inspirational mom essay

My Mom Is My Inspiration

There are many people that have had an impact on my life and influenced me in many different ways. My mother, however, has had the biggest impact on my life, and influenced me more than anyone else. She has had an impact on me since the day I was born, and she still does today.

My mother is the reason I am who I am today. She taught me how to be strong and independent, yet also how to be caring and compassionate. She has always been there for me, even when no one else was. When I was in high school and going through some tough times, she was always there for me. She would listen to me, give me advice, and just be there for me. I don’t know what I would have done without her during those times.

My mother has also had a big impact on my happiness. Whenever I am feeling down, she knows how to make me feel better. She is always there for a hug or a chat when I need it. Even when she is having a tough day, she always takes the time to make sure I am okay. I know that I can always count on her to make me feel better.

My mother is my biggest inspiration. She has taught me so much and has always been there for me. I am who I am today because of her. She is the most important person in my life and I love her with all my heart.

I’m certain she had an impact on me before I could even talk by the way she looked after me as an infant. My mother has always been a Christian. Throughout my life, this has had a significant influence on me. Even though my mother was unaware of it, she still had an impact on me throughout high school. My mother may have influenced me when I was younger than that. I was young, but I am confident in saying that she impacted me.

She would always talk to me and try to get me to say things back. I don’t think I ever said anything back, but it did not matter to her. She kept trying anyway. When I was in high school, my mother had an impact on me even though I did not want her too. I was a teenager, and I thought I knew everything. I was wrong of course, but that is how most teenagers feel. My mother would always try to talk to me about my day and what was going on in my life. I would usually just brush her off, but she never gave up on me. She would always be there for me when I needed her. Even though I did not always show it, I appreciated everything she did for me.

My mother is the one person who has always been there for me. She is the one person who I can always count on no matter what. She is my inspiration and my role model. I am who I am today because of her. I love my mother with all of my heart, and I know she loves me too.

She would come over once I started to cry and see what I needed. She would change my diaper if it was necessary, or she would feed me if that was what I desired. If there was anything else wrong with me, she would certainly discover it. She wouldn’t give up until I stopped crying. If my mother had left me screaming in my crib for hours, I would have recognized her indifference quickly.

But she never left me crying for very long. She would always come to see what I needed, and try to make me happy again.

My mother was also the one who taught me how to walk and talk. Whenever I took my first steps, or said my first words, she was always there to encourage me. She would clap and cheer for me, and tell me how proud she was of me. Even when I was having a tough time learning something new, she would never give up on me. She would always find a way to help me understand it better.

My mother has always been the happiest person I know. No matter what was going on in her life, she would always try to make the best of it. She would always find something to smile about. Even when she was going through some tough times, she would never let it get her down for long. She would always pick herself back up and keep going.

My mother is the reason why I am the person I am today. She has always been my biggest inspiration. I have always looked up to her and tried to be like her in everything I do. I hope that someday I can make her proud of me, just like she has always made me proud of her.

My mother made her way through the storm, undeterred by the growing darkness and violence in the sky. My mother was eager to go out again, barely anyone knew that she was going somewhere so far. She was heading to areas of the province distant from civilization to conduct business. Despite being in her 40s, my mother had to work hard every day to support our family and earn a living.

In my memory, my mother always went to bed late and woke up early. She was busy with her work all day long. In the morning, she prepared breakfast for us and then took us to school. After work, she often went to the market to buy food for our family. Sometimes she came home late at night, but she never complained. Seeing her hard work, I felt very ashamed and did not want to be lazy anymore.

My mother is a high school graduate. However, due to financial difficulties, she could not continue her studies after graduation. Even so, my mother has always been a very happy person. When I was young, every time I saw my friends going out with their mothers, I always felt very jealous. I wished I could have a mother like them who could spend more time with me and take me out to play.

Now that I am grown up, I understand why my mother was always so busy. She was working hard to provide for our family and give us a better life. Whenever I see her working so hard, I am filled with gratitude for everything she has done for me. I am also more determined than ever to make her proud of me.

My mother is my inspiration. She has taught me the importance of hard work and perseverance. No matter what challenges we face in life, I know that as long as we work hard and never give up, we will eventually achieve our goals.

To export a reference to this essay please select a referencing style below:

Related essays:

• Inspiration in “Ode to the West Wind”
• Poetry Essay Examples
• Harley Quinn’s Story-Personal Narrative
• Life of Sara McCurly
• Personal Narrative: Growing Up Without A Mom Research Paper
• Essay about Growing Up Narrative
• Essay On Military Family Deployment
• A Childs Promise
• Essay on PDD-NOS Case Studies
• Personal Narrative On Suicide Essay
• Eminem lyrics Essay Examples

College Essay: How My Mother Inspires Me

I remember my childhood fondly: looking out the window at a beautiful lake, watching the latest Nickelodeon cartoons on a big flat screen TV, driving an ATV through a muddy forest, and eating snacks from a huge  stainless steel  fridge.  

That’s all true – but none of those things were mine. All of them belonged to kids of rich white people whose homes my mother had to clean.  

My mother came to the United States from Mexico in her early twenties, looking for a superior way of life than what she had living on the outskirts of Morelos, Mexico. In the U.S., she took the only jobs she could get – cleaning other people’s houses. She did that day after day, week after week, year after year, to support me and my three younger siblings.  

The lake view was from a house that my mom had to clean to pay our rent. The flat screen TV belonged to the child of the woman whose windows my mom had to clean to pay our electric bill. The ATV I loved to drive in the woods and the fridge where I got snacks belonged to a kid I met when I helped my mom clean his mother’s house every Saturday to buy a week’s groceries.  

When I started to feel sorry for myself because I didn’t own these amenities, I would think of my beautiful mother. As I saw her do backbreaking work, day in day out, sacrificing herself for me and my siblings – giving up any life of her own – I would think, “My mom doesn’t deserve to suffer like this. I need to do more. I need to sacrifice too.”    

So  I gradually gave up sports and friends to help around the house and care for my younger brothers and sister. And our frequent moves to cheaper housing meant adapting to new  schools  multiple times, saying goodbye to old friends and trying to make new ones.  

It wasn’t always easy, but whenever I thought, “Why me? Why does my life have to be difficult?” I thought about my mom. Even with my learning disability (ADD) and  d epression, I pushed forward, just like I saw my mother do with her suffering.   

I pushed forward dealing with frustration, asking for extra help from my teachers and holding in my thoughts and feelings. I knew the only way I could do more and be successful was by working harder on my academics. I remember my body enduring long nights of trying to complete and understand my school material.  

Through all of these difficulties, my mom has been my greatest inspiration. She’s been my biggest fan and supporter. She’s taught me by her example that I need to sacrifice for others and for myself to persevere in the face of adversity. The things I learned from her example will make me a more determined student in college and a contributor to my college community. My goals for the future are to get a college degree, establish a career and to become a greater contributor to society by giving back to my community, the Mexican-American community.  

With my determination to succeed in college, the pinnacle of my success will be when I will walk upon the stage, smiling cheek to cheek, receiving my degree that I worked hard for, and then gazing out into the crowd to find my mother applauding with tears running down her face.  

© 2024 ThreeSixty Journalism • Login

ThreeSixty Journalism,

a nonprofit program of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, uses the principles of strong writing and reporting to help diverse Minnesota youth tell the stories of their lives and communities.

