Humans are very intelligent and understanding beings they are able to cope with many different obstacles and tasks. Each obstacle that has to be overcome requires a different quality. Three qualities to overcome major obstacles include humor, perseverance, and strength. Each quality is used every day by average people and there are many stories to back these qualities up. A few stories include “Darkness at Noon” by Harold Krents, “The Loophole of Retreat” by Harriet A. Jacobs, and “Choice: A Tribute to Dr.
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Martin Luther King Jr. ” by Alice Walker. Humor is the ability to laugh at yourself and others to lighten the mood and not get too overwhelmed by a situation. If you can not do this then life will become extremely hard to cope with and often become too much to handle. The main character in the “Darkness at Noon” always has to laugh to keep him from getting aggravated at the commonly occurring situations he is put in. The story itself is written in a very comical way to make the very upsetting parts seem less hurtful then they actually are.
An example of this is when the main character Harold and his father were playing basketball and two girls came up to comment on their skills. Our next-door neighbor, aged five, wandered over into our yard with a playmate. “He’s blind,” our neighbor whispered to her friend in a voice that could be heard distinctly by Dad and me.
Dad shot and missed; I did the same. Dad hit the rim; I missed entirely; Dad shot and missed the garage entirely. “Which one is blind? ” whispered back the little friend. 457) This can actually be taken very offensively but when the author put the situation in a humorous form it seems to look better than it actually is. Humor is not only helpful in life but necessary and without it we would never be able to overcome painful obstacles and live life to the fullest. Humor is very effective in overcoming obstacles but when an obstacle lasts a very long time you need to be persistent to overcome it. Perseverance is the ability to continue through the toughest times in life and never give up.
Each day when you push aside the struggles you face, you are persevering and showing that you have the qualities to overcome obstacles. The main character in the short story ‘The Loophole of Retreat” needed to master the art of perseverance and overcome here horrible living conditions. She was confined to a tiny little garret that was only nine feet wide, seven feet long, and three feet high and even though she had protection from her master her living conditions were still awful.
She describes countless problems with her hiding place such as the freezing cold of the winter, the heat of the summer, and lack of air or sun but the worst thing she had to endure was not being able to hold and be with her children. I heard the voices of my children. There was joy and there was sadness in the sound. It made my tears flow. How I longed to speak to them! I was eager to look on their faces; but there was no hole, no crack, through which I could peep. This continued darkness was oppressive. It seemed horrible to sit or lie in a cramped position day after day, without one gleam of light.
