Harvest of Shame – Massacre of the Orchard
As orchards go, it really wasn't much; especially considering the grand scale of the orchards that dotted the region. Where the latter were measured in thousands of trees, or thousands of bushels per acre, the former was merely thirty-two trees. Thirty-two trees . . . really, if the question arose, that was the only way you could define it. Obviously you couldn't say there were "four-thousand Macintosh trees," or that it yielded "two-thousand bushels per acre," because all it had was thirty-two trees; and some of those trees were pear, cherry, plum and peach trees besides. On top of that, talking of "yield" was really an embarrassment since birds ate virtually all the cherries, the plums were diseased, and, for the most part, the species of the bulk of the apples were never conclusively identified. But, it was an orchard nonetheless, and not everyone had such a thing.
Realistically, the thing was a pain to own. Domesticated fruit trees have a proclivity to become wild. They require constant and proper attention to maintain them to any fruit bearing capacity. If you did manage the pruning aspect properly (which, though attempted on a regular basis, never quite happened), the various insects that sought them out as a source of nourishment and shelter were legion. If by some happenstance the trees did produce mature fruit, unscathed by the insect hordes, you had to wage a contest with all sorts of winged beasts for the honor of the prize. (Contest? For all intents and purposes it was a war.) If that wasn't enough, trying to mow the "lawn" was a real ordeal. Thirty-two tree trunks were obstacle enough to negotiate; add to that the multiplicity of branches that hung low enough to snag you by the eye sockets as you rode by, it made each mowing an adventure.
In retrospect, for all the work that went into the orchard, the only things it produced were fat birds and contented pigs (they sometimes escaped their pasture and inevitably ended up in the orchard munching apples)-one cannot recall even one pie from its offerings.
In spite of all those annoyances, the orchard offered a perfect environment for a growing boy to explore and live every adventure one of such stature could imagine. As such things go, it was paradise: it was isolated, there was an overgrown patch of land adjacent to it that started at the same level as the orchard but started to slope until it was a sheer drop of some twelve feet by the time it reached the back of the orchard.
Terry Kay’s father cultivates fruit trees. Fruit trees generally live for approximately ten years then die off. It takes fruit trees three to five years before they will bear fruit. Overall fruit trees require a short term commitment. Although Kay’s father became famous for his well grown trees, it did not require the dedication and time that Sam Peek had to exert for his pecan trees.[b2] In the novel Sam Peek has dedicated his life to the growth and production of his pecan trees. Pecan trees take at least five years to yield fruit and can live up to seventy-five years. They take much more time and effort to yield profit. Cultivating pecan trees is a life long project. In the novel Sam Peek dedicates his life to the care of his pecan trees. In his old age, when he is retired from the tree business, he still has the commitment to go to the pecan orchard and pull weeds. This shows Sam Peeks strong bonds to his life and family[b3]. He is very much tied down to the land around his family home. His dedication to his trees is because he wishes to provide a good life for his family. He pours a lot of effort into this wish.
There are many ways in which we can view the history of the American West. One view is the popular story of Cowboys and Indians. It is a grand story filled with adventure, excitement and gold. Another perspective is one of the Native Plains Indians and the rich histories that spanned thousands of years before white discovery and settlement. Elliot West’s book, Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers and the Rush to Colorado, offers a view into both of these worlds. West shows how the histories of both nations intertwine, relate and clash all while dealing with complex geological and environmental challenges. West argues that an understanding of the settling of the Great Plains must come from a deeper understanding, a more thorough knowledge of what came before the white settlers; “I came to believe that the dramatic, amusing, appalling, wondrous, despicable and heroic years of the mid-nineteenth century have to be seen to some degree in the context of the 120 centuries before them” .
