Over the past few years the world has became full of atrocious and bloodthirsty people. With social media, it gives the world an anonymous passageway to tear people down and tell them they're not good enough. With all the hate crimes and prejudice concepts, people lose focus on what's truly important. Naomi Shihab Nye portrayed this message through her poem “Shoulders,” which explains that people can't not live in a world without lending a helping hand. People need to help one another and not push people down when they just got up. Without assistance from others, would there really be a human race? This poem expresses the need to help others, through imagery, figurative language, and alliteration. In this poem, Naomi Shihab Nye used imagery.
A Pulitzer Prize is an award for an achievement in American journalism, literature, or music. Paul Gigot, chairman of the Pulitzer Prize board, described the award as a “proud and robust tradition”. How does one carry on this robust tradition? By mastery of skilled writing technique, one can be considered for the awarding of this prize. Since its creation in 1917, 13 have been awarded annually, one of which, in 1939, was given to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for her novel, The Yearling. Rawlings is an American author from Florida known for writing rural themed novels. Consequently, The Yearling is about a boy living on a farm who adopts an orphaned fawn. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings procured a prestigious Pulitzer Prize for her effectual use of figurative language, sensory details, and syntax.
The title of the short story, “Four Directions” is symbolic for Waverly’s inner misconceptions. As she goes about her life, she is pulled in different ways by her past and her present. She is torn between her Chinese heritage and her American life. She never thought that instead of being pulled in four directions, she could take all of her differences and combine them. In the end she realizes this with the help of her mother. “The three of us, leaving our differences behind...moving West to reach East” (184), thought Waverly. Her whole life she misconceived her mother’s intentions. Lindo never wanted Waverly to solely focus on her Chinese heritage, but rather combine it with her new American ways. The idea of being pulled in four
Help and devotion are shown in many different varieties throughout communities. These good acts are documented often in literature. Such is the topic in Ben Mikaelsen’s novel Touching Spirit Bear. People step out of their lives to help others become a better individual. Edwin and Garvey take on the challenge of making Cole Mathews a better person. In Ben Mikaelsen’s Touching Spirit Bear, the help of others enables an individual to transform as illustrated through characterization, epiphanies, and symbols, which shows others that even at peoples worst times, help is all they need.
Tatiana de Rosnay used different literary tools to assist her writing in order to deepen the story, including figurative language, dramatic irony, and foreshadowing. The use of figurative language helps to clarify a description in order to place an image in the mind of the reader. Similes are the main type of figurative language used throughout Sarah’s Key, allowing the reader to see what is happening. Many images conjured up make comparisons as a child would make them, as much of the story concerns the innocence of a child, such as “[t]he oversized radiators were black with dirt, as scaly as a reptile” (Rosnay 10) and “[t]he bathtub has claws” (Rosnay 11). Other descriptions compare Sarah, and Zoe, to a puppy, a symbol of innocence, as children are known to be
Rudolfo Anaya’s novel bless me, Ultima ignites theory to a community, comprised of goodness and necessary evil. These contrasting existences are described through ghosts of alienation and ostracization from immediate society, evident according to the solitary and lonesome physical appearance of Rosie's house.
A human being is a complicated entity of a contradictory nature where creative and destructive, virtuous and vicious are interwoven. Each of us has gone through various kinds of struggle at least once in a lifetime ranging from everyday discrepancies to worldwide catastrophes. There are always different causes and reasons that trigger these struggles, however, there is common ground for them as well: people are different, even though it is a truism no one seems to able to realize this statement from beyond the bounds of one’s self and reach out to approach the Other.
