In David Guterson’s short essay “No Place like Home,” he visits communities like Green Valley and meets with residents to discuss the lifestyle of the average suburban family, typically four members in total, who live in the walled in, well watched, prestigious sounding, city sized western version of our local community Landfall. While the essay begins with a sunny sounding tone the reporter almost attempts to portray the community as a facade with something dark lurking in the deeper corners, he does this by phrasing certain things with a suspenseful tone in the first paragraph. David does, inevidetly reach some of his darker topics as he address crime and a certain area of politics. His point, after all though, seemed just to be to inform…
There were many drawbacks that settlers had to face while settling in Charles Town. Settling is when you live somewhere permanent that you believe will be prosperous. When settlers set out to settle in Charles Town, Lord Ashley Anthony Cooper worked with these settlers to help face obstacles. Charles Town was founded at Albemarle Point on the Ashley River in 1670 by the English, and the name “Charles Town” honored Charles II, the King of England. Spanish explorers had first explored the coastal regions of South Carolina, but did not attempt a settlement because they angered local natives. Settling in Charles Town was difficult because of geography, resources, and diseases/natives.…
Gacy had a Antisocial personality disorder which would cause him to change moods, he also had Paranoid schizophrenic and a congenital heart disease. John would sexually rape these boys and strangle them, or he would lure them to his house dressed as Pogo the clown and would stab them to death. Gacy was charged with Sexual assault in 1996 and convicted with sodomy. He was sentenced to life sentences and multiple death penalties. John had a difficult childhood including an alcoholic father that would beat him with a razor strap whenever him and his 2 sisters misbehaved, his father would also even beat his wife leaving bruises and marks on her after the beatings. Gacy had up to 33 victims with 22 victims identified and 8 victims who are still not identified and somewhere in Chicago, Illinois there are families being worried and not knowing where their children are or thinking that their kids can be one of those unidentified victims. Gacy would bury his victims in a crawl space under his house, and the crawl space got to the point where it got to full and he admitted to throwing some bodies in the Des plains River. On may 11, 1994 John’s death was caused by lethal injection and was buried in a cemetery in Chicago,…
When I finished reading the story Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? I couldn't believe the ending. The main character Connie is your average teenage girl, however, she is a little more conceited than others. In the story, the author describes that the setting is in the summer and that's why she is going out with her friends almost every other day. The author also gives a hint by foreshadowing the line "Gonna get you, baby," which shows what's going to happen in the near future. I think the theme of this story is that when Connie goes out with her friends, she is going through adulthood. For example, at the end of the story when she opens the door to go outside with Arnold, she is leaving her childhood and making a jump straight into…
He adopted the persona of a smudge-faced wanderer to feel in his bones and write about the life of a modern-day hobo in Rolling Nowhere. He spent months with illegal aliens on the underground U.S./Mexico border and then wrote Coyotes.…
Margo Solod and Sherman Alexie have written texts to show how people are affected by the places that they live in. In Solod's Poem, "Dream House", it shows how the speaker's dream house reminds them of all of their past memories that have happened there. However the house is now demolished, which leaves the speaker with a sense of loss. While Alexie's story, His Life on the Reservation, shows that as long as John has his family with him, it does not matter where he lives. When brought together, these texts show that wherever one lives, the surroundings of that place will affect who they become.…
A story of Donny’s struggles of growing up in Barrio. Famous all over town is about a young high school boy named Rudy Medina. He grows up in a Latin, Chicano town called Barrio. He tells us his life and all the struggles he has to face everyday of his life .The family he had was not the perfect family; the mother was having another child that she would then not take care of because she cared more about herself. Lena was a high school drop out who wanted to be free and on her own, the father was a hard worker who tried to give his family everything, and Rudy was the outcast that never quite fit in.…
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote “With people like us our home is where we are not … No one person is necessary to you or me,” (This Side of Paradise). This quote describes how some people can become consumed with a feeling called wanderlust, or the overwhelming feeling of needing to travel to new places. In his nonfiction book “Into The Wild” (1996), Jon Krakauer constructs Chris McCandless’ character into that of an wanderlusting alter ego. Krakauer completes this idea by implying throughout chapter three that Chris McCandless was idealistic with his nonconformist philosophy, unprepared for hardships before he disappeared, and by indicating McCandless had a secret sociopathic nature. He illustrates rhetorical devices in order to give insight into why McCandless’ death was important, and to crucially build his character. Krakauer aims his book towards an audience who is interested in exploring or adventuring, or anyone McCandless-esque who may aspire to pull off a stunt like lone traveling to Alaska with no money or supplies.…
