An Open Life By Joseph Campbell

In the novel, An Open Life, by Joseph Campbell, I agree that life is like a novel and that disasters result in structuring a great aspect of your life. If you really think about what Mr. Campbell is saying, he is right. Looking back at my life with all the ups and downs I have experienced, made me who I am now, which is a great thing. I had an experience with a boyfriend which caused me to get a great job to make as much money as my Mother. A reading that makes me agree with Mr. Campbell quote, was when I read my Mother’s journal that she kept from the start of my birth until I was ten. An observation that I got to see was from the movie Don’t be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood. In this movie, Ashtray becomes a man by observing on how his friends are. I agree with Joseph Campbell, that life is like a novel. An experience I had with the opposite sex made me who I am now. One evening my boyfriend and I agreed that we would go out with some friends, and go our separate ways.

 When he left, I called my friend to see if she wanted to do something. We ended up going to the movies. During the movie I noticed that my friend wanted to tell me something but backed off for a while. When she could not hold it any longer, she told me to look back. When I did, I saw my now ex-boyfriend making out with a girl. I was devastated when I had seen that, I even ended up quitting college for this. I was thinking about this all day and forgot to realize that I had a math exam the next day. So what I did was that I quit college. My Mom was very upset that I had quit for such a reason. It was impossible living with my Mom when this had happened. She did not like the fact that I quit school and did not even have a job to take advantage of. But a couple of weeks later, opportunity came ringing on the phone. My aunt called and told me that she was looking for an assistant. I went the next day for an interview and got hired on the spot. Till this day I am working at Century 21 Su Casa, a real estate company, making almost as much money as my mother. Sometimes I think that if this would have never happened, where would I be or what would I be doing? If this disaster would have never happened to me, then my life would be different than how it is now. Reading my Mother’s journal makes me agree with Mr. Campbell. She had kept this journal from my birth until I was ten years old. According to my Mom thought now for me was the right age to learn where I came from and the disasters my Mom had to go through. In this journal she states that when I was younger my mother left my father because of his drinking problem. When this happened she had to claim welfare for about one year.

During this year my mom could have just decided to stay on welfare for the rest of her life, but she got smart, went to college and got a degree in Business. If my mom would have not gotten smart during this period we would have probably still been on welfare, but thanks to mom she gave us a better life. She now has more than enough money to support us both. Nothing could be better, we have our own house, and each a car. This proves that problems whether big or small structure a great aspect of your life. By observing the movie, Don’t be a Menace to Society While Drinking your Juice in the Hood, we see that Ashtray by observing on how his friends made him to become a better person. What I observed from this movie was that Ashtray’s friends were playing with women and not take responsibility toward their actions. Most of all his friends had had enpregnated women and did not even care for the children. This girl that lived in the same block as Ashtray and his friends was very easy to get in bed. This girl, Darmica had seven kids. All of Ashtray’s friends had had her. Ashtray really fell for this girl. At the end of the movie he ends up leaving the hood with her and her seven kids. With him leaving the hood with this girl, you wonder how he came about this choice when this girl slept with everyone in the hood.

This proves that life is like a novel and that little disaster structure on who you become to be. By looking back in your past at all of the disasters you have faced, if you really think about it, you wonder who wrote your life. With all the ups and downs you have overcome our lives seem to be just like a novel. With these experiences, readings, and observations we can see that life is like a novel. If we do not suffer disasters we will never learn to be better than we are now. This is why disasters result to turn out to structure a great aspect of our lives. In this novel called life, we have disasters that structure on who we are today. YOUR NAME 1 OUTLINE Thesis: In the novel, An Open Life, by Joseph Campbell, I agree that life is like a novel and that disasters result in structuring a great aspect of your life. I. Intro (examples, briefly explain each) a. Explain why do I agree b. experience c. reading d. observation II. Experience a. tell about boyfriend b. what happened c. results d. compare experience on why I agree III. Reading a. moms journal b. situation she was in when I was young c. how she over came to structure her life better for us IV. Observation a. movie b. ashtray became a better man c. responsible for all seven kids d. did not follow in footsteps of his friends, like portrayed to be V. Conclusion a. combine experience, reading, and observations b. compare life with a novel c. close with thesis