Jocelyn Moorhouses How to Make an American Quilt - Essay Example

Your Full Your s 2 December A Response Paper to a Quote in the Film How to Make an American Quilt In Jocelyn Moorhouse’s How to Make an American Quilt, the stories of the lives of several women, who are friends and members of a quilting bee, are told. With the narrative given by Finn Dodd, it explores various choices these women have made and how they have come to live their lives. Marianna, who is Anna’s daughter, is seen by Finn as a free soul. Finn admires her for her freedom, as well as for her unconventional wisdom.

Marianna has spent a part of her life in France, and is known to have many lovers, something she does not hide. Finn thinks that as Marianna has thus far lived her life by her own rules, she is the happiest, and without any regrets. However, when she asks Marianna who the latter would marry, Marianna shows her vulnerable side by saying “I would marry my soul mate” (American Quilt, 1995). Thereby she reveals the incident she has kept with her from her youth: she met a man by chance, and ended up spending the evening with him, only to find out later, after discovering her inner connection with him, that he was married.

Marianna has always been brave; she has chosen whichever path her instincts have told her to follow. Perhaps this is why her character is the most colorful out of all the rest, and why she seems to be the most brilliant amongst the members of the quilting bee. Since she has chosen the “right colors” in the words of Anna (American Quilt, 1995), her life was much enhanced by it. In life, whatever choices we make have a consequence on our personality. A wrong choice does, like Anna says, “dull the colors and hide the original beauty” (American Quilt, 1995).

This message, I would say, resonates in my life. I have always gone by instinct; that is to say, I have always trusted my instincts, without knowing why, and have made choices based on it. One of the reasons I can identify with the character of Marianna in the movie is that, like her, I too follow my hearts desires. This practice has, indeed, enriched my life. I have always been, and still am, my own person. Sometimes this entails going against the grain, however, in the long run, I have noticed, that it always pays to be true to oneself.

One has to be brave to stand up to the opposition of one’s peers or your parents, but if one remains true to oneself, I feel one’s life is all the more enriched for that very reason. Just like Marianna in the movie, I can easily say that I have had no regrets in life, because I have always stayed true to myself. As Anna puts it, I have been “brave” and I have gone “by instinct” (American Quilt, 1995), and if anything, I am all the happier for that reason. Works Cited How to Make an American Quilt. Dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse. Perf. Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan, Alfre Woodard, and Jared Leto.

Universal, 1995. DVD.