The poem, “Remember”, by Joy Harjo illuminates the significance of different aspects in one’s life towards creating one’s own identity. Harjo, explains how everything in the world is connected in some way. She conveys how every person is different and has their own identities. However, she also portrays the similarities among people and how common characteristics of the world impact humans and their identities. Harjo describes the interconnectedness of different aspects of nature and one’s life in order to convey their significance in creating one’s identity.
In the poem, Harjo portrays the importance of recalling the past to help shape one’s identity. She uses the repetition of the word “Remember” to remind that while the past may be history, it still is a defining factor in people’s lives (l. 1). This literary technique
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The “red earth, black earth, yellow earth, [and] white earth” describe different races that are present in the world (l. 12). However, this imagery is not confined to signify races, but can also refer to different genders, religions, nationalities, and so on. The juxtaposition of the various colors emphasizes how different people can be from each other. However, the repetition of the word “earth” emphasizes how the earth is a common factor among all people and unites the human race together. All kinds of people are present in the world and each characteristic that defines humans adds to their identities, yet there is always something that connects everyone together. For example, one’s heritage is a significant factor in determining an identity. Each person is “evidence of her [their mother’s] life, and her mother’s” and so on (l. 8-9). Heritage highlights traits that have been passed down from generation to generation, further accentuating the importance of remembering one’s past – or ancestors – in order to help justify characteristics of their
In “Seeing Beyond Our Differences “by Sheri White, the author writes about how people are different in their appearances, race, and religion. After all, everyone is human and almost identical. The author points out how her mother is from India with a dark skin color and her father is from Indiana with a light skin color. Her parents still able to get married and there is no obstacle in their marriage. As a daughter, the author has never noticed that her parents are different in their skin colors and races. They both are the same as human to her. The author’s main idea is to let people know that no matter what race they are, what religion they follow, or how they look, they all are human. Deep down inside them, in their DNA, they all are 99.9 percent the same and almost identical. In this article, the author uses expressive purpose and descriptive pattern to express her main idea.
The past dictates who we are in a current moment, and affects who we might become in the future. Every decision people make in lives has an influence on future, regardless of how minimal or large it is. Some decisions people decide to make can have dire consequences that will follow them for the rest of the life. Moreover, even though if someone would want to leave any memories from past behind, however it will always be by his side. Specific memories will urge emotional responses that bring mind back to the past and person have no choose but to relieve those emotions and memories again. Nonetheless, certain events change people and make them who they are, but at the same time, some wrong choices made past haunts us. This essay will discuss the role of the past in novel Maestro, that was written by Australian author Peter Goldsworthy in 1989 and also in Tan Shaun's story Stick Figures which was included in book called "Tales from outer suburbia" and published in 2008.
Denise Levertov is the poet who wrote “The Blue Rim Memory” and “A Tree Telling of Orpheus,” in which she portrays a theme of morals and religious beliefs though post modernism, anachronism, and liberalism. Levertov was born in llford, United Kingdom and later moved to Massachusetts where she taught in universities such Brandeis University, MIT and Tufts University. Levertov wrote “The Blue Rim Memory” and “In the Land of Shinar” which brought her the fame and enabled her to begin her pilgrimage journey towards the deep spiritual, personal, and political understanding .
Throughout this reflective address, the relevance in our modern society of this issue explored in the novel will be analyzed and evaluated in regards to the representations of concepts, identities, times and places; ideas, attitudes and values; and the perspectives of both the past and present societies. It is asked that any questions and/or comments be saved until the end.
Everyone has specific characteristics and qualities that make them the way they present themselves. Young, middle-aged, and old people are constantly forming the essentials that affect their self-awareness through their daily activities. Forming one’s identity is an ongoing process, because every person in the world can change people one way or another. In The House on Mango Street, the experiences young Esperanza faced day to day develop her true individuality.
