Creative Writing - by Otdom Polson

My family is scarred with fear. It may be from the tragic war of Cambodia that my family was forced to endure, but now, in present day, my dad is afraid to express his feelings, my uncle can be very aggressive, and most likely all of my aunts and uncles are afraid to waste any food. Either way, everyone in my family has some form of fear instilled in them.

For the picture of a statue of Sacagawea by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, my group put it into the fear category. Sacagawea looked scared; her back was turned, she had neither a sad nor happy face, and she held her arms close to her. She also held an axe, showing that within that gentle and quiet spirit, there lies a fierce and unstable demon just waiting to manifest. This sculpture relates to me because she is a visual metaphor of my family's fear. My family sometimes turn their back on the positive sides of life, refusing to listen to how things could be better. My family tries to hide their feelings from time to time, showing close to no emotion at all. My family is occasionally afraid to extend their arms out in friendship to people and to the world. Lastly, my family can indeed have a very volatile temper. They try to bottle up emotions until fiery anger explodes on things that normally aren't worth getting upset over.

Fear is shown in Fahrenheit 451 by the common society. They mercilessly destroy books of culture without even thinking what they are destroying. In this tragic action, they show fear: fear in learning about the past; fear of the government; fear of other people. They are forced to burn these books out of fear. Sometimes, we ourselves do certain things out of bravery, but when we are driven by fear, it is forced. Fear is a powerful motivation towards actions, and unfortunately, is more potent than bravery.