Essays About Your Mom: Top 5 Examples and 5 Prompts

Some of the most important memories in our lives involve our mothers. If you need to write essays about your mom, our guide will help. 

A mother is a female parent of a child. Mothers nurture their children throughout childhood and, for many, throughout adulthood as well. The desire to support and protect our children is never ending for many mothers. 

Motherhood, however, is not always a genetic role. Many people foster or adopt children or find themselves acting in a parental role for someone else’s children. What matters is the effort you put into a motherly role; for most, the instincts are all there. 

It can safely be said that a mom is one of the most significant role models one can have in life and one whose influence continues to inspire. I once read a statement that said, ‘one day, you will realize your Mom is the best friend you will ever have.’ That is certainly true for me, and I hope for many of you.

If you are writing essays about your mom, our essay examples should prove inspiring.

5 Top Essay Examples

1. story of my mom by wilbur mckenzie, 2. an open letter to my mom, and all moms by samantha wolf , 3. my mom is a movie star by dan moore, 4. leader of my life: my mother by chelsea gonzales.

• ​​5. Your Mom Doesn’t Hate You, She’s Just Trying to Help You by Carly Newberg

5 Writing Prompts On Essays About Your Mom

1. the best memory of your mom, 2. a lesson your mom taught you, 3. what is your mom’s best quality, 4. your mom as a role model, 5. who is your mom.

“My mother believes in me, in everything I do, and is always positive about it. Every decision, task, and every level that I concur, my mom is always there, believing in me that I will succeed. Graduating 5th grade and moving up to 6th grade was a big step, just like graduating 8th grade and moving up to 9th grade was. But my mother believed that I would still do well in school and would enjoy it a lot.”

Mckenzie writes about his mother as his greatest influence and inspiration. He reflects on how his mom always makes sure he is well and how she loves the family unconditionally. He also describes her selflessness, as she volunteers for those in need and raises money for charity. Her mother’s love, selflessness, and encouragement inspire Mckenzie to try his best in everything he does, and he is genuinely grateful for her. 

“All I can say is thank you for being an amazing mother and all I want for you is to keep doing what makes you happy and brightens your day. Keep creating and going to the beach just to look at the ocean. Keep running, even if it’s not in marathons and don’t forget how awesome of a mother you are. Keep collecting seashells and spreading your positive energy everywhere you go. I love you, Mom.”

Wolf’s essay is addressed to her own mother and is composed of different notes and letters. According to Wolf, her mother is hardworking, optimistic, and devoted, and she recalls several moments they shared. The moments she describes are heartfelt and profound experiences that many can relate to. 

“To this day, she wakes up every morning, marches into our living room, and talks with cancer patients on the phone, lending them her empathy and expertise. It’s amazing, and I wanted her to know I saw all that. I wanted her to know I knew she’s always been a badass. I wanted her to know she’s an inspiration to me, a dynamic, courageous, capable, remarkable person I admire and study every day.”

Moore discusses his mother’s life beyond her role in his life. He briefly tells her life story, then writes about her work for a colon cancer foundation. She spends most of her time consoling and caring for cancer patients; only now is Moore able to appreciate what she is doing. He is in awe at all that his mom has been able to accomplish besides being a great mother to him.

“She utilizes her wisdom by teaching me the ways of life. She rejoices as I apply her teachings in my life and she understands me. The abundance of knowledge my mother has supplied me with continuously fills my life with rare and beautiful treasures.”

In her essay, Gonzales reflects on the spiritual lessons her mom has instilled in her. Her mother is a role model of a strong, Christian woman devoted to her family and God. She is always there for her daughter, giving her advice on how to handle difficult situations. Gonzales aspires to be just like her mother in everything she does, especially when raising her own children.

​​ 5. Your Mom Doesn’t Hate You, She’s Just Trying to Help You by Carly Newberg

“I’m not a parent (yet). However, I hope that when I am, I can take what I’ve learned from the obstacles I’ve faced with my mom, to keep the generational progress moving forward. After all, that is one of the beautiful gifts we’re given on Earth; To learn from the mistakes of our loved ones, map out our route accordingly, do our best to get where we are going, and accept the detours along the way knowing those after us will use them to love harder and live wiser.”

In this essay, Newberg discusses a phenomenon we are all too familiar with: mothers arguing with us. She explains that despite their seemingly curtailing actions, mothers always want what is best for us and are even struggling with whether their decisions are correct. Newberg suggests that we should be understanding of our mothers and use these experiences as lessons for how to parent in the future. 

For your essay, reflect on an experience with your mom that you treasure. Perhaps it is a birthday celebration, a trip out of town, or simply a conversation you had. Describe the events that transpired, how they made you feel, and why you treasure them as you do. Also, consider if your perception of this event has changed. Perhaps it has taught you more than you first thought.

One of a mother’s primary roles is to teach her children essential skills and lessons to prepare them for the future. Think about one or more things your mom taught you, whether life skills, values, or otherwise. You can be as general or in-depth as you want regarding what you’ve learned from your mom, but be sure to explain it adequately.

For an interesting essay topic, write about a quality of your mom’s that you seek to emulate- her patience, kindness, or fortitude. Discuss why you have chosen it, how it is essential to who your mom is, and how you hope to use it in the future. 

Mothers are role models to everyone, not only their kids but also to others they interact with daily. In your essay, you can reflect on a time your mom did something truly admirable that cemented her position as your role model. As with the other essays, describe the events, what you learned, and why you chose this. You may also comment on how it has shaped you as a prospective or active parent. Discuss any aspects of parenthood you would like to emulate and those you would not!

This essay topic may seem simple, but one can learn much about a person from a simple biography and reflection. Give readers a general idea of what your mom does, her role in your life, and how she has made you who you are today; paint a picture of this fantastic woman and why she is so important. You can include something about her background and note how it has influenced her, making her the mom she is. Also, you may consider whether any of her inherited traits have been passed to you. 

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . For help picking your next essay topic, check out our 20 engaging essay topics about family .

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

View all posts

Search Search

“My mother is my role model, she inspires and motivates me to grow without any barriers”

Children with disabilities, global youth ambassadors, diksha dinde, diksha dinde, a 23-year-old student and activist from india, tells how her mother is her role model and the reason she was able to get an education and fulfil her potential..

Super humans. We read about them, watch them and admire them in the virtual world – but I live with a superhuman. She is my mother.

I am Diksha Dinde, a 23-year-old student and activist from India. I am 84% differently abled, trying to break the stereotypes related to disabled people. 

Be it teaching underprivileged children from the slums near where I live or raising awareness to break taboos around menstruation, I have been doing my part to make this world a better place to live.

My mother, Mrs Chitrarekha Dinde, is my role model. She inspires and motivates me to grow without any barriers. It seems to me that this woman looks at life as a challenge and wholeheartedly intends to seize the day every day.     My mother looked after me and supported me in every part of my life. Right from childhood she has been with me like my shadow. It had been riddled with hurdles and difficulties, but she has managed to cross them all to because of the amazing and independent person she is.

Being physically challenged I am not able to move by myself and because of this I have not been able to do daily routine activities since childhood. At the beginning this was a hardship for my mother, but she was determined to make it work. 

