Observations of persistence can renew a discouraged person’s resolve

Evidence

Above him a caterpillar was trying to climb the tree. It crawled a little way, lost its grip, and fell. It tried again, fell again. A third time. A fourth. A fifth. A sixth. On the seventh attempt, the caterpillar reached the top. … Yared watched, and a great feeling came over him. If a small creature could try seven times to climb a tree, then he too could return to his lessons. — , A Year of World Stories, 406

Categorization

• FICTION: The seven-attempts caterpillar is a vivid scene a writer could lift directly — an embodied metaphor for perseverance that works in any story.
• XREF: connects to: Grief recovery paradoxically makes the lost person more vivid — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 313; Survivors persist through demanding situations via strategies like persistence, self-care, sense of control, and engagement in recreational or physical activities. — Going Forward Like a Grandmother in the Snow: Personal Survival Strategies, Motherhood, and Nature as Resources for Mothers Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence; Modern psychology independently corroborates Colossians’ warning that paternal embitterment causes discouragement — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 2756 (+1 more)

Related

• Failed or refuted works often stay canonized through sustained critique (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Grief recovery paradoxically makes the lost person more vivid #exemplifies (0.25) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 313