Part I, Question #4 In “Imani All Mine”, we see 15-year-old Tasha Dawson having to face the adversity of not only being a teenage mother but also being poor, female, and black. The name Imani is an Arabic name and means belief or faith. The name that Tasha chooses is symbolic for the faith that she has for and in Imani. She has faith that Imani will live a life more fulfilling than her own by prospering in all that she does. In “Imani All Mine”, Tasha Dawson is forced to overcome obstacles that no teenager should have to overcome. She has to raise Imani, while nervously observing her neighbors drug-dealing and trying to keep up with her schoolwork. At times it seems the only thing holding Tasha together is the remembrance of her days before diapers. Further along in the novel, the reader is able to understand the importance and symbolic meaning for Tasha naming her daughter, Imani. Tasha is a child raising a child and has never had proper mothering herself. Tasha needs faith that she can be a better mother than her own has been to her. In Imani All Mine, we see a reoccurrence of events, which reflect the idea of the low self-esteem, and self worth that Tasha has for herself. Tasha blatantly states, “I ain’t think I was going to look like them girls in there, all skinny and all, but I did think I might feel like them” (Imani All Mine 8). She is constantly referring to the negative self-image that she has of herself by comparing her body to other girls in her school and on the cover of her Seventeen magazines. However, Tasha is able to see herself in a positive light when she notices the resemblance between her beautiful baby girl and her own countenance. “Mama say I’m grown now because I got Imani. She say Imani all... ... middle of paper ... ...nd Dahmer”, Jeff Dahmer would go to school noticeably under the influence, yet somehow go by “unnoticed”. If the teachers were aware of Dahmer’s state, they never took any form of action to discipline him, question him, or be worried with his condition at all. Not once throughout the entirety of the graphic novel does a teacher, student, or parent seem remotely concerned with Dahmer’s well-being. Dahmer fought off the urge to kill many times and did it with the help of no one and nothing other than his own twisted mind, so there is reason to believe any type of assistance from an adult could have been detrimental in the process of Dahmer overcoming his violent urges. Unlike Benjie, Dahmer had no one to look up to and admire. Benjie was eventually able to appreciate and respect Butler Craig as a man who cared enough about him to put Benjie’s life above his own.
My Antonia is a novel about a man’s look into his past and his account of his childhood friend, Antonia. Throughout the novel, many characters are introduced that are separated from the majority due to their nationality and migrating to the mid-west. Antonia Shimerda is one of the main characters that shows this separation, with language and her nationality as the barrier while migrating west with her family. Though Jim is an American boy, he suffers from separation with being away from home and with being in a new place. Through their growth, each character faces their own separation and comes to terms with their differences. The theme of character separation is seen within My Antonia. Through this separation, the connection of two individual characters becomes a bond that keeps the two characters connected through the novel.
Lionel and Joyce Dahmer gave birth to their first born, Jeffrey Dahmer, on May 21, 1960 in Milwaukee. Despite Joyce experiencing a difficult pregnancy, Dahmer was a healthy child who was wanted and adored by both his parents. However, his mother did start to become distant to him as she refused to breast feed him and started demonstrating unstable behavior along with substance abuse. Meanwhile, his father was pursuing his doctoral for chemistry in Iowa which limited the time Lionel had with his family. At age five, Dahmer’s little brother was born and that was when the feeling of neglect set in him. For the first time, the little attention provided from his parents had to be shared with his brother David. Dahmer began displaying extreme shyness but also severe tantrums. During the ages of six and seven, Dahmer “was regarded by other children as odd and bizarre (Martens, 2005).” Even though he did not show any interest in developing genuine social relations, Dahmer did demonstrate a fascination with bug and animal dissections. When Dahmer was six he had “undergone hernia surgery, when he woke up from the anesthesia he was worried someone could have cut his genitals, the pain lasted for one week and after a long recovery period his parents remember he turned to be very loner (Giannetakis, n.d.).” It is believed that at age eight Dahmer had been sexually abused by a boy in his neighborhood (Hickey, 2013). If this event did occur, it could explain why he developed destructive sexual fantasies at the young age of twelve. Despite him being aloof, it has been reported that he would seek attention by faking epileptic seizures at school and local shops. By his adolescent years, he developed compulsive masturbation which would eventually lead to legal trouble (Silva, 2002). At the age of fourteen, Dahmer turned to alcohol abuse in order to overcome his feeling of despair and compulsive thoughts of sexual violent acts.
The name ‘Anna” is something I carry around with me everywhere I go. It does not mean something as plain as grace. It is so much for than that. A name is something that a person has to identify with for their whole lives. We shouldnt let nameberry.com define who we are. They need to decide for themselves which is why I am defining the name “Anna” as unique, intelligent, and emotional. Noone or no thing can define who you are, especially not
Niara Imani Riddick. Woman of purpose that brings peace. This name was given to me two weeks after the day I was born, May 20th, 1999. Born at five pounds, six ounces and five weeks early to a child herself, Bianca Riddick, who was at the tail end of her 10th-grade year in high school and fresh into sixteen.
In the book, “My Antonia,” written by Willa Cather, talks about the life of an immigrant named Antonia. The feeling that the world is left out, like I was at the edge of it all outside of man’s jurisdiction is a relation Antonia and I have in common. Also with an interaction with a deadly rattlesnake was a flashback to when I encountered with a venomous serpent. Last, I relate to the curse of bad luck through life, which leads to me out of people’s minds, sitting in my own prison cell of life.