She not only helped me whenever I needed but she also taught me to help myself. She taught me to keep myself clean and neat, how to eat and how to know how much to eat.  She says, “a child does not learn from what parents say but from what parents do”.  

I have had three operations and various therapies on my spine but none have been successful. I was rejected from schools because of their lack of infrastructure and facilities. I was finally admitted to one school. 

My mother had to be there with me the whole day, but at the same time she also had to handle our home life. So she started tailoring and working during school hours. That is how she was able to satisfy financial needs in the home. 

Now I’ve graduated in Business Administration and I’m pursuing a Masters.

Whenever I look at my mother I see an ordinary person but when I think about what she does and how she does it she becomes divine and the reason of my smile! 

The experience of my life so far has truly brought things into perspective. My mother has taught me that hard times can be overcome and that losing battles can be won. She has taught me more than I could have learnt from any book. 

She sets an inspirational example to me teaching me how to live life and make wise choices, even in the most uncertain situations.

I respect her a lot. She is my inspiration, my role model.

Children with disabilities

See all news

New school resources focus on disability and girls’ education

25 Oct 2023

Roger Federer supports the Act For Early Years campaign

• Entertainment
• Environment
• Information Science and Technology
• Social Issues

Home Essay Samples Life Inspiration

My Mother as an Inspirational Figure

*minimum deadline

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below

• Persistence
• Self Awareness
• Personal Beliefs

Related Essays

Need writing help?

You can always rely on us no matter what type of paper you need

*No hidden charges

100% Unique Essays

Absolutely Confidential

Money Back Guarantee

By clicking “Send Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails

You can also get a UNIQUE essay on this or any other topic

Thank you! We’ll contact you as soon as possible.

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Admired Person — My Mother – A Source of My Inspiration

My Mother - a Source of My Inspiration

• Categories: Admired Person Mother Study

About this sample

Words: 489 |

Published: May 24, 2022

Words: 489 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Prof. Kifaru

Verified writer

• Expert in: Life Education

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

5 pages / 2219 words

2 pages / 994 words

1 pages / 535 words

7 pages / 3009 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Admired Person

I have always interacted with a lot of people who possess various characters and personalities. These interactions had various impacts on me on different degrees and with different impacts. The person who has made a huge impact [...]

Dolan, A. (2020). The Importance of Role Models: Why You Need Them and How to Find Them. Psychology Today. Retrieved from Books.

“Hey you, why don’t you just give up?” “Are you sure this is right for you?” Some things you definitely do not hear from anyone who supports you. Of course, many people will tell you to keep pushing through life or any adversity [...]

During our lifetimes, we often encounter people who we get along with very well. Most of the time, those people who we meet can make a huge impact on our lives and make us see the world in a different perspective. It took me a [...]

Life's unpredictability and the impact of momentary changes on mood and circumstances Childhood admiration and love for grandmother The joy of spending time with her despite infrequent visits A sudden [...]

The most important person in my life is David..yes..he can be mean at times and I be rude to him as well and we always argue and I- ANYWAYS! Even though we don’t get along as much we still are friends. Im not going to bring up [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Sample details

Inspired Me

• Views: 5,606

Related Topics

• Goals In Life
• I Want To Be

Person I Admire

• This I Believe
• My Best Friends
• Future Goals
• My Childhood

My Mom Inspires Me Narrative Essay

The author believes that their mother is the most important person in their life. Their mother has always been there for them, teaching them how to speak, read, and write, as well as how to be a good person. Whenever the author had problems with friends, their mother would listen and guide them to solve conflicts. The author feels lucky to have a mother who is a doctor, teacher, friend, and advisor all in one. They believe that their mother will always support them, no matter what decisions they make. The author is grateful for all the sacrifices their mother has made for them and everything they have learned from her. Their mother’s love is deeper than any other love they have ever experienced.

My mother is a significant figure in every person’s life, serving as an inspiration and guiding force. She has consistently supported and encouraged me to make the right choices, fostering self-belief within me. Consequently, my mother holds immense importance in my life, making the word “mother” profoundly meaningful to me.

During my childhood, my mother provided unwavering support and care for me. This was particularly evident when I was unwell. Furthermore, she played a crucial role in teaching me essential skills like speaking, reading, and forming complete sentences. In addition to this, she also emphasized the importance of empathy and helped me understand why I made mistakes. Whenever I faced challenges with school friends or felt confused, I could always turn to my mother for guidance and emotional support. She skillfully helped me resolve conflicts by identifying their root causes.

ready to help you now

Without paying upfront

Throughout my life, my mom has fulfilled multiple roles – doctor, teacher, friend, advisor and more. Anytime I require assistance with decision-making, she is always the person I turn to for help. I have absolute faith that she will constantly support me unconditionally, which brings me immense comfort.

Amongst all individuals in my life, my mom remains the sole listener who genuinely pays attention to me. She never displays impatience or indifference by uttering phrases such as “how many times do I have to tell you?” or “just pick something—I don’t care!” Instead, she consistently dedicates her time to explain the distinctions between choices and provides guidance throughout the entire process.

Although I have the final say, the choices I make will determine my future success. Thankfully, I am blessed to have my mother’s constant love and support. She has been a strong role model who has helped shape my identity throughout my upbringing. Her guidance has greatly contributed to my personal growth. Through her, I have learned valuable lessons on showing love, care, and support for others. She has also taught me the importance of not judging or ridiculing others as we may not fully understand their struggles. Demonstrating patience is a vital aspect of motherhood that she exemplifies in her interactions with me.

Regardless of any disagreements or differing viewpoints, I am thankful for the sacrifices and hard work my mother has put into ensuring that I have everything I need and most of what I desire. The knowledge and wisdom she has imparted to me are boundless, constantly molding me into a better person. I genuinely appreciate her recognition of my thoughts, and her impact will always serve as motivation in my life. Her deeds consistently demonstrate a love that exceeds all others.

Cite this page

https://graduateway.com/my-mom-inspires-me/

You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers

Check more samples on your topics

Person who inspires me.

My family plays a crucial part in my life, offering me encouragement and support during both good and bad times. They have greatly influenced my identity and have always been by my side. Even though divorce has caused some separation, I am lucky to have a brother named Nick who I deeply admire, as well

The Person Who Inspires Me

My assignment is to write about someone or something that inspires me. The obvious answer would be a relative such as my mother, father, brother, etc. Yes, my mother is my superwoman and my brother is my hulk, but I want to choose someone that has no blood relation and someone that I know God

Depression Inspires Creativity

            Some people may think there is a connection with the depression and it helping to inspire creativity. It is thought that since depression has its darker, negative effects, then this could be a factor in bringing out a person’s creativity. While many studies have been conducted in order to prove this connection, between depression

Teen Mom 2 Evaluation

MTV's "Teen Mom 2" is a popular show that follows the lives of teenage mothers Leah, Jenelle, Chelsea, and Kailyn. It is a continuation of their previous show "16 and Pregnant" and attracts over three million viewers every week. The main target audience for this highly-rated MTV program is women aged twelve and above. The

The Most Important Person in My Life: My Mom

There is always that person in your life that has an effect on how you want to live your life. They are always there, and they are someone you can look up to. For some people, it’s a celebrity. Different people have different people that they look up. My mom is the person I have

