"Bullet in My Neck" Response Essay
Yasmeen Qureshi
English 1A
Mr. Hart
22 October 2013
“Bullet in My Neck” Response Essay
It is not easy to get over the trauma of being shot, let alone to forgive the person who is responsible for the shooting. It also depends on the situation in which one is in, in that moment and how he/ she gets out of it. In the case of Gerald Stern, a poet on his way to a conference, he and his companion Rosalind Pace were cornered and shot at while stopped at a red light for no apparent reason. Although most of the shots were misfired, Stern took on to his neck. Injured, Stern and Pace managed to drive away from the scene and drove around, lost with no help, eventually finding himself at the entrance of a hospital where he and Pace were attended to. In his essay, “Bullet in My Neck,” Stern describes both his and Pace’s emotional responses: where Pace was shocked, in disbelief, and frightened, later filled with anger and sorrow, Stern was also in disbelief and frightened, but mostly in grief. In his essay, Stern makes the claim that it is best to move on from trauma and to forgive the person who has wronged you. Although I agree that to move on and forgive is best, I also believe it the circumstances of the situation should be given weight when determining how much one should forgive/forget. After being in the hospital for a day and a half, Stern still went to his conference. He got his appearance for the conference rescheduled just so he could show up and be there. He didn’t want the shooting coming in the way of his life’s work. Stern says, “I didn’t care, as such, for the conference itself, nor for the measly bucks they were probably going to give me; what I cared about was being there, going back to my life, not letting the shooting defeat me”. He felt that it was very important for him to still go to the conference and read and talk. Continuing on was so important to him even though his neck was three different colors with a bullet in it
English 1A
Mr. Hart
22 October 2013
“Bullet in My Neck” Response Essay
It is not easy to get over the trauma of being shot, let alone to forgive the person who is responsible for the shooting. It also depends on the situation in which one is in, in that moment and how he/ she gets out of it. In the case of Gerald Stern, a poet on his way to a conference, he and his companion Rosalind Pace were cornered and shot at while stopped at a red light for no apparent reason. Although most of the shots were misfired, Stern took on to his neck. Injured, Stern and Pace managed to drive away from the scene and drove around, lost with no help, eventually finding himself at the entrance of a hospital where he and Pace were attended to. In his essay, “Bullet in My Neck,” Stern describes both his and Pace’s emotional responses: where Pace was shocked, in disbelief, and frightened, later filled with anger and sorrow, Stern was also in disbelief and frightened, but mostly in grief. In his essay, Stern makes the claim that it is best to move on from trauma and to forgive the person who has wronged you. Although I agree that to move on and forgive is best, I also believe it the circumstances of the situation should be given weight when determining how much one should forgive/forget. After being in the hospital for a day and a half, Stern still went to his conference. He got his appearance for the conference rescheduled just so he could show up and be there. He didn’t want the shooting coming in the way of his life’s work. Stern says, “I didn’t care, as such, for the conference itself, nor for the measly bucks they were probably going to give me; what I cared about was being there, going back to my life, not letting the shooting defeat me”. He felt that it was very important for him to still go to the conference and read and talk. Continuing on was so important to him even though his neck was three different colors with a bullet in it