About Choice

Three stories, “Greyling”, “Stray”, and “Eleven”, all relate to one theme, Choices. The story “Greyling” written by Jane Yolen, talks about a fisherman, and his wife that had a great life, but with no kids, they were in sorrow. One day the fisherman came across an abandoned seal, he took it home with him, but when he got home it turned into a human, they called him Greyling. A few years later, the fisherman was stuck in a storm, and Greyling saved him, turning into a seal, and going out in the sea. The story “Stray” written by Cynthia Ryland, talks about a poor family, and  Doris sees a dog, the parents agree to keep it, but only until the snow clears. When the snow clears, the dog is driven away by her dad, to the pound. Doris was in sorrow, until she went downstairs for dinner, and her dad said to feed the dog, and she rejoiced because the dog was theirs. “Eleven” written by Sandra Cisneros, talks about Rachel and a red sweater. Rachel’s teacher asks who red sweater it is, and Sylvia says that it was Rachel’s even though it was not. The teacher gave it to her, and forced her to wear it. Though at the end of the bell her peer says that it was there. 

People’s situations can change many choices in life and it can come with a different outcome. If you are poor then you may have a choice to not keep an animal, because you cannot take care of it. But if you are rich and you have an animal, then you can keep it because you can take care of it. In the story Stray they could not keep the dog, because they did not have enough money to feed it, and they could not feed themselves. The story Greyling, they saw a stranded seal, and took care of it, because it was alone with no other family around it. Eleven Sylvia Salvador had the choice of not being mean, and said it was not Rachel’s, but she was rude to her. She told the teacher that it was Rachel’s, even though she knew it was not. If you are in a hard spot in life, and you cannot keep something because you do not have enough to take care of it, you may not have a choice to keep it. But if you are wealthy and have plenty, you can have the choice to keep it so you can feed yourself and the animal. Different situations can come to different choices and outcomes, because you could be rich or poor. 

Choices can reflect on your characteristics, like virtue, morality, and  conscience. When we have choices it shows who we are, like if a person was rich but did not care about an animal and saw how bad life was, that shows you are bad. But if a person were to be poor and still took care of an animal it shows that they have good virtue, and consciousness. In the story Greyling, the fisherman saw a seal alone, and he decided to take it in which was his choice, this shows he has virtue, and he made first to check around for his parents first, showing he has good consciousness. In Stray Doris’s parents decided to keep the dog, because they saw how bad the pound was and even though they were poor they still gave the dog food. Eleven the teacher saw that at the end of class it was not Rachel’s sweater, and it was a different person, but she did not say she was sorry, instead she acted like nothing happened, this is a bad virtue. Choices help us to see others, and see if they are good or bad, so we can understand them in the future. 

Everyone has many choices to make in life, because you must pick things to do in the world. Choices are part of our daily lives, even though you may not realize it, but you. We make choices when we are doing our job or buying groceries, we need to pick something or someone. In story Eleven, Rachel had the choice to talk back to the teacher, but she didn’t. The teacher had the choice of not giving the sweater to Rachel but she did. Greyling the fisherman had the choice to take the seal with him or not to, so he took the seal with him. When the seal was older he had the choice of saving the fisherman or letting him die in the ocean, but he saved the fisherman. In Stray Doris took the dog home with her, even though she knew they were poor. At the end, the parents kept the dog even though they knew they were poor and could barely feed themselves. Whenever we do something like picking up trash we do not have to do it, but we took the choice to do it. We make choices everyday in our lives, and it is a common thing that we do. 

The three stories Stray, Greyling, and Eleven all talk about one common theme choice. In the story Stray, a poor family keeps the dog, even though they could barely feed themselves. In Greyling a fisherman and his wife had plentiful amounts, but mourned a baby, but one day a fisherman brought in a seal that turned into a human, and they kept it. Eleven talks about Rachel and how that her teacher made her wear a red sweater that was not hers, but Sylvia Salvador said it was. People’s situation can change choices. In Stray the parents knew they were poor and did not want to keep the dog, but in the end they kept the dog, because they saw how bad the pound was. Choices reflect on your characteristics, like virtue, in Greyling the Fisherman did not have to take the seal, but he did, this shows he was kind. Everyone makes choices in life, in Eleven Rachel had the choice to talk back but didn’t, and the teacher did not say sorry to Rachel, when she saw it was not Rachel’s. These three stories are great stories talking about something different in choices.