In the excerpt “The Hurricane” from Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Jaine refused to leave her husband and town over a storm; assuming it would not be bad and would be easy to repair any damages. To her surprise, much devastation was created by the storm and many racial and class discrepancies in the social system were realized. Similarly, on the 25th of August 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast; leaving behind tremendous damage to multiple cities, specifically New Orleans. Along side infrastructural damage throughout the city, damage within the New Orleans race and class hierarchies was disclosed. In the documentary, directed by Spike Lee, “When the Levees Broke” it reveals that those heavily impacted were low income,…
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 the Zeitoun family could not decide on whether or not to flee or to stay in the city. In the end, Abdulrahman, more commonly known as Zeitoun, stayed behind and Kathy took the children to visit her family in Baton Rouge. What was his justification to stay behind? What happened in his past that gave him the faith to remain during the storm? The book, Zeitoun, answer many of these questions through anecdotes. Dave Eggers uses anachronistic anecdotes to develop characters throughout the story. These stories help describe individual character backgrounds, highlight character traits that will become important later and show the healing process after the storm.…
Have you ever read, Dragonwings, by Laurence Yep? The main character, Moon Shadow disappointed with what he witness. In the other hand, the article “Comprehending the Calamity”, by Emma M. Burke. Emma Burke herself sees the outcome of the earthquake as immense destruction. Laurence Yep’s purpose is to entertain readers though our feelings by using very in depth words or by emphasizing some of the scenes in the novel. Along with, Emma M. Burke she tries to give readers information about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, as a result this gives the readers detail about the scene more than telling readers her emotions.…
It is nearly impossible to imagine that one day you can be safe in your home and with all of your belongings and the next day a hurricane leaves you with nothing. Unfortunately, the 484,000 people who lived in New Orleans had to experience those unimaginable thoughts first hand in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina. “An entire city was nearly wiped off the face of the earth” (Kellogg) and at least 1,833 people were killed during and after the storm. There are many theories and conspiracies of what happened with the levees and what could have been done better in order to help the residents of New Orleans. Director Spike Lee felt very strongly about the issue and decided to make a documentary in order to give the people of New Orleans justice. By directing When the Levees Broke, Spike Lee gives the audience his personal view on the entire situation dealing with Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath. With his use of video editing and choice of certain interviews, Lee gave not only emotional credibility to his movie but also a logical point of view.…
When analyzing the horror of Katrina within Ward’s novel Salvage the Bones and the actual catastrophe that was broadcasted throughout the media, readers are able understand its true impact. It seems as though Ward brought to light the realness and severity of Katrina rather than just restate the obvious. Ward’s writing is a perfect storytelling of the event— filled with some of her very own personal experiences. For example, the scene in which the character Esch narrates her perspective of the town as she walks the streets with Big Henry and Junior vividly brews out the damage that Katrina had caused. Not only are readers able to comprehend the destruction Katrina caused, but we are able to focus on a particular family. I think that knowing the story of the Batiste family really grabs at the reader’s attention and allows them to understand something other than the political aspect. Ward’s novel Salvage the Bones captures the emotional impact caused by Katrina and highlights a family in need of union. Simultaneously, Esch’s perspective allowed me to really visualize the power of hurricane Katrina. Never experiencing the horror of such natural disaster, Esch’s colorful description of Katrina and the aftermath had me terrified.…
Natural disasters affect many individuals throughout the world. One natural disaster that was known to affect the lives of thousands of Americans is Hurricane Katrina. One particular person affected by this hurricane is a man named Abdulrahman Zeitoun, who ventured through the destructed city of New Orleans helping those in need, while experiencing the malevolent actions placed upon him. Abdulrahman Zeitoun is an individual that underwent an enormous change as a result of Hurricane Katrina.…
When disaster strikes people react in a variety of ways. People may do some different things like run, scream, hide, stay put and let it happen until their death but those are just a few ways people react to disastrous situations like a tsunami, tornado, or a fire. Which is what this essay is all about. In one story Mammoth Shakes and Monster Waves, it talked about a few different situations.…
The eyewitness account of the plague in Florence, Italy in 1384, talked about by Marilyn Migiel, was the author of the Decameron himself. Giovanni Boccaccio’s account of the plague is seemingly an eyewitness account because he “filtered his stories through other literary and historical descriptions of plagues” (Migiel 17). Boccaccio describes the plague as having baffling symptoms, the certainty of death, the overbearing presence of death and the dying, the procedures for trying to avoid the plague, the forsaken cities, and the effects on morals and decency (Migiel 17).…
