My Word Is My Bond: A Reader’s Response to “Gorilla, My Love” Have many people have ever gone to a film and thought it was going to be about one thing and turned out to be about another. In the story “Gorilla, My love” written by Toni Cade Bambara the story begins with a young girl named Hazel riding in the car with some family and during she starts to reminisce about a bad experience at the movie theatre, her interactions with her family, and her first heartbreak. In the story “Gorilla, My Love” although Hazel is young, her diction shows the reader that she’s relatable, mature and sticks to integrity. Early on in the story the reader gets an idea of how young Hazel is, and the first thing they notice is her maturity due to her diction. While …show more content…
Giving the reader an idea of what type of personality she has. For instance, when faced with a situation at the movie theatre Hazel acted well above her years. While trying to get her money back from the theatre manager, she expressed her anger: “And now I’m really frustrated cause I get tired of grown ups messin over kids cause they little and cant take em to court.” (Bambara 274) Hazel also didn’t like that the man treated her as though she wasn’t smart, telling the reader “in reality I am the smartest kid in P.S. 186.” (Bambara 274) Unfortunately, Hazel doesn’t get her money back and instead stole some matches from the manager and set the candy stand on fire. Hazel setting that fire demonstrates her rebellion, which most children her age range don’t have. The Webster definition of integrity is “The quality of being honest and fair.” Hazel’s integrity is developed through her maturity and expressed through her diction. Hazel felt that because the title was misleading she should get her money back, she didn’t and that is what leads to her actions. Because Hazel set the candy stand on fire she was faced with the discipline of her parents. When
Hazel is the main character and narrator of "Gorilla, My Love," by Toni Cade Bambara. She is between the ages of ten or twelve years old and an African American girl living in Harlem, New York with her family. While riding in the car with her grandfather, her uncle Jefferson Winston Vale, aka Hunca Bubba, and her little brother in the beginning of the story story's, she learns that Hunca Bubba, is in love and plans to be married. This angers Hazel, and she thinks back to an Easter Sunday when she and her brothers went to the movies.
perceive the novel in the rational of an eleven-year-old girl. One short, simple sentence is followed by another , relating each in an easy flow of thoughts. Gibbons allows this stream of thoughts to again emphasize the childish perception of life’s greatest tragedies. For example, Gibbons uses the simple diction and stream of consciousness as Ellen searches herself for the true person she is. Gibbons uses this to show the reader how Ellen is an average girl who enjoys all of the things normal children relish and to contrast the naive lucidity of the sentences to the depth of the conceptions which Ellen has such a simplistic way of explaining.
“The Lesson” and “Gorilla, My Love” were written in the 1970’s by Toni Cade Bambara, a female African American writer. In both “The Lesson” and “Gorilla, My Love” the stories are told in first person narration by young black girls who tell the story of their struggles. Sylvia in The Lesson is about twelve or thirteen years old. She comes from an urban neighborhood in Harlem and is being raised in a single parent home, as her mother finds more interest in hanging out with her friends leaving Sylvia to raise herself with guidance from the streets. One summer day Miss Moore, an educated black woman in the community who believes in the value of education takes the children on an educational outing to F.A.O Schwartz in hopes of teaching them the importance of education, economic inequality, socioeconomic class and the value of working hard to achieve their goals in life. On the other hand, Hazel in “Gorilla, My Love” is about a eight or nine years old. She comes from a middle class neighborhood and is being raided in a two parent home. Hazel hits a hardship when she is betrayed, once by her uncle as he decides to no longer be referred to as Hunca Bubba, but instead by his given name Jefferson Windsong Vale, and secondly when she anticipated seeing a movie called Gorilla My Love which had nothing to do with gorillas, instead what was playing was King of Kings a movie about Jesus.