1) People with Autism and Aspergers often behave in an “eccentric” way. When Christopher first sees Wellington’s dead body, he stroked it and wondered who had killed him. Someone who isn’t on the spectrum would have reacted differently, most likely panicking and attempting to get help. Like most Autistics and Aspergians (people with Aspergers), Christopher has a narrow field of interests which he excels at. His knowledge of prime numbers surpasses those of most people who don’t have the condition. Patients with Autism and Aspergers are sometimes unable to distinguish the emotions someone might be feeling, even if the look is clearly conveyed on their face. Christopher writes, “I got Siobhan to draw lots of these faces and then write down next to them exactly what they meant…and took it [piece of paper with faces] out when I didn’t understand what someone was saying” (Haddon, 3). If he wasn’t considered to be on the autism spectrum, he wouldn’t need the paper with the faces to discern what someone was feeling.
In “With a Little Help from My Friends”, Firoozeh Dumas uses figurative language to demonstrate what her life was like in America.
Oppression, a poem by Jimmy Baca, is a vivid display of the illusory power of oppression and what it does to one’s stance of life. In the first stanza, the poet refers to oppression as inflicting continuous pain to someone, such that he would feel that he were being continuously “trampled over”. This clearly indicates that the poet feels oppression is an external action which is recurring and painful to one. In addition, he says that oppression is dependent on a crucial factor: strength. One can infer that imbalance of strength leads to oppression, and thus the oppressed has no power against the oppressor. He also indicates that he believes an oppressor tends to be emotionless, and therefore sheds no tears, as the author describes. Concluding
Without any relatable hardships, people could only express sympathy or compassion, in that they would never be able to truly relate to other people’s hardships. People are limited to empathizing with only the similar hardships that they themselves have endured when they take the risk of pursuing self-interest. This further establishes the importance of the unique relationship between personal desires and empathy in one’s life. One is only able to gain the ability to empathize after failing in a pursuit of their own. Through the poem “Empathy”, Stephen Dunn emphasizes the importance of having one’s own stockpile of unpleasant memories from various pursuits gone wrong when it comes to having a sense of truly understanding the plight of
In “Queens, 1963”, the speaker narrates to her audience her observations that she has collected from living in her neighborhood located in Queens, New York in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement. The narrator is a thirteen-year-old female immigrant who moved from the Dominican Republic to America with her family. As she reflects on her past year of living in America, she reveals a superb understanding of the reasons why the people in her neighborhood act the way they do towards other neighbors. In “Queens, 1963” by Julia Alvarez, the poet utilizes diction, figurative language, and irony to effectively display to the readers that segregation is a strong part of the American melting pot.
In the Poem Parsley, Rita Dove uses a legion of figurative language to make a point about the political state of the Dominican Republic and to draw attention to the socioeconomic issues in that society. She effectively utilizes a narrator who gives the reader insight into the lives of the migrant workers as well as the life of the wealthy dictator. We can see into both of their lives and gain an understanding of how they perceive their existence. Diction plays a key role in showing the violence that is going to and eventually does occur. The words chosen relate back to war or make the most ordinary, everyday tasks sound violent. Finally, the parrot in the poem is used to signify all of the major themes and provide insight into the two worlds.
Countee Cullen was man who struggled to be called a “poet” instead of a “Negro poet.” His life during the Harlem Renaissance was filled with inequality and prejudice. These facts have lead many analysts to perceive his poem “Any Human to Another” as a cry for racial equality. However, Cullen’s manipulation of structure, imagery, and symbols in the poem reveals that his true theme is that all humans are individually unique but must live together in harmony and equality, caring for and helping each other.
Her harsh images and racial digs in this piece do prompt an individual to stop and think, even get angry. Lorde probably meant to point out this problem in its ugly light so to help avoid such tragic losses from happening again. To ensure that not everyone will just step aside when it is their turn to protect and serve our youth of today. Audre Lorde truly appears to be a "warrior" and she certainly has "made her meaning known" as her name, so appropriately means and her poetry so appropriately reflects to its audience. Works Cited Abcarian, Richard, and Marvin Klotz, eds.
When we sacrifice our time to help someone in need, whether it is a great or small need, we become a part of their life and can help alleviate heavy burdens. We feel good for looking outside ourselves and contributin...