Roses in the Desert
Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread, but give us roses!
- James Oppenheim, line of “Bread and Roses,” poem written in 1911,
quoting the protest slogans of female industrial workers
What brings the human heart to starve? Such a critical question acutely fits into the rhyme and reason of character and theme in Stargirl and Holes. Discerning the meaning of a hungry human heart, against a back drop of parched desert environments, protagonists Leo, Stargirl and Stanley Yelnats walk in worlds fraught with injustice and cutting unkindness. From Mica highschool to Camp Green Lake, authors Jerry Spinelli and Louis Sachar do not shy away from illustrating worlds connected to the industrial jungle which prompted Oppenheim’s 1911 poem; rather, within these American deserts, their protagonists help readers to explore theories of nonconformity, loyalty, and altruism. Through Stanley’s good humor and intermittent kindness in agreeing to teach Zero to read, Leo’s self-conscious perspective as narrator, and Stargirl’s selfless generosity in giving porcupine neck ties and African violets, Sachar and Spinelli question that which starves and that which nourishes our living human hearts.
What does it mean to fit in? As creatures designed for community living, we desire to be liked, to be appreciated, and to be included among groups. Leo knows how to fit in; he knows not to be being singled out in the crowd, how to dress, what to say, especially against the flamboyant nonconformity of Stargirl. Stanley also stands out in a crowd, but not by choice; overweight, he doesn’t “have any friends at home” and “kids at school often teased him about his size,” and coming from a poor family, he longs to do things that “just like rich kids” (Sachar 7, 6). His notebook is dropped in the toilet by pint-sized bullies and his family is under a curse. In Stanley, optimistic about “swimming in a lake” despite his ominous detainment in a detention center, there exists the same good humor and optimism that sustains his inventive father. In revealing Stanley’s smile at their “family joke” to readers, Sachar shows his protagonist’s strength in inherited humor and the strength of his imagination; his family stories feed him and he is lifted out of where he is by the power of his memory. Against ghastly, sweltering conditions and the injustice of his own incarceration, Stanley’s sense of humor saves him from breaking;
This novel by S.E Hinton , “The Outsiders” shows a crucial point that everybody is special is some way and be known as who they are not as a group. The important message of the story is that individuals should not take people for granted. Instead, treasure those close to you and understand them.
The Bean Trees touches on the plight of refugees, both in the real life struggle of a Guatemalan couple living illegally in the US, as well as her main character, who in a way is a refugee herself, although only from Kentucky. In Animal Dreams, Kingsolver looks at the people living in Nicaragua and how the US government was/is involved. While the characters and personal stories are fictionalized, the situation seems taken from real life headlines. Kingsolver also touches on environmental issues in Animal Dreams, through the people of the fictional town of Grace, Arizona's struggle against an all-consuming mines attempt to poison their water and crops. For this paper, I decided to focus on Barbara Kingsolver's first two novels, The Bean Trees and Animal Dreams.
Within society, there are certain standards of behavior and expectations that one must be expected to comply by, and failure to do so can result in critical and discouraging prejudice, which is demonstrated significantly in The Fall of a City, by Alden Nowlan. In the story, Teddy, an eleven year old boy, is mocked at by his uncle for occupying himself with paper dolls, failing to meet society’s standards of maturity that a boy of his age is expected to abide by. As a result of his uncle’s mockery, Teddy’s passion and fondness of his imaginary world disappears, and in a fit of rage and anger, he demolishes his paper world. Teddy’s destruction of the paper world is symbolic of society’s expectations of maturity, justified by the uncle ridiculing
Life is a complicated process. It’s filled with many things that keep it interesting but at the same time, very dull. Life’s what you make it and for many, it’s something we all strive for. In the story, The Space Between, the author takes full advantage of the premise as there’s rarely a dull moment- as in life. The book is filled with many literary devices that work nicely with the plot and dialogue. These include; metaphors, similes, irony, personification, and many more. We follow a young man who is finding his way in the world. He has only a week to change his life for the better. But he will face many obstacles on the way that brings the readers into a startling and fun journey.
What makes a character real? Schooled is a novel written by Gordon Korman. The novel’s protagonist and is Capricorn Anderson, a 13-year-old hippie who lives on a farm commune with his grandmother. Capricorn, however, has to live with another family and attend a public school when his grandmother breaks her hip and has to stay at the hospital for weeks. This paper discusses true-to-self Capricorn Anderson, his path, and purpose in the text, his interactions and effect on others, and his change over time.
