David McCullough’s The Path Between Seas was printed in New York City, New York in the year 1977.…
Throughout On Such a Full Sea, Chang-Rae Lee presents a futuristic American society which has settled itself into three different hierarchical levels. In the strictly structured routine which involves B-mors providing food and supply in return for security from the elite Charter class, the act of disrupting the system or even questioning it is very unlikely. As Lee’s character Fan breaks away from her daily life in the fish tanks of B-mor in search of the one she loves, she has unknowingly inspired the people back home and everyone she meets along the way with the notorious story of the girl who defied the government’s rigid conduct, ultimately leaving a path to follow. On Such a Full Sea does not argue the question as to “whether [or not] we are ‘individuals’”, but, instead, “whether being an ‘individual’ makes a difference” (Lee). Through the character ‘Fan’, Lee expresses that one can make a difference in…
In 1988 Taylor Branch produced a mammoth first volume of a trilogy on the American Civil Rights Movement. Branch hoped to capture the essence of the movement through who he believed to be the epitome of the movement itself— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Branch’s stated purpose in writing Parting the Waters is quite clear. He says on page xii “My purpose is to write a history of the civil rights movement out of the conviction from which it was made, namely that truth requires a maximum effort to see through the eyes of strangers, foreigners, and enemies. I hope to sustain my thesis that King’s life is the best and most important metaphor for American history in the watershed postwar years.”…
There are two readings that are similar to each other. One is called, “Shame,” by Dick Gregory, and the other is called, “Salvation,” by Langston Hughes. The major similarities found in the two readings are lying to fit in and longing for something/ someone. The two readings also have a similar introduction like the setting which takes place in Missouri, both authors are young, and are memoirs. The two readings have so much in common and have very detailed similarities too.…
In Rebecca Kanner’s Sinners and the Sea and Yasmina Reza’s The God of Carnage the human capacity to commit violence is emphasized. Kanner portrays violence during the time of Noah time before and during the flood. The sinners of the town of Sorum, as well as some members of Noah’s family, commit acts of violence toward one another. Reza portrays violence with the same intensity as Kanner, but with a limited cast of characters. The difference between the two portrayals of violence is that Kanner uses evil as a transformative force, while Reza depicts evil as an end. Kanner is hopeful that evil restores the good, while Reza believes that evil does not bring positive outcomes.…
For generations, we have seen writers publishing some of their great works containing mythical storyline and stories of great spirits. In this paper, we will compare and contrast two of the greatest books in American history, Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewin and The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.…
When authors use symbolism effectively, readers can begin to understand a work of literature on both the surface level and in an illustrative context, attributing significance to ideas, actions, or even characters themselves beyond what is initially described. In her novella The Awakening, Kate Chopin employs symbolism through a variety of images to reveal particular details about the protagonist, Edna Pontellier. One such symbol is the sea, an essential figurative element. Ivy Schweitzer’s scholarly essay, entitled Maternal Discourse and the Romance of Self-Possession in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, asserts that the sea is a motherly figure lacking in Edna’s life. Though in her critical analysis of The Awakening Schweitzer asserts that the sea is a “maternal space” (Schweitzer 184), I will argue that the sea represents a metaphorical romantic partner for Edna, and that it really is the symbol of an idealized lover that was an impossible reality in Edna…
Langston Hughes’ story “Salvation” is one that raises many questions about his life and childhood experiences. Hughes patterns this story to portray the pressures that caused his faith to be lost. Hughes sat on the mourners’ bench waiting for God to save him but, due to these pressures, he chose to stand and pretend that he found his salvation. Pressure is the influences of outside sources that convince you to conform. Hughes undoubtedly felt pressured. He felt pressured to find truth. Hughes ironically lost his faith in God because of an extreme environment, high expectations, and an overly passionate caretaker.…
In Hughes’ nonfiction story, “Salvation,” he writes about his salvation from sin that was instead an abandonment of his belief in Jesus. The story begins with the revival at his Auntie Reed’s church. Hughes was told:…
5. Where is the setting(s)? What descriptive details does Hughes use to sketch in the setting?…
In Langston Hughes' Salvation, Hughes illustrates himself as a little boy, who's decisions at a church one morning, reflect the human races instinctive tendency to conform and in a sense, obey. That morning in church, Hughes is indirectly pressured to go up to the altar and "be saved" by seeing the light of god.…
Langston Hughes, in his personal narrative “Salvation,” tells of his experience with being pressured by the adult figures in his life to be “saved from sin” and to “come to Jesus” even though he did not feel saved at all. In his piece written in 1925, Hughes’s purpose is to show his confusion and loss of faith through the need to please his elders and conform to their beliefs. Throughout the excerpt, Hughes conveys a childlike tone in order to highlight his uncertainty about religion and the influence of his elders on him. Hughes’s use of rhetorical devices such as imagery, figurative language, and word choice contribute to further emphasizing his purpose.…
"Salvation" is a short story, but inside it is a long anxiety and unforgettable experience for the boy. Only he knows what he is doing, and he is the one. The feeling that he has to lie to people and himself is very uncomfortable for the narrator, but that is also what I did a long time ago-the day I lied to my friend's Mom and Dad about him. (His name is Tin) He did not pass the final examination to high school (in Viet Nam, students have to take a test to study in high school. If you fail, you have to wait a year to take another test), but I could not tell his parents that he had failed. They worked so hard, they would do whatever they could to earn money for him and put all of their expectations on him, and so did I. We both expected, but only I felt guilty because if I told them the trust, they would have died.…
"My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul." ( Barnet, Burto & Cain, 2011) Langston Hughes ' short story uses allegory to redefine the word "see", when his aunt tells him hat he will see Jesus, Langston Hughes believes he will actual see the the bodily figure of a man appear before him. "Still I kept waiting to see Jesus." ( Barnet, Burto & Cain, 2011) Throughout the story Hughes plays to the irony of the church and the people around him writing that he was surrounded by sisters and deacons crying out in gospel tones begging him to come to Jesus and be saved at this moment the reader can not help but to succumb to Hughes ' appeal to emotion and the appeal to pathos for we all know what it is like to be in that moment where friends and family are pressuring you to except something that doesn 't make complete sense. The whole congregation prayed for me alone, in a mighty wail of moans and voices. ( Barnet, Burto & Cain, 2011)…
Poems, like stories and novels, often have themes and ideas that are expressed. In the two poems I read, de los Santos’ “Perfect Dress” and Hoagland’s “Beauty”, it is apparent that great thought was put into themes of beauty and into the ideas and opinions behind it. Through analyzation of these two poems I will collectively share the opinions and uncover perhaps previously unrealized perspectives that perhaps is not originally apparent…