People identify themselves using not only qualities within them, but through culture and family as well. Through these few examples, it is easy to see some of the foundations that can foster an entire, complex identity. It is understandable how interesting and varied humans can be, drawing from so many directions to build who they are. Identity is not very complex at all, it comes through living day to day.
A Heart With A Superfluous Chromosome Forty-six. This is the number of chromosomes a person has in their body. Forty-seven. The. This number represents the number of chromosomes present in the body of a person with Down syndrome.
“As we journey through life, identity and belonging must be consistently renegotiated.” Each person’s identity goes through a process of stages in order to be fully developed and be a whole identity. Some people needs more time than others to attain a full, whole identity. There are many factors which play a role in sharpens people’s identity such as the environment that the people love in and the experiences that they went through. Undoubtedly, immigrants, especially those form two different cultures, need more time to achieve a stable and whole identity as they become trapped between two cultures, unable to categorize themselves with a particular one. For instance, it is very hard for Asian Americans, especially the first and second generations, to assimilate and adjust in America as they have different culture, traditions and features. This paper will depict how Obaachan in Silver like dust and Pearl in Shanghai Girls defines their identity and belonging during their lives’ journeys.
Many practices within diverse cultures are familiar, leading us to the realization that even though people have different beliefs and different values, and come from different countries, there are also many similarities. When analyzing the various practices withing diverse cultures, you begin to see the likeness of a society that reflects your own customs. Through out The Namesake, symbolic meaning contributes to the overall message of being able to establish an identity and embrace the identity of others.
The poem is gentle and nostalgic. It seeks not only to recreate the scene for the reader, but
Although the concept of identity is recurrent in our daily lives, it has interpreted in various ways.
She writes in her poem “Remember”, “Remember that you are all people and all people are you”. This line emphasizes how much she believes each person is individually so important to the world, and brings so much to the table. She writes in “Metamorphosis” how each student in her school had a different talent that made them each unique and valuable, and she expresses this value again in “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window” (Harjo 681-682). In this poem, the woman in the poem is not expressed only as
In the poem the author introduces an emotional appeal by stating, “Whimpering: its’ okay baby, please don’t cry. Don’t cry. Baby don’t cry. And he never cries again” (lines 31-33). In this quote the author is introducing the man going through an emotional childhood dealing with his mother coming home with torn clothing and he uses alcohol to cope with his pain. The author wants the reader to put themselves into the position of the man with a damaged mother who was no liable to care for her own son, so as he grew older he used alcohol to cure the heartache he was having to face. Although the author uses almost entirely an emotional appeal to this poem she uses an ethical appeal by stating, “Good-looking girl-woman taps this on her screen”(line 42). The author is describing the character as being attractive and female, while character description is a very important role to play in the use of the literary device imagery Harjo is using. Lastly, and the most uncommonly used appeal is the author’s logical appeal, “I don’t know exactly where I’m going; I only know where I’ve been,”(line 74). In this line Harjo is stating the facts of the character along with every other human logically not being able to predict the future but we know where we have been before. The author ends the poem with a balance of all emotional, ethical, and logical appeals by stating, “we will all find our way, no matter fire leaping through holes in jump time, no matter earthquake, or the breaking of love spilling over the drek of matter In the ether, stacking one burden Against the other. We have heartache.” (lines 79-83) The author uses an emotional appeal to allow the reader to feel the reality of many people feel the same heartache in many varying ways. The author uses an ethical appeal by describing all the different experiences the individual might have to face, we still face a
The interdependence of memory and identity is not unproblematic. Self-assessment and assessment of the characters in the novel will lead one to realise that manipulation of the past is integral...
By studying Kentridges work, it is now clear that the act of remembering is an important one in order to mover forward, and ensure history does not repeat itself. To accept and acknowledge the past, to make an account of it, to honour it. One could analyse Kentridges works and assume that the artist is stuck in the past and refuses to accept the future, perhaps for fear that nothing will change, that if he does not dedicate his life to the cause that it will be swept away and forgotten like so many challenging times