Parents; My Mom and Dad

Some could think that there parents would be more similar than different, because they had enough in common to have a child together. Some could also think their differences would not have much of an effect on their kids, especially if they are young. Neither one of these statements are true. Children see things parents

Love Story for My Mom

Our parents possess a deep understanding of us, encompassing our strengths and weaknesses. They have the greatest impact on our lives as we spend the most time with them and have known them for the longest period. In their quest to provide us with a fulfilling life, they willingly sacrifice numerous luxuries. The profound influence my

Summary of Mr. Mom

Human Activities

Author takes many examples to show that dads as the primary child-care provider in this society could cause which kind of comments and effects. At the beginning, writer gives an example from a father named Billy Steel, who has quitted his job staying with his son while his wife go back to work. He claims

Analysis of Relationship Between My Mom and Sister

Is love supposed to hurt? Do you love your child from a distance when they disrespect you? When you admire someone, that means you love them. Family is supposed to love one another unconditionally. Why would you disrespect someone you love? As a parent you love your child whether they are right or wrong. Being disrespectful

Hi, my name is Amy 👋

In case you can't find a relevant example, our professional writers are ready to help you write a unique paper. Just talk to our smart assistant Amy and she'll connect you with the best match.

Essay on My Inspiration

Students are often asked to write an essay on My Inspiration in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on My Inspiration

Introduction.

Inspiration is a driving force that encourages us to achieve our goals. My greatest inspiration is my mother.

My mother, with her hard work and dedication, has always been a role model for me. She juggles multiple roles and responsibilities with ease.

Her Strength

Despite facing many hurdles, she never gives up. Her strength and resilience inspire me to be strong and never lose hope.

Her Love for Learning

My mother’s love for learning has always motivated me to pursue my interests and never stop learning.

In conclusion, my mother’s determination, strength, and love for learning inspire me every day.

Also check:

• Speech on My Inspiration

250 Words Essay on My Inspiration

In the journey of life, we encounter numerous individuals, but only a select few leave an indelible impact. For me, that person is my high school physics teacher, Mrs. Smith, who has been my inspiration.

The Beacon of Knowledge

Mrs. Smith was not just a teacher; she was a beacon of knowledge. Her passion for physics was infectious. She had a knack for transforming complex theories into simple, understandable concepts. It was not just her academic prowess that inspired me, but her dedication towards the subject and her students.

Instilling Perseverance

She taught me that success is not an overnight phenomenon. It requires patience, hard work, and perseverance. Mrs. Smith had an unwavering belief in my capabilities, even at times when I doubted myself. This instilled in me a sense of self-confidence and resilience, a trait that has been instrumental in my personal and professional life.

Encouraging Curiosity

Mrs. Smith encouraged a culture of curiosity and exploration. She would often say, “Physics is not about memorizing formulas; it’s about understanding the mysteries of the universe.” This approach fostered a deep love for learning and critical thinking within me.

In conclusion, Mrs. Smith’s influence extends beyond the realm of academics. She has shaped my perspective on life, instilled resilience, and ignited a thirst for knowledge. Her teachings are not just lessons in physics, but lessons in life. She is my inspiration, a guiding light that continues to illuminate my path.

500 Words Essay on My Inspiration

My inspiration, much like the compass that guides a lost traveler, has been the driving force behind my journey of self-discovery and personal growth. This inspirational figure is none other than Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur and the force behind companies like SpaceX and Tesla. His innovative thinking, relentless pursuit of his dreams, and resilience in the face of adversity have left an indelible mark on my psyche.

Elon Musk: The Visionary

Musk’s vision for a sustainable future and multi-planetary human existence is not only bold but also revolutionary. He dares to dream what most people would consider impossible, and this audaciousness is what sets him apart. His belief in the power of technology to solve critical human challenges is infectious. Musk’s visionary thinking has inspired me to think beyond the conventional, to question the status quo, and to imagine a future that aligns with the principles of sustainability and technological advancement.

Relentless Pursuit of Dreams

Musk’s journey has been anything but easy. From facing financial ruin in the early days of SpaceX and Tesla to dealing with numerous technical failures, his path has been littered with obstacles. Yet, his relentless pursuit of his dreams, his unwavering commitment to his vision, and his refusal to give up, no matter how insurmountable the challenges, is awe-inspiring. This tenacity has taught me the value of perseverance and the importance of staying true to one’s dreams, even when the odds are stacked against you.

Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of Musk’s journey is his resilience. He has faced numerous setbacks, both personal and professional, but has always bounced back stronger. His ability to maintain his optimism and to keep pushing forward, despite the setbacks, is a testament to his strength of character. This resilience has shown me that failure is not the end but rather a stepping stone towards success. It has taught me to view challenges not as obstacles but as opportunities for growth.

In conclusion, Elon Musk’s audacious vision, relentless pursuit of his dreams, and resilience in the face of adversity make him a source of inspiration for me. His journey serves as a reminder that with determination, perseverance, and a willingness to challenge the status quo, one can achieve the seemingly impossible. As I navigate my own path, I carry these lessons with me, using them as a guide to chart my own course towards a future that is as innovative and sustainable as the one Musk envisions.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Inspiration
• Essay on Industrialization
• Essay on Industrial Safety

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

I Was Mominfluenced—But Not in the Way You’d Think

After seeing so much content hyper-focused on the draining aspects of motherhood, moms on Instagram became a welcome reprieve.

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

In the fall of 2020—seven months into the pandemic—my husband and I decided to get a dog. Many people were happy for us, though others urged us to proceed with caution. “It will destroy your clothes and poop all over your apartment,” they said while forecasting months of sleep deprivation and astronomical vet bills. Most depressing was the belief that a dog was just a temporary stand-in for a baby—a drain on our resources that we’d eventually lose interest in long before he or she died, inevitably from cancer.

Over the past decade, this mismatch between expectation and reality has led to a rich and essential dialogue about the stresses of motherhood, including how these stresses are shaped by geography, class, and race . Yet recently, some have begun to question whether the pendulum has swung too far. For prospective moms today, the general consensus seems to be that motherhood is a miserable experience that has less to do with structural issues around privilege and access—consistently it is white, wealthy women who report the highest levels of dissatisfaction with motherhood—and more to do with what one writer calls “the quotidian torture of parenthood” : the sleepless nights, the diapers, the clutter, and the hours of mind-numbingly boring play.

This hyper-emphasis on the most draining aspects of motherhood has made it “genuinely difficult to find mainstream portrayals of moms who are not stressed to the brink, depressed, isolated, or increasingly resentful,” writes Vox’s Rachel Cohen . Despite a desire among millennials to have kids, the country’s birth rate has plummeted since 2007. At the same time, pregnant millennials are feeling more confused and scared than ever . My own first trimester felt like one continuous panic attack fueled by reports of primal scream gatherings for moms living up and down the East Coast. In those moments when I allowed myself to lean into my excitement and longing for my baby, I felt conflicted and guilty, as though I was sabotaging social progress or my own professional future.

