The Power of Hope Gary Soto brings the impoverished, crime filled streets of the Mexican-American communities where he grew up to life by “evoking the harsh forces that often shape the life for Chicanos” (“‘Gary Soto’: Poetry Foundation” p. 1). He combines an archetypal young love poem with the concept of poverty to create the powerful poem: “Oranges” (1985). Soto also works with the notion of old age and the importance of life in his somber poem: “The Seventieth Year” (1986).
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, takes place during the late 1940s. It is a story about a young man named John Grady Cole, a sixteen year old who is the last of a generation of the West Texas ranchers in his family. John Grady Cole takes a journey across the border to Mexico, after his grandfather's death, to retain his dream of living the cowboy life that he grew up with. As the story unfolds, John Gady Cole encounters a variety of obstacles that determines if his dreams are meant to be or if his fate will overpower his desires. McCarthy incorporates a variety of literary devices, internal conflict, and tone to achieve his theme of romanticism and reality.
Killing John could lead to being scared with guilt for
Gloria Anzaldúa's personal experience growing up in the Rio Grande Valley was inspiration for Borderlands, which was published in 1987. In this highly acclaimed work, she explores the effects of the Mexican-American border on her self-identification as mixed race, Chicana, a woman, and a lesbian. Shunned from each of these groups, Anzaldúa creates a new mestiza identity which both allows for and encourages a synthesis of disparate elements of identity into a synergistic whole. A mestiza is a woman of mixed Caucasian, Hispanic, and Native American descent. This consciousness which encourages opposition and contradiction is made necessary by the conditions created by the geographical, political, and psychological border.
Throughout “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy, the main character John Grady Cole is submitted to many evils as he tries to find his own place in the world. In his own personal quest for a happy ending, John represents the idealized cowboy of the Old Wild West uncovering the truth of the violent and deadly landscape he encounters. John Grady attempts to mesh together his romanticised cowboy honor code into a land that concedes nothing to nobility and the only winner is the one who survives. Only through his many trials and beatings does John Grady begin to accept the world for what it is, a place that does not contain only pretty horses; however, he still manages to remain true to himself and what he believes in. From the beginning of “All the Pretty Horses,” John Grady Cole faces threats from the modern world towards the cowboy life he admires so much.
John had high morals and great integrity. He was a Quaker, a state senator for 16 years and a very successful mill owner, including a flour and a saw mill. He continued to acquire additional businesses, a bank, a woolen factory, and an insurance company. Not to mention he held stock in the railroad and commercial real estate. He would become one of the wealthiest, self-made men in town.
Writer Sherman Alexie has a knack of intertwining his own problematic biographical experience with his unique stories and no more than “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven” demonstrates that. Alexie laced a story about an Indian man living in Spokane who reflects back on his struggles in life from a previous relationship, alcoholism, racism and even the isolation he’s dealt with by living off the reservation. Alexie has the ability to use symbolism throughout his tale by associating the title’s infamy of two different ethnic characters and interlinking it with the narrator experience between trying to fit into a more society apart from his own cultural background. However, within the words themselves, Alexie has created themes that surround despair around his character however he illuminates on resilience and alcoholism throughout this tale.
Illusion Versus Reality Illusions tend to drift an individual away from their sanity, causing them to negligently live their lives according to false, misleading and fantasized beliefs. Reality, on the other hand, is the state of the world in which it exists. The theme of reality versus illusion, and how one copes with conflict, is excessively depicted in Margaret Laurence “Horses of the night,” through the protagonist, Chris. He experiences several external and internal conflicts associating with his grandfather and chris’ environment. In relation with external conflicts, Chris encounters internal and external conflicts between society and himself, his need to obtain a rich life to uphold his reputation in society takes over his mind, and the reality becomes a blur of colors which he does not seem to see.
People greatly value honor, and they will disregard everyone else and put themselves in danger in order to achieve it. For example, Tom wants it to be harder to get Jim out of his confinements, ignoring the fact that he is a human being and it is essential to his health and well being that he not remain imprisoned. When he encounters Jim’s situation, he says, “‘Blame it, this whole thing is just as easy and awkward as it can be. And so it makes it so rotten difficult to get up a difficult plan.” ’
Sledge lived and witnessed horrifying experiences at the beach of Pelilieu that were told in his story With the Old Breed. Although, to us, the beach is a calm getaway, Pelilieu is the furthest thing from calm. The story really shows the loss of hope from Sledge and the overall struggle against the Japanese troops. When Sledge first describes the battle, he gives off a hell type vibe filled with fatalities for every second he fought through in the Pacific with the other marines. Bombs were going off everywhere causing bodies to fly everywhere.
In The movie John collaborated with himself and the rest of the group. John addressed both of his own and the groups needs. By sacrificing himself to get caught by the teacher in the
The Great Gatsby soundtrack for the movie The Great Gatsby was chosen perfectly to represent the main themes of the 20s in America, specifically the chase for the American Dream, unprecedented prosperity, decadence, idealism, and the empty pursuit of pleasure. Modern songs were put to a jazz-like tone to create an atmosphere similar to the 20s. These songs can directly be heard as coming from a specific character’s point of view, in particular Daisy’s and Gatsby’s. The song “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Ray encompasses the main themes of decadence and idealism represented through the characters Daisy and Gatsby in the novel The Great Gatsby.
This showed that he was trying to keep his name clean by telling the truth. When John was in prison, they give him another chance to be freed of charges. They tried to persuade him
In the passage from the novel Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, Trumbo tells the story of a young boy named Joe and his father, who have a very close relationship. They each love to do the same things, but Joe thinks it is time to experience life on his own. Trumbo uses techniques such as Joe’s point of view, imagery, and unquoted dialogue to illustrate the strong relationship between Joe and his father. First, Trumbo uses third person limited point of view to only share the main character’s thoughts throughout the story.
Near the end of the play, John signs a confession that he consorted with the devil, but he eventually tears it up because he realizes that his integrity is more important than keeping a good name. He publicly confesses and allies himself with others who refuse to confess. John came to realize that had he confessed to save his life, those who refused to confess would look even more guilty to the court. John says, “ I have three children – how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?”
