PERSUASIVE WRITING

Everyone has to make thousands of choices every day. At the end of the day, people wonder what if they chose to do things differently. Will things get better, or worse? Sometimes a minor decision can lead to a disastrous consequence, such as the choice Peggy made in Susan Kerslake’s s short story: Choices. In the story, Peggy decided to go on a trip to the countryside with Ken, who she met the previous summer, was heavily injured in a car accident, and felt lonely and a sense of betrayal. Trusting an ambiguous guy, being irresponsible and insensitive, Peggy was responsible for her own physical and emotional injury.

First, Peggy let Ken be the driver. All they had was “the peculiar relationship built out of sand and water and sun.”(119) Nonetheless, she got into his car, placed her life in his hands. While they were on the main highway, “Peggy was torn between trying to make conversation and catching a catnap.”(119) She was so tired that she “watched Ken through drowsy eyes.”(119) She is such a carefree person that she could easily fall asleep without anxiety. If she had thought mindfully, she would have stayed alert and the accident might not have happened.

Moreover, she was irresponsible to herself and Ken. She knew “that missed sleep would come irresistibly, anesthetically”(117), but she had chosen to stay awake. As a result, the sleepiness overwhelmed her, prevented her from being conscious about the collision. Besides, she had seen how ill-maintained the car was: “Hampers, suitcases,… were stuffed into every available space in the small hatchback;” most parts of the car “were caked with oil and dirt”. Nevertheless, she didn’t take these factors into account. Additionally, she suggested going to a liquor store, “so she could pick something up for the weekend”(118). As a passenger, she was supposed to keep Ken away from alcohol; instead, she was the person who tempted him into drinking.

Finally, she was insensitive to Ken’s feeling. In the ambulance, she saw Ken with a bandage on his head. She noticed that “his lips were wrinkled as if he’d seen something distasteful.”(126) She got a glimpse of Ken “putting his hands on each side of his head, leaning forward” (216) Therefore, she must have known that she wasn’t the only person suffering that accident. Yet, she still blamed Ken for not saying anything “about staying with her, about his responsibility.”(126) Witnessing his expression, she should have understood that he was also regretful about the accident, blamed himself for letting the accident occurred.

Although Peggy had her fault, Ken was also responsible for the car crash. Neither he had been well-prepared for the trip nor his car. The car looked messy and dissatisfactory with “a tangle of shapes, a thick, stale smell.”(118) As a driver, he was expected to provide a car met the standard requirement for safety. Furthermore, the way he sat behind the wheel was improper: “his legs loosely apart, one knee resting on the door, the other brushing the gear shift. One hand gripped the top of the wheel, the other, upside down letting the wheel slide back and forth through his fingers, was softly curved.”. He was driving so comfortably that he couldn’t react instantly to avoid the collision in time. After the accident, it would be better if he could calm himself down and console Peggy, show her that he cared.

To sum up, Peggy couldn’t lay all the blame on Ken for the accident. She decided to trust Ken; she chose to ignore all the dangerous factors; she was self-centred. Provided that she had thought mindfully, she wouldn’t have suffered such a misfortune. Take everything into account before making any choices so as not to regret later.