“The Undercurrent” by Kellie Young is a story of a mother and daughter’s relationship that takes place in Hawaii throughout Young’s childhood. It describes to readers how her mother has influenced her life by becoming an admonitory voice inside her head. The impact Young’s mother has on her is widely due to the amount of admiration Young has for her. A crucial element to “The Undercurrent” is the short stories found throughout her narrative that exemplifies the greater concept of how her mother has shaped her life.
Have you ever felt safe somewhere, but realized your only protection was ignorance? In Jacqueline Woodson’s When a Southern Town Broke a Heart, she introduces the idea that as you grow and change, so does your meaning of home. Over the course of the story, Woodson matures and grows older, and her ideas about the town she grew up in become different. When she was a nine year old girl, Woodson and her sister returned to their hometown of Greenville, South Carolina by train. During the school year, they lived together in Downtown Brooklyn, and travelled to.
Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class. McCarthy chose to enter her study without any sort of hypothesis, therefore allowing herself an opportunity to better understand how each writing assignment related to the class specifically and “what
Brooklyn in the 1970s was plagued by severe economic and political troubles unlike any the city's inhabitants had experienced before. This is what Brooklyn was described as by a recent PBS article, for one to be living in these conditions their life must have been shaped pretty severely. On the contrary, living in Scarsdale has brought me many opportunities that someone living in that Brooklyn setting might not have been able to obtain. August, a character in Jaqueline Woodson, Another Brooklyn, lived in this harsh time period filled with a multitude of problems. This realistic fiction novel accurately depicts the story of a young woman attempting to thrive in a place like Brooklyn.
In the memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, a theme is dreams are achievable= despite obstacles. In the book, Jackie speaks about growing up with a dream to become a writer, but she has dyslexia and her family and friends try to gently steer her away from her dream because they don't want her to be heartbroken if she ever fails because of her condition. In Woodsons poem, “when I tell my family”, her mother states, “It’s a good hobby, we see how quiet it keeps you. They say,/But maybe you should be a teacher,/a lawyer,/do hair . . .” (Woodson 229)
Being scared to grow up is normal. In the story “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, growing up can change the way you think and act. That is something you can think about while reading about a character named Lizabeth, who is now telling the story of how her life was in her little village during the Great Depression. Lizabeth was going through a transition between 14 and 15, so all her mind was tangled up in a knot. The author tells us how this was a significant moment in Lizabeth's life while she was going through a tough time growing up.
“In the two years since she had last looked on the school, Francie changed from a child to a woman.” Page 485, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn This coming-of-age novel written by Betty Smith has been a hot topic on whether or not it should be read by ninth graders. The novel follows a young girl named Francie Nolan as she grows up in a rough neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY from 1902 to 1919. The novel brings Francie’s hardships to life and shows her journey to adolescence; when she finally sees the flaws in her life and truly understands the reality of her surroundings.
This piece is called “The Other Wes Moore” produced by Wes Moore in the year 2012. Wes Moore wasn't as privileged with his family and surrounding like others might have been. Wes Moore wasn't a great kid, he found things to fill in the free time including negatively affecting stuff. This piece is emotional and subjective, it analyzes how everything came together, and he shows passion and thoughtfulness. The author's purpose of this piece was to show how the choices people make when they're younger can be impacted by the environment one is surrounded with.
Suzy and Leah Jane Yolen wrote the story ¨Suzy and Leah.¨ I'm choosing to write about Suzy, an American girl. Suzy and Leah progressively build up a very important relationship throughout the story. The theme/moral of the story will be very clear once you keep reading.
The characters have adapted to their surroundings as much as they can but they can only do so much. When the whole group is trying to find a new shelter, they compare it to how life once was. They need a bed, some place to cook, running water, and a private place, but they are no longer fortunate to have something like that anymore. Because of that, a quote from Shane Walsh sticks out, “Nostalgia, it’s like a drug.” This impacts the book and the whole story line greatly because all they want in life is to go back to how things once were.
Published in 1920 by author Sarah Teasdale, There Will Come Soft Rains explains her reaction to World War I. Sarah uses nature to describe how she feels about war and basically puts nature over mankind. In the first six lines in the poem how beautiful the spring is. While also explaining the different variations of beauty that mankind could not effect, dead or alive. In Sarah’s poem she states that, “Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree if mankind perished utterly.” Which means to her that mankind is not that important as it thinks it is, in other words that it is a defect of Mother Nature.
Revision of “On Turning Ten” Essay Growing up and living in the adult world requires responsibility, knowledge, and independence. A poem by Billy Collins, “On Turning Ten,” describes a young child as he attempts to grasp the concept of growing up and facing the harsh reality of adult life. The narrator uses a melancholy tone to argue that adult life is challenging, and the best way to cope with these challenges is to reminisce about young childhood memories. The young narrator is convinced that adult life will not be much fun.
In his 2008 film The Necktie, Jean-François Lévesque explores and goes into many deep subjects. In the film, the main character Valentine begins to experience life. Valentine likes to play the accordion, and it seems like he is involved or likes going to accordion festivals. Life in itself is hard for many people, but for this particular young man as he starts to experience his adulthood, he is excited, outgoing, and most of all, ready for his new job. As the film plays you can tell Valentine is stressed, and the film shows his character growing, as in wrinkles, bags under his eyes.
“A rose for Emily” by William Faulkner is a short story about the life of Emily Grierson. The story, as told by the townsfolk, tells the present and past of Emily’s life and how unfortunate events affected her decisions and lifestyle. Faulkner utilizes the townspeople to narrate “A Rose for Emily” To portrait how the town covered Emily’s deeds and thus protected the town’s reputation. The townspeople are the narrator of “A Rose for Emily,” Along the story they are sometimes represented as a single entity that seeks to justify Emily’s actions.
How To Kill A MockingBird Harper Lee is a critically acclaimed classic novel of modern American literature. It deals with warmth yet serious issues of race inequality and rape. The book captures the conflict of the time period and also paints vivid pictures in readers imagination. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird the author Harper Lee uses setting to express the ideas that people will lie in hopes to mask their shame. In the novel Harper lee uses setting to show how the relationship between Mayella Ewell, a young, poor, white woman who’s in the lowest rank of the white community.
