A Danger to Herself and Others Book Analysis

There is this saying that goes as follows: when you choose an action, you choose the consequence as well. Making one decision can really change your future. It can alter your happiness later on in your journey and determine how fortunate your time on earth shall be.

Gaiety is a necessity in one’s existence. Life without jollity is like a plant without water. It dies and does not shine with beauty, and it becomes dull and insignificant. That is why it is important to choose the right option, so that merriment will be present in one’s lifetime. For instance, in “A Danger to Herself and Others”, written by Alyssa Sheinmel, the main character, Hannah, is sent to a mental hospital after an accident involving her, her best friend named Agnes, and her best friend’s boyfriend who is Jonah. There she receives therapy while refusing to accept that she is mentally unwell. As time goes by, she meets an aspiring, young ballet dancer by the name of Lucy. Lucy becomes her closest ally in the mental institution, wanting to get out as much as Hannah. But one night when Hannah was having a conversation with Lucy, Lucy goes silent, and Hannah starts to worry and looks around to see Lucy gone. As she screams for the nurses to find her friend, they become bewildered and explain how there was never a patient named Lucy. This makes her therapist get to the root of Hannah’s troubles, which is that Hannah is a schizophrenic. It also comes to light that Jonah was just a hallucination, like Lucy was. While Hannah comes to terms with her two friends being make-believe the whole time, she is given antipsychotics to help her mind. She starts to pretend to take them because she does not want to give up those she holds close. She has two choices that can affect her whole life plan. She can choose to not take the pills and live in constant mental instability with her imaginary pals or take them, leave behind the delusions, and make something of her life. It all comes down to whatever she picks.

Not only does a choice affect one’s emotional well-being but also the triumphs that can occur in life. One small difference can alter a whole world, for the better or worse. One example of a man making a decision that makes his society different is the way Kevin O’Leary came to be an entrepreneur. He was sixteen years old and on his second day of working at an ice cream shop. His boss came to order him to scrape gum off the tables in the area. Kevin refused saying that it was not a part of his job. On that day, he was fired, and when Kevin informed his step-father on the situation, his step-father told him along the lines of that he will always serve his boss however the boss may like because they are above all. When being told this, Kevin made a decision to become his own boss and never be told what to do with his life again. This is when he turned to entrepreneurship as a career pathway. At present time, O’Leary’s net worth is around $400 million. That one choice on that day caused a big impact in his life.

Decision-making always has a reaction, whether it be positive or negative. One small choice can make alterations to one’s overall felicity and prosperity. In the end of Hannah’s story, she chooses to take the pills and gradually gets better. While she does not have the life she had always dreamed of, she has one that is greater than what it could have been, had she chosen the other option.