Enter Instagram: that strange parallel universe where motherhood is often made to look blissful, shiny, and uncomplicated. Over the course of my pregnancy, I was served hundreds of reels about everything from swaddling to tummy time, alongside ads for $1,500 strollers, “smart” bassinets, and costly Montessori play kits. In her book Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture , author Sara Petersen tells the story of the women behind many of these ads— “momfluencers” who commodify the experience of motherhood, convincing moms-to-be that certain products will make their lives better. Health-conscious, impeccably dressed, and usually white, these momfluencers project a very specific version of motherhood marked by Hill House Nap dresses, sourdough recipes, immaculate countertops, and artisanal cookware. Combining imagery and storytelling, their work positions them as authors and creators, elevating labor that has previously been thankless and invisible.

.css-1aear8u:before{margin:0 auto 0.9375rem;width:34px;height:25px;content:'';display:block;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-1aear8u:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/elle/static/images/quote.fddce92.svg);} .css-1bvxk2j{font-family:SaolDisplay,SaolDisplay-fallback,SaolDisplay-roboto,SaolDisplay-local,Georgia,Times,serif;font-size:1.625rem;font-weight:normal;line-height:1.2;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.3125rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.125rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.125rem;line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.25rem;line-height:1.1;}}@media(min-width: 73.75rem){.css-1bvxk2j{font-size:2.375rem;line-height:1.2;}}.css-1bvxk2j b,.css-1bvxk2j strong{font-family:inherit;font-weight:bold;}.css-1bvxk2j em,.css-1bvxk2j i{font-style:italic;font-family:inherit;}.css-1bvxk2j i,.css-1bvxk2j em{font-style:italic;} Now that my daughter is here, I find myself feeling enormously grateful to the moms I follow on Instagram.”

But momfluencing, Petersen tells us, is also incredibly dangerous. No matter how real or “unfiltered” they profess to be, every momfluencer engages in a type of performance that equates good motherhood with a certain aesthetic, glossing over—and at times denying—the very real challenges of being a parent in the United States. As it feeds off a parasocial illusion of intimacy, momfluencing can make us feel bad if we don’t measure up. In its most extreme cases, it can idealize regressive notions of womanhood, deploying a neo-Laura Ingalls Wilder aesthetic as a visual proxy for alt-right conservatism .

For anyone on social media, momfluencers have become inescapable. For years, I have followed several—many before they even became moms. With each post, I have been granted a window into their children’s lives, occasionally in ways that have made me profoundly uncomfortable seeing as no child has offered their consent to such public documentation.

And yet—now that my daughter is here—I find myself feeling enormously grateful to the moms I follow on Instagram. Visually, my life looks nothing like theirs. Most days, I walk around with mismatched socks, unbrushed hair, and baggy clothes to hide the pregnancy weight that won’t come off; meanwhile, my house is a pigsty of teething toys, dirty dishes, unfolded laundry and, yes, unvacuumed dog hair. Despite it all, I am the happiest I have ever been in my life. Let it be known: There are parts of motherhood that are really, really hard . But after years of fearing what motherhood might take away, I am surprised—even shocked—at how life-affirming the experience can be. Along with her furry 80-pound “sister,” my daughter has taught me so much about patience, gratitude, humility, and imagination. Just looking at her can bring tears to my eyes, filling me with a love that stretches far beyond the confines of our own little family.

It has been suggested that such dread is necessary for prospective moms given that the joy of motherhood is already ‘well-established’ and therefore goes without saying. But that’s just it—it doesn’t go without saying. At least it didn’t for me.”

I would be lying if I said that the moms I follow on Instagram had nothing to do with this. As the first of my friends to get pregnant, I looked to their posts as not only a source of information, but also a real-life example of maternal joy. Now that I am a mom myself, their pictures inspire me to relish certain moments. Though I have made the decision not to post pictures of my daughter’s face on social media, the practice of taking her picture has been a way for me to savor the precious and make time stand still. With my phone in hand, I am able to capture those things about motherhood that can be so hard to put into words —that “tenderness” that is so often misread as reductive, boastful, maudlin, toxically positive, or karmically foolish.

It is not lost on me that others’ emphasis on the miseries of motherhood made me wait to have kids, and that this waiting—along with an amazing partner—has undoubtedly made me a happier mom. It is also not lost on me that I am early on in this journey, and that the coming years will bring new epiphanies, grievances, and hardships. Certainly, conversations about these hardships are imperative. Still, I wonder whether leading with too much dread has the potential to do more harm than good. It has been suggested that such dread is necessary for prospective moms given that the joy of motherhood is already “well-established” and therefore goes without saying. But that’s just it—it doesn’t go without saying. At least it didn’t for me.

For years, the way we’ve been talking about motherhood has painted all sane mothers as miserable and all happy mothers as stupid, brainwashed, loaded, or fake. But there has to be a better way. In addition to giving moms more support, we need to empower women from all backgrounds to honor the ways motherhood can be hard, as well as the ways it can be beautiful, miraculous, and revolutionary.

Momfluencers did that for me, and for that, I will always be thankful.

News & Politics

Is Abortion a Matter of National Security?

Bringing My Abortion Story to the Senate Floor

The Women Bringing Suffs to Broadway

Abby Phillip Is Bringing Empathy to Cable News

Veronica Escobar Is a Voice for Border Communities

The Systemic Attack on Our Private Health Data

Rep. Barbara Lee on Shirley Chisholm

Alabama Tried to Control My Frozen Embryos. What’s

Women Can Get Birth Control Without Prescription

The No Apologies Tour

Olivia Giving Out Condoms at Gigs Is Perfection

Shop TODAY’s 2024 Travel Gear Awards are here! Save up to 50% off winners

• TODAY Plaza
• Share this —

• Watch Full Episodes
• Read With Jenna
• Inspirational
• Relationships
• TODAY Table
• Newsletters
• Start TODAY
• Shop TODAY Awards
• Citi Concert Series
• Listen All Day

Follow today

More Brands

• On The Show

HGTV star Erin Napier confronts pregnancy rumors: ‘Medically not capable’

Recently, Erin Napier teased an exciting announcement pegged to her HGTV series. 

“Up to something so big in 2025 (can you guess?) #hgtvhometown,” the renovation pro captioned an Instagram on April 12. 

“Ben wants a boy!” one person wrote in the comments. 

Added another, “Twins!”

Several people guessed, "Baby #3."

In the photo, Erin, 38, wears an oversized blue sweatshirt and jeans while posing with husband Ben Napier, 40, and three of their closest friends, who also appear on the show.

Five days later, the mom of daughters Helen, 6, and Mae, 2 , responded to the pregnancy speculation.

“Not expecting a baby. Medically not capable, so please give that a rest?” Erin, 38, shared in a message on her Instagram story, according to People.com. “We don’t need a son to be complete as a family and I just like loose clothes. let it beeeeee, you sweet people.”

Last year, Erin shut down an Instagram follower who wanted to know if she was expecting. 

“Nope, and it’s rude to ask this of any woman,” Erin replied . 

Erin opened up about her complicated relationship with social media in an essay for TODAY.com. She and Ben are keeping their kids off social media for as long as they can.

“A lot of kids, especially girls, are vulnerable to criticism of the things that they enjoy, or are doing, or are making, or the way they look. They aren’t equipped to deal with the emotional fallout of hundreds of people having an opinion about them, and of being aware of what that opinion is,” Erin wrote. 

Erin and Ben also want Helen and Mae to enjoy the innocence of childhood. As Erin recently explained to Helen, "phones have a bad place, a scary place that I want to protect you from. You don’t need to see the scary things.”

