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Circling the Sun


An intoxicatingly vivid portrait of colonial Kenya and its privileged ...
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Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Created: 08/26/16

Replies: 12

Posted Aug. 26, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality (for better or for worse)?


Posted Aug. 29, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Marcia S

Join Date: 02/08/16

Posts: 505

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Her early independence taught her to stand on her own two feet. It encouraged her to be a nonconformist and follow new paths. She seemed to have faith in her own abilities. However, her early independence also seemed to leave her always searching for something or someone.


Posted Aug. 30, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
kariner

Join Date: 07/20/16

Posts: 13

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

It absolutely shaped her personality; how could it not? On one hand she learned to depend on herself. But on the other, she never really learned how to form true, solid relationships. All in all, I'd say it worked to her advantage. She went further in life than most women of her time. And she never gave up!


Posted Aug. 31, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
dorinned

Join Date: 10/13/14

Posts: 176

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Her childhood independence definitely shaped her in her adult life. She was able to accomplish things women in that time were not allowed or expected to accomplish. I think her solitary childhood robbed her of something in her personal life though, as she was not able to maintain successful relationships with her male friends/lovers.


Posted Sep. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
vickic

Join Date: 09/15/14

Posts: 84

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Absolutely. In order to survive both physically and emotionally she was forced to fend for herself. In her case,the result was development into a young woman with strength of spirit and the courage to find a way to not only survive but to thrive.


Posted Sep. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
jb

Join Date: 09/01/16

Posts: 2

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

It left her lonely and always searching for something or someone. Of course, in her case she was able to use the skills she learned to go forward in a rewarding career; but in the end she still was left searching for a relationships with other people.


Posted Sep. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
judyh

Join Date: 01/26/16

Posts: 20

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

I think her upbringing encouraged her to be something of a free-thinker. It made her willing to do things other women of her time wouldn't consider doing. I think it enabled her to have a lifelong friendship with Kibii which in my opinion was more important than her wasted love on Denys Finch Hatton.


Posted Sep. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
nancyn

Join Date: 05/12/16

Posts: 27

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Because she was forced to be independent from a very young age, she became in adult life a fearless, free spirit.


Posted Sep. 01, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
melanieb

Join Date: 08/30/14

Posts: 265

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Beryl had courage, confidence and determination as an adult because she was she forced to be independent from a very young age.


Posted Sep. 06, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
charlaw's Gravatar
charlaw

Join Date: 09/06/16

Posts: 30

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Beryl's early independence made her a strong, independent woman. She became a woman that was not afraid of challenges and a woman with a strong self will and determination. In fact, had she not been forced into early independence, I doubt she would have made such great accomplishments. So, given the era of her life, one in which women were expected to be married and keep house, it was Beryl's early experiences that prepared her for all of the obstacles she had to overcome. I think Beryl is a great example of how a person can turn bad childhood experiences into positive life lessons.


Posted Sep. 08, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
tracyd

Join Date: 05/31/15

Posts: 30

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Marcia S, you said exactly what I wanted to say. She did anything she wanted, training horses and flying planes, but her personal life was a constant search for that something she just couldn't find.


Posted Sep. 08, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
juliaa

Join Date: 12/03/11

Posts: 276

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

The forced independence stood Beryl in good stead in her adult life. She was able to accomplish great things in the worlds of horse racing and aviation because she's learned early on not to let fear paralyze her.


Posted Sep. 10, 2016 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
barb23703

Join Date: 10/04/15

Posts: 102

RE: Beryl is forced to be independent from a very young age. How do you think this shaped her personality?

Similar to the first summer you come home from college, after a school year of freedom to make your own decisions. Once you have had that independence, to have someone try to determine for you what they think you should do is unbearable. I think Beryl tried to care for those around her, but realized she had to make her life her own as those who should have thought of her were too selfish to understand her. Then the independence made her stronger to stand against opposition and be intimidated by empty threats and unimpressed by empty promises.


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