The short story “No Face” by Junot Diaz is a beautiful representation of determination and strength, in the form of a boy named No Face. No Face is presented as being, or possessing powers, similar to those of a superhero. The extended metaphor of him being a superhero shows that No Face doesn’t only have physical strength, but obtains the emotional strength to deal with the constant torment of his community because of his disfigurement, through his belief of being a superhero. No Face is obviously discriminated against because of his unfortuitous deformities, but when he puts on the mask he feels powerful, he feels as though he has inhuman powers, when in actuality these are the devices by which he gains his mental strength. No Face faces insurmountable amounts of prejudice from his community, resulting in them ignoring, or disregarding his …show more content…
No Face’s power of “INVISIBILITY” is derived from this, where he believes that nobody can see him, that “no one can touch him.” He created this power as a way of coping with this utter disregard of his existence, because when everyone acted like they couldn’t see or hear him, he had to think of a reason why this was happening. It requires extreme mental strength to turn something as dire as being ignored completely into something as powerful as invisibility. No Face doesn’t want to feel like he doesn’t exist, he doesn’t want to be ignored, so he creates a way to preserve his beliefs of being a superhero while addressing his real life problems simultaneously. No Face, regardless of all the false claims and prejudice towards him, still helps, or at least tries to help his community. When he tries to carry a cat safely across the street, he is falsely accused of “eating cats,” when all he is doing is helping the cat cross the
Leon F. Litwack is the author of Trouble in Mind. Litwack is an American historian and professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley. He was born in 1929 in Santa Barbara, California. In 1951, Litwack received is Bachelor Degree and then continued to further his education. In 1958, he received his Ph. D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager wrote the book that sparked Litwack's curiosity in history. The book was The Growth of the American Republic. Litwack was in the eleventh grade when he first discovered his interest in history. In 1964, Litwack began teaching at the University of California, where he taught an excess of 30,000 students. Litwack has written other books besides Trouble in Mind. One of the books he wrote was Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery in 1979. In 1980, Litwack was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history of this book and in 1981 he was the winner of the National Book Award. He also wrote North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free State, 1790-1860, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, and The Harvard Guide to African-American History. Litwack has also won many including, the Francis Parkman Prize, the American Book Award, and he was elected to the presidency of the Organization of American Historians. In addition to this, Litwack has been an outstanding teacher and received two notable teaching awards. Litwack's first teaching position was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he taught from 1958 to 1964. He also taught at the University of South Carolina, Louisiana State University, and the University of Mississippi. As one can see, not only has Litwack been an exceptionally outstanding author, he has also been a very popular and influential teacher.
The two authors, the author of Push and the author of Invisible Man, both use the metaphor of invisibility to describe their main characters, but do so in different ways. In Push, Precious is invisible because of her inferiority to her peers and her lack of education. She struggles to find love and acceptance. However, in Invisible Man, the main character considers himself socially invisible, not being able to have a say in anything he does or any argument, despite the numerous rallies and protests that he performs speeches at. He...
In the second story of Drown by Junot Diaz, Yunior and Rafa have already been in the United States of America for about three years. In this story, their mother’s sister came to the United States. They travel to the Bronx in order to celebrate their aunts and uncles’ arrival. In Fiesta 1980, we meet their father and sister, and learn more about their mother. Through the way they all interact, we learn more about each family member’s characteristics and their family dynamic.
Where Men Win Glory is an ironic euphemism for war. The title is ironic because there is nothing glorious about war or the way it ended Pat Tillman’s beautiful life. Jon Krakauer orchestrates this masterpiece with his diligently, articulated descriptions and with a timeline sewn together from the threads of two worlds. The author’s style can best be characterized by his challenging, precise diction and his ability to fluently intervene pertinent quotes and facts that further persuade the reader toward his cause. Throughout the book, the author’s tone harnesses resentment towards the militant hierarchy; for through its ingenuousness, deceit, and manipulation, the military uses Pat’s death as propaganda to bolster the war’s support. Furthermore, the military covers up the fact that Tillman was a victim of fratricide, and it deceives the nation into believing Tillman’s end was a valiant fight against insurgents. When the truth is exposed and pursued by Dannie - Pat’s mother - the army destroys evidence and pleads guilty to ignorance as a rebuttal. This book is molded by three prodigious aspects that help to illustrate Pat’s life story. The carelessness of war, importance of family, and enhancement through change were all important ingredients that created a virtuous life. Each theme, in addition, challenges me personally to reassess the facts I have been fed and the reality that I have been presented. By doing so, I can achieve a sound base of knowledge and an intellectual prowess capable of challenging all facts presented.
