In 2010 author Andre Dubus III had an excerpt published called “My Father Was a Writer”. The author writes about how his father who was a Marine and how life was as a military family. Eventually the stresses of being a Marine took its toll on the relationship between his father and the family. In 1963, the author’s grandfather passed away and not long after his father retired from The Marines and traveled down a new path and was accepted into Iowa Writers’ Workshop. As time went by the father’s life began to change. From hugging and kissing his wife to letting his appearance change from clean cut and shaved to growing his hair and having a mustache. Showing the author and his siblings more attention from sitting with them at night just to tell
As a teenager, Bud had to milk cows, in the morning and in the evening. They had about 36 milking cows. Bud’s favorite subject in school was music class and choir. He attended Yale high school, and Eastern Michigan University. The one family tradition Bud participated in was going to church every Sunday morning. Bud had a curfew of about 10 o’clock p.m., but it got a little later as he got older. He lived and worked on his family’s dairy farm. It was in the countryside of Yale, Michigan. Bud was in college when the Vietnam War was taking place and because of the fact he did not want to be drafted he was motivated to stay in school.
William Faulkner tells his novel The Unvanquished through the eyes and ears of Bayard, the son of Confederate Colonel John Sartoris. The author’s use of a young boy during such a turbulent time in American history allows him to relate events from a unique perspective. Bayard holds dual functions within the novel, as both a character and a narrator. The character of Bayard matures into a young adult within the work, while narrator Bayard relays the events of the story many years later.
Stephen Crane , born November 1, 1871 in Newark, New Jersey, was an American author and journalist during the 19th century. He was his parents fourteenth and last child, but he only grew up with eight of his siblings because the other six had died. As a child Crane was looked after by his sister, Anges ,who was fifteen years older than him. The same year Stephen started school his father, Jonathan, died at the age of 60. Stephen was a very smart child who taught himself how to read by the age of four, and his first year in school, he did two years of work in the first six weeks. He was always interested in literature and wrote his first story ,“Uncle Jake and the Bell Handle”, when he was a mere 14 years of age. Although he was a very intelligent
In their respective life journey, both Wes Moores often found them facing with some hard choices or decision to make or standing at a crossroads of life change without knowing which way to turn. Therefore, “for all of us who live in the most precarious places in this country, our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). During their early childhood, both Wes Moores struggle at school and had troubles with the law. However, for the author Wes Moore, attending the military school was the biggest turning point in his life. Aware of his mother’s determination, his family’s sacrifice, and encouragement from classmates and instructors as well as the influence of role models, the author Wes Moore finally made up his mind that he wanted to succeed in the military school. At the end, the author Wes Moore fulfilled his dream and did well academically from then on. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore had tumbled on a series of missteps along the road: dropping out of school, getting involved with drug trade, committing violent crimes, and being a father of four when he was so young and immature. Even though there was a time when he tried to reinvent himself: joining the Job Corp, getting a high school diploma, and finding some decent jobs, the reality and his making-quick-money mentality eventually brought him back to the original path with no return. At last, by committing an armed robbery that left a police officer dead, the other Wes Moore irreversibly drove himself to the dead end of life. Obviously, based on their early life experiences, both Wes Moores would have gone the same route to failure. Nevertheless, at some critical points of their lives, the author Wes Moore made some good choices with intervention and guidance of good people while the other Wes Moore lost his footing under undue
John Andre was born in London to his French Protestant parents in 1780. His father was a merchant, born in Geneva, Switzerland and his mother was born in France and moved to England as a young girl. As a teen, he was sent to England for education purposes. John returned to London in 1767 and two years later, in 1769 his father passed away. He always looked at the military life and knew that he wanted to pursue a career in that field. He worked his way up to becoming a British lieutenant in Canada but faced many challenges after doing so.
Out of this week’s works of literature, the family in “From Going after Cacciato” by Tim O’Brien stood out the most to me. Not that it reminded me specifically of my own family, because I was raised in a single mother household. I would say that the reason it got my attention was because of how Private Paul Berlin spoke of his father so well. My interpretation was that he and his father had great relationship and enjoyed one another’s company. As I was reading the story I noticed he spoke of his father often. He continued to recall what his father had said “Ignore the bad stuff, look for the good.” (O’Brien, 236) His father seemed to have given him some words of wisdom before leaving for war. As a child I always yearned for my father to be in my life. Although Paul seemed to talk well of his father, it seemed to me that there were some unspoken issues between his mother and father. He spoke of how his mother hid booze in her perfume bottles and his father
Hugh Wheeler was born on March 19, 1912 to parents, Harold, who was a civil servant in the Office of the Public Trustee and Florence Wheeler, whose parents were in truck manufacturing. He was born in Northwood, Middlesex, England, (Obituary) and lived there until he was 22 years old. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London in 1932 (Gale). After receiving his degree, he decided to move to the United States and pursue his love of writing. He served in the American armed forces in World War II. He also became a naturalized American citizen in 1942. He remained in the United States until his death in 1987 (Obituary). There are few details of Wheeler’s personal life except that he never married and lived privately (Document). He was well respected in the literary world, in which he accumulated a variety of awards.
