Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
Joyce Carol OatesRead
I should say, one of the things about being a widow or a widower, you really, really need a sense of humor, because everything's going to fall apart.
Interpretation
Humor is essential for coping with loss and the chaos of life as a widow or widower.
In this quote, Joyce Carol Oates emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sense of humor in the face of grief and the challenges that come with being a widow or widower. She highlights how life can become overwhelming after losing a spouse, and humor serves as a vital tool for navigating the difficulties and emotional turmoil during such a time.
In practice
During a support group meeting for those who have lost a spouse, this quote can be shared to highlight the importance of laughter in healing.
Of the widow's countless death-duties there is really just one that matters: on the first anniversary of her husband's death the widow should think I kept myself alive.
I never really knew I wanted to 'be' a writer, but I was always writing from a very young age. It became more conscious as an ideal when I was in my twenties.
I'm drawn to write about upstate New York in the way in which a dreamer might have recurring dreams. My childhood and girlhood were spent in upstate New York, in the country north of Buffalo and West of Rochester. So this part of New York state is very familiar to me and, with its economic difficulties, has become emblematic of much of American life.
My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
. . . there is a wish in the heart of mankind to be distracted and confused. Truth is but one attraction, and not always the most powerful.
[T]he normal and the everyday are often amazingly unstoppable, and what is unimaginable is the cessation of them. The world is resilient, and, no matter what interruptions occur, people so badly want to return to their lives and get on with them. A veneer of civilization descends quickly, like a shining rain. Dust is settled.
Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.
What right had they to make me suffer like that?
Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat & stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame crimson, and I am content"......Conan the Cimmerian.
There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.
Dogs are my favorite role models. I want to work like a dog, doing what I was born to do with joy and purpose. I want to play like a dog, with total, jolly abandon. I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. The fact that we still live with dogs, even when we don't have to herd or hunt our dinner, gives me hope for humans and canines alike.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.