In the novel Breaking Through, by Francisco Jimenez, Francisco tells the story of how he illegally immigrated from Mexico to the United States. At the age of four, he, his parents, and his older brother, Roberto, crossed underneath the barbed-wire fence on the United States-Mexico border. However, after ten years they were reported by one of their own people and were forced to go back to Mexico. The three literary elements addressed in this captivating book are symbol, conflict, and characterization.
A Few Keys to All Success by Jim Muncy, published in 2002 explains that there are 7 universal keys to success that we can relate to everyday life. Discernment, Optimism, Responsibility, Initiative, Perseverance, Purpose, Sacrifice. Each one represents how we grow and teaches us how to have a high quality of life. From reading this book I am confident because I know being normal means being average and what we do can change how we act significantly. Also we can’t let the world hold us back from greatness. There will be negativity, there will be those who lack enthusiasm but you can’t let them interfere in what you have in store. And these keys will help you get to that point in your life. Discernment; Judge the seed by the harvest. The first
A strong sense of self, in the words of William Shakespeare, is “To know what we are, but not what we might be.” In the book, A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, the main character, Gene, ¬¬struggled with having a strong sense of self. His lack of identity negatively affected his life. The major consequence of his absent sense of self was his burning envy and hatred toward his extremely athletically gifted friend Finny. Gene’s lack of identity and hatred toward Finny led him to shake a limb if a tree that Finny was climbing. Finny fell and broke his leg. He later died when the bone marrow escaped into his blood. Gene’s behavior caused Finny’s death but there is reason to believe that Finny would have died anyway. For example, Finny could have been killed in the army, Finny’s lack of caution caused him to break his leg again, and the branch would have broken since it was already weak causing Finny to fall and die.
Ta- Nehisi Coates lives in New York with his wife and son. He is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and received the George Polk Award for his cover story, “The Case for Reparations” in The Atlantic. He also received the National Magazine Award, the Hillman Prize for Opinion and Analysis Journalism. Coates is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me.
The victims of judgment, although bold on the outside, face several obstacles others are ignorant of. Dunbar, a member of the African-American community, assesses how the surrounding groups force him and his people to smile with “torn and bleeding hearts” (Dunbar 4). Artificially smiling, they, consequently, decide to ignore the truth of their hardships to feel secure. The strong adjectives associated with “hearts” emphasize the impact of these challenges on their lives. By exhibiting synthetic strength and not addressing these hurdles in life, Dunbar reveals how society refuses to accept and embrace others’ problems. Moreover, by repeating the phrase “We smile,” he shows how a simple facial movement is so powerful and allows individuals to ignore situations they deem difficult (Dunbar 10). In an environment that judges by a glimpse and often does not take the time to listen to the difficulties of others, it is not possible to open up and share. As a way to protect their dignity and maintain a sense of strength, they escape reality. Through both of these works of literature, it is clear that in an environment that compels change, the population will adapt to better fit in and reveal other sides to
A motivation is a reason someone has for doing something a certain way. The Tiger’s Heart is a story written by Jim Kjelgaard in which the protagonist, Pepe Garcia has been making decisions based on forces within him. These forces all contributed in their own ways for Pepe’s decision making and outcomes in the story. These forces have helped define what Pepe is as a human being within the story. The forces motivating Pepe are security, fear and courage, greed and exploitation, and power. These forces motivated Pepe.
