University of Nueva Caceres

College of Engineering and Architecture

J. Hernandez Ave., Naga City, Camarines Sur

Maxims: A literary analysis

Submitted by:

Ferrer, Rutherford A.

Submitted to:

Ma’am Abin, Roma

MAY 2023
ASSESSMENT 1: Study Guide 13

Choose 2 maxims and write your literary analysis.

- We are never so happy or so unhappy as we think we are.

When it comes to aspects of life as an individual, being in a state of happiness and

sadness are impactful to our determination of ourselves in our daily lives. Either at work, visiting

unfamiliar places or eating at restaurants, and socializing with others. Not invalidating the

feelings of ourselves but, feelings are a disappearing state of mind which can be worse if we

dwell around it for a long time.

According to Damasio (2001), “Feelings are the mental representation of the

physiological changes that characterize emotions. Unlike emotions, which are scientifically

public, feelings are indeed private, although no more subjective than any other aspect of the

mind, for example my planning of this sentence, or the mental solving of a mathematical

problem.” (“Fundamental feelings,” para. 6). People nowadays undoubtedly do not share what

they feel and one of the main causes of it is them being stigmatized on what they feel. And that is

when a saying comes up or some people say as the “it is what it is”, this short statement supports

the idea that feelings are a disappearing state of mind where an individual disregards what they

feel in a certain situation. In conclusion, this maxim stigmatizes in a way of how people should

feel and in some cases this can be an insensitive statement to some people especially in this

generation where mental health is very important.

- We cannot bear the vanity of others because it hurts our own.

Society grows every second, every minute thus population also. Individually speaking,

people grow depending on who they’re with or sometimes alone and along with this, perception,

beliefs and mannerism in life are factors that build us differently from others. To support this

statement, we tend to have different perspectives in life due to the traumas and misfortunes in life

we have experienced and sometimes people tend to share these thoughts with each other,

affecting one’s belief. Thus, it makes us correlate with each other especially when someone is

being vulnerable to another individual. But sometimes also, this connection between people is
forced which creates hatred between each other. One of the causes of this is one’s belief does not

align with the other and this individual forces her/his belief despite the other individual

acknowledging it as an offensive or insensitive statement. In conclusion, as an individual with

our own beliefs we should know also that others also have different beliefs thus it makes us

aware of our peers when communicating with them and avoid insensitive contexts that should be

contained only within ourselves. Words are easy to convey but it is not easy to disregard/forget.

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REFERENCES

● Damasio, A (2001). Fundamental feelings. Macmillan Magazines Ltd. Retrieved from

https://www.nature.com/articles/35101669