America singer in The Elite by Kiera Cass faces several challenges with herself and with the other girls in the competition. The main conflict in this book is internal although she does face external obstacles while competing against the other girls. The conflict is internal as America is constantly going back and forth over who she loves and what she is willing to sacrifice for it. She has confessed her love for Maxon, but she ‘needs more time’ so he gives her space and she goes and sneaks around with Aspen. Throughout the whole book she is fighting with herself, debating on who she wants to be with, the prince or her first love. As she is trying to choose who she loves more she is constantly distracted by the rebels who keep attacking the
American Character by Colin Woodard, is a book about America’s history and the upcoming of how the United States has become. Woodard starts off first explaining what it was like when America was colonized by the New England colonists and goes onward to present-day America. A book like this should be deemed great for a political history class because of the vast amount of information it has. Although, this book is exceptionally very small for a book of such kind, Woodard loves jumping around from era to era and can leave his readers at a disarray. Claiming so, a strong and prior knowledge of the American history and its government is strongly encouraged. Historical and economic terms are also used immensely in this book, so a thesaurus and dictionary would be of great use. If those two resources aren’t of much help, a recommendation of facts found upon the Internet regarding an era of which Woodard is explaining would be helpful.
Alan Shapiro is a poet whom uses the sorrowful tragedies that occurred in his lifetime and turns them into beautiful poems in which he greatly expresses through his poetry. Most of his poems symbolize either a type of sorrow or tragic death, and the expressions used throughout his poetry make it noticeable that Alan Shapiro endured a life of hardship and tragedy. While Shapiro was growing up he lost his brother and his sister in which the poem “Sleet” by Alan Shapiro beautifully encompasses his feeling of grief and sorrow due to the loss of his siblings.
The film “October Sky” based on a true story, shows a young man named Homer Hickam, facing numerous adversities as he strives to become successful. The 1950’s space race between United States and The Soviet Union, encourages Homer to possibly pursue a career in rocket building. In a town where the main line of work was coal mining, Homer’s aspiration towards rocket building become troublesome. Throughout the film, Homer is discouraged and made fun of for working towards an ambition other than coal mining. This however, did not demoralise Homer as he continues to attempt at rocket building alongside his companions with the same goal. Homer is confronted by several challenges including, failure, peer pressure, absence of self-belief, discouragement,
A young 12-year-old boy by the name of Aaron Kurlander faced many hardships when he was left to fend for himself while his family was separated from him in the 1930’s depression era in St. Louis at the Empire hotel. Aaron uses his imagination and sense of reality to survive and he never seems to let his spirits sink. While Aaron was left to fend for himself, his father seems to think he had good reasons for the families absences; Aaron’s brother Sullivan was shipped off to go live with relatives, his mother (Mrs. Kurlander) admitted to a sanitarium for tuberculosis, and his father (Mr. Eric Kurlander) who was a door-to-door sales man who sold wickless candles left town to travel for a watch
Jon Butler, a William Robertson Coe Professor of American Studies and History and Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, wrote the book, Becoming American: The Revolution Before 1776, which was published in 2000 by the Harvard University Press. Butler is an accomplished and respected historian who has won multiple awards as a professor and a writer. In Becoming American, Butler analyzes the impacts the colonists had on the New World during the years 1680 to 1770. Butler argues that in the British Mainland Colonies, colonists went through many changes during the 1680’s to 1770’s to form a “modern” and uniquely America.
War, love, race, and the meaning of life all play huge roles in The Quiet American by Graham Greene and For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. The depiction of Americans intertwined with the themes of war, love, race, and the meaning of life are quite similar, but at the same time very different. In Greene’s novel the depiction of Americans is seen through Alden Pyle who is young, inexperienced, naive, and careless. Alternatively Hemingway’s American character Robert Jordan is Pyle’s complete opposite being that he’s experienced and aware of the actions he does. Whereas Pyle fights against the native people; Jordan fights among the people. While both novels portray a similar idea of American 's self-righteous duty, through these two characters
During the process of reading this compilation of works, Portrait of America, many different point of views were aired. The opinion or attitude on the subject was too tainted. The authors were very biased to their perception of the "story". This book could have been much more beneficial if the facts would have stayed to the straight and narrow. Only the detrimental facts needed to be applied to these chapters. For a history class, as broad as this, this book opened too many doors that could not be explained in as much detail as would be liked. Many of the authors enjoyed mentioning the most scandalous moments of the people's lives then dropped the fact without much support or follow through as to what happened to cause or end these events. Brief summaries only tease the mind, and with the course load of most students, there is hardly extra time to investigate the matter further in detail. For a class such as History 152, biographies and/or documentary style books are more worth the while of the student. For instance make a list of a selection of novels that could be read for the class, so that every student can then explore in depth what that student thinks is interesting. Although the book was teasing in nature the chapters did flow well and were easy to read. The procession of the chapters had wonderful transition as to not loose the student. While proceeding through this book there were several different reoccurring topics that appeared. This paper will discuss these two reoccurring topics: the civil rights movement and former presidents.
