The Choice

Jackie Dugan
Jon Endicott
Lit 181, Exploring Literature
26, August 2011

The Choice
When a person is faced with less than desirable circumstances, there is always a choice. They can choose to take the next step forward with integrity and perseverance or they can choose to step out and begin to create a parallel reality. Even doing nothing is a choice; a choice that each person must make on their own. In “Barbie – Q”, Cisneros provides us a look into the reality of walking in integrity and perseverance, while Chekhov shows how some individuals are able to step out and find solace in a parallel reality as in “The Lady with the Little Dog”.
The innocence of young children playing with dolls is overshadowed by the hard reality that they are living in poverty. While poverty is not the end of the world, it can be a very difficult thing for a person to rise above. The cruelness of society has a way of causing an individual to seek an opportunity to rise above the social status that they can find themselves in. They find themselves drawn to the equality of existence; however, they only seem to achieve it merely through fantasy or make believe, “Every time the same story. Your Barbie is roommates with my Barbie, and my Barbie’s boyfriend comes over and your Barbie steals him, okay? Kiss kiss kiss. Then the two Barbie’s fight. You Dumbell! He’s mine. Oh no he’s not, you stinky! Only Ken’s invisible right?”(Cisneros 1)   It isn’t until they find themselves staring into the eyes of their tomorrow that they are able to see that the decisions that they have made, has prepared the way for them to find themselves standing one step closer to equality.
The choice to be content and to make the best of what they had, proved to be rewarding. Not allowing societies to dictate to them their happiness, they continue to live internally equal to the other children around them looking forward to the next opportunity to add to their belongings, “Until next Sunday when we are walking...