Checkerboard of Life

In 1977, Betty Harragan published Games Your Mother Never Taught You. The book shows people how to win the games in their life. “Never lose your head in practice or in the game. A thoughtless act may cause you to be banished because emotional outbursts may cost the team a victory” (Harragan 91). The best game that best describes life is chess. People are really familiar with chess, they know how to play it and they know how to move the pieces in the game. If people really want to win the game, they must focus on the game and plan and choose wisely. After reading “To Deceive or Not to Deceive” by Ben Bierman, “Wine on the Desert” by Max Brand, and “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, these stories have shown life like a game of chess. The game of chess has so many different possibilities but people pick which move to make, which can make them “win”. They cannot go back after they have made their choices.

The character Durante in “Wine in the Desert” is a good supporting example that shows a person who did not take focus his off of his game. In Max Brand’s “ Wine in the Desert”, Durante is a criminal. He ran away from the sheriff and went to Tony’s house. Here, Durante had a lot of choices, but because Tony was very nice to him, Tony did everything for Durante. He cooked for him and he brought water for his mule. “Then Tony began to bring the food out into the patio and lay it on a small wooden table” (Brand 486). Tony told Durante that he is a good shooter. “If I Catch them in the sight, they are dead … I must kill them quick… I shoot through the head” (Brand 486). The next morning, Tony shot a rabbit and made breakfast for Durante. Durante decided to make his move after he finished his breakfast; he had to leave before the sheriff came. Before he left he shot the tank filled with water, and told Tony to fill his canteen for him. It made Tony very upset. So Durante left without checking his to run away from the sheriff. After he traveled for a while he discovered his canteen was not filled with water, it was filled with wine. He could not go back because he was scared of Tony and he also thought Tony would shoot him when he came back. “Durante remembered the neat little hole clipped through the head of the rabbit. Wherever he went, his trail never could return again the vineyard in the desert” (Brand 489). Durante did not focus on his game. Durante lost control of the game because he did not check the water before he went away, and as a result, Durante got a checkmate from Tony. He lost the game, his life, and he could not go back. He deserved what he chose.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat,” the man who got killed is a good supporting example. He chose to play his game, but he could not go back and change it. “Sweat” is a story about a woman named Delia. She was a washwoman and she had a bad husband. Her husband’s name was Sykes. He always mistreated Delia by cheating on her. There were times where Sykes wanted to kick Delia out of the house because he wanted to stay with his girlfriend in the house, even though the house was built by Delia’s own sweat and blood. She was mad about the situation, “that ole snaggle-toothed black woman you runnin’ with aint comin’ heah to pile up on mah sweat and blood. You aint paid for nothin’ on this place, and Ah’m gointer stay right heah till Ah’m toted out foot foremost” (Hurston 75). Sykes became upset about what Delih had to say. He knew Delia was scared of snakes, so he bought a snake and took it home. He thought the snake would be enough to scare her so she would agree to move out. Unfortunately, Sykes did not know that the snake would kill him and not his wife. He yelled her name and asked for her help but she could not. “‘Delia, Delia!’ … Delia, Is dat you Ah heah?’”(Hurston 82). He chose to move his chess piece by coming into the house knowing the possibilities. Sykes should have known what could happen, no one could help him, and he could not go back to change it. Sykes lost the game because he knew he had a snake at home but he still came back to his house.

“To Deceive or Not to Deceive” by Ben Bierman, there is a good supporting example that shows the results of the choices we make in our lives. People have many choices and people should pick one. In “To Deceive or Not to Deceive” this story talks about his family problems. Everybody has different problems in their family, but for most teenagers, they always have trouble with their parents because they did not listen to their parents. They have a lot of choices when they are teenagers. A good example is in “To Deceive or