Theodore Dreiser was a writer whose dramatic life shown through into his works indirectly. He led a life that could be considered a “typical American” one by the standards of persons reflecting back upon his upbringing and his climb to literary greatness. Dreiser was influenced by the social and political changes during his lifetime, as well as his family and upbringing and the impression those around him had on his life. Born in 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was the ninth of ten siblings born to a German father and Mennonite mother. Unfortunately, Dreiser’s family had suffered great losses before he was even born. His father, who had started his own business in wool, suffered a great loss when his mill caught fire and was severely injured and left disabled for life (Smith). This is not something that the family could ever recover from, and so Theodore Dreiser grew up impoverished and with a Father, whose own mental stability undoubtedly not only influenced his writing, but his own mental well-being. Dreiser never finished high school, and did one year at University before leaving his formal education behind him completely. He began his writing in the 1890’s as a journalist for the Chicago Globe. Although his writing did not elicit a “by line” that created a following for him through the newspaper, his experiences there are another aspect of his life which shaped some of his writing (Rizzio). He was a naturalist writer who was influenced by the popularity of social Darwinism at the turn of the century. Dreiser’s first novel, “Sister Carrie” is one that was controversial for its time, but would not be considered as such now. Publishers were hesitant to promote this novel, but were not successful in squandering its p...
Autobiography is about self-reflection, expressing a personal distinctive view which, in a broader context, can be a commentary on the human condition and a statement on the morality and ethics of one’s personal history. It is about the recounting of selective experiences as seen through the eyes of the author, and although events of certain autobiographies may have been embellished and others not taken place at all, this style of writing is supposed to be sensitive to what actually happens. The sum of events represent the complex value-laden perceptions of a world filled with extremes of both good and evil.
Stephen Crane was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1891. Crane was the youngest in a family of fourteen. He was among the first writers to rebel against the genteel tradition, with his false romanticism and repression. Crane and some of his contemporaries were learning to mistrust what society had taught and accepted. “Let a thing become a tradition and it becomes half a lie”(Sufrin 5). His desire to write was inspired by his family. In almost three years of poverty, Crane had written four impressive, highly original books: “Maggie,” “The Black Riders,” “The Red Badge of Courage,” and “George’s Mother.” Stephen Crane started out as a comic writer. One of his techniques, which informs all about his best stories and novels, was parody. Crane’s poetry, for the most part, was dedicated to the metaphysical problems raised by man’s relation to his god. His fiction on the other hand, portrayed man struggling to survive in the society. The controlling tone in Crane’s fiction was humorous, ironic,serious, and self conscious. Crane began his higher education in 1888 at Hudson River Institute and Claverack College, a military school which nurtured his interest in “The Red Badge of Courage.” At the end of the first semester Cranes had only received four out of his seven classes, and two of them were failing grades. The other three were not graded because he never attended the...
Grantland S. Rice, author of The Transformation of Authorship in America, contends that the ultimate composition of American literature is fundamentally based upon a combination of efforts involving gender, class, period and application. What is particualy, interesting about Rice’s observations is the manner in which he applies his theories to literary considerations. According to Rice, there were a great many influences that constructed American literature up through modern times; as much as writers were “increasingly forced by social, political and economic changes” (Rice 159), it was because of these modifications that the literary experience gained in substance. In their attempts to uphold civic virtue, early writers “no doubt turned to the audience through whom they
Thomas L. Clancy Jr., son of a mailman and department store credit employee, was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1947. He attended a local catholic parochial elementary and secondary school. Most of his friends were interested in sports, and following their favorite teams throughout the season, but Tom had more important things on his mind like guns, tanks, and planes. He went to Loyola College, a Jesuit college of liberal arts in Baltimore where he majored in English. While attending college he joined the ROTC in order to serve in Vietnam, but poor eyesight kept him from fulfilling his desire. The first short story he wrote was rejected by Analog Sci-Fi magazine, crushing another dream of having his name on a book. In 1973 he became an insurance agent, as he wasn’t making any head way as a writer. Eventually he joined his wife’s father’s insurance agency, and later bought it in 1980 for $125,000. It was an established business with around 1,000 clients. Tom was so effective, and the business so profitable, that he could accomplish all the work in the morning and have the rest of the day to devour all sorts of technical journals and papers.3 After his writing career took off in 1984, he eventually moved into a 400 acre estate on the Chesapeake Bay.
"One day, about a year ago, I was helping my mom clean the attic. I came across a box full of short stories.That's when Mom told me that she and Dad use to write short stories all the time. They tried to make money from their writings, but they couldn't. When I was born, Mom gave up writing and landed a full-time job. But Dad continued to write, while working part time. Mom kept bugging Dad to quit writing and to get a real job, but he refused. By the time I was two years old, Mom kicked Dad out."
O'Brien's character makes several comments on storytelling in certain sections of the novel, such as "How to Tell a True War Story." Through making these comments, the narrator is not only justifying the intent of The Things They Carried,but he is also provid...
Gardner was fortunate enough to become acquainted to a late Henry, who had a profound influence on his life as a father figure. Gardner’s mother, through her periods of absence, was also a source of encouragement, inspiration and strength as she tried to instil the value of self-reliance and self-belief in him, (Horsfield, 2012). “The cavalry ain’t coming. You can only depend on yourself.” was a quote from his mother that he carried throughout his childhood experiences of alcoholism, domestic abuse, poverty, illiteracy and fear, (Gardner, 2014). He was determined to escape from all these experiences and build a different and brighter future for himself.