Nicholas Lemann begins his book “Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War” with the 1873 Colfax, Louisiana massacre where a White League militia comprised of former Confederate soldiers killed black Republican voters. The Colfax massacre was perhaps the bloodiest event of Reconstruction. Lemann views this event as a startup of what would happen later in Mississippi if Federal troops did not defend black voters. Lemann blames Ulysses S. Grant’s Secretary of War, William W. Belknap, for not stopping the White Line activity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Grant had worked hard to stop the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1870s with Congress passing legislation and Federal troops putting down Klan activity.
It was a sweet car,” (Frank 21). However, later in the story Randy sacrifices his car for his friends, “‘What you’re getting at...you want me to contribute the gas lines out of my Bonneville.’” (Frank 218). Before The Day, Randy wouldn’t have sacrificed his new, nice car for anything. However, The Day has introduced numerous shortages, including gasoline, making the car effectively useless.
There are rarely second chances for meth abusers, the drug defeats 24.7 million people daily; there was no second chance for Chase. The novel Tweaked, written by Katherine Holubitsky, focuses on a character named Gordie and his experiences in his life and his families, with having a meth addicted brother, Chase. Throughout the book, Chase puts his family in very precarious situations with dealers, finances, and everyday life. Everything is miserable but manageable until Chase gets arrested for aggravated assault. With Chase’s parents already worried about getting money for his bail, Chase asks his brother, Gordie for cash that will literally save his back from his dealers, Gordie agrees.
John Kessel’s essay, Creating the Innocent Killer, is a character study of Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin, from Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. The essay provides an interesting look into who Ender actually is underneath all of Card’s world manipulation, and the message that Card was trying to send through Ender’s existence in the story. Essentially, the message that Kessel sees in the novel is that ‘actions should be judged based on intentions, rather than results,’ which is a belief that is generally be untrue. The theory that this message was intentionally being portrayed in Ender’s journey is backed up by large amounts of evidence, both from the book, and from Card himself. This isn’t all too hard to prove.
In the novel Old School, by Tobias Wolff, the theme of personal integrity is present in both the narrator and the dean of the school. The narrator in this novel, a student in a prestigious boarding school, exhibits personal integrity when he meets the author of a story he plagiarized. As part of a writing competition students were able to compose a short story for the chance to sit down and talk to Ernest Hemingway and receive feedback on their literary skill. The narrator falls in love with a story whose author is a student at Miss Cobb’s Academy. This story relates to him so vividly that he is able to write it word for word, only changing the main character’s name, and believe the story is his own.
Throughout life, we all go through rough moments where we think all is lost. However, we as humans always grow from these experiences and turn into beings with a new awakening and understanding of the world. In a passage from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy, the narrator describes a striking ordeal, in which a man is coping with the death of a she-wolf. Despite the cause of death being left ambiguous, this dramatic experience has a vivid effect on the main character—causing him to change and grow into a new man by the end of the passage. McCarthy uses eloquent and expressive diction to create imagery which gives the reader an understanding of the narrator’s experience, supplemented by spiritual references as well as setting changes, elucidating the deep sadness and wonder felt by the protagonist.
Richard Ford’s short story “Communist” is a commentary on the many ways American culture has evolved since the time of the American West. Ford primarily alludes to the West and its influence on modern American culture through the setting, themes of family, manhood, and hunting, and various symbols, including geese, olive trees, and Glen’s car. By juxtaposing Western storytelling elements with modern social problems, Ford analyzes how Americans have perverted and misapplied traditional cowboy masculinity and how that misapplication has negatively impacted modern society. Several themes Ford examines through a modern lens were social issues that Americans were concerned with during the time of the American West. For example, Ford portrays stereotypes of hunting as a masculine activity and contrasts Les’ mother’s emotional reactions as a feminine experience.
Most of the time sacrifices are driven by some type of love, strength or necessity. It is done by giving up something good for the better, whether for yourself or, another person. In the real world, the idea of selfless sacrifice is shown through the soldiers that fight for their country. Not only does this idea appear in the real world, but also the literary world where one character’s act of courage to make a sacrifice becomes an important variable in the novel. One such novel is Veronica Roth’s Allegiant.
Rotting in a cell. Counting down the days. Trying to learn how to be a man before the big day. In the book “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines: Grant Wiggins a school teacher tries to help a falsely convicted black man named Jefferson. During this time Grant release what can do to not only change Jefferson but change himself as well and he achieves redemption.
Throughout the chapters that we have read, it has shown things that Mommy values the most. As it shows the things that she values the most, there are three things that are the most important ones. The three things that Mommy values most are her family, faith, and education. Faith is one of the three things she values most. While reading, it explains how Mommo values her faith.
First, Cohen argues that one of the roles of the men in house was to actively protect the sexual purity of the women in his care. Moreover, for women, part of their role was to maintain her purity before the eyes of others. Therefore arguing that adultery for women could be interpreted as them not being satisfied by the man, assuming that he was not doing his job to uphold the marriage. Also, men and women were separated, unless necessary, to maintain the purity of the women and this left little room for women to interact with men outside of their home. One might argue that this is why cases of adultery were taken so seriously due to the fact that since there was little room for interaction, the people in question would have to go to great
LIfe is unfair. There is no reassurance of a second chance. When you take into account how many characters in The Novel, The Hate U Give, received second chances because of family and community and how unfortunate the others who lacked a support system were, you would recognize that second chances are not guaranteed. Khalil Harris was not very fortunate.
The story, “2BR02B” by Kurt Vonnegut tells the story of a world where there is controlled population, old aged and diseases were overcome, and the world was seemingly positive. In this place humans call their home, certain people volunteer to ie, and the population continued to stay controlled. The Wehling family are expecting three triplets, but they must need to find 3 people to sacrifice. Dr.Hitz, Leora Duncan, and the father of the newborn children are killed, with the painter creating an amazing mural willing to be killed after seeing all the deaths unfold. This leads to the question, is the world really worth sacrificing yourself for others?
Sometimes people forget that there are often many flaws in seemingly perfect things. They imagine perfection, but there will still be many factors that were overlooked. The author of “2BR02B”, Kurt Vonnegut, realizes that perfection will never be achieved. Even in the far future when there are many new, helpful innovations and perfection will be strived for, it is not obtainable. Through Vonnegut’s use of setting and symbolism, it is evident that he feels that there will always be flaws.
Real During the 1990s, David Foster Wallace wrote various, interpretive essays that represented narratives in a collection titled A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. The main essay, titled as the collection, was a thoughtful reflection of Wallace’s experience on Nadir, his first extravagant cruise. The hundred page range of the essay gives way to Wallace’s verbose quality, illustrating his commitment to recap his past experiences accompanied with in-depth analyses. Wallace’s other essays in the collection emits a similar style, with detailed descriptions of his experiences and perceptions of the world.
