In her critique of Krik? Krak!, Rocio Davis discusses the impact of Danticat’s short story form on the immigrant experience and how it defines Haitian cultural pluralism. Davis initially notes Danticat’s use of reoccurring images such as the wish for flight and the death of infants to highlight the themes of innocence, the need to escape, and freedom. The violent histories and continuing dreams of many of the characters find symbolic expression in these images. Because these symbols are present in stories about leaving Haiti and seeking a future elsewhere, they emphasize the presentation of many of the painful realities of the immigrant situation and can be related back to changes of the Haitian community.…
This story takes place on Alcatraz Island in 1935. I feel the theme of this book was that even the worst of people can do some good.…
This book report discusses the plot, significant characters, setting (e.g., time of the story took place, historical background), problems and resolutions, themes or messages of the story. A reflection of the author’s writing style will be presented followed by a conclusion.…
In this paper, I will summarize part 3 “Why Do Prison Conditions Matter?” and part 4 “Contemporary Lessons from Maconochie’s Experiment” of Maconochie’s Gentlemen, written by Norval Morris (Morris, 2002). I will then provide a critical analysis of Maconochie and the Norfolk Island Prison reform story to current correctional practices.…
The only response was the screaming of other men, for I was not the only one in the midst of being captured. As the men grabbed my legs, causing me to fall to the sand, I could see other men being dragged along with me, all by the same group of men with whom I had shared dinner and to gave our belongings. They all had one destination – the rowboats. Once there, they tied us up and stuffed cloths into our mouths. They shoved us into the rowboats one by one, with no remorse whatsoever. To think, we had welcomed these people with open arms, only to be treated this way in the end.…
Often times a search for family history can lead to confusing twists and turns or shocking revelations. In the case of Richard Goree, the search for his family’s past led to a novel with much important knowledge for the rest of the world. Goree Island is a story revealing the importance of signares in economic success during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and colonial period in Africa. Elevating themselves to respected and revered statuses, these mulatto women were considered the grease that kept the European (particularly French) economic machines moving.…
“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, by Olaudah Equiano, is a narrative about a slave going to the new world. Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped by slave traders to be sent to the New World to be sold to other slave owners. This slave trade between Africa and North America was from 1619-1807 and carried hundreds of African men, women, and children in one tightly packed ship. In “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, Equiano describes the horrible conditions slaves were forced to endure on the voyage to the new world. Equiano wrote this slave narrative, a literary work that exposes the horrors of slavery through the first hand experience of the writer, to help abolish slavery. To assist in persuading the…
iii. The life, struggles, and success of Peter and his Family were ably brought before the public in “The Kidnapped and the Ransoms”…
The Unredeemed Captive, by John Demos, is a narrative story beginning on February 29, 1704. On this morning, the Colonial New England massacre took place resulting in about 48 casualties and about 112 were taken into captivity and taken to New France (Canada). Revered John Williams and his family were among the captured victims. Demos continues on with the novel in a narrative form allowing the reader to follow the story of Eunice, a daughter of Reverend John Williams, and the hardships she faces.…
If it were not for the stories past down from generation to generation or the documentations in historical books, the history of the twelve million African slaves that traveled the “Middle Passage” in miserable conditions would not exist. Olaudah Equiano contributes to this horrid history with The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Through this narrative, the appalling personal experience of each slave is depicted. He accomplishes his rhetorical purpose of informing the world of the slave experience in this narrative. His use of unique style and rhetorical devices in this conveying narrative portray his imperative rhetorical purpose.…
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher is a horrifying yet stunning science-fiction/ fantasy book with powerful and compelling themes that will stay with you for as long as you live. This story is about Finn’s escape through Incarceron- a prison that has been sealed away for centuries. It’s where inmates live not only in cells, but in dilapidated cities and unbounded wilderness, it’s where breaking out is impossible as the prison itself is alive. Belief, courage and freedom were themes evident throughout the story in the character’s thoughts, memories, words and actions.…
In the exposition of the novel, we are familiarised with the setting of the island – which begins as a utopia for the boys, with “the shimmering water”. This has paradisiacal connotations, showing the island to be an obvious place of beauty, along with the “lagoon” and “young palm trees”, which again is an idyllic characteristic for a place of bliss.…
In his essay “Why Prisons Don’t Work” by Wilbert Rideau, the author has sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1962 to be executed or imprisoned for life. He presents the idea that prisons don’t work because people go in and come out the same way, unchanged. He says that authorities think the best solution is to “get tougher” by slowing down on crime and locking away the criminals in prisons, but Rideau had an experience in one of those prisons and knows that the solution wasn’t helping. He mentions that people in prisons need to be punished, but also given a chance to change their ways. Rideau, argues three functions about prisons: to protect the public, to punishment prisoner and to rehabilitate the offender to stop them committing another crime.…
To support these three arguments, I will relate to the compelling picture book The Island written by Armin Greder in 2008, and Melina Marchetta’s engaging film Looking for Alibrandi, produced in the year 2000. I will also give reference to The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick.…
Julian E., B. (2000). INTERVIEW; Life as a Jailer. New York Times Book Review, 6. Retrieved March, 7, 2011from EBSCOhost.…