- The Awakening Land" p614 But what in God's name did folks today want to make the whole world over like they were for? In her time in the woods, everybody she knew was egged on to be his own special self. He could live and...