My story

Theme: Boring, dull life + opportunity arises +  _______________(fill in blank many different outcomes)

1. Twilight: Bella is dull, then comes Edward and her life drastically changes; the difference is that Bella is      happy afterwards.
2. Click: Adam Sandler wants to control his "dull" life but then realizes that he loves it more than he realized and wants it back.
3. Hatchi: A movie about a dog who loves his owner and then his owner dies; Hatchi waits until his death for his master.


Great Expectations by Charles Dickens illustrates the hardships of human expectations, the challenge of the unknown, and the impressible desire to charge ahead in hope of better circumstances. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman shows a similar theme in a completely opposite light. Unlike Pips known but unfaced desperation, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior is all about shattering the illusions of expectations.
         Great Expectations and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior both display themes that shed light on human expectations. In Great Expectations Pip is disappointed when he reaches London, "...We Britons...settled it was treasonable to doubt our having and our being the best of everything: otherwise...I think I might have had some faint doubts  of London..." (p172) Though Pip doesn't come out and say it, it's obvious to the reader that he is disappointed in London, he had greater expectations and they fell through. Dan (main character in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior) has similar feelings of disappointment in his own life. Dan is at the Olympics competing in gymnastics where he gets a perfect score, "...My teammates jumping and screaming in excitement...Then it was over. A long-awaited goal was accomplished." His great expectation was to win, to be a champion; he accomplishes it and then realizes it's gone, it wasn't fulfilling.
      Through their expectations Dan and Pip are both searching for fulfillment, yet neither realizes it at first. They both go on with their lives waiting for happiness, for fun, for enlightenment but as Socrates clearly points out, "...Life is the only real teacher. It offers many experiences, and if experience alone brought wisdom and fulfillment, then elderly people would all be happy, enlightened masters." Expectations are people expecting life to do the work for them, and to me that is what Great Expectations and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior uncover.  

I used a picture of water because it is so simple, but so powerful. Much like expectations :)

A quote that fits:

"There is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere It makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! Love is the only reality of the world, because it is all One, you see. And the only laws are paradox, humor, and change. There is no problem, never was, and never will be. Release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. No need to resist life; just do your best. Open your eyes and see that you are far more than you imagine. You are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else too!" - Socrates The Way of the Peaceful Warrior