Category: Assignment 2 (ESSAY) (Page 3 of 6)

Shafat Islam

English 1121 – E115

Prof. Schmerler

March, 2019

THE CONSEQUENCES OF FREEDOM

“The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants.” (Oxford Dictionary). In modern society, the average everyday Joe has the freedom to do anything they want within the confines of law. Going to the movies, buying a car, hanging out with friends, are a just a few of the vast opportunities and privileges you could have. However, could freedom also act as a hindrance? How could something so liberating actually do more harm you may ask? To sum it up in one word, it is desires. Desires are the those strong feelings of wanting to do something. Malcolm X had all the time in the world during his prison time, however he had very little freedom in the common sense. As a young child, I lacked a lot of the freedom I have today. This lack of freedom was actually more beneficial to me than the vast freedom I have as a young adult. Too many desires create too many distractions when you have the opportunity to do such things. This is the unfortunate consequence of freedom.

Freedom creates many opportunities for branching choices. I could decide to spend my time with friends, or spend it doing something productive. An average human brain prioritizes instant gratification rather long term goals. It is this defect that ends up distracting someone from being productive. It’s easy to spend an entire day playing video games than to finish up that homework you were assigned, or study for that exam. Ask yourself this, do you feel you were more productive when it came to school work during your early childhood? If so, why do you think that? Parents place restrictions on young kids to limit their entertainment and make sure they take care of their school responsibilities. We had an authoritative figure dictating us to stay on the right track. When we become adults, it’s up to us to be responsible of our own actions. For some that task may be daunting and result in a lack of productivity, giving in to our worldly desires. At the end of it all, the more freedom you have, the more self-control is required.

“Prison enabled me to study far more intensively than I would have if my life had gone differently and I had attended some college. I imagine that one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions, too much pantyraiding, fraternities, and boola-boola and all of that.” Malcolm X had admitted, in paragraph 20 of the excerpt “Learning to Read”, that prison had provided him the best environment in learning. Because of the lack of any entertainment or conventional freedom, Malcolm X had taken his time to read as many books as possible. He stared to increase his vocabulary by copying down the entire dictionary. This gave him an understanding for the other books he would go on to read. In the quote above, Malcolm X also says the main problem with colleges, is  that there are too many things to do. Too many distractions that would cause someone to lose focus on their main goal. However because of the circumstances, These restrictions that were placed on him prevented any sort of distractions and provided him the ideal environment to learn and grow.

As a child my parents had bestowed a regime to follow. Go to school, finish homework, do any chores asked, and then I could spend the rest of the day doing whatever I had felt like doing that day. You could say this made me a responsible kid. As I grew older, that regime became less and less enforced. By the time I was a senior in high school, I did not care about the work I had to complete. I became lazy and irresponsible, because I knew it wouldn’t affect me too much. I handed in assignments either late or never at all. My parents didn’t care too much as long as I had graduated. The task of being an authoritative figure, that once were my parents who had instilled a certain schedule I had to follow, soon fell on to me. I had to be responsible for my own freedom and what I chose to do with it. Freedom had become more than a privilege, it had become a responsibility.

Freedom is the ability to act, think, or speak without restraint. Sometimes freedom can be too much for an individual. In today’s day and age, the average person has a lot of freedom. A lot of choices and opportunities. However, what you do with this freedom is entirely up to you. The more you grow, the more freedom you have, and more freedom means more responsibilities. It was within the restricting walls of prison that Malcolm X’s life had changed for the better. Freedom is more than just a word written down to explain the choices and opportunities one is given. It is about the responsibilities that you undertake, and the consequences that follow suit.

Raja Ummar

D439

Freedom Essay

Freedom in dictionary is defined as the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. I think freedom is more mental than physical. There are many ways we are limited in what we can do, from not be able to carry weapons into an airport to taking any car you want from the street. But we still consider ourselves free because all or atleast most of the people support these laws being enforced. We can be locked up in prison but still feel free if we are able to do things we like, like Malcolm X. Freedom is more mental than physical.

Malcolm X was sent to prison, which forced him to broaden his vocabulary in order to express himself better in his letters. This also led to him falling in love with reading books and fulfilling his curiosities. He felt free when he allowed to read however much he wants in prison. If the police stopped giving access to books and didn’t allow him to read after he just had learned to read and understand books, he would not feel free anymore.

For me, my parents are very strict and always have been strict. I wasn’t allowed to allowed to stay out past 8pm, and even during the day, no more than 4 hours. So I had to find something to do at home. Although it’s not as productive as Malcolm X, but I started playing video games and it was a great way to pass time. I played several different types of games including sport games. This also led me to taking interest in basketball. There was a park in front of home, I was allowed to play however long I want because my parents knew where I was. This made me feel free.

Freedom comes with happiness, as Malcolm X was happy reading a lot of books in prison, other might feel trapped if they were forced to read 2 hours every day. Some people who make a lot of money from their job but hate their jobs might not feel free but people who make less money but love their job may feel more happy and not trapped at their jobs.

