A Blend of Altruistic and Narcissistic in Each Batistes Character - Book Report/Review Example

Black American History Regarding Life Book review In “salvage the bones”, a novel by Jesmyn Ward the main character is a fifteen years old girl by the name Esch Batiste. After the death of her mother she is left to live as the only female in the family with her three brothers and her alcoholic father who would always take alcohol to take his head off the loss of Esch’s mother. Esch Batiste’s character can be said to be a blend of both altruistic and narcissistic. Narcissistic people are those who are self-centered, selfish, and concerned about their needs and wants. Altruistic people on the other side are people who are selfless and concerned about the other people. Readers can know that Esch is narcissistic because of the fact that she leaves all the task of finding food for the family to her brothers and does not help in any way. The meals that they always take, which mostly consist of wild squirrels and stolen bread, are always a courtesy of her brothers’ hard work (Ward 89). This is something that would not have happened if she was not narcissistic. Her altruistic side is seen during the hurricane period. Despite the fact that she knew that her brothers were in a better position to stand for themselves during the period of the catastrophic hurricane, she made sure that they stood together for each other and that they go through it together. As a result of their sticking together they manage to go through the hurricane without any one of them losing their life. Life experience Judging one’s personality is always a very big challenge. This is because most of the time people will tend to focus on the positive aspects of their characters while ignoring the negative aspects of their characters. In my own opinion, I would say that I am a blend of both altruistic and narcissistic. There are a number of reasons that I believe that I am altruistic. I am the oldest in a family of three. My siblings are by far younger than me. In fact, the oldest of my two siblings is eleven years younger than me. Growing up, my parents has always guided me and insisted on the importance of me being there for my younger siblings. Personally, I have always felt responsible for my younger siblings. Sometimes when my parents go for journeys they always leave me with them and I have always had the conviction that their safety and well being is my responsibilities during such times. It got to a level that I would not have to be given a reminder on the same. This kind of life experience has helped me in interacting with people and to always think of other people too and not only me. I remember one day feeling hungry and knowing that my siblings were in the same state I decided to give them food. As soon as I saw them having their meals, I was surprised to realize that I was not feeling hungry anymore. The other reason as to why I have the conviction that I am altruistic is the fact that I have always had no problem in helping out other people, especially when it comes to people with people with problems which seem genuine. This is always dependent on whether I am in a position to help or not. However, what makes me consider myself as altruistic is the fact that I am always having the will to help people in such situation regardless of whether am in a position to help or not. This is a trait that has always been taken advantage of by people a number of times. The funny this is that whenever I meet someone in such situation am always convinced that they are different from those that have taken advantage of this trait before. I remember when I was in high school one of my friends, then had continuously criticized me for being foolish philanthropic. I would sometimes agree with him, but would not help feeling pity the next time would find me in such a situation. After clearing my high school education I remember one evening pleading with my dad so that he would let and guide me in adopting a child. My point at this point was that I wanted to be able to help out at least one those orphaned children. I was particularly so convinced that is was the most viable thing to do. However, with allot reason backed explanation from my father, I was finally able to temporarily drop the interest. My father explained to me the legal issues involved and the responsibilities that were actually involved. Basically, my father was able to convince me that I was not ready for such responsibilities. Another argument that he had was that there are so many orphans all over the world and that I would never be able to attend to him. What he did not understand is the fact that I would not have to make a change in the lives of all orphans in the world to get the satisfaction of being of help. As long as I would be able to help with the best of my abilities am convinced that I will feel the satisfaction. Being of help to as many as possible orphaned children is still a part of my long term goals and dreams. All through my education life I have always enjoyed helping out people whenever they have problems in areas that am good in. This is not always because of the insistence of our tutors that we need to help other people, but because I always lack a good enough reason for not helping out with education related issue. When it comes to helping fellow students there is always nothing to lose. There is no much that is to be given apart from the intellectual property and knowledge. In such a case the only thing that is lost is time because you will obviously have to create time for such activities. However, such time cannot be said to have been wasted because at the end of the day both parties gain. As a result of helping out someone usually gets more familiar with the concept that they are helping out with. This makes it hard for them to forget the concepts in the future. There are a number of reasons as to why I am convinced that I have some narcissistic. Much of this must be contributed to me being human. It is almost obvious that every single human being will always want the best for themselves. I have always had this conviction that I am so good that whenever someone gets a chance at my expense I always cannot help but keep on believing that I deserved it more. It is even made worse because I always wish that it was me instead who had that chance. Such a scenario took place while I was in high school. I used to play table tennis and always believed that I am extremely good at it. During this particular occasion I was not selected as part of the team that was supposed to represent the school. I was so devastated and can remember being convinced that there was a reason behind me being left out other than simply because I was not good enough for the team. At some point I even thought that it was something personal between me and the team couch. It took me sometime before I could eventually get over this disappointment. While growing I always had a very strong connection to my belongings. I have always had a problem with sharing my belongings, especially if the belonging in question is something that is so dear to me. This trait as earned me criticism from many people with my parents having been the biggest critics of this trait. This does not particularly mean that I do not share. It is only that there some belongings that I would always choose to be selfish with rather than being selfless with them. Growing up this trait would always apply to how a treated my toys. It was always hard to get me to give my toys to the other children even if were playing together. My refusal was not based on not willing to give but the fear of the fact that there is a possibility that the toys would be mishandled leading to them being damaged. This is a thought that I could not stand. I have also always had a problem with trusting people in doing some things. I have always believed that if I do things by myself, I will be able to do them perfectly. This must have been a result of a number of disappointments during occasions when I have let other people do things on my behalf. In some cases I always find myself thinking that I would have done better if I would have chosen to do it by myself. At such incidents I always cannot help wishing that I would have done it myself. A good example of such a scenario is a day when I had to redesign a birthday card that I had asked a friend to design for me because I was not satisfied by the design. The funny thing is that I was the only one who was not impressed by the design. Work cited Ward, Jesmyn. Salvage the Bones: A Novel. New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. Print. Read More