Teenagers have always sought to be their own person, forgoing rules and even recommendations in favour of self-determination. While an honourable undertaking, this path to self-discovery, leads them to experience new ordeals, where mistakes will be made. To reassure us that these mistakes are not necessarily bad, Elizabeth Alexander, in her poem "Nineteen", illustrates how youth 's desire for freedom¬ and to escape from their reality allows them to grow into adulthood and leads them to make choices that will impact their perception of the world. This theme will be analysed through structure, symbolism and contrast.
The growth of a young adult through his or her experiences is illustrated through the structure of the poem. Composed of three
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Such acceptance of errors can be viewed through the use of the words white and black as symbols by the speaker. During her summer away from home, "all [the persona had] to eat was white" (1) but after her affair with the man, "every [time she] would return to the city, [she was] black and dusty" (7-8). Seeing that white symbolizes purity and innocence, at nineteen, the persona viewed herself as someone who was, before that summer, untarnished and pure, whether it was about her virginity or her morality ¬- as she slept with an older man. However, as black represents impurity and unworthiness and the dust something unwanted, the speaker 's nineteen-year-old self views herself as tarnished after having a fling with a married man. These colors represent the black and white perception of the world the persona has while not yet being an adult. This narrow view of the world, an idealist view where there is just the right and the wrong, causes the persona to doubt herself. Due to her lack of experience and wisdom, the speaker cannot judge the situation as it should be, that she is innocent as she did not know that the man was married when she slept with him. As an adult, the persona reflects on both that summer and how she came to realize how "nothing could be ruined in one stroke" (22). Though the "stroke" (22) represents the sexual …show more content…
During the summer when she nineteen, the persona describes herself as "the baby, drinking rum and Coke" (4). The baby-like characteristics of the speaker, such as her lack of experience, contrast with the fact that she is drinking rum, which a baby does not normally do. This contrast illustrates how the persona is eager to be freed of her current situation, of her current reality, wanting the freedom to behave how she desires and discover more about life. For instance, when she meets the older man with whom she has a fling with during the summer, the persona "ask[s] and ask[s him] about Vietnam" (17), inquisitive about his experience. Despite her curiosity, the man is closed off on the matter, only stating that "he listened to a lot of Marvin Gaye" (18-9). The older man 's behavior contrasts with that of the persona who is young and has barely experienced life. Whereas the speaker is eager to discover life and have new experiences to escape her reality, the older man avoids his truth by focusing on mundane details of his experience in the Vietnam War. Furthermore, the older man was once a young man himself, surely eager to have new experiences, as he enrolled in the army. Instead of having these desires fulfilled, his memories of the war have caused his view of the world to greatly deviate from that of the persona and
Essay Outline (5%) 1. (Introduction) a) Thesis statement: In her poem “Nineteen”, in which she remembers about one summer, Elizabeth Alexander mentions the need for continuous psychological transformations, which are triggered by the curiosity of differences and the desire of learning from others. b) Plan of development: Through the use of symbolism, tone and contrast, Alexander puts the emphasis on the coming-of-age of the persona, which is significant regarding her personal growth. 2.
Tim O’ Brien’s book ‘The Things They Carried’ is a series of stories about the Vietnam War. Although all chapters in this book are related to the Vietnam War, each story transmits a different message to the readers and is narrated in different ways. In this essay, I have analyzed two stories to find the themes of each one and through what they are expressed. In “How to tell a true war story”, the author narrates two stories of the men in the Alpha Company and throughout the stories he disputes whether they are real or fabricated. On the other hand, in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”, Rat Kiley tells the story of his first assignment in the isolated mountains of Chu Lai.
He was a citizen and a soldier.” This quotation demonstrates to the reader how O’Brien personified the young vietnamese man. O’Brien humanizes the soldier by giving him an innocent background; one that could be compared to his own life stories. The reader can see how it is apparent that O’Brien knew nothing about the young man, other than his physical features. O’Brien let his guilt and pity
Class Picture, 1954 by Billy Collins is about a man who reflects on his class picture and memories of childhood. I see the speaker as someone that stumbled upon this relic of a photograph when ravaging through old boxes in the attic. The speaker then has all the memories of childhood flood his mind and he giddily tells the reader who the other students are. In the way the poem is written, it seems like the reader is a spouse or the speaker’s children. The speaker begins the poem reflecting on memories in stanza’s one through four; his/her “normal” school, with his “normal” crush, his “normal” friends, and his “normal” family in the distance of this “normal” memory.