Freedom is more mental than physical part of our lives. Some might not feel free if they are not allowed to go outside at night but other might feel more free than ever if they can go outside at all.

true enlightenment

My Trials and Errors

Mental confinement

ENG1121 Freedom Essay

Wilfny Pelissier

Think back on your childhood how was it? Well I had great childhood, I was way more socially activate compare to myself now. I was active in school play every single sport that they had to offer, art classes and even attend hip-hop dance classes that my school offer at the time because my elementary school was a performing arts school. So for me going to school was amazing time for me because i was always doing something. But when i can home i felt that my days were cut short. This was so because i go home and usually do homework then the day would end and spend the next ten to eleven hours in bed waiting for the next day.     

The bedtime something that many kids are subjected to when growing up. I believe that mine was more harsh than anybody else’s because i had to be in bed at 8 pm. In school i asked my friends if they had bedtimes across the years that i slept at this time their answers was usually none slept around 10 and hearing their responses made me angrier because my hours staying up were so limited. Sometimes i would ask why do i have to sleep at this time and told off that “oh because you have to”. Also hearing the same thing for so long made me mad, who would because what kind of response is that.  

I was fed up living like so when i was in the 9th or the 10th grade i told my older brother who gave the bogus bedtime rule that there is no reason for me to be sleeping at this time because it is wack. So my brother of course didn’t expect what i said at first, so i ask him the famous question again why do i have to sleep at this time? Looking dumbfounded I get good grades and get good grades so there isn’t a reason for me to doing this especially when have basketball practice and other things that i can do after school, and so he just said alright. Looking back now oh boy i hate and ashamed that fact that i had to do this up until high school which is crazy to have such a restriction. This the only thing i hated about my childhood.

Gisselle Gomez
English 1121 – E115
Professor S Schmerler
March 4, 2019

Permission, Program, Pearl

Freedom is many different things to different people. It’s about being at ease to do and reach your own potential without any of life’s day to day hindrances. To some it is liberating or a second chance. To others it is overwhelming, an endless choice of options too vast to explore or to begin to comprehend. Some believe that freedom is more of a chaotic good and that constraint pertains to the mind and spirit rather than the physical state. Malcolm X’s autobiographical excerpt recounts that his experience of being in a physical constraint [prison] never made him feel less free. If anything, being confined helped him find his way into books and knowledge, his route to freedom. Freedom is permission to live without self-restraint regardless of constraint.
In my experience, finding freedom is a continuous challenge. Following high school and going into the “real world” , I find freedom to be exasperating. What I refer to is that the lack of regime leaves me with many possibilities. As children we are conditioned into our young adulthood when to do things and how-to act of a certain manner. No longer having everything laid out but now with full rein of my own decisions and time. In my adulthood there is the recurring theme of time management. The eternal quest to finding the time to go to school, work a full time job, have an active social life.
The necessary chore of taking classes, graduating and obtains a degree or two or three. If and when I have the time to take them in addition to the time of following through with the corresponding assignments. In high school I had a lot of structure to work with. Now it does not exist. I have noticed that this new freedom makes me feel wary. I feel cautious with lack of structure or guidance and it makes me doubt if my writing is “right”. As grade school students we are programed to write for an objective grade. Therefore structures and rules were something I leaned onto for grading survival. Without this, freedom is a new concept I must accustom to in this brave new world of written word.
In my personal life its creating the right sort of balance that agrees with my social relationships . The one most important being the relationship with myself. Finding freedom in means of peace of mind is a difficult thing I’ve challenged myself continually to accomplish. I suffer from what may be an acute form of depression that, redundantly, creeps up and strikes in passing moments. My denial to be properly diagnosed is possibly the very reason I state this. With all the light mental illness has received in the past years it is common to say , or rather ask: “Who hasn’t experienced the swinging motions of depression? Or battled with the inner voice we hear inside our head that beats a negative tone to which we carry out our day”. Anxiety. That which I have grown to call it and give it a name. To name it is to give it a space and recognize its existence. Once we do that, we can find a way to analyze an issue, a problem, and ultimately treat it. Freedom is acknowledging all of the above and figuring out the next step to becoming a better , happier you. In light of this, I’ve recently made changes to my home environment in hopes to better my overall mental wellbeing. I decided out with the dulled out seafoam green color that’s covered my walls for the past decade. In its place appears a serene polished pearl cream color that welcomes tranquility. They say that sight and smell are our two strongest senses. With the visual appearance of my room changed I went ahead and bought aromatherapy candles to appease the other sense. Lavender and cedarwood. Freedom of the mind is the soul seeking solace…. to the scents of Bath and Body Works.
Something that I have had to teach myself to do is to accept help. To take the weight off of myself and let another assist me when I’m drowning in the pressure. To let myself be taught. As well as accept that I don’t know everything and admit I am only human. That’s it okay to let someone in and help you unwind yourself from this tight coil of anxiety. This concept of finding freedom is a continual endeavor I aspire to achieve. I see it as the state of fully having a grasp of your surroundings so that it all works together effortlessly.