The author of this essay, Michael Arlen, in his summary of the holidays, Ode to `Thanksgiving is nostalgic and bitter about the subject. Arlen’s purpose it to break down and criticize every aspect of Thansksgiving in a cloying, annoyed way. Arlen speaks of the “pointless” traditons that go along with Thanksgiving and the bland history of how the celebratory day was formed. The author does this by using strong rhetorical devices such as imagery, syntax, and tone. While reading this one may feel as if Arlen is personally attacking them, and their appreciation of the day of celebration. He adopts a satirical tone in order to convince the reader that Thanksgiving is a terrible day, and that he does not enjoy any particular detail of it.
The essay opens with the assertion that Thanksgiving is not really a holiday because it possesses none of the characteristics of a real holiday. Arlen attacks the imagery of the holiday, the participants, the lack of presents, and the lack of costumary values. Next, the holiday is attacked because it occurs during the "nowhereness of the time of year." The season is characterized as bad in both the "cold and sobersides northern half of the country." Last, the writer moves us to "consider the meal itself." He attacks the starches, the "sacred turkey" and ritual of the carving itself. The author creates a bitter and nostalgic tone, the emotion of the first paragraph sets the tone for the rest of the essay. The tone is set by the specific details the author uses, as well as the diction Arlen expounds. Arlen leaves the reader asking, "Is nothing sacred or important to this man?”
In the second paragraph Arlen demonizes the religious aspect of the holiday, calling Thanksgivi...
... middle of paper ...
...onification, and hyperbole. The author continues this when he narrates his view on carving the turkey as “ trying to burrow his way into or out of some grotesque, fowllike prison.” Arlen uses a double entendre here because he sees the turkey as some kind of disgusting jail that one must dig its way out of. The author also uses the word follwlike to describe the bird as a fowl, and the fowl look the torn apart the bird has when served for dinner.
In this essay, Arlen continuously vilfies Thanksgiving in an attempt to describe to readers that the holiday is not all it is cracked up to be. The rhetorical devices used in the essay are there to persuade the reader to agree with the author. The essay suggests that due to past experiences people may have viable reasons to dislike a holiday, but it is unecessary to force those negative views on other people.
Loewen, James W. "The Truth about the First Thanksgiving." Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: New, 1995. 67. Print.
In Truman Capote’s The Thanksgiving Visitor, a connection is exposed between the main character, Buddy, and his elderly best friend, Miss Sook, which serves as the center point of the story and reveals much about the intricacies of human nature. An autobiographical tale, the author describes his childhood of the 1930s in rural Alabama. An 8-year-old orphan who lives with his four cousins of sixty-plus years, he is an outcast among his peers who finds school and life outside the household quite scary. This dread of school is brought about by the neighborhood bully, Odd Henderson, who constantly beats and picks on Buddy any chance he can get. In fact, Buddy only truly finds himself happy when accompanied by the eccentric Miss Sook and her dog, Queenie. The story follows Buddy, a young Capote, as he goes through the struggles of loneliness, envy, friendship, and empathy. Through these trials, with the aid of the old spinster, Miss Sook, Buddy matures and grows to learn about life lessons.
Moraff,C. The Real History of Thanksgiving." Philadelphia Magazine (2012).p.n.d. Data retrieved from http://www.phillymag.com/news/2012/11/20/dark-origins-thanksgiving/ on May 6,2014.
On this date November 25 “Marc Brown” wrote a book. The book Marc had wrote was Arthur's Thanksgiving.
Despite the evidence that Washington Irving uses to show his love for America in his stories, he portrays some characters in the Devil and Tom Walker and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as greedy. Irving shows concern for America by placing stories in uniquely American moments. In this essay I will prove through passages and quotes from Irving's stories that he shows his love for America in his stories and portrays some characters as greedy in the two stories.
Poetry is a universe of subjectivity. When two poems are set up, side-by-side, to create discussion, results may vary. But it is clear in Sherman Alexie’s two poems, “Defending Walt Whitman” and “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”, where the discussion must go. Alexie explores Native American culture and the effect that the Europeans have had on the native people of the United States. This feat is accomplished through the thoughtful use of several literary devices, including tone, simile, allusion, and metaphor.
Thesis (your main idea): Many people celebrate Thanksgiving, but not all know the real meaning behind it.
The example given was that the man helped the seeds that lost their way, and in return, the seeds, as the three sisters (Beans, Corn and Squash), helped him in his time of need. The three sisters also taught the man about ceremonies of thanksgiving as a way to bring an attitude of thankfulness to the larger human community so that they too, will offer gratitude to their three sisters at the designated times, as the sisters do to the humans who care for them. The story expresses a theme of interconnectedness and interdependence where the three sisters are reliant upon and thankful to the humans for their survival, and likewise, the humans are reliant upon and thankful to the three sisters for their own survival. Together, humans, Corn, Beans, and Squash, celebrate and give thankfulness for their cooperative relationship with one another.
During fall, the leaves fall, the temperature drops, and people sit around a table and say what they are thankful for. While we are consuming pounds of turkey and stuffing, the Pilgrims are to thank for the annual feast. Because the meaning of this holiday is to not stuff your face with endless amount of carbs, we should be reminded of how grateful we are for what we own. Thanksgiving was a very memorable time in U.S. history.
As one of America’s leading contemporary poet’s, Sharon Olds is known for the intense personal and emotional poetry that she writes. Her ability to intimately and graphically divulge details of her personal life allows readers to delve into the deepest parts of not only her mind, but of their own as well. Sharon Olds uses her writing to allow readers to experience the good and bad of life through her eyes, yet allows readers the interpretive freedom to define her works as they fit into their own lives. Olds’ ability to depict both wonderful and tragic events in stories such as “First Thanksgiving” and “Still Life in Landscape”with beautifully gruesome clarity allow readers a gritty real-life experience unlike any other.
In Tompkins's essay, the reader is fed the façade that Tompkins's is writing on the relations between the Puritans first entering this country and the Native Americans already residing there. Her introduction to this paper is a personal reflection of a memory she has retained since her childhood. The reason for writing this essay she explains, is to prepare for a course she was to be teaching. The essay appears to be that of exceptional quality. Not only does she analyze the sources o...
...itable for their new claimant, and to build houses able to withstand the brutal New England winters. By fall, they had “fitted their houses against winter, and had all things in good plenty” so, Bradford called for a celebration, a “Thanksgiving shared with their Wampanoag friends.” (Kelso, 2005)
I did not like to present an image of myself as a joyless scold on Thanksgiving, but I wished to have my views given respect and consideration. I did ...
Smith, Andrew. "The Industrialized Turkey." The Turkey: An American Story. Illinois : Library of Congress, 2006. 93-105. Print.
The History of ThanksgivingTopic: The History of ThanksgivingQuestion: What is the origin of Thanksgiving?Thesis: The History of Thanksgiving goes far back to 1621 when the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared a harvest feast, which was the first Thanksgiving meal.September of 1620, a ship known as the Mayflower left Plymouth, England transporting over 100 passengers. These passengers were religious separatists and were seeking refuge in a new territory. Originally, they were headed to the Hudson River in New York, but due to erratic weather such as severe thunderstorms, they ended up in Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts.1 They were greeted by the local Wampanoag Indian tribe, who befriended the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and brought them corn and turkey for the first Thanksgiving.2 They also offered them a bountiful harvest of Indian breads, seeds, etc. Throughout the course of time, the Pilgrims had their first successful harvest which then led to a three day