A Witch is born out of the true hungers of her time,” she said. “I was born out of New York. The things that are most wrong here summoned me. ("Drink Entire: Against The Madness Of Crowds")
Interpretation
The quote suggests that individuals are shaped by their environment and the issues prevalent in their society.
Ray Bradbury's quote reflects the idea that a person's identity and purpose can arise from the challenges and injustices they witness in their surroundings. The 'witch' metaphorically represents those who are compelled to confront and address these societal wrongs, emphasizing that individuals can emerge as powerful agents of change in response to the collective struggles of their time.
In practice
During a speech about social justice, one could use this quote to illustrate how individuals are motivated by the issues they see around them.
I've written about 2,000 short stories; I've only published 300 and I feel I'm still learning. Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he'll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. Ray Bradbury, 1967 interview (Doing the Math - that means for every story he sold, he wrote six "un-publishable" ones. Keep typing!)
I never went to college, so I went to the library.
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I think the sun is a flower, That blooms for just one hour.
The first thing a writer should be is - excited. He should be a thing of fevers and enthusiasms. Without such vigor, he might as well be out picking peaches or digging ditches; God knows it'd be better for his health.
You can't try to do things; you simply must do them.
...I sense that stepping into the light is also a powerful metaphor for consciousness, for the birth of the knowing mind, for the simple and yet momentous coming of the sense of self into the world of the mental.
Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made. Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades. What was asked is given; the price is paid.
How we treat the vulnerable is how we define ourselves as a species.
I often think that could we creep behind the actor's eyes, we would find an attic of forgotten toys and a copy of the Domesday Book.
Americans have always been able to handle austerity and even adversity. Prosperity is what is doing us in.
To denounce does not free the self from what it hates, any more than ignoring the past shuts off its influence.
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