David W. Blight's book Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory and the American Civil War, is an intriguing look back into the Civil War era which is very heavily studied but misunderstood according to Blight. Blight focuses on how memory shapes history Blight feels, while the Civil War accomplished it goal of abolishing slavery, it fell short of its ultimate potential to pave the way for equality. Blight attempts to prove that the Civil War does little to bring equality to blacks. This book is a composite of twelve essays which are spilt into three parts. The Preludes describe blacks during the era before the Civil War and their struggle to over come slavery and describes the causes, course and consequences of the war. Problems in Civil War memory describes black history and deals with how during and after the war Americans seemed to forget the true meaning of the war which was race. And the postludes describes some for the leaders of black society and how they are attempting to keep the memory and the real meaning of the Civil War alive and explains the purpose of studying historical memory.
Both the Garden of Eden and the island the boys landed on seem like paradise for the characters of the story. For Adam and Eve, it is a place where they have everything they need; for the boys, it’s a chance to escape from the rules of society and live freely. In Genesis 2:9, the Garden is described as having “every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. This
The proprietors of the colony had hoped to grow profitable export crops of tobacco, cotton, indigo, and olives at first but all attempts to produce these crops were unsuccessful (Roark). Then in the...
First of all, animal testing is immoral because it involves harming or killing animals for the purpose of “science”. Animals that are tested on are enslaved, beaten, burned, poisoned, electr...
For countless decades humans have taken it upon themselves to take defenseless innocent wild animals to test and experiment on them. Ranging from powerful drugs and lotions to chemicals, vaccines, and packing materials. The practice of using animals for testing has been a controversial subject for the past thirty years. The question is whether animal testing is morally right or wrong. An integral part of the debate, over animal testing and experiments, mainly centers on the question of an animals moral status. Most people would agree that animals have some moral status. Which is why we find it wrong to abuse pets or needlessly hurt other animals.
Analysis: This setting shows in detail a location which is directly tied to the author. He remembers the tree in such detail because this was the place were the main conflict in his life took place.
Dudley Randall's Ballad of Birmingham gives a poetic account of the bombing of a Birmingham church in 1963. The poem was written in ballad form to convey the mood of the mother to her daughter. The author also gives a graphic account of what the 1960's were like. Irony played a part also in the ballad showing the church as the warzone and the freedom march as the safer place to be.
Dystopias are full of dissatisfying issues and often unsettling worlds. Parable of the Sower, being a classic dystopian novel, is no different. Throughout the book, readers are engaged into a world where death is normalized and atrocity is average. The main character, Lauren’s connection to this world allows her to develop personally and spiritually. Lauren uses both connections to other people as well as connections between other people to express her feelings about the world around her. In Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Lauren’s interest and connection to the female astronaut influences her religion, Earthseed, and uses the astronaut to mimic and express her dissatisfaction with the world she lives in.
Harvest Of Shame, an interesting and touching black and white documentary from the early 1960’s, documents and exposes the deploring lives of thousands of American migrant cultural workers narrated and dissected by one of the best and first American broadcast journalists called Edward Roscoe Murrow. The principal objective of this movie is not only to show the poor and miserable lives that all of these people live, but to let all the other Americans who are above these workers on the social and wealth scale know that the people who pick up their fruits, vegetables, and grains have no voice, no power, and no help to battle the inequities and mistreatment they receive.
culture here. The speaker is allowing the reader to make a mental picture of one
Junior’s memory of tree-climbing reveals his conflicting feelings of wanting to escape his broken down hometown yet appreciating his life on the reservation as he contemplates his move to the thriving Reardon. Junior feels forever trapped on the reservation without a chance of another life. As seen, when Rowdy and Junior are on top of the pine tree “[they saw their] entire world up there.” Junior’s “entire world” was restricted to that reservation and as a result of his lack of knowledge about other parts
In this enthralling story, a boy builds a treehouse in the mountains and learns to live entirely by his wits. "(Emphasizes) the rewards of courage and determination."--The Horn Book.
Chronicle of a Scar Growing up, I was always a tomboy. While the girls were busy playing Barbie, I was building forts and playing in the dirt with the boys. About a month before my eleventh birthday, I went roller skating with my mom, my aunt, and my cousin. I was quite the adventure seeker at that age and liked to skate as fast as I could. Well, of course, I fell.