Essay On Keeping Fit, The Short Story Essay, Research Paper

Truth or Consequences

( on the short narrative Keeping Fit )

Life is a mixture of truths, picks, and effects. Turning points in a life occur when truths are seen, effects are realized, and picks are made. It may be a obscure innuendo of a truth that has ne’er been seen, or it may be a blunt world that is forced onto a individual. It may take to a welcome alteration that is healthy and favourable, or it may take to an uninvited transmutation that is finally sorry. Sing a truth wholly causes the realisation that society is non every bit balanced as it appears. In the short narrative & # 8220 ; Keeping Fit & # 8221 ; , Nadine Gordimer shows how a life can be changed by a simple event that sheds visible radiation to a simple, if non cruel, truth. The life of the running adult male was about perfect. He had all he wanted and didn & # 8217 ; t recognize the agony that occurred on the other side of the town. The unanticipated visit to the destitute portion of town forces the running adult male to acknowledge the fact that unlike his sheltered life, the universe is seldom merely and just.

The life of the running adult male is one of pleasance and contentment. He is a stereotyped white-man, and fulfills all facets of the character that was created for him. He is a affluent agent that has a household, a place and a life free from unfairness. In his universe, he is free from the hurting and agony that many other people have to endure. Since most short narratives have small character development, it is up to the reader to make the character through intimations and actions that the supporter performs. In this narrative, through the running adult male & # 8217 ; s ideas and actions while he was trapped, we begin to understand why this event changed him so much. Before the incident with the rabble and the hapless portion of town, he had gotten on with his life by disregarding the fact that there were victims, and non merely that, but he hadn & # 8217 ; t been exposed to those who really suffered. He was blind to the fact that such a hapless province of being was possible. He invariably reminded himself to ne’er travel on the other side of the main road. When the rabble of people unmanageable swept him into it, it was a daze he wasn & # 8217 ; t prepared for. The lone ideas that raced through his caput were to get away. When he was eventually free of the topographic point, he realized non merely that there were people who were enduring, but that there was a entire deficiency of justness in that portion of town. The constabulary were the 1s that were runing people down and crushing them to decease. He realized how unjust humanity can be, and how lucky he is to be populating the life he populating.

Breathe. Breathe. Those are the ideas that are traveling through the running adult male & # 8217 ; s caput while he starts his forenoon jog. He enters the jog casually, because it & # 8217 ; s likely something he & # 8217 ; s been making for rather sometime. He jogs by the hapless portion of town, separated by the four-lane route, cognizing that he & # 8217 ; s ne’er to travel on the other side. Not because he knows what & # 8217 ; s there, but because he & # 8217 ; s heard things, and knows that white people don & # 8217 ; t make bold enter. When the rabble of people all of a sudden burst from the town, he doesn & # 8217 ; t cognize what to anticipate. He uncontrollably gets caught up with them, and can & # 8217 ; t acquire free. He notices another black adult male that is being beaten by the others. Then

, as briefly and every bit all of a sudden as it began, the rabble leaves, and he finds himself on the other side of the main road, trapped in the slummy, condemned portion of town, with a corrugated metal fencing forestalling him from making the town that was soothing to him. His individuality was stripped from him, and the lone acknowledgment he finds for himself was that he was a white-man. His fright was so deepened when the three black people he sees all flee from him. He was in an unknown environment, where deficiency of individuality and deficiency of cognition stripped off any staying sense of self-respect and bravery he had left. Thankfully, a sort black lady comes to his deliverance and offers him shelter. She so provides the flight that he used to acquire off. Finally, when he arrived at his protected place, he is faced with a determination. He can bury the incident and make-believe that it ne’er happened, or he can recognize that it is true and learn from it. If he ignored, it would intend that his sheltered life would stay unchanged and that he would still be blind to the fact that there is utmost unfairness traveling on. If he realized what it meant, and chose to retrieve it, he would be infected with its disease for the remainder of his life, although he would so understand what an unfair, inhumane race we are. He decides to populate with this event and retrieve it, even if it is harder so burying about it.

It could be said that possibly a head would non allow you bury such a traumatic event, and that may be true, and we see that this adult male remembers it, distressingly. He will be forced to populate with the effects of his event for the remainder of his life. In their room, every ownership they have reminds him of what the other households don & # 8217 ; Ts have, and he feels disgusted by it. He is saturated in so much wealth he feels ill. When the bird is trapped in the wall, and seeking to rub its manner out, it reminds him of the event, and he can & # 8217 ; t face it. He urgently searches for the bird, and attempts to believe of ways to acquire it out, but comes up with nil. Then a sarcastic comment from his married woman reminds him of how unsighted she is. He has to populate with this truth now for the remainder of his life. This shows significance because it proves that an event that is endangering and hostile can supply a glimpse into a truth that is otherwise unknown. The jogger feels now as if he has been cheated. All his properties are worthless to him now, when before he felt so proud about them. He now has to alter the manner he lives because of an event that he had no control over. It demonstrates that the power of an incident can alter a manner the individual is.

The running adult male & # 8217 ; s turning point in his life was when he entered the hapless portion of town. It changed him from a individual who took everything for granted into a individual who knew that humanity could be viciously unjust and unfair. He lived a sheltered life and was a typical white-collar worker who had everything he needed. Through this event, he realized that everything he had he took for granted, and that so many people were deceasing for no ground. The constabulary were slaying their ain people. He made a pick to retrieve this event and use it to his life, and he so had to cover with the effects. It proved to be important and showed that a individual who thinks they are strong and wise, can be proven otherwise.