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THE GREAT ANSWER - Fulton Oursler

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Fulton Oursler, USA (1893-1952)

Questions:

  1. What is the great answer to the riddle of life? Explain.
  2. What is the message of the story, The Great answer? Can you cite any experience from your own life to support the message of the story?

Points to Remember:

  • In this story writer Fulton Oursler just want to say that love human being, struggle till the last blood remains in the body, always help to helpless & needy ones, don't lose hope, faith in god, accept all the challenges, difficulties and problems. This is The Great Answer to solve the riddle of the life. 
  • The three hidden interpretations of "The Great Answer" are: 
  1. We should have faith in God,
  2. We must struggle in our life,
  3. We should help others.

‘The Great Answer’ written by Fulton Oursler gives an account of the refugees trying to flee the secret German Police following. The Nazi armies into France during World War II and the kind of journey they undertook so that they can cross the high Pyrenees Mountain, aboard a ship in Spain and finally get safely to America. In this chapter, we can find the act of compassion kindness, courage, leadership as well as the determination to move ahead in life.

People were gathering near the Spanish border. They were escaping from Nazi because they could be capture and killed by the Nazis. The mother and her child, who are such refugees, are approached by a mysterious person who wants to guide them over the mountain and down into Spain. They were afraid too because Nazi could come there to capture them. Spanish soldiers did not let the refugees cross the border, and so, they undertake the perilous (Fraught with danger) journey of crossing the high mountains with other refugees. Then they started the difficult journey. They promised to help the woman and carry her baby. They walked the secret way in the night. As they toil (work hard) higher and higher, something quite remarkable happens. On the way an old man could not continue the journey. So, he sank to the ground and said that he could not go ahead. He wanted to die and suggested the other refugees to save their life. But the leader came and told him that he couldn't leave the journey.  The guide acting as a leader gives the oldest, frailest men, who were about to give up, the kind of speech that motivates them to move ahead. He asks them to use every ounce of energy left in their body to carry the woman’s child and so they continue the journey. Those old men helped to carry the woman’s daughter. The next morning, they reached in the safe place by crossing the border and High Mountains. Thus, they saved their life.  Quite remarkably, every one among the party that had set out together was alive and well, and even those old men had new spirited perspective to live. It was the great answer for them of the struggle in the lives. The story may be trying to say that we can get success if we do something collectively. 

ASSIMILATION:

I, totally agree with the writer’s analogy to the great answer to the riddle of life. For I also have the believe that when we are faced with a problem we should not give up or give in, we should try to overcome that problem and we all have the drive within us to achieve our objectives which need to be awakened at times with inspiration could actually happen for this incident is based on real accounts of our  history, the settings and  environment are quite realistic and the people have shown the act of compassion, courage, kindness, leadership and determination to move ahead which are all too familiar in respect to our lives.            

Works Cited

Oursler, F. (2013). The Great Answer. In M. Nissani, & S. Lohani, Flax Golden Tales: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Learning English (pp. 259-261). Kathmandu, Nepal: Ekta Books.

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