Throughout the ages, men and women have been at the heart of myths and legends, evolving into tragic heroes in large part due to the embellishment bestowed upon them over the ages. From Odysseus and Achilles to Brutus, Hamlet, and King Lear, epic poems have revolved around the tragic hero. Pat Tillman was a man of many aptitudes and virtues, never satisfied by the mediocre, striving for more adventure, more meaning, in his tragically short time on Earth, and personifying the phrase carpe diem. Even Pat Tillman had tragic flaws; his unwillingness to be typical, his undying loyalty to family and country, and his curiously concrete set of morals amalgamated to set in motion Tillman’s eventual death. These, whatever the outcome might have been, are not by any means, the archetypical tragic flaws. They are, as Jon Krakauer later described, “tragic virtues.” Where Men Win Glory is not solely a tribute to Pat Tillman. What makes it truly unique is its exhaustively comprehensive history preceding Tillman’s death, and equally essential, the events that transpired following his death, including the cover-ups, scandals, corruption, falsified documents, indignities, and lies that facilitated, also, in emphasizing the core themes, of which Tillman was the epitome. Tillman’s fidelity and devotion to the people whom he loved, the use of misinformation and cants surrounding his death, and others’ responses to what Tillman considered paramount in his life all played a key role in the tragedy of a man who won glory.
Upton Sinclair reveals the identity of a person can come from the external and internal conflicts one has to face through their lifetime. Sinclairs characterization of Jurgis’ in the beginning is blatantly optimistic; the philosophy he has when he comes to America is to “work harder” as long as he could “work harder” he would be fine and everything would be alright (Sinclair, 15). Sinclair leads the reader to believe that Jurgis’ is able to withstand whatever America has to offer. This is reaffirmed, when Jurgis repeatedly tells his wife, Ona, the same phrase “I will work harder” to any hardship that seemed come their way (Sinclair, 18). This phrase Jurgis says over and over gives the idea that his character seems strong. Sinclair ultimately counters this idea when Jurgis loses it when he believes his family is “swindled” in a deal for their house.
No Face is living in an unfortunate situation where he needs to constantly run away from people’s hostility towards him. People who encounter this central character “wish him to fall” and for “him to be gone.” Only but three other characters show empathy and compassion towards No Face—Padre Lou, the Canadian doctor and the owner of the beauty shop. Even his own family members are portrayed as distant or negligent to No Face. It also seems like he is disowned by his parents. In No Face, Junot Diaz, explores the effects on families and particularly boys and young men when absent fathers and therefore a lack of suitable role models, poverty and the potential for an apparent better life in the US, pervade their very existence. He copes with his lack of a relationship with his father by, not only lying about his whereabouts, pretending that he is in the US, but by creating a superhero in his imagination where he can right wrongs and is always "fighting evil." Not only was he harassed verbally, but he was also confronted by a group of boys who wanted to physically hurt him and “turn him into a girl.” He responded to these environments in a way that shows he is beyond fear and revenge. Instead of cursing or fighting back, he genuinely believed in a strength that lies within him. When No Face was being ambushed by a group of bullies, He proclaimed “STRENGTH” while the “fat boy” was
Richard Rodriguez in his nonfictional work, “The Achievement of Desire” (1982), posits that his life typifies a problematic cultural discontinuity concerning the education and family life of certain students, which generates issues such as a disconnection concerning true knowledge and superficial academic achievement in the minds of these students termed ‘scholarship boys.’ The 1993 movie Six Degrees of Separation tells the story of Paul, a Harvard graduate student who achieves the good-graces of art dealing couple Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, revealed New York underbelly-residing impersonator glib. Rodriguez develops his thesis by examining his own experience, first examining his scholarly ambition, then the changing relationship between him
middle of paper ... ... Even though he has escaped the immediate and blatant prejudice that overwhelms Southern society, he constantly faces subtle reminders of the prejudice that still exists in society at this time. Even if they are not as extreme as the coin-eating bank. A major reason the invisible man remains invisible to society is because he is unable to escape this bigotry that exists even where it is not supposed to.