ipl-logo

Call Us What We Carry By Amanda Gorman

1217 Words5 Pages

Thoughts and messages about experience, struggle, and history are embodied throughout Amanda Gorman’s collection of poems titled Call Us What We Carry, composed in 2021. Written during such a pivotal time in history due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gorman’s poems highlight the extreme emotions and compelling experiences society faced as a whole during this period of such bleak isolation. The stories translated through her words transport us back to that time of quarantine and evoke a reflection on that era of isolation. Call Us What We Carry, Gorman’s lyrical collection of poetry consists of a multitude of pieces including poems titled Essex I and Essex II. Grief is the subject that establishes the intertextuality of these two works, although …show more content…

This tragedy ultimately resulted in the survival of only eight of the twenty crewmen, who had to resort to the cannibalism of their other crewmates for survival before their rescue months later. Gorman utilizes this horrific story throughout Essex I to portray a drastic depiction of grief by stating, “Were we any different, any less rent, rapt, & lost. Loss is undecipherable. Can you even be rescued if you’ve been ruined” (Gorman). As the crewmen have been lost at sea and struggling to grasp onto survival, grief overcomes them and they see no end to their torture in sight. Gorman indicates this by questioning if rescue is even possible despite the ruined state the men had been in; hopeless and soulless. With no food or water, they had been forced to resort to cannibalism for their survival, slowly depleting the amount of living crewmen as time slowly went on. They felt grief for the lives of their comrades and even their own lives, as they believed they were going to face their own demise out at sea. Gorman describes loss as undecipherable, accentuating the complex emotion of grief and how difficult it is to understand and encounter for the human mind. Her language generates the sense that humans almost have little capacity to grapple with the emotion of grief and that it is extremely compelling and gripping. Her exemplification of Essex I represents the reality of grief to a small extent, as this experience of cannibalism, death, and tragedy is one that is unnavigable and

Show More
Related
206 Words | 1 Pages

The book "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park explores the life of Salva, an 11-year-old boy living in South Sudan, after he is displaced by the Sudanese Civil War. First, in 1985, Salva and his classmates are instructed to run into the bush to escape the gunfire that was heard not far from the school. Then, he joins a group of travelers who are walking away from the war in Sudan, but they abandon him in a barn one evening while he is still asleep. After spending a few days with the barn's owner, Salva is sent away with a different group of travelers, must of whom accept him grudgingly. The group walks for a month toward Ethiopia, and eventually they arrive to the Itang refugee camp in Ethiopia.

Read More
904 Words | 4 Pages

Even with all the food gone, Louie was hopeful and determined to persevere. Many days later, things were looking grim for the three men. But Louie didn’t let it faze him. While on the raft, “...they imagined themselves back in the world again, they willed a happy ending onto their ordeal and made it their expectation”(146). Louie knew how close they were to death, but he didn’t let that possibility affect his mentality.

Read More
229 Words | 1 Pages

When the dinghy capsized while the crew was attempting to make landfall, a man helped them on shore and stripped bare naked to give them his clothes. When the correspondent came to, he realized they had all made it except the oiler. The theme of this story is man cannot change the circumstances life gives. These men obviously could not help being shipwrecked,

Read More
560 Words | 3 Pages

The novel, One for the Murphy’s, written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt is really entertaining. This book tells the story from Carley Connors point of view. Carley, the main character, has a very rough life, and is very tough. After her mother betrays her she gets moved into foster care. She gets put in an amazing foster home, and realizes what it’s like to have a family who cares for her.

Read More
1276 Words | 6 Pages

In the historical fiction novel A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, a boy named Salva escaped from his village after the rebels attacked. Before the rebels took over Salva’s village he went to school everyday. Each day after school his mother would always be waiting for him at home with a bowl of warm milk. In the historical fiction novel The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, a girl named Parvana lived in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the Taliban rule. Before the Taliban took over Parvana’s town, it was a very beautiful city with restaurants, movie theaters, and shops.

