People say that Canada lacks a unique identity, but Strange Brew took this opinion as a challenge with its extreme, satirical exaggeration of the stereotypical Canadian. Everything from the language to clothing is a Canadian exaggeration. The plot takes a Canadian pastime, beer, and revolves the story around it. What this really shows is the true identifier for Canadians, the ability to be at the butt end of our own joke. From the toque to the skates and all the Canadian stereotypes in between, scratch Strange Brew and it bleeds red and white.…
Deceit I also enjoyed Goody Cloyse's character. Goody Cloyse character is based on an actual woman (Sarah Cloyce), who was tried and convicted of witchcraft during the historical Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Her character proves that people hide their real identities. Goody is a Christian woman who assists young people study the Bible, but in secret she performs magic rituals and joins witch conventions in the forest.…
In the short story “The Threshold” by Amy Frazier, addresses an abusive relation between Ricardo and Vanessa. Alcohol converted the high school sweethearts into enemies. Unfortunately, domestic violence is a common problem in Hispanic families. There are three types of abuse that predominate in this story, physical, verbal, and psychological. Due to Ricardo’s frustration and unsuccessful life, he starts beating Vanessa which is a clear example of physical violence. Although, Ricardo shot her in the middle of the story . The worst physical aggression, it is when Ricardo beats Vanessa while she was pregnant with her second son Thomas, causing the loss of his defenseless baby. This is the most severe type of physical abuse…
"I am ashamed at how much time, resources, money, food, stuff, and energy I have wasted over the years, like storing my personal trash and possessions, as if they were more important than God, my family, and the people around me." ~ Jon Barnes…
The ultimate gift in the book, The Ultimate Gift, was all twelve of the lessons Jason learned throughout the twelves months. These lessons were to help Jason become a better person by learning the meaning of life. Therefore, each lesson was a life experience. Life is fragile and short and Red Stevens did not want Jason to keep living life without appreciation. Jason went into this journey as a greedy and selfish man. Before Jason begun all he cared about was inheriting money from his great-uncle, Red Stevens, but was going to leave without asking what he got for completing all the assigned lessons. Jason came out wanting to share his experience with others. In The Ultimate Gift Jason said, “I had no idea that the greatest gift anyone could…
In the book A Separate Piece by John Knowles, A group of teenage boys attend a selective boarding school in New Hampshire called Devon. Throughout the novel, the characters experience the prominent effects of World War II. From rotten apples to the disappearance of maids, the lives of boys at Devon were changing rapidly. Also, because most of the characters were on their way to turning 18, they are faced with the decision of whether to enlist or wait to be drafted.…
Protagonists of a story quickly become favorite characters of countless readers. In The Chosen by Chaim Potok, one of the protagonists is Reuven Malter, the son of David Malter. Along with his father, Reuven Malter is an orthodox Jew. In addition, Reuven has a great friend named Danny Saunders. Danny and Reuven meet at a baseball game between the Orthodox Jews and the Hasidic Jews. Even though other team mates think of Danny and his team as “Murderers,” Reuven decides to not judge them before he notices their character. After Danny injures Reuven during the game, the two become best friends. Reuven Malter shows numerous admiral character traits throughout the book, however, the three most prominent in the story consist of kind, fair, and admirable.…
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said that “the battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” East of Eden is a novel written by twentieth century author John Steinbeck. The Viking Press published it in 1952. The narration takes place from 1862 to 1918, mostly in the Salinas Valley, although some episodes happen in Massachusetts and Connecticut. John Steinbeck's East of Eden depicts humanity's struggle between virtue and in as a perpetual narrative of human history. Cathy Ames, the most controversial character in the novel, seems to be the only person of the book incapable of good: she has the characteristics of a born moral monster. She is not. The events that took place in her childhood affected Cathy. We will then see…