Rachel Paula Abrahamson is a lifestyle reporter who writes for the parenting, health and shop verticals. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, and elsewhere. Rachel lives in the Boston area with her husband and their two daughters. Follow her on Instagram .

A new look at the original Romantic heartthrob, Lord Byron

On the 200th anniversary of his death, two new books explore the life and work of the poet who inspired the byronic hero — proud, introspective and magnetic.

On April 19, 1824, Lord Byron died at Missolonghi, where he had gone to lend his name and give financial support to the Greek war for independence from the Ottoman Empire. After being drenched by a sudden rainstorm while out riding, the poet developed a fever, from which he might well have recovered had it not been for some disastrous medical treatment, chiefly bleeding with leeches that left him weak and dehydrated. He was just 36.

Except for Napoleon, Byron could have legitimately claimed to be the most famous person of his time, partly because he’d been branded — by the infatuated (and married) Caroline Lamb — as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” Not only a major poet, especially in his mock epic “Don Juan,” he was also one of the half-dozen best letter writers in English. On the 200th anniversary of his death, two excellent new books reveal this Romantic heartthrob, rebel and wanderer from fresh angles: Andrew Stauffer’s “Byron: A Life in Ten Letters” and “Byron’s Travels: Poems, Letters, and Journals,” compiled by Fiona Stafford.

Stauffer, president of the Byron Society of America and a professor at the University of Virginia, has essentially produced a concise biography of the poet by reprinting, explaining and adding context to 10 of his best letters. In this way, we hear Byron’s rapid-fire conversational voice on the page as he spills out his thoughts and relates his latest misadventures to his mother, lovers or friends. To each letter, Stauffer then appends an engaging, fact-rich essay, augmented by relevant quotations from Byron’s poetry and insightful comments of his own. Further enhancing the book’s attractiveness, Cambridge University Press has produced a physically elegant volume, one you’ll enjoy holding as well as reading.

Byron was born in 1788 with a slightly deformed foot, about which he remained sensitive his whole life. His birth name was George Gordon, but following the deaths of two relatives, he suddenly inherited a title and a new name, considerable wealth, and a dilapidated medieval pile called Newstead Abbey. There, he would throw orgiastic, mildly sacrilegious parties with his classmates from Harrow and Cambridge, who would dress as monks and call their host the Abbot. For three years, Byron then toured the Mediterranean and the Near East, sampling the local wines and other delicacies — including pretty girls and, it now seems established, handsome boys. Out of these experiences emerged the first two semi-autobiographical cantos of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.” They took London by storm in 1812. As their author later recalled, “I awoke one morning and found myself famous.”

Celebrity naturally led to invitations from the chicest London hostesses, and the charismatic Byron soon became the cynosure of many female eyes. But, as he once wrote, “Alas! the love of women.” While he sometimes initiated a seduction, just as often he was the one pursued, as in the case of Lamb, who once dressed as a pageboy to sneak into Byron’s bedroom. In looking back over his love life, the poet only half-facetiously insisted, “I have been more ravished myself than anybody since the Trojan War.”

Unfortunately, Augusta Leigh, the woman he came to love most deeply, wasn’t just married, she was also his-half sister. In the Romantic era, sisters often took on an erotic charge, being viewed as the spiritual complements or mirrors of their unhappy brothers. Besides, as Byron’s friend Shelley observed, “Incest, like many other incorrect things, is a very poetical circumstance.” In Byron’s dramatic poem, “Manfred,” the Faustian protagonist suffers from the memory of the dead sister he adored. Leigh’s daughter, Medora, was almost certainly fathered by Byron.

In an attempt to settle down, the poet married Annabella Milbanke, but their relationship, while affectionate at first, quickly deteriorated. Milbanke eventually separated from the abusive Byron but did give birth to their daughter, Ada, who would become the mathematician Ada Lovelace, a pioneer in the development of the computer or, as she and Charles Babbage called it, “the analytical engine.”

Byron’s scandalous affairs and defiant flouting of hypocritical conventions — “I was born for opposition” — soon led to his becoming a social outcast, and he left Britain for good in 1816. En route to Italy, he passed a summer on Lake Geneva at the Villa Diodati in the company of his doctor, William Polidori, and the irregular couple Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Godwin Shelley, as well as Mary’s stepsister, Claire Clairmont, already pregnant with Byron’s child. One stormy night, it was proposed that they all — Clairmont excepted — write ghost stories. The poets only scribbled fragments before giving up, but Polidori produced “The Vampyre” — a novella that reimagined a traditional folk-monster as a Byron look-alike, the suavely aristocratic Lord Ruthven — and Mary Shelley began work on the most influential of all Gothic novels, “Frankenstein.” In due course, Clairmont gave birth to the blue-eyed Allegra, who would succumb to a fever at age 5.

By then, the restless poet had moved to Italy, where after two wildly promiscuous years in Venice — the city of “vile assignations, and adulterous beds,/ Elopements, broken vows, and hearts, and heads” — he settled into relative domesticity in Ravenna and Genoa with Teresa Guiccioli, his “last attachment.” Following two relatively happy years as her as her cavalier servente, Byron decided to lend his personal and financial support to the Greek fight for independence. All too soon he would be dead, leaving behind brokenhearted friends and lovers but also a new literary archetype: the proud, moodily introspective and sexually magnetic Byronic hero, half Apollo, half Satan. Examples range from Alexandre Dumas’s dark avenger, the Count of Monte Cristo, and Emily Bronte’s tempestuous Heathcliff to the myriad bad boys and brooding heroes of modern romance novels.

Besides women, travel, wine and dogs, Byron loved books and could readily quote ancient classics, Shakespeare and 18th-century literature. He also spoke fluent Italian and a smattering of other languages, including Armenian. Most importantly, though, writing poetry allowed him to both re-experience and reflect on his multifaceted life and to critique contemporary mores. While his Weltschmerz-infused lyrics — “She walks in beauty like the night,” “So we’ll go no more a-roving,” “Maid of Athens, ere we part” — are anthology standards, he truly excels at the satirical long poem, such as “The Vision of Judgment” (it opens “Saint Peter sat by the celestial gate:/ His keys were rusty, and the lock was dull”) and the endlessly entertaining “Don Juan,” the erotic adventures of its rather hapless Spanish hero, recounted by a jaded narrator who insists, “I sketch your world exactly as it goes.”

Byron’s style here isn’t just sprightly, it’s positively rollicking and peppered with epigrammatic phrases worthy of his poetic mentor, Alexander Pope. That said, its presentation of women is cynical, to say the least. Still, there’s no denying the Stephen Sondheim-like cleverness of Byron’s rhymes: “But — oh ye lords of ladies intellectual!/ Inform us truly, have they not henpecked you all?” More reprehensible in its implications is perhaps his most famous couplet, summarizing Juan’s first seduction: “A little still she strove and much repented,/ And whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’ — consented.”