Makenna, Mckenna, or even Mackenna all mean the same thing: wise, trustworthy, and imaginative. This uncommon names origin is Scottish, Irish, and Hawaiian. However, my dad hadn’t known all of these facts when he picked it. There wasn’t any research involved, only a movie. Both of my parents were watching Somewhere In Time at a cramped movie theater filled with frigid air. As the film began, a character Mckenna was introduced into the movie. The name dazzled inside of my dad's mined, never hearing of such a creative name. With baby names to decided from, and my due birth date only being a couple months away, my parents both knew it would be the one. The only difference was that the spelling would be with an “a” in between the m and k, making it different from the rest.
For instance, the name Tasha gives her daughter, Imani, is a sign of her determination and fundamental trust despite the odds against her: Imani means faith. Throughout the novel, we see Tasha’s daughter, Imani, being one of the determining factors on her faith. Because she has a small daughter, she make certain decisions in her life to ensure that her daughter is well cared for, despite having the support from her mother. For example, Tasha says “Mama says Im grown now because I got Imani. She say Imani all mine. I know she all mine, and I like it just like that [...] I don’t care what nobody say, who they say they might see in her. It’s only me in her” (1). It is revealed in the story that a guy at a bowling alley raped Tasha at the age of fourteen. Tasha eventually gets pregnant by the rapist and gives birth to Imani. Despite Tasha misfortune, Tasha decides to stay in school and continue to live her life with a child she never asked
Data has been collecting reporting that “31% of people who had both a substance abuse disorder and a psychiatric disorder (a "dual diagnosis") committed at least one act of violence in a year, compared with 18% of people with a psychiatric disorder alone. This confirmed other research that substance abuse is a key contributor to violent behavior” (Harvard Health Publishing). This can be applied to Dahmer’s case. It is said that after getting hernia surgery when he was four, Dahmer was never the same. He went from a regular playful child to a distant anxious one. When becoming an adolescent, one will develop an interest in concepts and hobbies. For Dahmer it animal carcasses. He would find roadkill, “dissect and dismember them. He explained that he wanted to know how each animal "fitted together"(Cahill). This could come off as creepy and off-putting, but he was not hurting anyone. It is believed that his parents’ constant fighting and moving was the catalyst in making his obsession with carcasses into a dangerous one. “Children from broken homes are nine times more likely to commit crimes than those from stable families” (Bloxham). His drive to kill could quite possibly be linked to the fact that he simply linked to his familial issues. These problems in the family are definitely linked to his drinking problems as well. Dahmer’s
Dahmer was a pretty normal, but very lonely kid. His loneliness followed him throughout the course of his life. Never having an intimate friendship or relationship, along with being consumed with confusion over his own sexuality eventually led him to become the household name he is today. From 1978 to 1991, Dahmer murdered 17 boys and men. Not only is he considered a murderer, but he committed (on several occasions) rape and dismemberment. After his later murders, he was found guilty of necrophilia, cannibalism, and permanent preservation of body parts. He is arguably the most well known, gruesome, and intriguing criminal in American history.
In the article “The Name Is Mine” by Anna Quindlen, she explains her story about her name, why she chose to keep it, and why it has such meaning to her. As a result of keeping her maiden name, there were many positive and negative aspects that went along with it.
Her mother chose that name so that she can be part of her
The meaning and origin of a name may help identify who we are as people, define character traits, and helps shape our personalities. The name Amanda not only originated from the Latin language as Amandus, but it was recreated by poets to mean “lovable, worthy of love", becoming popular in the nineteenth century (Meaning). Additionally, powerful, complete, independent and inquisitive are character traits that belong to the name Amanda, which relates to my personality. According to the website Name Meaning, “Many people believe that the name can affect success in life, through their children's working career and other circumstances, so they choose more ‘respectable’ names or name meanings as they believe that the name meaning reflects the personality
As you grow up you learn the language which is a system of arbitrary signs and symbols used to communicate (pg. 77). The language of any culture can define a person, but ultimately your name can define much more than what a language can. With our verbal communication, the way in which we use the words in a language to generate meaning (pg. 77), we can generate a meaning with our names and with that meaning we can potentially define who we are. As I think of my whole name, “Elisa Monique Hernandez”, I personally enjoy the way it flows, so when asking do I like my name, I do because it is the name I was given and the name I will keep forever, unless I get married.
In “A Thousand Splendid Suns” Miriam’s name fits her because she is referred to as a bastard her whole life and goes in and out of a relationship with Jalil. The website says, “Hebrew sources say it means “bitter”, others say it means, “Wished for child”, and others say it means “Our Lady” (QuranicNamescom). The meaning of the name Miriam also means, “Can be quietly stubborn and resist taking advice” (Kabalarians). In “A Thousand Splendid Suns” her mother gives her advice multiple times and she doesn’t take it. Miriam’s name identifies her as someone special in the world and someone
A name represents more than just a person; it represents who they are. I look up to my mother because she has maintained a positive outlook in life, which has allowed her to acquire everything she wants. However, she has dealt with many obstacles along the way, some of which are a minor stroke, skin cancer, a broken leg, pneumonia, and arthritis.