The main characters are Balm White, Dan Hartwell, and Hugh Bennett. None of
The main characters are Balm White, Dan Hartwell, and Hugh Bennett. None of
In Richard Connell’s thrilling short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, an uneasy mood is constructed by Rainsford’s illusive adventure on Ship Trap Island. Many moments in the short story help build up a feeling of uneasy, one being when Winston uses a simile to describe the evil of the atmosphere, saying that the air “ was actually poisonous”, and that he felt a “mental chill, a sort of sudden dread” when the ship neared the island (Connell 1). The author makes the reader feel uneasy by making just the atmosphere itself seem evil and dangerous with the simile comparing the air to something that kills and is to be avoided. Readers also naturally pick up the feeling of dread from Whitney, which significantly helps in building…
Tobias Wolff’s highly accredited novel, ‘ This Boys Life’ explores truth and lies through the use of various scenarios and characters in a cliché “American dream” teenage world.…
In the “Black Blizzard” written by Scholastic Scope 2002, it explains a black dust storm in the 1930-1935. A family prepares for a huge dust storm that is dangerous and life threatening. Farms in the south had a drought and lost most of their crops which made farmers lose jobs, america was already suffering from the stock market crash and the great depression. The dust storm killed many farm animals, stopped car engines, and the banks stole their homes and destroyed the farms for money that they owed Farmers moved south. In the south, it was hard for Okies(people from the south that moved) because the native Californians mistreated them due to being scared of them tried to make them leave. America became better, rain came back, Some Okies…
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan, analyzes the hardships and experiences of families, teenagers and cowboys during the early twentieth century when the Dust Bowl was flourishing rampant in the southern plains. Timothy Egan introduces his liberal background to infuse his argument that the federal government did not do enough to help the people who were being held prisoner to hundreds of thousands of air particles. Egan shows how the abundance of lucious land in the plains was easily destroyed by neglect of finances in the area and the terrible storm that swarmed all the life that existed. He believes that even some small businesses, such as railroad companies, ran the area into the ground when it was on the way to flourish by not providing…
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck both show the struggles of average middle class Americans in hard times. Some hard times can be brought by personal financial choices, like in The Glass Castle, while other financial hardships can be brought by terrible economic times, such as the Great Depression Era in The Grapes of Wrath. Through all of the tough times the Walls’ and the Joad’s faced, they still stuck together. The two families stuck together by being there for one another. They also stuck together by accepting change, even if it wasn’t expected or wanted. The Walls’ and Joad’s faced so much difficulty, but with love and acceptance, they stuck together.…
The crash of the stock market hit in 1929 leading America in a downward spiral; Wall Street loses countless investors, unemployment rates skyrocket, and the devastating American Dust Bowl strikes the Great Plains. Making ends meet seems virtually impossible for the majority of individuals in the United States, especially for those affected by both the economic crisis and the Dust bowl. In John Steinbeck's realistic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, intercalary chapters are implemented throughout the work to adumbrate the difficult lifestyle farmers have to endure due to the Great Depression and the American Dust Bowl.…
When is the last time that you saw a literary device? In a poem, or a novel? Perhaps a short story? Literary devices: we all use them, we all love them, but what can it really do for an author's writing? When used correctly they can add character and dimension to one's writing, but what some fail to remember is that even the best writers can fall extremely short to writing excellent literary elements. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell uses literary devices such as personifications and allusions to help the reader better understand the plot and characters. Although Connell excelled in his numerous uses of personifications, his allusions he attempted were far from perfection.…
Both historical events were devastating for everyone involved. The first theme is an obvious one which is adversity. Adversity is peppered all through both of these books. Starting with "Hard Times," the Depression Era and the adversity that it caused people was not exclusive to one race as it mainly was in "Nisei Daughter." The adversity forced upon people in Terkel's book affected all races, ages, and gender. This can probably be expected with the Depression affecting all corners of the nation. "Black and White, it didn't make any difference who you were, cause everybody was poor" (Terkel, 41). Adversity is probably putting it mildly for most living in America in the 1930's. From people losing children from traveling from place to place such as the young baby that died of soot and smoke inhalation riding through the train tunnels (Terkel, 15) to wealthy Anglo men not being able to handle the pressures of such a time by killing themselves. "They weren't able to live up to the standards they were accustomed to, and they got ashamed in front of their women" (Terkel, 83) The shame these men felt led to their…
Every teenager thinks that they have it the worst. That they've been through and seen everything. The truth is they haven't and they will only realize that when they become an adult. I recently read a speech given by a man named Shane Koyczan. He titled it "To This Day".…
The word “television” provokes different kinds of reactions, whether they are disgusted, elated, or non-chalant. Barbara Enrenreich in the passagae from “The Worst Years of Our Lives”, argues that television is creating couch potatoes. There is some validity to Erenreich’s assertion since the American population has become less active however it provides opportunities for those who do not have acess to the outside world, and has effects different kinds of people. The posibilities that television produces are endless.…
The book begins in 1933 in Seattle on a gloomy day. It was the fourth year of the Great Depression and at this point it seemed like it would last forever. “Nobody could say when, or if, the hard times would ever end” (Brown 9). The time period brought on a bleak, depressing, and failing society. Howard Zinn, in his article called Self‐Help in Hard Times, provided a…
When you consider the disaster of the American Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties on the Great Plains, no wonder Stephen Long of 1821 concluded that the American West was “almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence.”1 It seems that Timothy Egan’s book, The Worst Hard Times, hit the nail right on the head as to the cause of the worst natural disaster that the United States has ever experienced. The great dusters of the Dirty Thirties occurred because of the United States Government’s encouragement to over-farm the Great Plains during the early twentieth century, particularly during the Great War and the 1920’s. When you take into account this foolhardy encouragement to the homesteaders and their family farms it is only natural that the homesteaders share in the blame.…
I just finished reading "The Bad Beginning" written by Lemony Snicket. I chose this book, because of the title, and the summary of the book. When I heard the name bad beginning it just sounded really interesting to me. Once I started reading, I knew I wouldn’t want to put the book down, and I didn’t. The lexile of this book is 1010. The main idea of this book is about three children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, whose parents are killed in a fire which also destroys their home sent to live with Count Olaf, a relative, their lives then take a turn for the worse. Count Olaf treats the children like slaves, ordering them to cook, clean etc, and force them to share a single, filthy bedroom, with only one…
In “One Last Time,” Gary Soto talks about how he grew up in an immigrant family, and to make money his family had to work in the fields picking grapes, oranges, plums, peaches and cotton. Soto seems to have a negative attitude towards field work he finds it tiresome and boring. And finds himself daydreaming to escape boredom because he felt boredom was a terror and as awful as the work itself (Soto 42). When Soto was fifteen years old he rejects field work and states “I’d rather wear old clothes than stoop like a Mexican (Soto 43). However he changes his mind because he needs to earn money to buy new clothes. So that spring him and his friend Rick decides to take a labor bus to chop…
In the novel Disgrace, written by J.M Coetzee it is evident that the relationships David has with the various women reflects his lack of self-knowledge and views on life. Lucy as the dominant woman throughout the novel has an impact on David’s perception and the way he portrays life to be, and by adapting to her lifestyle experiences change himself. Melanie, Soraya, and Bev to an extent contribute to David’s lack of self-knowledge, that he cannot do without having sex and expecting more after. Tersa has a symbolic meaning in David’s life and comes to a realisation that he might be filling a void. Each woman has a role to play in David’s realisation of himself and how he approaches specific things.…