In general, Byron’s highly personal poetry is most effective when one knows something of his life — hence the value of Stauffer’s book (and longer standard biographies by Peter Quennell, Leslie Marchand and Fiona MacCarthy). His letters bring us even closer to the man himself. Let me quote just one example that captures his very self and voice. He is writing in 1817 to the Irish poet Thomas Moore about the third canto of “Childe Harold”:

“I am glad you like it; it is a fine indistinct piece of poetical desolation, and my favorite. I was half mad during the time of its composition, between metaphysics, mountains, lakes, love unextinguishable, thoughts unutterable, and the nightmare of my own delinquencies. I should, many a good day, have blown my brains out, but for the recollection that it would have given pleasure to my mother-in-law; and, even then , if I could have been certain to haunt her …”

While collections of the poet’s work are plentiful, “Byron’s Travels: Poems, Letters and Journals,” edited by Oxford University professor Fiona Stafford, is unusual in its mosaic-like organization. Each section combines chronology and geography, tracking the itinerant poet’s life by assembling his reflections on the places that shaped him, from his hot youth in England to his early death at Missolonghi. As a result, Byron emerges as his own Boswell, telling us, for example, that he grinds his teeth at night, but also sharing such melancholy observations as this one:

“When one subtracts from life infancy (which is vegetation), — sleep, eating, and swilling — buttoning and unbuttoning — how much remains of downright existence? The summer of a dormouse.”

In England, Byron is being celebrated this year with scholarly conferences and a commemorative service at Westminster Abbey. A statue of the poet will soon be moved to a more prominent place in Hyde Park. Here in the United States, we can at least read books like Stauffer’s and Stafford’s, and perhaps raise a glass in Byron’s memory. If we happen to be drinking claret, I suspect that one glass won’t be enough.

A Life in Ten Letters

By Andrew Stauffer

Cambridge University Press. 300 pp. $29.95

Byron’s Travels

Poems, Letters, and Journals

Selected and Introduced by Fiona Stafford

Everyman’s Library. 728 pp. $35

More from Book World

Love everything about books? Make sure to subscribe to our Book Club newsletter , where Ron Charles guides you through the literary news of the week.

Best books of 2023: See our picks for the 10 best books of 2023 or dive into the staff picks that Book World writers and editors treasured in 2023. Check out the complete lists of 50 notable works for fiction and the top 50 nonfiction books of last year.

Find your favorite genre: Three new memoirs tell stories of struggle and resilience, while five recent historical novels offer a window into other times. Audiobooks more your thing? We’ve got you covered there, too . If you’re looking for what’s new, we have a list of our most anticipated books of 2024 . And here are 10 noteworthy new titles that you might want to consider picking up this April.

Still need more reading inspiration? Super readers share their tips on how to finish more books . Or let poet and essayist Hanif Abdurraqib explain why he stays in Ohio . You can also check out reviews of the latest in fiction and nonfiction .

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Advertisement

Supported by

Critic’s Pick

‘Civil War’ Review: We Have Met the Enemy and It Is Us. Again.

In Alex Garland’s tough new movie, a group of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst, as a photographer, travels a United States at war with itself.

• Share full article

‘Civil War’ | Anatomy of a Scene

The writer and director alex garland narrates a sequence from his film..

“My name is Alex Garland and I’m the writer director of ‘Civil War’. So this particular clip is roughly around the halfway point of the movie and it’s these four journalists and they’re trying to get, in a very circuitous route, from New York to DC, and encountering various obstacles on the way. And this is one of those obstacles. What they find themselves stuck in is a battle between two snipers. And they are close to one of the snipers and the other sniper is somewhere unseen, but presumably in a large house that sits over a field and a hill. It’s a surrealist exchange and it’s surrounded by some very surrealist imagery, which is they’re, in broad daylight in broad sunshine, there’s no indication that we’re anywhere near winter in the filming. In fact, you can kind of tell it’s summer. But they’re surrounded by Christmas decorations. And in some ways, the Christmas decorations speak of a country, which is in disrepair, however silly it sounds. If you haven’t put away your Christmas decorations, clearly something isn’t going right.” “What’s going on?” “Someone in that house, they’re stuck. We’re stuck.” “And there’s a bit of imagery. It felt like it hit the right note. But the interesting thing about that imagery was that it was not production designed. We didn’t create it. We actually literally found it. We were driving along and we saw all of these Christmas decorations, basically exactly as they are in the film. They were about 100 yards away, just piled up by the side of the road. And it turned out, it was a guy who’d put on a winter wonderland festival. People had not dug his winter wonderland festival, and he’d gone bankrupt. And he had decided just to leave everything just strewn around on a farmer’s field, who was then absolutely furious. So in a way, there’s a loose parallel, which is the same implication that exists within the film exists within real life.” “You don’t understand a word I say. Yo. What’s over there in that house?” “Someone shooting.” “It’s to do with the fact that when things get extreme, the reasons why things got extreme no longer become relevant and the knife edge of the problem is all that really remains relevant. So it doesn’t actually matter, as it were, in this context, what side they’re fighting for or what the other person’s fighting for. It’s just reduced to a survival.”

By Manohla Dargis

A blunt, gut-twisting work of speculative fiction, “Civil War” opens with the United States at war with itself — literally, not just rhetorically. In Washington, D.C., the president is holed up in the White House; in a spookily depopulated New York, desperate people wait for water rations. It’s the near-future, and rooftop snipers, suicide bombers and wild-eyed randos are in the fight while an opposition faction with a two-star flag called the Western Forces, comprising Texas and California — as I said, this is speculative fiction — is leading the charge against what remains of the federal government. If you’re feeling triggered, you aren’t alone.

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right. It’s one thing when a movie taps into childish fears with monsters under the bed; you’re eager to see what happens because you know how it will end (until the sequel). Adult fears are another matter.

In “Civil War,” the British filmmaker Alex Garland explores the unbearable if not the unthinkable, something he likes to do. A pop cultural savant, he made a splashy zeitgeist-ready debut with his 1996 best seller “The Beach,” a novel about a paradise that proves deadly, an evergreen metaphor for life and the basis for a silly film . That things in the world are not what they seem, and are often far worse, is a theme that Garland has continued pursuing in other dark fantasies, first as a screenwriter (“ 28 Days Later ”), and then as a writer-director (“ Ex Machina ”). His résumé is populated with zombies, clones and aliens, though reliably it is his outwardly ordinary characters you need to keep a closer watch on.

By the time “Civil War” opens, the fight has been raging for an undisclosed period yet long enough to have hollowed out cities and people’s faces alike. It’s unclear as to why the war started or who fired the first shot. Garland does scatter some hints; in one ugly scene, a militia type played by a jolting, scarily effective Jesse Plemons asks captives “what kind of American” they are. Yet whatever divisions preceded the conflict are left to your imagination, at least partly because Garland assumes you’ve been paying attention to recent events. Instead, he presents an outwardly and largely post-ideological landscape in which debates over policies, politics and American exceptionalism have been rendered moot by war.

‘Civil War’ Is Designed to Disturb You

One thing that remains familiar amid these ruins is the movie’s old-fashioned faith in journalism. Dunst, who’s sensational, plays Lee, a war photographer who works for Reuters alongside her friend, a reporter, Joel (the charismatic Wagner Moura). They’re in New York when you meet them, milling through a crowd anxiously waiting for water rations next to a protected tanker. It’s a fraught scene; the restless crowd is edging into mob panic, and Lee, camera in hand, is on high alert. As Garland’s own camera and Joel skitter about, Lee carves a path through the chaos, as if she knows exactly where she needs to be — and then a bomb goes off. By the time it does, an aspiring photojournalist, Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), is also in the mix.