Hazel is a fiery little girl. She is strong-willed and openly opinionated, and believes that “when you got something on your mind, speak up and let the chips fall where they may” (Bambara 297). Although she is still very young, she has principles of what she believes to be wrong and right. She believes that her Hunca Bubba is not who he used to be since he has fallen in love and become engaged. Hazel feels betrayed by Hunca Bubba because when she was a little girl, he promised he would marry her. He is no longer Hazel’s Hunca Bubba; now, he is Jefferson Winston Vale. Hazel is befuddled with the entire situation. She is heartbroken that he seems to undermine the importance of his promise, by saying, “I was just teasin’” (298). He seems to be completely unaware that by breaking this promise, he has distorted Hazel’s entire outlook on trustworthiness. Hazel expresses her concrete belief that people should follow through with what they say, when she is commenting on the incident at the movie theater, “ I mean even gangsters in the movies say My word is my bond. So don’t nobody get away with nothing far as...
Integrity means to adhere to a personal moral code but that is not a guarantee with honesty. For example, if a person breaks something they were not supposed to and that person is not asked about what they did and they keep it silent that does not mean said person is lying. However, a person who personally believes in owning up to their actions and adheres to that belief tells someone that they broke an item by mistake then they are showing integrity. Basically, honesty is giving your word but integrity is keeping it. You can be honest about believing in something but if you adhere to that moral belief then you are showing integrity. American professor Stephen L. Carter wrote in his essay “The Insufficiency of Honesty” that “The first point to understand about the difference between honesty and integrity is that a person may be entirely honest without ever engaging in the hard work of discernment that integrity requires: she may tell us quite truthfully what she believes without ever taking the time to figure out whether what she believes is good and right and true.” (Carter) This shows that a person can tell the truth about what they believe but if do not follow it consistently, it means that they are not showing integrity. American writer Isaac Asimov said in his book How to Enjoy Writing: A Book of Aid and Comfort when he said “Integrity, is, to me, a somewhat stronger word than “honesty.” “Honesty” often implies truth-telling and little more, but “integrity” implies wholeness, soundness, a complex philosophy of life.” (Asimov) This further explains the difference between integrity and honesty. Integrity and honesty are not the same but are both very important to have based on personal
For an instance, Lorraine tells us that John would be "the last person on earth" (2).Another difference is that John has a much greater amount of confidence compared to Lorraine.John uses his intelligence, good looks, and charm to manipulate people.Lorraine describes John "extremely handsome" (2), and John immodestly agrees: "Like Lorraine told you, I really am very handsome and I do have fabulous eyes".John also believes strongly about his future dream of being an actor even tough his parents are against it.On the other hand, Lorraine’s self-confidence seems to be ruined.Her mother's constantly makes harsh criticisms, such as: "You're not a pretty girl, Lorraine" (2). According to John, The way her old lady talks you'd think Lorraine needed internal plastic surgery and seventeen body braces, but if you ask me, all she needs is a little confidence. Lorraine, in fact, is afraid of her mother who frequently verbally abuses her and even slaps her. In conclusion Lorraine and John in many ways have tremendous dissimilar
The main characters in The Secret Life of Bees and The Fault in Our Stars share similar experiences in their journeys. Lily and Hazel both learn their circumstances make them in no way unloveable. They both learn in different ways that letting go of what one knows and stepping out of comfort zones is good. Lily and Hazel go through moments of insight that change them, challenges that complicate them and experiences that mature
The story is seen through the innocent eyes of a 13 year old boy called Charlie Bucktin. The first person central point of view helps us to understand Charlie, to identify with him and his attitudes and values and for reader positioning. Silvey uses language conventions such as descriptive language, dialogue, diction, register and imagery to construct Charlie’s point of view. Since we only see and know what Charlie does thus this helps us create and certain bond with him as he grows, learns, and faces new problems throughout the novel. The fact that Charlie is a teenager and the readers are provided with teenager reactions the teenager audience is able to identify with the character and why he does things that way. Charlie starts of as a the model son, ever the obedient never to do anything wrong… to eventually losing his innocence and naivety and having a better understanding of what is right and what is wrong.
Integrity means just that: Everything we do is done with fairness, compassion, respect, courage and much more. Professional integrity is modeled and mentored during the educational process and provides a foundation for practice that will be sustained for the duration of the nurse leader's career.
