Sasha S – Story Power

Exit West and Pride and Prejudice Reflective Essay

On May 20, 2025

In Exit West, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Uncategorized

Reading Pride and Prejudice and Exit West challenged the way I view both myself and others. These novels revealed that growth often comes not through dramatic events but through subtle shifts in understanding.

In Pride and Prejudice, I admired Elizabeth Bennet not only for her wit and independence but also for her courage to admit when she was wrong. Her turning point is introduced after reading Darcy’s letter, when she reflects, “Till this moment I never knew myself.” That moment of self-awareness struck me deeply. Elizabeth’s willingness to revise her opinion of Darcy and herself showcased how humility is a strength. I have a hard time admitting when I am wrong and I pass judgment quickly. If Elizabeth did not take the time to reflect and reexamine her emotions she would have missed out on her husband. I realized I often resist change because I fear admitting I’ve misjudged someone or something. Elizabeth’s journey reminded me that real growth starts with vulnerability.

Exit West offered a different lens on transformation. As Nadia and Saeed travel through magical doors to new cities (from Mykonos to London to San Francisco) they also begin to separate emotionally. What moved me was that their drift wasn’t caused by betrayal or anger. As the narrator puts it, “We are all migrants through time.” Their love, once integral to their motivation to escape together, became a part of their past rather than their future. This made me think about how some relationships aren’t meant to last forever, and that letting go doesn’t mean failure. I’ve always seen endings as losses, but Exit West helped me see them as transitions.

Though Pride and Prejudice and Exit West are vastly different in setting and style, they both taught me how change is constant and how true resilience means adapting without losing your core self. For my final project, I chose to write reflectively because these stories reshaped the questions I ask about myself. Pride and Prejudice helped me embrace the discomfort of being wrong; Exit West helped me accept the beauty of uncertainty. Together, they showed me that personal growth isn’t about having the right answer, it’s about being brave enough to ask better ones.

Men Need To Step Off The Podium And Give The Microphone to Someone Else

By Sasha S

On February 3, 2025

In Uncategorized

I’ll admit that I wanted Reagan and Goneril to be successful with their plans, for Reagan and Goneril to take control of the land in the way they saw fit. While their petty squabbling over a man at the end of the play reinforces harsh stereotypes and doesn’t serve their characters well, they were still the most interesting figures in the story. Despite being portrayed as conniving, wicked, and unkind, I believe they share the same mentality as their father. Lear gave the land to their husbands, not to them, because of ingrained sexism. For millennia, women were denied the right to own or inherit land—things that men took for granted. Women were seen as less capable and less deserving.

But today, we see women outachieving men in education: women earn 10% more bachelor’s degrees, 63% of all master’s degrees, and 57% of all doctoral degrees. Yet, as women surpass men in fields they were once excluded from, we see a backlash, with men choosing not to pursue degrees as much. There’s always a gender divide in how things are perceived: the WNBA doesn’t get the same viewership as the NBA, “female doctors” are often not believed to be as competent, and the hard work of stay-at-home moms is frequently downplayed. No female president. The first woman appointed to the Supreme Court was Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981—only recently, in 2022, did Ketanji Brown Jackson become the first Black woman to join the court.

The cutthroat actions of Lear’s daughters were a product of their environment, shaped by the Actions of Lear. Edmund, on the other hand, does pretty much the same thing, but no one seems to question or confront him until the very end of the play.

“Ocean Eyes” by Billie Ellish

By Sasha S

On December 8, 2024

In Music Poetry

“Ocean Eyes” by Billie Ellish is her debut song. This was her first song she ever downloaded to soundclound at just thirteen years old. The song is about the dangers of falling in love and the effect it has on the mind. One could argue that a thirteen year old does not fully grasp the concept of romantic love. And while that might not be the case at the time, the song is still one of the most poetic lyrics she has every preformed, even today.

The backing track immediately starts with piano with twisting backround vocals. The lyrics start off strong, making the listener know what the song is about immediately.

Burning cities and napalm skiesFifteen flares inside those ocean eyesYour ocean eyes

She knows the dangers of this person. Can see that this will not end well for her and decides to pursue it anyway.

The ocean is very vast, deep, and full of mystery. Some people fear the ocean while others make it their life’s work to understand it. The ocean host many different things some of which we do not know about. The use of ocean to describe this person highlights the fears and the excitement for something so large. Paired with “eyes”, seen as windows to the soul. The combination of these too makes the listener understand just how infatuated she is.

