Li-Young Lee’s, “The Gift” unquestionably communicates several ideas, some rather direct, and others buried within the rhetoric and composition of the poem. Although the meaning (of the poem) may be left to interpretation, one of the most prominent concepts of the story, in my belief, is the gift of love and consequent tradition of offering it to loved ones. In the beginning of the poem, the narrator describes his father comforting him in the painful situation of removing a metal splinter from his hand: “My father recited a story in a low voice. I watched his lovely face and not the blade.” The father’s calm and affectionate demeanor can be further attested to in the second stanza, “...I recall his hands, two measures of tenderness, he laid…
"I sat on a chair inside the pulpit, eating fried chicken and bread. The people were still laughing and talking. Just outside the pulpit was the little pine Christmas tree with its green and red stripes of crepe paper for light, its bits of lint cotton for snow, and the narrow strings of tinsel for icicles. And there was the lone gift against the tub of dirt” (page 151). This quote seems like Grant is just describing a tree, but I took it to mean more than that. I see it as a symbolic look on his community. The tree is nothing spectacular. Nothing beautiful, or extravagant, yet to his students, it was the best tree ever. That's like his community. It is made up of the basics. Nobody is rich, nor are they the best looking. But to the people who make up the community, it is the best thing ever. Now the present I took to mean one of two things. Either the gift represents Grant, and his gift he can give to the community, knowledge and pride. Or it can represent Jefferson, meaning he is the lone diamond in the rough. The poor innocent man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time is now trapped in jail. He was just with the wrong people, in the wrong place. Being a presented among a pile of dirt, means he stand out as something good and wanted.…
The qualities that make Ender a successful leader is that he was hard working, he had empathy for others, and he was a decent person who was respected. One of the reasons Ender was a successful leader was that he worked hard to prove himself and become a good leader. Ender was chosen by Colonel Graff to become a commander but Colonel Graff also isolated Ender from the other boys by praising him and because of what Graff did Ender had to work hard to prove he could succeed by himself. When Ender was moved to the command school he was once again isolated and worked hard there because of that so he could become a person who could lead. ’…
He was determined to bring up his children in an extremely proper way, causing his daughter to both hate and love him at the same time. He would censor the types of books allowed in the house; any books that were found to be too inappropriate would have to be smuggled in the house without his knowing. Emily described it as “his heart was pure and terrible” (Tejvan par. 4). Because of these actions, Emily was extremely respectful to both her father and other older male figures. However, she still loved her father in every way she could, and wished to be the best daughter she could ever possibly be (Tejvan par.…
The statement "There are many obstacles on the path to belonging" in relation to Simple Gift can be seen throughout Billy’s journey as the disconnection from his father and community have led him into a fight for survival everyday. Each poem in all chapters throughout the text is in themselves a story and depicts the obstacles Billy faces, which were no problems in…
This play was interesting because the representation of death portrayed as being so sudden. When death hit Emily, she suddenly realized how she had wasted her life on earth because they were repeating the same actions everyday of their. She became sad and also regretful that she could not tell her husband George to get on with his life and end this incessant mourning.…
To me when Emily was a young girl she had so many suitors that her father had to scared them away which kept her from meeting potential suitors and getting married “…all the young men…
In life there are people that need things more than you do. This occurred when Charlie was thinking of something to do with his money. He was told to do something good so he ended up deciding to help out Alice’s family because he thought they needed it more than him and also because he had a slight crush on Alice. ‘Two words kept repeating themselves. Something good… Something good… Something good…’ (Direct quote) Page 117. By Charlie helping out Alice’s family he shows the power of not only friendship but love because he is doing something because of his feelings towards…
In the giving tree the author uses the gift of giving to explain the tree cares for the boy. The tree gives to the boy to make him happy which makes the tree happy. one example is when the tree tells the boy, “Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy." Another example is when the…
Upon reflection, Emily appears to achieve a greater wisdom than nearly any of the living. A wisdom that according to the stage manager is only possessed by “saints and poets maybe”. She realizes how special every moment of life is, and she is shocked at how people just let their life fly by. All too often people take things for granted, they become complacent in their everyday life. Emily is struck by the tragedy that she only truly appreciated what she had after it was gone. She sees every second of her life as extraordinarily precious, even a seemingly irrelevant moment. She realizes that the living are so busy with the small things in life that they don’t take the time to appreciate the important things. Looking back, Emily wants nothing but to talk to her…
Charles Dickens’ allegorical tale ‘A Christmas Carol’, explores ideas about generosity, and explains the idea that generosity can be understood in ways that do not involve the giving of money. The stories used by Dickens to exemplify this idea are mostly about the generosity of spirit shown by people who are unable to give money; the poor, the burdened and the children. Dicken’s position seems to be to contrast that whilst the rich and the powerful can sometimes ignore the cries for help from the poor and the weak, exemplary acts of generosity often come from people who have nothing material to give. As Marley said “Mankind was my business.”…
The Ghost takes Scrooge to the house of Bob Cratchit, who is Scrooge’s office clerk. Bob Cratchit has a nice little house with a family including a cripple son named Tiny Tim who is full of life. Scrooge’s heart melts for Tiny Tim whom the Ghost says will die if Tiny Tim situation doesn’t change. Scrooge’s action toward Cratchit has affected the Cratchit’s family life. Scrooge making Cratchit work on Christmas and giving him little money leads the Cratchit family poor of spirit and of money. This taught me that how we treat people matters. We must treat people with respect and kindness because how we treat other has an impact on others…
First of all, Emily's relationship with her father was not the best. Her father cut her off from all social contact and courtship which ruined her life, "that quality of her father which had thwarted her woman's life so many times" (Faulkner,38). She was not able to talk to guys and could not date either. So that there meant she was isolated by her father. When her father passed away and was buried, her isolation was more noticeable, "after her father's death, she went out very little" (Faulkner,34). At first Emily was not willing to accept that her father was dead, "she told them that her father was not dead" (Faulkner,36) and Emily did that for three days. After they buried her father, she was sick for a very long time and she isolated herself.…
The reader of “A Rose for Emily” might come to this conclusion because of the conditions Emily lived in as a Southern woman. Her father kept her isolated from the outside world and the young men who came to see her and this may have made her mentally ill. With the death of her father and the family being of wealth in the community, along with the views others had of Emily as having a “hereditary obligation” (Faulkner, 1930, p. 543) to continue the traditions that had been happening for generations, were hard for Miss Emily to continue because of her mental illness.…
The free verse novel ‘The Simple Gift’ is about Billy Luckett, a sixteen-year-old boy who decides to leave home, as he felt he was isolated from everyone else. Billy finds his security, peace and identity in the natural environment but is also shown throughout the novel that he does not give up to be a part of something or someone as he continues to strive to see the good side to others.…