Integrity; it's a word that has seemed to be lost in our country as of late. There isn't much more to be said than that. In American culture, this virtue has seemingly lost all of its sheen, as being honest and showing moral uprightness is not exactly the most attractive of actions anymore. Indeed, if one were to ask a random bystander on the street what the word integrity actually means, they probably would not be able to answer accurately. I personally find that a sad truth, as integrity is not only something that I know, however, but it is also one of my most treasured virtues. I personally believe that integrity is not merely an idea. This virtue is an action; how one decides to live their life every single day.
Integrity is an idea that has been discussed by individuals with a verbal acuity far beyond anything I could ever hope for. With that in mind, I will not delve deeply or poetically into what integrity is or should mean. However, I will simplify the meaning of integrity; at the core, integrity boils down to doing what is right even if nobody is watching. See a piece of trash on the ground and nobody is around...pick it up. Driving down the road with no cops in sight...drive the speed limit. Arrive at a tollbooth and no attendant is working…pay the toll. An applicant is not readily available to sign a form for enlistment…track them down and ensure they sign it. I could write examples until infinity becomes paltry in comparison, yet I am sure I have made my point clearly; the greater good must be upheld regardless of who is there to ensure it is happening. It seems obvious that integrity should be a trait every individual is hardwired with from birth. However, integrity is a thankless trait; nobody is around after all. An individual cannot expect someone to clap, to smile, to thank them, to do anything actually. By definition, integrity should be something that is followed through with simply because an individual wishes to do what is correct, not because they expect accolades of any sort.
Integrity is something that is instilled in us from our past experiences of life and how we were raised. Everyone will have different values and beliefs, but if they hold true to them, they are displaying integrity. Professional integrity in nursing is crucial to the practice. Nurses must establish and hold onto their values as well as respect the values of the patient and know how to balance it all to provide the best possible care. Integrity is developed through experiences in the clinical setting, as well as life experiences and each person can grow and develop their integrity each
By stating how other people behave or interact, the author offers a great chance for readers to interpret fairly for themselves what the reason for any conflict may be, or the nature of any essential contrast between the narrator and other adults in the story. In the story, there are many self-righteous opinions from people, which seem to be ironic to the readers; For example, her mother’s aggressive attitude of showing off her daughter, her piano teacher’s self-praise claiming him as “Beethoven.” All of the narrations including conversation clearly depict a different characteristic between the narrator and other people. For instance, a conversation occurs between the narrator and her mother when the mother criticizing a girl who seems similar to the author on TV which reveals dissimilar understanding for both of them to each other’s behavior. At first, the daughter speaks out for the girl by questioning her mother by saying “why picking on her […] She’s pretty good. Maybe she’s not the best, but she’s trying hard.” The daughter actually is defending for herself and reflecting that she feels uncomfortable with her mother’s disregard of her hard work. She wants to get her mother’s compliments instead of her criticisms. However, her mother response of, “just like you,” and, “not the best. Because you not trying.” Here, her mother doesn’t really answer her question, instead wants her put more effort on trying, neglecting how much she has tried before. However, in her mother’s perspective, she has never tried hard enough. By narratively stating the conversations she has encountered, readers perceive a strong implication of the reason for a future conflict between her and her mother.
Integrity is the quality of being honest. When you are honest about something or a certain situation you are considered a person of integrity. Also when you have integrity you have strong moral principles. When you have strong moral principles you know what is right and what is wrong. “Having integrity means doing the right thing in a reliable way. It's a personality trait that we admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn't waver. It literally means having "wholeness" of character, just as an integer is a "whole number" with no fractions.” Furthermore, having integrity is a quality that many strive to have because it often means that you are a good person.
Integrity is how somebody lives their life. In this life we live, we face choices every day that only we can answer. We dictate how we run our own lives, and they way we run them defines us. Integrity is doing the right thing versus the wrong thing. People, if nothing else, can always have their pride, their integrity. It is something that means a lot to some people and then nothing to others. The ones who value their integrity highly are the good people in this world, and the opposite is true for those who do not value their integrity.