Precious Mae G. Gallano                                                   Eng.Ed 5- Afro-Asian Literature

BSED II-N

BUTTERFLY

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe’s “Butterfly” is about how a butterfly celebrates its meekness and simplicity of life. In contrary, the driver fallen to grace, experiences human fragility in the face of overwhelming power and violence. If compared to situations in real life, a lot of scenarios can be drawn in.

My mother always tells me that simplicity is beauty. Grown up in an average family, I have not lived in luxury and fame. I have been happy in the things that I have and the family that I belong. Like most youngsters, I have friends and peers whom I can turn to. Throughout my life, certain infirmities bother me, like the weirdness that I have, being cowardly and lack of experiences. They made my life limited to what I know about the world and how it works. I have always been dependent on someone even in asking to authorities, buying things or seeking for someone’s attention. In short, I still don’t know how to handle things alone. Immaturity dominated my way until I reached college. These things, maybe, can be considered the simplicity and straightforwardness of my existence.

In every single moment of my college life, fright and apprehension never abscond me. I worry even when crossing the road or going to the mall alone. With this, I realize that life without my family around is challenging. Now that I’m in my second year and I have known the real world of college, I learned how to deal with things alone, how to strive for excellence and be resilient in downfalls. Experiencing the complexity and complicatedness of life was never at ease, but it builds you into someone you never thought you can be.

The butterfly can be an image of my happy-go-lucky life; that before, I view my living without direction and seek safety in lightness and weightless, that having the mindset of staying out of trouble will be good. But now that I will be turning 18 and I have encountered those unexpected’s, I always end up pondering. What will I get from staying quiet and timid? What will I get from always permitting my fear to inflame? Maybe these things are slowly trickling in my system. The driver symbolizes my wrong doings and decisions that I had made. I have always been the greatest enemy of myself. If I keep on being unproductive and continue on being negligent, it’s like bringing myself to harm and discomfort. But despite all these, I still end up remembering that to live in moderation would make all things easier- that too much is bad and too less is bad also. Be silent when it is not necessary to speak, and shout out when it’s right for you to talk.