Essay 4

Keep Moving:

An Essay on Letting Things Go

By:Emmanuel Perry

Pine Point School,CT

October 25, 2011

There is a song by U2 called ‘Walk On’ that talks about leaving the past behind and showing courage to move on (‘Leave it behind, you got to leave it behind’). I have learned to move on from my worries. Walter, from A Raisin in the Sun, had to face hardships as well and for the most part by himself. ‘And I know it aches, and your heart it breaks, and you can only take so much…[just] walk on’ means that even when it seems impossible, you need to just keep moving on.

This little problem I have is that I lose things really easily. It is not that these things are unimportant to me, it’s just that I never keep track of where I put them last. One particular time, I lost a video game system called the Play Station Portable, or PSP for short. It was one of my prized possessions (FAST), and I had just lost it! For many weeks I searched for it, but to no avail. I looked in my room, I looked under the couch, I looked in the coat pockets, I even looked in the bathroom, hoping I could find it (anaphora:I)(asyndeton). I never did find it because I probably lost it while doing errands with my mother.  I felt distraught for a very long time; however, I eventually realized that it was only another toy like the other toys I had lost in the past. After a few weeks without my PSP, I realized all the fun I was missing out on with my friends and family. Even though I have another electronic to play with now, the lost PSP taught me a lot about letting hard things to let go of go.

The song ‘Walk On’ by U2 relates to A Raisin in the Sun in multiple ways. The lines ‘Home... I can't say where it is but I know I'm going home’ is a reoccurring theme in the play. The Younger family lived in a very dismal (FAST) apartment and constantly dreamed of a wonderful home they could all live in. They finally got this dream home because they kept working towards their goal. They wanted to start anew and to never look back. They forgot about the past and walked on. In the story, Walter,the father, had a very hard time. Walters sadness relates to the line ’ And I know it aches, how your heart it breaks and you can only take so much’. His ‘so called’ friend Willy stole his money, his new neighbors were paying him to leave,his family seemed to have left him to deal with these problems alone(Anaphora) (Asyndeton). He later realized that money is not as important as family. He also realized that when he started supporting his family, they would support him. Walter learned that hard times are a part of life, he learned that troubles come and go, he learned it’s never to late to change and leave the past behind you(anaphora).

‘Walking on’ is sometimes challenging. If you have courage, however, you will be able to move on. ‘All that you break, all that you feel, all this you can leave behind’ means that it takes courage to leave hardships behind and to start anew. Courage is very important, it is a priceless trait that cannot be sold or stolen. Or in my case, it cannot be lost!

Self-Assessment

1. I am continuing to work on using commas and apostrophes properly.
2. This writing was thoroughly checked for errors or openings for improvement.
3. The writing styles that were supposed to be in the essay were added in after the essay was written and is not as good as they could be.