Dakota Dreams is a novel by James Bennett. The story follows the life of a lonely fifteen year old foster child named Floyd Rayfield. Since Floyd has no parents he had to live in multiple foster or group homes for most of his life. One day Floyd had a dream in which he saw himself as a Dakota warrior, a fierce warrior in Indian tribes. When Floyd awoke from his dream, he was certain that becoming a Dakota Warrior was his destiny. Floyd undergoes a name change to Charley Black Crow and, he learns more about Indian culture and customs. After being sent to a mental hospital. Floyd finally had enough of his depressing lifestyle, so he decided to run away to the Dakota Reservation. There he meets the tribal chief who deems him worthy of going on…
Everyone feels as though their parents love them better than their brothers or sisters. Sometimes that may not be true and the parent loves both kids equally, but other times it may be true. Parental favoritism does not seem too serious of a topic, but it can have a long term negative effect on the non-favored child. The non-favored child might feel unfairly treated and try to gain attention in other ways that might prove to be dangerous and out of the ordinary. In John Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, we experience the dynamics of a father-son relationship, especially the father favoring one son over the other, which oftentimes was the case in my household. From the very start of the novel we are introduced to Cyrus,…
In East of Eden by John Steinbeck, the individual family members earn their love only after struggling through loneliness, rejection, and sin caused by other family members.…
The novel, A Lesson before Dying, was written by Ernest J. Gaines in 1993. Gaines was born on the River Lake plantation in Louisiana, where he was raised by his aunt, Miss Augusteen Jefferson. Racism was prevalent shown by the whites-only libraries in Louisiana. After 15 years of living in Louisiana, Gaines moved to California, although he states Louisiana never left him. California had libraries available for the blacks also. In California, he lived with his mother and which inspired him to the point of writing about six novels and scores of short stories. In 1953, Gaines was drafted into the Army, and he later went on to study creative writing at Stanford University. While in the library, Gaines…
In One Foot in Eden, Ron Rash uses many different themes to compel the story forward and make the plot interesting. One of these themes is family and relationship. The relationship between Billy and Amy is especially interesting because they have to deal with arising conflicts constantly. The biggest one, however, is the the murder of Holland Winchester. The murder changed not only the relationship at the current time, but also laid down a bumpy road for Billy and Amy’s relationship in the their future.…
As trimester 3 is coming to an end I am beginning to reflect on all of the themes, novels and plays that we have encountered this year in class.. All the pieces of literature we read this trimester in more ways than one tie into the literature we read in previous trimesters. They all relate to one another, by sharing common themes and actions. My group discussed and ruminated on the following themes of evil, innocence, corruption, and conflict. A few of these topics stood out to me as well as other members of my group. Innocence and the capability to be evil seemed to outshine the others in total this entire year. In previous trimesters my groups have discussed death, evil, innocence, manipulation, rebellion and reputation. These trimesters have caused me to discover that manipulation ultimately joins innocence and evil together. Since you are not necessarily…
In the era Chopin wrote "Desiree's Baby" sexism was a major point in the lives of women, permitting them from being able to speak for themselves. Chopin later reveals that Armand was the one who truly was of black dissent and he was the one who had passed those genes down to the baby. But Desiree who has all the right in the world to defend herself cannot simply because of her sex. She is accused of the "unconscious injury she had brought upon [Armand's] home and his name"(244). Although Chopin states that Desiree is whiter than Armand and the baby, because of the setting of the story she cannot defend her honor in saying she isn’t black. Peel writes that, "Desiree is immersed in her husband's value system and never stands up to [Armand], not…
Local color writing began proliferating in the late 1800’s with the focus on fiction and poetry with dual influences of romanticism and realism. Kate Chopin one major American author of local color writing who wrote about local color in various works of literature .By analyzing the specific characteristics of local color writing one can explore the settings, characters, plots, and themes of Kate Chopin in “desires baby”, “The Awakening”, and “ The hour”.…
In this stylistic analysis of the lost baby poem written by Lucille Clifton I will deal mainly with two aspects of stylistic: derivation and parallelism features present in the poem. However I will first give a general interpretation of the poem to link more easily the stylistic features with the meaning of the poem itself.…