Loneliness and reluctance are themes depicted in all types of media, especially in literature. In “Bartleby the Scrivener,” a clerk suffers from his previous work at a dead letter office and disconnects himself from the world as he descends into insanity, while in “Soldier’s Home,” a young soldier returns war to find himself unable to re-enter normal society and exhibiting symptoms of PTSD. Both Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Hemingway’s “Soldier’s Home” explore the theme of isolation and the inability to act in their characters.…
Location can be an appeal to most people. It contributes to shaping the way one thinks, performs, and even speaks. When Wes moved to The Bronx, New York from Manhattan, he suddenly comes across the realization that: “Everything about The Bronx was different from downtown Manhattan, more intense and potent; even the name of the street we walked down- Gun Hill Road- suggested blood sport” (48). His comparison of the street name with a “blood sport” symbolizes the acts of violence that occur at his current location. Violence is what he sees. Therefore, violence is what he gets accustomed to. This changes him as a person. It changes his views, his acts, and his beliefs. Another important aspect to location to view upon is living a lifestyle full of fear: fearing a location. The author uses violence and fear to describe the atmosphere created by people in The Bronx. “Justin knew the rules: Never look people in the eye. Don’t smile, it makes you look weak. If someone yells for you, particularly after dark, just keep walking. Always keep your money in your front pocket, never in your back pocket. Know where the drug dealers and smokers are at all times. Know where the cops are at all times. And if night fell too soon… Justin knew to run all the way home.”…
“Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a short story that brings many girl’s nightmares to life. The story is one about a young, naïve girl named Connie, and her deranged abductor, Arnold Friend. Oates uses the setting in Connie’s life to create a very realistic situation. Oates also uses descriptive language to create vivid images of the setting, charters, and the emotions Connie feels. By analyzing Connie’s home setting and the descriptive language Oates uses, we will be able to further understand how Connie’s thoughts and actions were effected by her setting.…
"McCandless was thrilled to be on his way north, and he was relieved as well—relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family. He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well."(55) This shows that Christopher McCandless was completely capable of forging deep relationships with people, even strangers. McCandless’s outgoing nature diverges from traits that a sociopath would, which enforces the idea that McCandless did not abandon society due to the inability to establish companionship among his peers. However, McCandless could not hide the obvious struggles he experienced with his parents. Wayne Westerberg caught a sense of these conflicts but did not see it appropriate to delve into it. Krakauer wanted to contrast the different relationships McCandless encountered with testimonies of McCandless’s peers whom describe McCandless as an extrovert, whereas family members regard Christopher as an introvert. This is significant because it asserts justifications as in why McCandless left his home to tramp across the…
In the book White Times by Margo Lanagan, it is an inspirational story. It tells about problems and challenges that several different characters face. The story takes place in the future at something like a career day in a school, known as occupation testing day in the story. Most does take place in a lab called white times where people can go to and travel through time but also travel to different places.…
C.C. Walker has had a a tough life. Her brother and brother in law died in a fire and then her boyfriend died in one too. She was helping her sister take care of her kids and living her sister's life and not her own. She felt like the town she lived in wasn't the same anymore and she just didn't feel safe or happy. She decided to head out on her own to see if she can live a normal life. She never expected that her car would break down five hours later in a beach town called Treasure Town.…
The last line of this book is wonderful, the reason it stays with you is that it makes you think back on the decisions of the characters, and how their obsession with their past made it almost impossible for them to continue forward. This is mainly seen it Gatsby himself, his obsession with Daisy, he cant get over her and live a happy life even though he has made himself into a rich man and has the ability to do anything he wishes. But the other thing that I have noticed is the fact that this line also makes, me at least, think about the times my past has made me doubt myself. For that reason I found it to be very powerful.…