...el, The Other Side of the Bridge by Mary Lawson accentuates the fact that society’s expectations of a character causes negative impacts upon their lives through the creation of a struggle to achieve his goal. Ian is an impeccable example of this because he is prone to adolescent tendencies due to youth. Ian struggles to achieve his goals due to the following expectations: to leave Struan, for a superior opportunity to become successful; to strive for a medical career, since he excels at the trade already; and to … Society is too abrupt in its assumptions of an individual, these assumptions often catch one unprepared, spreading chaos and confusion through one’s mind. It would be substantially more beneficial if society did not place expectations at all.
Throughout Marilynne Robinson’s works, readers are often reminded of themes that defy the status quo of popular ideas at the time. She explores transience and loneliness, amongst other ideas as a way of expressing that being individual, and going against what is deemed normal in society is acceptable. Robinson utilizes traditional literary devices in order to highlight these concepts.
Did you know that wherever you go in the world, and there are groups, there are outsiders? That’s just humans’ nature. The book, The Outsiders, written by S.E Hilton in her junior year in Tulsa, Oklahoma, written because the Hilton was enraged at the way people separated themselves into socioeconomic groups (Doc A), but her rant about Greasers & Socs turned into a best-selling novel. This book showcases that Outsiders are not just the ones who assume they don’t fit into the society, but they are the ones who view life not as social divisions like Greasers and Socs.
Society often pressures individuals within it to conform to different ideals and norms. This stems from the fact that individuals in a society are expected to act in a certain way. If a person or group of people do not satisfy society’s expectations, they are looked down upon by others. This can lead to individuals isolating themselves from others, or being isolated from others, because they are considered as outcasts. The emotional turmoil that can result from this, as well as the internal conflict of whether or not to conform, can transform an individual into a completely different person. This transformation can either be beneficial or harmful to the individual as well as those around them. The individual can become an improved version of himself or herself but conversely, they can become violent, rebellious and destructive. The novels Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess both explore the negative effects experienced by individuals living within the confines of society’s narrow-mindedness. In A Clockwork Orange, protagonist Alex was the leader of a small group of teenage criminals. He did not have a healthy relationship with either one of his parents or with others around him. Instead he spent most of his time alone during the day and at night roamed the streets in search of victims he could mug or rape. In Fight Club the unnamed protagonist was an outcast in his community. He chose to distance and isolate himself from others and as a result had no friends, with the exception of Tyler Durden and Marla Singer. Due to his isolation, he often participated in nightly fights that took place in Fight Club so that he could relieve his anxiety and stress. In this way, Alex and the unnamed protagoni...
The first and most evident example of alienation and isolation in the novel is Len...
Oftentimes, in the public, people have to be “normal” to be successful and accepted. Author William Saroyan believes that society steers people to be conform and fit in, but he disagrees. In the short story “Gaston,” Saroyan shows that carving a unique path can turn out to be erroneous. Through symbolism and contrast, Saroyan conveys the theme that society does not always accept people’s differences.
When pondering about what an individual thinks of you, people have varying views. Some people are not concerned; to others it is the most critical matter on their mind. The feeling of being judged is a very potent emotion. Likewise, conformity is one of the largest controversies in today’s society; the behavior of someone in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. So if someone personally made his or her expectations on what you should be like evident, would you change? In Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook, he illustrates that judgment and expectations conform a person into someone they are not due to their personal identity. This can be seen through a character’s loyalty to another, dominance and the vulnerability it includes, and a character’s love and devotion. Conformity and the reasons for its appearance will be analyzed through samples from Matthew Quick’s bestselling novel.
Every cell contains forty-six chromosomes (twenty-three pairs). One, out of the twenty-three pairs, is in control of a person’s gender. There two different kinds of chromosomes: X and Y. Males are born with one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. Females, however, are born with two X chromosomes. According to Cindy Dunham and Catherine H. Ward, girls with Turner syndrome are missing part of, or all of the X chromosome (3). The chromosome becomes absent before or shortly after conception (Overview par. 3). Girls diagnosed with Turner syndrome are confirme...
The feeling of fitting in is something that most people look for at least once in their life. Some people want to be liked by others. While the few that do not care if people like them just want to be comfortable with themselves, but there are a few that do not fit in either of these categories. There is a few people in this world that just feel as if they do not matter in society; some may not care if they do not matter but, some dwell on the fact that they have no impact on the world in any way. Both Krebs, from “Soldiers Home,” by Ernest Hemingway and Sammy from John Updike’s “A&P,” feel as if they do not matter in society.
Then there's work. You have to help your boss out by typing, printing, and copying over 6,000 crucial documents. Good luck typing, let alone printing, from your little iPhone or Android phone! As far as tablets go, it's a hassle to find printers compatible with them. Honestly, who can say, "The PC industry is over. It's all mobile from here on," when you can barely find compatible printers for iPads? When it comes to work, smartphones and tablets just don't have the features, or power, to handle tasks like these. Desktop and laptop computers do, and that's why they aren't fizzling away anytime soon.