At the Gym, written by Mark Doty; has no relation with being at the gym at all; metaphorically speaking it pertains to attending church. The narrative provided is from the author's observation of other people in the church. The primary metaphor of this poem is religiously based in the sense people have determination to release their burdens with the desire of overcoming tribulations through prayer. Many smaller metaphors inside the poem leading the reader to believe there is faith veiled throughout. This metaphor is explained in this essay by many other small metaphors; Salt-stain is really tears, the vinyl is from the pews/benches in the church. How this metaphor references something manmade, the association of grief emotions in this poem such as hopelessness and despair. While more positive emotions of relief and hope are set forth; leading one to happiness. Many hidden religious aspects contained throughout the poem are brought to light.…
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” illustrates how one’s obsessions and moral weakness leads to another’s questioning of their self-image and drives the pursuit of perfection in our society. The main character, Aylmer, develops an obsession with becoming a world renowned alchemist, yet falls short when he sets his goals and cannot accomplish them. The unrealistic goals that Aylmer sets reflect how his character is composed; he consistently strives for perfection but constantly falls short of achievement in his pursuit of perfection.…
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Birthmark” Georgiana's identity is constructed through gender roles and spiritual aspects. Aylmer, her husband, perception of her physical beauty is almost perfect except the birthmark on her left cheek which he believes to look like a tiny crimson hand. Some believed the birthmark to be a hand print from a fairy that was left as she was being born. Men in the past felt deeply for Georgiana, they viewed that birthmark as some that was beautiful “Many a desperate swain would have risked life for the privilege of pressing his lips to the mysterious hand” (Hawthorne). Georgiana has always felt like it was a gift form an angel. Due to her spiritual connection with her birthmark we see that the author is using religion to aid in constructing her identity. When Aylmer first brings up talk of removing the birthmark she is appalled at the notion however as Aylmer's obsession with removal of the birthmark grows so does her desire to please her husband. The gender roles of the time are shaping her identity to the extent that she feels compelled to change who she is for the happiness of her husband. Aylmer's obsession of the crimson hand grows so much that he cannot look at her the same way. “Georgiana soon learned to shudder at his gaze” (Hawthorne). She begins to feel so bad about the birthmark that she develops a depressing attitude towards it At this point Georgiana will do anything to please her husband and gain his approval. Aylmer has shaped her gender identity of being a good wife and to always please her husband that she will now stop at nothing to please him risking even death to make him happy. “Danger is nothing to me; for life while this hateful mark makes me the object of you horror and disgust,--life is a burden which I would fling down with joy” (Hawthorne). Georgiana's life is taken in the end because of Aylmer's desire to fix something that he believed was wrong with her.…
Leslie Marmon Silko is a Laguna Pueblo writer and is a prominent figure in the First Wave of Native American Renaissance. Her writings are grounded in the history of the Laguna Pueblo. The Laguna Pueblo is a federally recognized Native American tribe of the Pueblo peoples who live in the Southwestern United States (Hollrah, n.d.)She has a strong interest to preserve cultural traditions and how history impacts modern life. Silko uses her writings to raise awareness of ingrained racism and white cultural imperialism, and she takes a strong interest in women’s issues.…
Analyzing “How to Read Literature like a Professor” is easy, but on the other hand, to analyze “The Bonesetter’s Daughter” is a consuming task. The difficulty doesn’t lie in the grammar, or the structure, but by not being sucked into the story, and instead employing the skills learned in Foster’s book. Amy Tan’s novel: The Bonesetter’s Daughter, seems to be a novel written for entertainment purposes, there seems to be no author’s intent; or use of literary devices that would contextualize a deeper meaning that is found in fiction, mythology, and folklore. Simple as that, although it may not seem like it, through the employment of the “guidelines” highlighted by Foster, the Bonesetter’s Daughter employs the literary devices that are masked by the reader’s awareness and by reaching beyond just the contextualization, it breaks the barriers of literature.…
Some authors use character foils to emphasize extreme differences and personalities. For example the good, kindhearted Cinderella being contrasted against the evil and wicked stepmother in the popular fairy tale. In the Novel Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie uses character foils; Amaka and Kambili, who are two cousins that come from completely different backgrounds and have different personalities as well. Though Kambili comes from a very wealthy and well off family, she lacks the ability to express herself and have personal freedom. Amaka comes from a poorer family but she is able to have her own opinions and has the freedom to do the things she really wants to. Adichie’s use of Amaka and Kambili as foils in story show that the image or reputation of a person doesn’t always show how the person is on the inside.…