I’m scaredI’ve never fallen from quite this high

Signaling that she has never felt this way before. The act of falling in love is literal. She voices her feelings.

Da, da-da, da-daDa-da-da, da, daDa, da, da, da, da-da-da-da

The syncopation almost as a call and response for the audience. The repetition of the simple sounds helps close out the lyrics and gives the listener time to thing just like in a poem.

Beloved – The Author Or The Character?

By Sasha S

On December 1, 2024

In Beloved

This book came with many recommendations and warnings. Not negative, just cautionary. During my high school experience I have read difficult books; whether the themes were complicated or the writing style. Sophomore was Shakespeare unit, as old English is no longer spoken, it was difficult for my classmates and I to decipher the lines. As well as the allusion to customs and items that do not exist.

Beloved is set 150 years ago with drastically different laws. Morrison did such a great job setting the story in that time period without it overshadowing the characters within. Many of the language and foods are from the South, as a permanent northerner I did not recognize many of the words. The reader needs to have access to further information like the internet to look up the things that they do not know otherwise they get lost and lose the meaning.

Morrison set it up this way. Embedding the characters in the story is what makes this narrative so different than other slave fiction. However I do not believe this is her best book. This is some of her best writing, just not for me.

Exit West

By Sasha S

On November 3, 2024

In Exit West

At first the title confused me, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid. For some reason those two words did not go together and instead of me thinking about the literal meaning of those words, I chalked it up something made up like Hogwarts. It was not until the doors were formally introduced that I could catch on like the rest of the readers.

I thought the specific use of exit instead of enter highlights that Nadia and Saeed did not want to leave their home. They tried to stay there and make it work but were literally forced to go for their safety Society for all the immigrants were not welcome, actively trying to repel and segregate them. The countries tried to prevent them from entering their land.

The Stranger – To Whom

By Sasha S

On October 16, 2024

In Albert Camus, Binaries, Existentialism, Stranger

We all know ourselves. At least we think we do. The phrase I know you better then I know my own self, signifying kinship between two people. We think that we can control our destiny, make our own choices, influence our own stories. Unfourtunetely we cannot do whatever we want, due to laws, regulations, and social norms

Meursault takes this predicament into his own hands. He does not obey laws nor conform to anyones expectations or wants from him. He views the world not as his oyster but something that cannot control him. He is passive. He never strives for any achivement or status reveled by society. When his boss asks him “open an office in Paris which would handle his business directly with the big companies.” Meursault refuses saying life does not change and he is contempt with what he has now.

He says ” I’m not unhappy” after declining the work offer, but never in the story does he say he is happy. Only at the end of the book does he finally come to the realization that blatantely disregarding everyone also included himself. Only then when he is alone with his thoughts and feelings does he say he feels happiness.

Does Football Make You Cross Dimensions

By Sasha S

On September 27, 2024

In Binaries, Empathy, Imagination, Power and Identity, Uncategorized

In Game Changers by Neal Shusterman, the main character actually changes dimensions via being tackled. No not CTE or multiple concussions, although around 1.2 million people get seriously harmed from football.

Ash our main character is a 17 ,on the football team Like failing math tests and girl troubles. One day he gets tackled which when you play a contact sport is not surprising, then he notices little details that seem to have changed but no one else believes him. The other team mascot was the wildcat but now the Ravens, he initially rushes it off because believing he’s in another universe seems very far-fetched. Next, the stop sign as we know and love became blue, this was a bit harder to wrap his brain around.

Each time he gets hit something grander changes he’s suddenly rich with a nice car and a fancy house. These changes don’t only affect him, things in history have also been changed, in one dimension Brown versus the Board of Education was never one, segregation still existed and his best friend didn’t go to school anymore. There were other more unusual Dimensions like changing his sexuality and giving him a boyfriend.

The final change was him becoming a woman, so he could understand how it feels to be a minority and the social structures. The book was very addicting. I read it all in one sitting under 3 hours. The writing is not super complex in understanding the text, however it does have broader Messages such as hierarchy in class, gender ,and sexuality.

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Story Power

Blogging the Lit Life

Author: Sasha S

Exit West and Pride and Prejudice Reflective Essay

Men Need To Step Off The Podium And Give The Microphone to Someone Else

“Ocean Eyes” by Billie Ellish

Beloved – The Author Or The Character?

Exit West

The Stranger – To Whom

Does Football Make You Cross Dimensions

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