learning to like summer
How can personal experiences change a person's attitude? This question is answered through Lorraine Hansberry's "On Summer." In this narrative, the main character and author, Lorraine, has a disfavorable impression of summer. However, through certain experiences,she realizes that it is a season to be greatly appreciated. "Summer was a mistake," according to Lorraine. It was an "utter overstatement" that consisted of displeasurable things like "grainy sand, cold waters, and the icky, perspiry feeling of bathing caps." Everything was always louder, sharper, hotter, and therefore, very
Hearing that the woman battling cancer did indeed get to see another summer just cemented these newfound beliefs for her, and is proof that experiences can change a person's attitude. Summer gives these people more daylight, more time, to realize their wishes and dreams. Another event in Lorraine's life that aided in changing her opinion of summer was when she went up to a lodge in Maine. After reaching her grandmother and spending some time in the rural Tennessee, Lorraine begins to associate thegood parts of summer with the natural beauty of the countryside. The woman refused to accept cancer as tragedy and "her face softened, looking around, hoping to see one more summer. " An experience that opened Lorraine's mind to the joys of summer was when she went to visit her grandmother in Tennessee. She encountered a remarkable woman who was stricken with cancer, but didn't let that cancer be a hindrance to her. ver, Lorraine did appreciate one thing about summer, and that was how on hot days, her family would go to the park and lay on the "cool, sweet grass with a freshly-cutsmell of lemons. Soon, the fun summer is overand Lorraine must go back home to Chicago. " Through her experiences with the cancer-ridden woman and her grandmother, Lorraine realized that summer was the most special season of them all. Not even the "frivolous spring, full of false promises" could measure up to the intensity and beauty of summer in Lorraine's eyes. Next summer, upon hearing that her grandmother has died, she realizes how special summer was because of the precious moments she was able to spend with her grandmother. Summer has the longest days, and to dying people like those mentioned above, every minute counts. Fall, with its "pretentious melancholy," can't do this, and the austere winter can't do it either.
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Hansberry's Summer,
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