“Make mistakes, take chances, be silly, be imperfect, trust yourself and follow your heart.” (Mary Lopez) Something Borrowed, a novel by Emily Giffin expresses the themes of friendship, relationships and the unfairness of life. In the second quarter of the novel, Dex continues to cheat on his fiance, Darcy, with her best friend, Rachel. Dex and Rachel’s feelings grow stronger for one another but Darcy and Dex’s wedding rapidly approaches. There’s no longer much time to put off making the decisions for Dex and Rachel’s future. It’s pretty much now or never. If I were to give advice to any character, it would be Rachel. I would tell her to follow her heart, stick to her values and do what feels right, even if it seems radical or selfish.…
In the novel Schooled by Gordan Korman, Capricorn Anderson’s life has changed for the better. Have you ever heard of a thirteen year old who got arrested two times in less than two months for doing a silly thing like driving, and being underage while doing it? Cap Anderson is a flower child, who lives in Garland Farms with his sixty-seven year old grandmother, Rain, who educates him until she has an accident. Cap is different from other characters because Cap comes from Garland which is a whole different world. In Garland, there is no money, no television and different hobbies from the “real” world. Cap would have never thought he would interact with the world outside of Garland and enjoy it!…
Many times in the novel, Christopher compares normal people to himself, therefore; the reader gets a better understanding on his beliefs. He relates regular people to the way he thinks and analyzes his opinion in a manor whether it is nice or not. Christopher stresses in the novel that he has his own way of thinking of complicated issues he has, along with many others. He absolutely hates being touched anywhere by anyone. This is shown when Christopher hits a police officer for the officer putting his arm on Christopher which leads to him being put in jail.…
Throughout Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral,” the nameless narrator, the main character develops emotionally through a situation that creates fear in an already introverted man. He does not want to go outside of his comfort zone and he is caught off guard when he is forced beyond his current developmental state. But, through a lesson from the blind narrator finds himself enlightened to the sentiments of the handicapped.…
The story Two Kinds is about a Chinese girl, Jing-Mei, who lives life trying to find herself under her over-bearing mother’s envisions and high expectations of what she feels Jing-Mei should become. The subject of the mother-daughter dynamic and lack of obedience is revealed from the beginning of the story; as well as the fact their relationship is rather conflicted. Throughout the story Jing-Mei is very obstructive to the ideas her mom puts forth. Her constant acts of disobeying and rebelling against her mom orders, express how the tension arose between Jing-Mei and her mom. The fact her mom had an extremely difficult life in China until she lost everything and moved to America, explains and sort of justifies why she was so obsessed with Jing-Mei excelling and making something of her, life in addition to her desire of wanting to be able to brag. Unfortunately, rather than allowing Jing-Mei to find something she was comfortable with and make an independent decision of what she wanted in her life, she forced activities and ideas on her which eventually resulted in Jing-Mei becoming rebellious. As Jing-Mei became rebellious, her mom implemented her…
Someone once said “Family like branches on a tree, we all grow in different directions, but our roots keep us all together”. This mean that we all become diverse individuals yet what keeps all of us united as one is our genealogy. In the story A Pair of Tickets by Amy Tan we come across a character named June May who is on her mid thirties and embarks on a mission to China to meet her lost twin sisters to notified them of their mother’s death and also to make her not existing mother “Long-Cherished Wish” come alive. Her wish was to connect her three daughter together since they were all, that was left of her entire family. A Pair of Ticket is a fairy tale story. June made her mom’s wish her own. However throughout her life June has encountered…
Jing-Mei’s stubbornness encourages her to believe her mother is being unfair and cruel, “when [her] mother had told [her] this, [she] felt as though [she’s] been sent to hell.” When in reality, all her mother is doing is guiding her so she won’t have to go through the hardships she herself had gone through (Page 5). Jing-Mei has no desire to cooperate with her mother. She fights with her every way she can, determined to extinguish her mother’s dreams of her becoming successful, Jing-Mei neglects her studies as well as the piano. Jing-Mei believes her mother is trying to change her, Jing-Mei states “I won’t let her change me… I won’t be what I’m not…” despite her mother’s real intentions of her becoming successful (Page 3). Jing-Mei feels she must reject her mother in order to find herself “right then and there, [she] was determined to put a stop to her foolish pride.” however, in doing so, she is rejecting her heritage and identity (Page 7).…