Each paragraph begins with a notation of the time of day. London breaks down the day into the hour of the earthquake, then the aftermath by morning, afternoon, and night. We are embedded in the experience: “By Wednesday afternoon, inside twelve hours, half the heart of the city was gone.” He uses the flow of time to take you through the experience of the earthquake. By this use of time it allows the reader to better understand the upheaval of the earthquake. London’s syntax includes short sentences. By use of short sentences London gives the reader a feeling of how rapidly catastrophe can change things. The earthquake only lasted half an hour and now, “ San Francisco is gone.” In three short words London summed up the devastation of the earthquake. His factual and objective tone gives the reader an on the ground point of view experience of the earthquake. London describes the streets as being, “ humped into ridges and depressions, and piled up with the debris of fallen walls.” London’s tone is factual and objective like a news reporter. He uses rich detail in describing all aspects of the city to inform the reader what the affects of the earthquake looked…
On April 18, 1906 at 5:12 AM a earthquake and fire developed in San Francisco that only lasted seconds, but yet it destroyed ¾ of the city including 300,000 homes and 38,000 buildings at the end. Much of the destruction that day was caused by the fire that the earthquake started that is why people today call it “the great Fire of 1906.” During the earthquake the head of the city’s fire department passed away when the chimney of his home collapsed on top of him. In addition to this tragic incident the fire department lost almost all of its water due to the tremor snapping the water mains deep in the ground.…
Hurricanes are not abnormal for the people of Louisiana. Thus, there are plans and precautions made by the government in case a hurricane, such as Hurricane Katrina, is to happen. So why is Hurricane Katrina so disastrous? In his book Zeitoun, Dave Eggers asserts that Congress, the Bush Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and are neglectful and incompetent before, during, and following Hurricane Katrina. Due to Zeitoun’s family experiences, outside cases and broadcasts, this assertion is proven to be true.…
My grandmother asked me to go get some fruit from the food and vegetable section. I was short and asked if one of the store employees to help me reach the bananas and apples. A woman was walking by and wasn’t paying attention to where she was going and hit me with her shopping cart. My grandmother heard all the commotion and ran over to me to see if I was ok. The woman who hit me said that I was running around the aisle and hit her. The store employee told my grandmother that the woman wasn’t telling the truth about the incident. The woman demanded to see the store manager. She told the store manager her version of the event and demanded that my grandmother and I be removed from the store. The store manage then heard my and the employee’s…
Soda: Pony, Dally, and, Johnny were in a burning up church. Then a board fell on him and got hurt. Then they rushed him to the ambulance.…
The author achieved his purpose to investigate the gospels (as well as other New Testament books) in the same manner he would an eyewitness testimony of a crime scene. In the first half of the investigation, Wallace teaches his reader how to be a detective. Initially, he tends to describe detective work like emphasizing the power of circumstantial evidence, the danger of presuppositions, and the critical use of abductive reasoning (distinguishing reasonability versus possibility). He later ties in the process with the Biblical writings, for example, he examines the characteristics of accurate eyewitness, to which the gospels interestingly line up with (the witnesses, who clearly had no motive to lie, were present for the Christ events and gave…
On April 18,1906 , San Francisco was wrecked by a powerful earthquake and for the next few days was consumed by fires that destroyed a large portion of the city. Jack London writes a hair-raising description of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The earthquake destroyed many buildings and also started fires. The fires spread quickly throughout the city. The fires lasted two days, Wednesday morning until Thursday night. The fires destroyed almost all of the buildings, hotels, stores, and houses in San Francisco. People tried to leave the city with all of their belongings. San Francisco has many steep hills. People tried to make it up the hills with all of their belongings. They had a hard time carrying their things up the hill so they ended up leaving most of it behind. Many people became homeless. The United States Government tried to help these people. Business men and bankers started to rebuild the city of San Francisco.Jack London, a reporter for Collier’s Magazine, gives a firsthand account of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. He observes the spreading disaster as he travels the city mostly on foot. London sees and interacts with the residents and firefighters desperately struggling to salvage their city. He uses grippingly vivid imagery to take readers right into the roaring furnace and help them witness the overwhelming destruction it caused. Told in linked vignettes, the account follows the fire through its two-day journey and offers a small kernel of hope as it…