The appeal of adulthood and independence reaches its apex in fervent children. However, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, poet of My Daughter at 14, Christmas Dance, 1981, conveys the paternal perspective of viewing one’s own kin experiencing the “real” world through her daughter’s first relationship. The Family of Little Feet, written by Sarah Cisneros, illuminates the negativities of young girl’s eagerness to physically develop in hope of acquiring attention from possible suitors. While both pieces of literature possess varying perspectives of epiphanies, Gillan and Cisneros divulge the significance of cherishing one’s youth, as the realities of maturity divest children of their innocence.
Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.
“Quinceanera” and “The Ball Poem” Both “Quinceanera” and “The Ball Poem” are coming of age poems told from first-person point of view that illustrate the growth and realizations that come along with the transitions throughout childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. It is through the implementation of first-person narrative that the reader experiences a personal, intimate look into the protagonists’ lives. Additionally, further parallels can be drawn in terms of symbolism: each poem hold its own symbol to represent coming of age and loss of innocence-- menstruation in “Quinceanera”, and the ball in “The Ball Poem”. These two poems read as a sort of reflection.
In the Freedom Writers Diary, the authors focus on the topic of the reality of what they have to deal with in their everyday world. Their teacher Mrs. Gruwell inspired them throughout their high school years by teaching them that it is possible for each and every one of them to change. They write with an uplifting and hopeful outlook on the world even if it not realistic in their present circumstances. In their writing, they establish an effective use of pathos by writing about their own lives and how they connect to others and us by using the selection of detail, metaphors, and allusions. Through these devices, we come to the idea that even though teenager’s in today’s world are faced with many hardships, they do not have to succumb to them.
Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally. The beginning chapters focus on training for war and being prepared for the worst. For example, when there is a sergeant in a room with the marines. The sergeant walks to the chalk board and writes “AMBUSHES ARE MURDER AND MURDER IS FUN” (36-37). The
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the author retells the chilling, and oftentimes gruesome, experiences of the Vietnam war. He utilizes many anecdotes and other rhetorical devices in his stories to paint the image of what war is really like to people who have never experienced it. In the short stories “Spin,” “The Man I Killed,” and “ ,” O’Brien gives reader the perfect understanding of the Vietnam by placing them directly into the war itself. In “Spin,” O’Brien expresses the general theme of war being boring and unpredictable, as well as the soldiers being young and unpredictable.
Regret is a powerful emotion that has the ability to scar someone for the rest of their life. Moments of regret can come from relationships, self-made decisions and life changing events. The idea of regret also applies to “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. Although these two literary pieces are very different in many ways, both authors describe the experience of the Vietnam War as a time of regretful decisions that negatively impacted people of both the American side and the Vietnamese side. Both authors tell a story about a character that recalls of flashbacks of the war, where they grieve over the past decisions that have affected them for the rest of their life.
I. Introduction A. Lisa Parker is snapping beans with her grandmother on the porch, but she is in the process of being changed by her college experience. B. The poem is “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker C. Lisa is a Southern girl, who is home from college in the North; she is going through struggles that are bringing about questioning and changing. D. Lisa is letting go of her safe past so that she can move forward into her own life. II.
A good grade on this will require full paragraphs of writing and demonstrating your growth as a poet. Poetry Unit Reflection Test Answer the following questions in 5 to 7 complete sentences. This is a test, and you are tasked with demonstrating your growth as a poet by your answers. Answer thoughtfully and completely and keep your audience in mind as you answer.
Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).
The Complexity of Forgetting In Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice by Nam Le, readers are acknowledged the reason behind the conflict between the two protagonists, the father and the son, in the story that it is rooted from overly strict nurturing. Not to let readers dislike the character of the father too far, the story of Thanh, the father, about his experience in Vietnam War is inserted to offer the reason of his suffering from the memory of the war which, perhaps, leads him to bring up Nam, the narrator and his son, strictly as if his life is in the war camp. The story probably arouses some readers' pity, understanding, or interest in his attempt to forget the battle in both his action and speech. Yet, in the