An Analysis Of Tartaglio And Chopin's From Triumph To Tragedy

Throughout chapters seventeen through twenty-four of the nonfiction novel From Triumph to Tragedy, authors John Tartaglio and Andrew Chapin argue that, regardless of the circumstances of a situation, people should not give up on the way to reaching their goals when unexpected challenges hinder their ability to achieve what they aspire to. Both authors want to encourage readers to battle through tough times, by highlighting that, despite the challenges which come with having both legs amputated below the hip, Tartaglio worked twice as hard as the next guy to achieve what he worked for months to achieve. While doing so, Tartaglio and Chapin are targeting readers who may feel self-conscious, like Tartaglio did, as well as readers who are pushing themselves to achieve their goals but may feel lost or as if they will never reach their goals. The pair enforces the idea that giving up is not an option. The two most prominent examples the pair provides about Tartaglio not giving up are with the New York City Marathon and the 10k. Tartaglio trained for months for the New York City Marathon, where he used a hand cycle. Although extreme pain was shooting down every fiber of Tartaglio’s body, he refused to quit and reached his goal of finishing in the top twenty, coming in thirteenth place. Meanwhile, after going down the wrong track and getting lost at the 10k, Tartaglio refused to quit. While he viewed taking an hour longer to finish the race than he expected and coming in last place as a failure, he asserts that “I vowed that I would not put myself in that position again” (Tartaglio and Chapin 135). Tartaglio refused to give up, even though the results did not pan out how he hoped. However, he used this “failure” to push himself to continue to build up the stamina to compete in more 10ks, as well as individual sprint triathlons, …show more content…
I would strongly recommend this novel to those who are struggling to achieve their long-sought-after goals. He uses his failure to reach his goals as motivation to work harder to achieve even more far-fetched goals. I can feel Tartaglio’s essence as a motivational speaker seeping through the pages of this book. I, as many readers most likely did, sat here thinking “Wow. Tartaglio lost both of his legs, yet is in much better shape than I ever will be.” As someone who has been working for the past several months to get into better shape, I often lose motivation and fall back into my bad habits of eating junk food and sitting around, rather than eating healthy fruits and vegetables and going to the gym. I would recommend this novel to people, like myself, who are attempting to lose weight or to get into better shape. If Tartaglio can muster up the strength and courage to keep going, then so can I. Tartaglio and Chapin, by providing the intricate details of these two anecdotes, allows readers to build a quite personal connection with Tartaglio. I can relate to Tartaglio’s sense of defeat when he does not reach his goal of not coming in last for the 10k, but I can also relate to the incredible sense of pride Tartaglio feels when he comes in thirteenth place in the New York City Marathon. By comparing Tartaglio’s thought processes and emotions after his defeat and triumph, I want to push myself to feel that urgent sense of happiness