Waterlily by Ella Cara Deloria
Waterlily is a book based on the events that happen within a particular
Dakota Indian family's life. Not only does it depict the affairs of blue Bird's
life and her family, but it documents the rituals and culture of the Dakota
people. With illustrative words and graphic details, the incidences within the
story can be visualized and understood.
The story begins with the occurrences that take place with a certain
individual, Blue Bird. Blue Bird is traveling with a camp of Dakotas and is
carrying a baby while doing so. While on the path, Blue Bird feels it is time
to have her baby and went off into the trees to have her baby. Seeing how
beautiful her baby was Blue Bird exclaimed, “How beautiful you are! As
beautiful as the waterlillies. You to are a waterlily, my waterlily.” (p. 6).
Blue Bird ends up marrying a man, Star Elk, whom doesn't favor her
grandmother very much. Star Elk is a lazy, jealous man who is sub-standard in
Dakota male value. He demonstrates this effectively when he “throws away his
wife” (p. 16) at a victory dance. Men weren't suppose to publicly display
emotion in Dakota tradition.
After being publicly humiliated, Blue Bird, her grandmother and Waterlily
luckily and happily ran into their family's tiyospaye. The reason why it was so
fortunate is because Blue Birds parents and brothers were killed one day when
Blue Bird was about fourteen. They were taken in and made to feel at home.
Along with finding their family, Blue Bird also met her new husband, Rainbow.
Rainbow was a good provider, hard worker and a widow who had a son.
King Solomon wrote wisely, and later was wisely paraphrased by the folk band “The Byrds”, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven...” (Ecclesiastes 3:1,8). Seasons often represent the periods of a person’s life; birth, youth, age and death. In the short story “Summer” by David Updike, the lake provides an eternal and unchanging witness to Homer’s transition from season to season and from boy to man.
Hannie Rayson’s play ‘Hotel Sorrento’ explores the changing nature of Australian cultural identity. Rayson successfully perpetuates and challenges common Australian stereotypes in order to establish how the Australian National Identity has changed over time. She presents these stereotypes through the characters expectations of gender roles, attitudes towards Australian culture and the theme of ownership.
Initially, Elisabeth is the matriarch of the four generations of women talked about in the story. Elisabeth works in the house, but she’s married to a field slave and has three daughters. Not much insight is given on Elisabeth and her feelings, yet through the narration it is as if she lived vicariously through her youngest daughter, Suzette: “It was as if her mother were the one who had just had her first communion not Suzette” (20) Even though Elisabeth too worked in the house, Suzette had more privileges than her mother and the other slaves. Elisabeth represented the strength and the pride of her people: “You have a mother and a father both, and they don’t live up to the [plantation] house” (25). She would constantly remind Suzette of her real family, which signifies the remembrance of a history of people and their roots. It is up to Suzette to keep the heritage even through the latter miscegenation of the generations to come.
In the novel, Beauty by Robin Mc Kinley, the family of a wealthy merchant looses their wealth when the shipment boats get lost at sea. There are three daughters named Hope, Grace, and Honour, whom is nicknamed Beauty, and a father. The family is forced to move to the country and start a life more modest than accustomed. After the family adapts to country life, one of the older sisters gets married to an iron worker who used to work at the shipyard owned by the father. They have babies. Life goes on in the country.
Jane Yolen's use of structure in the novel Briar Rose is very clever. Her use of allegory and the technique of parallel narrative is very effective in conveying her story which she delivers in a superb fashion. Elements of the story are reveled at specific times to tie in with the theme of growth and development both personal and historical.
Caucasia is a coming of age novel that is told through the lens of Birdie Lee, a biracial girl who sees herself when she looks at her sister Cole Lee, even though physical difference of both Birdie and Cole were continuingly addressed through out the novel but their affection for one another exist beyond the bounds of physical differences. Birdie and Cole Lee are daughters of a White woman with blonde hair hand blue blooded (Sandy) and an African American political activist father (Deck). The closeness of these two sisters takes many hits and turn because one has the ability to disappear into the black society while the other one can disappear into the black society. Birdie inherits her physical looks mostly from her mother and is welcomed on the first day of school by a boy throwing spitball at her “What are you doin’ in this school? You White?” Of the bat Birdie is seen as white and categorized as white by anybody due to her physical appearance, which her identity is formed and categorized into whiteness.
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
Mama Day by Gloria Naylor is a fantastic novel filled with vivid imagery and intriguing characters. Naylor weaves a realistic tale, despite the fantastic events that she describes. Her characters are believable and behave like "real people". However, Naylor's greatest asset is her descriptive powers, which not only sets the scene, but enraptures readers into Cocoa's dual worlds of New York City and Willow Springs, imprisoning us with her words.
What do we learn about life in the 18th century and how successfully does the writer convey this information whilst telling us a good story?
Butter by Erin Jade Lange was a spectacular book in its own way, The entire book kept me extremely interested by the main character’s attitude towards life and his daily struggle of being obese. I think Butter did great in showcasing the life of a young man who had no idea what it was like to have the things that most people rely on to help themselves feel like normal,
Perfect: adj. ˈpər-fikt 1. Entirely without any flaws, defects, or shortcomings, is the first definition you find on dictionary.com for the word (perfect). Is this actually possible to attain? Has anyone actually ever been perfect? Or is it all in the eye of the beholder? These questions are asked by almost every girl, as we dream to one day reach the unattainable. This is especially true at the tender age of fifteen, where nothing seems to be going right with our bodies and everything is changing in us. This poem stresses the fact that as everyone realizes how unrealistic this dream is, the knowledge makes no difference to the wish. Marisa de los Santos comments on this in her poem “Perfect Dress”. The use of verbose imagery, metaphors, and the simplistic approach are very effective in portraying the awkward adolescent stage of a young woman and the unrealistic dream of being perfect.
and she stuck the sticks in the ground long ways leaning against each other then she
Rita Dove's poem "Daystar" talks about a woman who is both a wife and a mother and who is exhausted by her daily tasks. This poem takes place at a time of rest for the mother while the children take a nap. Dove's use of meter and tone concentrates on illuminating the beauty and the importance of everyday events in normal lives. Rita Dove's use of tone in this poem as well as the diction of words creates a unique feeling of sympathy for her poem's character. When you think of the title `Daystar' you consider a performer, such as an actress. This definition of star would surely bind in well with the idea of her double roles in which she must perform daily roles, as a mother and a wife.
getting out of her bed in Cedar room, to go in search of her baby.
Culture molds the character of writers and gives a variety of different perspective on certain life experiences. In Julia Alvarez’s short story Snow, Yolanda, an immigrant student, moved to New York. While attending a Catholic school in New York, bomb drills were performed. The teacher would explain why these drills were important. Yolanda later found out that her first experience of watching snow was not the best experience one could possibly have.