Author Topic: Janet's Fitsch's "White Oleander"  (Read 3669 times)

Miss Mae

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Janet's Fitsch's "White Oleander"
« on: August 03, 2014, 12:28:28 AM »
Since I get hooked into reading books, I would always take note of its lesson that appealed to me and share it through a social networking site. In this particular instance, however, although I am quite sure of the book's message that I wanted to post, I am not confident on how should I put it. Is the sentence "The best way to learn is to live" more appropriately constructed than "The best way to learn is through living"?

Joe Carillo

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Re: Janet's Fitsch's "White Oleander"
« Reply #1 on: August 03, 2014, 12:25:45 PM »
Yes, in the sense that Janet Fitch meant it in her novel White Oleander, we can be sure that the sentence “The best way to learn is to live” is a more appropriate construction than “The best way to learn is through living.” The second sentence, which uses “through living” as a noun complement, denotes the passive sense of just continuing to be alive or just subsisting. In contrast, the first sentence, which uses the infinitive “to live,” denotes the active, more purposive sense of living a life rich in experience or, more idiomatically, living it up. I’m sure that this sense is more in keeping with the plot of that novel, which is a coming-of-age story about a a young girl separated from her mother and grows up in one foster home after another.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2014, 02:11:19 PM by Joe Carillo »

Miss Mae

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Re: Janet's Fitsch's "White Oleander"
« Reply #2 on: August 03, 2014, 01:40:33 PM »
Thank you, Sir!