District Assessment

Authors Note- I didn't feel very comfortable writing this piece. I didn't like the story very much and I usually have trouble writing about stuff I don't like. Usually I struggle when I have a prompt or strict guidelines that I have to follow. I don't feel very comfortable with this piece but I would appreciate comments.

The Desire to be Tempted

With desire also comes temptation. The temptation to do something feeds the desire and makes you want to do it even more.  Weather this is something good or bad; something easy or hard, or even something mean or nice. When most people think of temptation they think being tempted to do something wrong. But that is not the full picture. The desire to be tempted is the true wrong thing.

In the short story “The Hundredth Dove” The temptation the fowler faces is a lot like what we face in life. Life is full of hard choices, like the choice the fowler made to kill the last dove. After the fowler fails to catch the dove two times in a row he vigilantly checks his net for holes and loose, weak ends. That is a lot like what we do in life. As a society we constantly check our lives for loose ends and failures.  Life is too short to worry about how the people around us act; we should be worrying about how we act.

When the fowler takes the ring from the dead dove’s body this shows what temptation truly is. After the fowler fell to temptation he showed his true character. It was not the “servo” motto sewn to his chest, but rather the compassion he held in his heart. The fowler being forced to serve the king is what took him to the point of resigning from his job. The fact that he failed the king to please him is the true ironic part of the story. When the fowler kills the last dove he realizes what he has done.

This story could be read as a parable like what Jesus wrote in the New Testament. The way that you can perceive the story can go different ways. Temptation and desire could be one way. When Lady Columbia, the kings soon to be wife, speaks up and asks not to serve the birds that is truly when the fowler realizes the temptation that killing the dove brings. The want and desire of the fowler to please the king is tempting him to do things that he wouldn’t normally do. When Jesus used parables he was trying to use real life experience to get across a lesson. When Jane Yolen wrote this story I think she was trying to get across the point of temptation and desire. The temptation to keep the last dove alive and get the gold was so powerful he almost fell to it.

Temptation and desire. Two things that mankind faces every day. What doesn’t matter by what you’re tempted by, but rather how of if you overcome it. When someone desires temptation they are making a true mistake. Weather they desire to be tempted to do something good or something bad it is the true sin. Temptation has become a common thing in today’s society. This is what is bringing us away from the old fashioned ways that we used to live by, the way that our country was established. The more we are tempted into bad the more we think the temptation is ok.