In the book Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, it demonstrates a lot of microaggressions going on. Not only does it have to do with your skin color but there are so many perspectives that just make you wonder why or how can a person be so cruel. The famous tennis player went through so much that it's unbelievable. “ One commentator said he hoped he wasn't being unkind when he stated, “Capriati wins it with the help of the umpires and the line judges.”(Williams 27) My reaction to something like that wouldn't be good because whether it's true or not, there will always be something that will want to prevent you from winning or succeeding. This piece from the book Citizen not only shows that people are judged by how they look or their
The poem “America” by Tony Hoagland reflects on how peoples’ minds are clouded by small-scale items, money, and the unimportance of those items. Metaphors and imagery are utilized to emphasize the unimportance of materialistic items in America. How America is being flooded with unnecessary goods. The poem uses examples of people to create an example and connection to the overall meaning.
Some immigrants have spent their whole lives in America and have made a living here for themselves. Nobody knows that better than Adam Crasper, who has spent his entire life in the U.S. He now has to prepare to leave his American family and everything he knows behind for a country he knows nothing about. Stack and Hauser explain in their article “A South Korean Man Adopted by Americans Prepares for Deportation.” That Adam Crapser was adopted from South Korea nearly four decades ago…. he now has to prepare for Deportation because his American parents failed to fill out some citizenship paperwork (Stack and Hauser par. 1). Adam has never lived in South Korea, he would have help from his biological family to navigate around, but is going to
Before going to Alaska, Chris McCandless had failed to communicate with his family while on his journey; I believe this was Chris’s biggest mistake. Chris spent time with people in different parts of the nation while hitchhiking, most of them whom figured out that McCandless kept a part of him “hidden”. In chapter three, it was stated that Chris stayed with a man named Wayne Westerberg in South Dakota. Although Westerberg was not seen too often throughout the story, nevertheless he was an important character. Introducing himself as Alex, McCandless was in Westerberg’s company for quite some time: sometimes for a few days, other times for several weeks. Westerberg first realized the truth about Chris when he discovered his tax papers, which stated that “McCandless’s real name was Chris, not Alex.” Wayne further on claims that it was obvious that “something wasn’t right between him and his family” (Krakauer 18). Further in the book, Westerberg concluded with the fact that Chris had not spoken to his family “for all that time, treating them like dirt” (Krakauer 64). Westerberg concluded with the fact that during the time he spent with Chris, McCandless neither mentioned his
Anthem, by Ayn Rand, is a very unique novel. It encircles individualism and makes the reader think of how people can conform to society and do as they are told without knowing the consequences and results of their decisions. Also, it teaches the importance of self expression and the freedom that comes along with being your own person and having the power to choose what path to take in life. Figurative language is used often in this book and in a variety of quotes that have great importance to the theme, plot, and conflict of the novel.
In “What is an American” by Hector St John de Crevecoeur, the writer described many notable differences that he discovered when he first arrived in America. He marveled at the many differences in structure, diversity, and the overall equality of this new land. Crevecoeur’s early America was much different than the land that he once knew. America gave him a sense of freedom, hope, and possibility. He wrote letters in hope to inspire all who were looking for a change in their lives, and who would be ready to contribute to the advancement of such a great land. America was more united, with every man working for themselves. There were no monarchies with Kings and Lords who contained all wealth while others suffered. Every
“Mr. Gaga” is a documentary film by Tomer Heymann released in 2015 about the life and career of Ohad Maharin. Naharin is an Israeli contemporary dancer and choreographer. Born in 1952 and raised by his mother Tzofia Naharin, who is a choreographer, and father, who is a psychologist. This film takes place in Israel and in New York over the time of his dance career from 1974 and 2005. The film “Mr. Gaga” shows rehearsal footage, dance performances, as well as the personal life of Maharin. It reveals his creative mind and body, as well as major people in his dance career and love life. Another star of this film is his first wife Mari Kajiwara, a former dancer for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, who helps Maharin and joins him on his journey.
To what extent does ‘The American scholar’ reflect the values of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution?