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Character Traits for Success

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Submitted By mary111
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Marianne Williamson asserts, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate; our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure,” which means we are not supposed to be afraid of our own abilities because we are stronger than we imagined. We have the potential to succeed in our lives, but we each depend on our characteristic traits to achieve our own ends. This idea about personal character traits is demonstrated by Akeelah’s perseverance in achieving her spelling bee championship. The movie Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison, tells of a young girl, Akeelah, who obtains the courage to win the national spelling bee contest by overcoming all the obstructions in her path and pushing herself to do her best. In the movie, Atchison shows that motivation, fearlessness, and persistence are three character traits that help people succeed.
Motivation is the most important trait to help people to succeed. Motivation can be classified as a person’s passion to act upon his or her desired goal, which must be within that person’s reach. A strong passion for dreams can inspire people to do their best. For example, Akeelah is internally motivated to win the school bee. In the beginning of the film, Akeelah has exhibited her capability to remember and spell words that are far too complicated for her age. However, Akeelah’s life is plagued with difficulties, as her father isn’t there for her and her mother is too busy to pay attention to her needs. As a result, Akeelah doesn’t wish to enter the spelling bee in the beginning, because her fellow classmates would mock her. Yet, Akeelah later decides to attend the spelling bee as she realizes that her father would have wished that she did, as her brother Devon inspires her to “do it for Dad” (Akeelah and the Bee). Her love for her dead father has fueled Akeelah’s desires to win the spelling contests, and to obtain her dreams. Still, it is Akeelah’s love for words, a trait shared by Akeelah and her father, which motivates her.
Another trait that aids Akeelah in her attempt to obtain the national championship is her persistence in her chase for her dream. Perseverance can be defined as the ability of a person to finish his or her objective despite difficulties. For instance, Akeelah keeps going after she wins the school’s spelling bee. But her mother thinks the spelling competitions are foolish and therefore opposes her participation. Also, other students discourage Akeelah from showing how intelligent she really is, so she intentionally puts herself down in the presence of others. Thus, she develops a pessimistic view of life, as she does not think that she wants to go any further. She feels that “no matter what you do, no matter where you go, you don’t fit in” (Akeelah and the Bee). Fortunately, with the encouragement from her principal, Mr. Welch, and Dr. Larabee, Akeelah modifies her pessimistic views and gains self-assurance as the film progresses. With her newly obtained optimism, she wins the spelling bee national championship. Akeelah’s perseverance aids her in her quest for success.
Last but not least, fearlessness helps Akeelah to win the National Spelling Bee, even though she has a lot of struggles. Fearlessness is a state of mind where we process the courage and determination against all odds. It can help people to succeed at any difficult undertaking. At almost the end of the movie, when Akeelah shares the championship title with Dylan Chiu, she insists, “Where you don’t have to worry about tomorrow or yesterday, where you feel safe and know you’re doing the best you can” (Akeelah and the Bee). She is trying to say that we are supposed to be afraid of our own abilities, because we are stronger than what we imagined. Unlike her rival, Dylan Chiu, who has his parents, wealth, and environment to win, Akeelah has nothing to begin with. Dylan’s motivation to succeed is the fear of disappointing his father, the embarrassment of losing, and himself. Fear keeps many people from achieving their goals or dreams in their lives. But Akeelah is unafraid of losing and is driven to try to succeed out of pure courage. Thus, this raw courage of Akeelah helps her to achieve her dreams in the end. In order to gain such courage, we must not be overwhelmed by our fears but to overcome it, and face problems and struggle with our knowledge.
Throughout the film, Akeelah shows the characteristic traits of a talented individual in the process of achieving greatness. Her concentration and perseverance has aided her to achieve greatness. In addition, Akeelah’s fearlessness to stand her ground has also contributed for her success in her pursuit. Therefore, Akeelah has demonstrated all three traits that are essential to pursuing one’s goal. In reality, people may realize that they are not moving forward because of a certain fears or a lack of determination. If people can overcome their negative traits and turn them into positive traits, they would overcome all difficulties and achieve success in their life. Finally, they will obtain respectability, boldness, empathy, and virtuous.

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