The streamlined, insistently intimate story takes shape once Lee, Joel, Jessie and a veteran reporter, Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), pile into a van and head to Washington. Joel and Lee are hoping to interview the president (Nick Offerman), and Sammy and Jessie are riding along largely so that Garland can make the trip more interesting. Sammy serves as a stabilizing force (Henderson fills the van with humanizing warmth), while Jessie plays the eager upstart Lee takes under her resentful wing. It’s a tidily balanced sampling that the actors, with Garland’s banter and via some cozy downtime, turn into flesh-and-blood personalities, people whose vulnerability feeds the escalating tension with each mile.

As the miles and hours pass, Garland adds diversions and hurdles, including a pair of playful colleagues, Tony and Bohai (Nelson Lee and Evan Lai), and some spooky dudes guarding a gas station. Garland shrewdly exploits the tense emptiness of the land, turning strangers into potential threats and pretty country roads into ominously ambiguous byways. Smartly, he also recurrently focuses on Lee’s face, a heartbreakingly hard mask that Dunst lets slip brilliantly. As the journey continues, Garland further sketches in the bigger picture — the dollar is near-worthless, the F.B.I. is gone — but for the most part, he focuses on his travelers and the engulfing violence, the smoke and the tracer fire that they often don’t notice until they do.

Despite some much-needed lulls (for you, for the narrative rhythm), “Civil War” is unremittingly brutal or at least it feels that way. Many contemporary thrillers are far more overtly gruesome than this one, partly because violence is one way unimaginative directors can put a distinctive spin on otherwise interchangeable material: Cue the artful fountains of arterial spray. Part of what makes the carnage here feel incessant and palpably realistic is that Garland, whose visual approach is generally unfussy, doesn’t embellish the violence, turning it into an ornament of his virtuosity. Instead, the violence is direct, at times shockingly casual and unsettling, so much so that its unpleasantness almost comes as a surprise.

If the violence feels more intense than in a typical genre shoot ’em up, it’s also because, I think, with “Civil War,” Garland has made the movie that’s long been workshopped in American political discourse and in mass culture, and which entered wider circulation on Jan. 6. The raw power of Garland’s vision unquestionably owes much to the vivid scenes that beamed across the world that day when rioters, some wearing T-shirts emblazoned with “ MAGA civil war ,” swarmed the Capitol. Even so, watching this movie, I also flashed on other times in which Americans have relitigated the Civil War directly and not, on the screen and in the streets.

Movies have played a role in that relitigation for more than a century, at times grotesquely. Two of the most famous films in history — D.W. Griffith’s 1915 racist epic “The Birth of a Nation” (which became a Ku Klux Klan recruitment tool) and the romantic 1939 melodrama “Gone With the Wind” — are monuments to white supremacy and the myth of the Southern Lost Cause. Both were critical and popular hits. In the decades since, filmmakers have returned to the Civil War era to tell other stories in films like “Glory,” “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained” that in addressing the American past inevitably engage with its present.

There are no lofty or reassuring speeches in “Civil War,” and the movie doesn’t speak to the better angels of our nature the way so many films try to. Hollywood’s longstanding, deeply American imperative for happy endings maintains an iron grip on movies, even in ostensibly independent productions. There’s no such possibility for that in “Civil War.” The very premise of Garland’s movie means that — no matter what happens when or if Lee and the rest reach Washington — a happy ending is impossible, which makes this very tough going. Rarely have I seen a movie that made me so acutely uncomfortable or watched an actor’s face that, like Dunst’s, expressed a nation’s soul-sickness so vividly that it felt like an X-ray.

Civil War Rated R for war violence and mass death. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. In theaters.

An earlier version of this review misidentified an organization in the Civil War in the movie. It is the Western Forces, not the Western Front.

How we handle corrections

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

As “Sex and the City” became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye . But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.

Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Recommended

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to copy URL

How Travis Kelce reportedly feels about Taylor Swift writing songs about ex Joe Alwyn

• View Author Archive
• Follow on Twitter
• Get author RSS feed

Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.

Travis Kelce reportedly has “zero concern” about the fact that his girlfriend, Taylor Swift, may have drawn inspiration from past relationships for her upcoming album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“If it is about Joe [Alwyn], or anyone, even if it is about him in the future, this is the artist she is and he is in love with her and doesn’t pay any attention to be jealous,” a source told the Daily Mail on Thursday.

“He understands this is a major part of what makes her the person and artist she is and he is no way looking to thwart the direction she takes.”

The insider insisted that Kelce, 34, is “100 percent” supportive of Swift’s creative choices, as she has explained them all to him, and he “loves everything she is doing.”

“They have talked about the album and what the songs are all about,” the source added. “Joe or any of her exes is not of concern to him whatsoever.”

Page Six has reached out to Kelce’s rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Swift, also 34, dated Alwyn, 33, for six years before they split in early 2023. The couple had a serious relationship and were even rumored to be engaged at one point.

When Swift announced her eleventh studio album , “The Tortured Poets Department,” at the 2024 Grammy Awards in February, fans immediately noticed the title was likely a nod to the British actor .

As one Swiftie pointed out at the time, Alwyn previously disclosed in an interview with GQ UK that he had a group chat with pals Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott called the Tortured Man Club.

Swift, of course, has a history of writing songs about her exes and putting them on blast in the process.

The pop superstar’s song “Style” is rumored to be about Harry Styles, “All to Well” is about Jake Gyllenhaal , “Dear John” is about John Mayer and “Back to December” is about Taylor Lautner .

Last year, the latter joked that he was “praying” for Mayer, 46, since “Speak Now” was set to be re-released as part of Swift’s plan to re-record all of her early albums.

“I think it’s a great album,” the “Twilight” alum told Today.com in May 2023. “Yeah, I feel safe.”

Lautner, 32, then quipped, “Praying for John.”

For more Page Six you love…

• Listen to our weekly “We Hear” podcast
• Shop our exclusive merch

Swifties have already warned Alwyn to “count [his] days” given some of the brutal names featured on the 17-song tracklist for “The Tortured Poets Department.”

Some of the eye-raising titles include “So Long, London,” “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,” “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” “But Daddy I Love Him” and “I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can).”

At a recent pop-up in Los Angeles to promote the album, fans found an open book that read, “Even statues crumble / If they’re made to wait,” which they interpreted to be about Alwyn .

Want more celebrity and pop culture news?

Start your day with Page Six Daily.

Thanks for signing up!

Please provide a valid email address.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy .

Want celebrity news as it breaks? Hooked on Housewives?

“Omgggg she was so excited to marry him she would’ve marry him with paper rings but he was just wasting time,” one Swiftie speculated via X earlier this week.

Another weighed in, “My girlie wanted to be his bride so much,” and a third added, “she waited six years for that ring 🥺.”

Despite which tracks are or aren’t about Alwyn, Kelce has reportedly already chosen his favorites .

The Daily Mail’s source also told the outlet that the Super Bowl champ likes “Down Bad” and “loml” best but that he actually “loves everything he has heard.”

“He can’t wait to buy her album and support her that way,” the insider added of Kelce. “He is very excited for her and for people to hear it and be there for the next phase of her career.”

“The Tortured Poets Department” is set to officially be released on Friday.

Share this article:

Advertisement