Of the three assigned essays we were given in English class, The Greatest Gift stuck out to me in more ways than one. I believe this is partly because I can relate, not in the sense of motherhood or fatherhood, but in the sense of despair, envy, and loneliness she had felt. In Samantha Tengelitsch, the woman who wrote this essay, I also found a person I can admire. For in spite of everything she felt and everything she had to go through, she endured. And not simply endured, but was able to expand her limits, knowledge, and wisdom. And in the end was able to come to terms with her responsibilities, and her role in life.When Samantha first found out she was pregnant, she was a bit insecure I think with this new prospect. And yet at the same time, she was determined to do everything right. She tried to compare her life, and that of her daughter’s to books and media. To people like Martha Stewart, and her next door neighbor who had given birth to a girl as well at around the same time. She tells us that she was married, and her husband tried desperately to help. In one such case, a few weeks before Christmas she says he brought home a puppy, in the hope it would bring Samantha out of her depression.Samantha’s feeling of elation from having the puppy, soon turned to a realization that she now had yet another burden. It was in her decision to get rid of the puppy, that she gained acceptance of her new role, and finally brought Samantha out of her depression. She discovered later, that it was unfair to herself, and to her child to compare her life to that of someone like Martha Stewart who had seemed so perfect before her arrest. Or to that of her neighbor, who had been far more emotionally and financially prepared than Samantha had been. In Her experience she discovered perfection in her own uniqueness. But above all, she tells us that her greatest gift was the wisdom she received through her experiences.
Writing strategy #3 - How is the essay's title a unifying device throughout the essay?
What you expect to read about after first reading the title, is what Tengelitsch's greatest gift was. She slowly reveals it throughout the essay, hinting at the gift in several paragraphs. First she tells you about the birth of her daughter. This is what I presumed to be the greatest gift. Later in the essay her husband gives her a puppy a few weeks before the holidays. This also however was not the greatest gift. The last 2 paragraphs begin leading up to what she says was actually the Greatest Gift before finally stating it outright in the final paragraph "The real gift I received that holiday was not the little puppy, but what my experience inspired: growth, wisdom, the aility to stretch further than ever before, to be swallowed whole, to surrender, evolve, and accept my new role as mother. This wisdom alone was the greatest of all gifts."
Exploring Ideas #3 - What other roles in addition to motherhood are a progressive transition, an evolution of acceptance of self?
The first that comes to mind is a person who lost a limb due to an accident or in a war. They would have to come to terms with their appearance, the way they looked physically with the missing limb. But the person would also have to come to terms with the inability to do as many things physically, whether it was walking, lifting heavy objects, driving, or many of the things they were able to accomplish before they had lost their limb.
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