In an excerpt from the memoir The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia Al-Maria, Sophia is an Arab-American high school student who has recently moved to a small country in the Middle East called Qatar from Seattle, Washington. Al-Maria uses types of language to to characterize herself, such as imagery and setting changes. The main type of language Al-Maria utilizes to describe culture in Qatar is imagery. Sophia is attracted to her lab partner in physics, Suhail. Al-Maria writes, “His presence was like a burning ember right next to me, and as I warmed myself in his aura, I also noticed things: his big white teeth as perfect as Chiclets, the moustache bristling his boyish face . . . and I yearned, which was a new feeling.” The vivid description
“Asher Lev, an artist is a person first. He is an individual. If there is no person, there is no artist” (Chaim Potok). An individual with different characteristics has a different mindset, attitude, confidence and respect from those around them. In Asher Lev by Chaim Potok, Asher is a Ladover Hasid who grows up in a Hasidic community, who is deeply committed to his Jewish faith and finds difficulty between the expectations of his traditions and his gift. He is an individual with a broad mindset, who wants to do things inversely. He does not try to mold himself into the society because he knows he would lose his identity; therefore, he constructs his attitude towards himself, which helps him improve as an artist. His father, Aryeh is the leader of the Ladover Hasidic community who dislikes his son gift, which brings disruption and distress to the community. His Mother, Rivkeh Lev, which fascinates me, torn between her husbands and son’s love. As a woman, I am drawn to her character in the novel. Throughout the story, she is dealing with Asher and Aryeh disputes instead of her own misery. It is very hard for a woman to follow her own passion and dreams, especially in such stereotypical culture. There are very few who have achieved their dreams, but have lost respect in the society. In addition, Religion makes a great deal of difference in the lives of women too. The religion of Judaism relates to Islam because their culture and religion go hand in hand. This story relates to my struggle being a woman in such society. I belong from a community in Islam, where I have a different set of rules to follow because I am a woman and there are certain that I cannot do, it is off-limits. A woman has brought up with a belief system that she ...
Galchen creates the character of her narrator to be very similar to that of the young narrator in “Araby” in a modern setting. In their youth, each narrator becomes infatuated and obsessed with someone who does not realize. The narrator of “Araby” falls in love with his friend Mangan’s sister, as seen in that he states that “when she came out on the doorstep [his] heart leaped” (123). He forms an obsession with her, as evidenced by the fact that he “had never spoken to her . . . and yet her name was like a summons to all [his] foolish blood” and in that “her image accompanied [him] even in places the most hostile to romance” (123).
Joyce, James. “Araby”. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Eds. R.V. Cassill and Richard Bausch. Shorter Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2000. 427 - 431.
Joyce, James. "Araby." Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. By X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. 316-21. Print.
By using a lot of exceptional and moving metaphors like “Words are blades of grass pushing past the obstacles, sprouting on the page” (93), underline her impressing skills in turning images into words. The tone of the essay is enthusiastic and compelling, Anzaldua asks the readers to believe in themselves. Anzaldua even connects her native language with her adopted one, in her current essays.
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
Little Girl Lost is an autobiography of Drew Barrymore co-written with PEOPLE magazine's Todd Gold. Drew Barrymore, a twenty-five year old actress (ET, Never Been Kissed, to-be-released Charlie's Angels) has overcome an addiction, proven herself to be a competent, intelligent woman, and is a major influential role model among today's teenage girls. Her biography begins with her first blockbuster, ET, and her experiences while filming and during post-production, as well as the relationships that were made and have served as basis of support throughout her whole life (Steven Spielberg as her Godfather). From there Drew travels backwards, providing a brief background of her parents, of her role in continuing the Barrymore family legacy within film industry, and then of the Barrymore's tendency to indulge in drugs and alcohol. Drew confronts the tabloids and gossip columns regarding the attention she received at such a young age, acknowledging the belief by many that she was a victim of 'celebrity glamour and fame'. Drew argues that her addiction to mind-altering substances stemmed not from the high profile lifestyle, but from her insecurities as a young girl conquering adolescence. When she was not filming, Drew attempted a normal life by attending a public school, where she was isolated because of her erratic schedules and enormous amounts of public speculation. Unfortunately, Drew longed for a regular life with real friends and a family similar to those of her clas...
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
Must race confine us and define us?’ The story The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, written by Heidi W. Durrow, revolves around the protagonist Rachel, who has bi-racial parents. After her mother and two siblings plunge to their deaths from a Chicago building, young Rachel Morse survives and is sent to Portland. Furthermore, part of her story is learning about how she conform into the world while dealing with her ethnicity. Additionally, when Rachel’s moves in with her grandmother, she is faced with racial expectations at home and at school.
The first chapter of Assia Djebar’s novel, Children of the New World, is split into two parts. The first part is a background into the setting of the novel. The novel is based on the time period when the Algerians were at war with the French in the 1950’s in what is now called the Algerian War. The narrator first describes what it is like for women when neighboring villages were under attack. They try to stay safe by hiding in the backrooms of their house. There they try to hide what is going on outside from the children while at the same time watch what is happening. They would dream of a time when the war was over. The narrator quotes a woman whispering, “’The end,’ someone whispers, and then recites verses from the Koran to ward off bad luck. ‘That will be a marvelous awakening, a deliverance.’” They could be stuck there for days depending on how long the attack is. Even in their houses though, they were not safe. Occasionally, bomb fragments could end up on the terrace and destroy parts of their home. They also were not safe because if the attack was on their own village, the military would set every house on fire until the village was burnt to the ground and there was no way to find refugee from this.
Joyce, James. “Araby.” The Norton Introduction to Literature, Shorter Eighth Edition. Eds. Jerome Beaty, Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, and Kelly J. Mays. New York: W.W.Norton.
Yousef AlMslmani, Saudi male artist, was born and raised in Hail; the natural beauty of its landscapes amazed him. This inspired his desire to pursue photography and surreal Photoshop effects when he stated back in 2003. Teaching art at schools in Hail did not stop Yousef from joining exhibitions and exposing his photographs. Yousef AlMslmani. (n.d.). Shaweesh is another Saudi male artist based in Riyadh. He began creating art in 2009 with graffiti art, and expanded his expertise to digital art street and pop art. Shaweesh pursues US pop culture and classic Arabic themes of art. He has 5 years of experience creating digital art, typography, and graffiti. Nihal, M. (2013). The Saudi man in the “Arab and Camel” artwork represents the lower class status with its harsh living conditions that the government deemed acceptable. The woman in the artwork “Attar” represents the struggles and hardship presented by society’s acceptance. Both artworks show persons from struggling communities, nevertheless they are content with their situations.
In the story ‘The Veil’ by Marjane Satrapi, the writer expresses how she experienced culture shock due to the veils that were introduced in 1980s due to the Islamic revolution (Satrapi). They were hot to live with and the students said that they made them resemble dark monsters. Acculturation is very important in language acquisition meaning that when speakers of a language fails to acculturate with the set social norms of the second language, they will be lost and will form a language of their own like slang because they try to modif...
Antonio spends lots of time trying to achieve the hard thing that face him when learning Arabic. He said that from his experience, in order to learn somebody’s language you have to live with them. He said, “even though our instructor is from Lebanon, which is an Arabic country, but he more often speaks in class in English.” I then asked him if he knows about the Arabic club community. He said that’s what I wanted to tell you about. This community became very helpful to us because we started to know lots of native speakers from this community. I started to go every time since I know about it.