Read More
1061 Words | 5 Pages

These scared, unprepared men also faced death due to the ocean that served as several of the men’s graves. The conditions these sailors met in water were awful , due to the high

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

Challenges could be very hard to overcome if you don't have to right motivations. A Long Walk to Water is a half nonfiction and half historical fiction novel written by Linda Sue Park. The book is about a boy named Salva living in Southern Sudan. A war breaks out forcing him to flee Sudan.

Read More
1573 Words | 7 Pages

The casta term “Indian” confined Andeans to the notion that they were subjects; obedient to the crown and always paid tribute. The idea that Indians were poor and miserable creatures that needed protection first emerged in the sixteenth century. Indians that paid tribute and that served mita were the ones that received protections because it meant that they were in compliance with the Spanish crown. In return, the crown would make them vassals-- thus making Indians important members of the colonial society and distinguishing them from Africans. However, converting Indians into vassals also benefited the crown’s economic goals as they exploited Indians for labor.

Read More
765 Words | 4 Pages

”(Ballard 115). All the men on board were very selfless and took out the lifeboats so that the women and children could leave the boat

Read More
716 Words | 3 Pages

The short story, “Good enough” by Rachel Vail, speaks about the main character Dori and how she starts as what the poem, “Identity” by Julio Noboa Polanco would say as a flower but transform into a weed at the end. Dori tries to impress or fit in with the popular girls by getting an Orion shirt they all wear for Dori’s birthday. However, Dori’s family is not in the best financial situation, so this makes it really hard on the parents to get this. On Dori’s birthday she opens a present to find that her mom has given her a fake, which hurts her, but she does not tell her parents, so they do not feel bad. When Dori wears it to school the next day one of the popular girls goes up to her and taunts her about it, Dori ends up crying but catches herself and remembers that even though its fake her mom had so much love behind it and did her best which makes Dori get over it and know that it's okay to not be in the popular group or be different.

Read More
1034 Words | 5 Pages

In A Prudent Man, Katy Warner delves into the manipulative world of politics through the eyes of a typical male politician, while in Black Mirror episode The Waldo Moment, Charlie Brooker explores the influence that public image can have on perception and therefore affect people’s actions. Published in 2016, Warners A prudent man in an extended monologue talks about the trials and tribulations of a generic politician. Black Mirror episode The Waldo Moment, follows the story of a failing comedian who runs for office as one of his only successful characters Waldo (a cartoon blue bear). Despite their different formats, A Prudent Man and The Waldo Moment explore the influence that perception has on power, exposing the toxic nature of politics

Read More
1219 Words | 5 Pages

Erika Krouse’s book titled “Tell Me Everything” pairs the qualities of a memoir with true crime to share the story of a sexual assault investigation conducted by an amateur private investigator. Nonetheless, she manages to help crack the case open. This particular excerpt takes place near the beginning of the first chapter. Here, Krouse battles with her internal conscience, which tells her she is past her prime and struggles to break free from the tireless cycle of unfulfillment. This piece of literature uses unique style choices to describe this profoundly vulnerable story.

Read More
759 Words | 4 Pages

Life at the Kitchen Table A poet, activist, and musician, Joy Harjo has received numerous honors for her efforts. Harjo has established herself as a significant figure in modern American poetry, consistently receiving acclaim for the profundity and thematic concerns in her works. Even though Harjo frequently depicts the Southwest, focuses on the person, and incorporates Creek values, myths, and beliefs, her body of work is relevant to everyone.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

Has technology affected our lives? In the article “Hal and me”, Nicolas Carr describes attributes to our lives that come from the evolving technology we use every day. By introducing several educated men with literature background had found themselves changed from the constant usage of the internet. The way they lived their lives have changed, now they have become depended on the technology and their minds have changed, they expected everything to function as the same way technology does, faster. There is a loss of independence in us every time we use technology, the ability to stay focus is taken away by internet.

Read More
132 Words | 1 Pages

In the passage “What To Bring” by Naisha Jackson the immigrants chose to bring certain items with them to the US. They chose to bring things that, even though they are starting a new life in the US, help them remember their old life. “... The two most common kinds of immigrants’ belongings are religious items and photographs” (Jackson 10). This piece of evidence shows how they want to keep in touch with their roots and keep memories of their old life.

Read More

More about Call Us What We Carry By Amanda Gorman

Open Document