In the book A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith uses many literary devices like imagery and characterisation. Betty also uses social stratification, ethos, pathos, and logos in the book to help create a well rounded book. She writes about a poor family that lives in brooklyn and their struggles to survive and climb the social ladder. Johnny and Katie go through hard times, losses and success to try to survive and to have a better life for their children Francie and Neeley. They give everything they have and sometimes sacrificing food so Francie and Neeley will graduate high school and have a better life.
Taylor, the main character, Cassie Logan, a 9-year-old African-American girl who lived in southern Mississippi in the early 1930s, learns that to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line. This is because at first, Cassie didn’t understand the value of the land. However, after learning about the legacy of the land and why it is important to her family, she finally realizes the value of it and cherishes it. The theme of the novel, “Sometimes to truly learn the value of something, it needs to be put on the line,” connects to my younger self because, when I was younger, I never valued the money that my parents gave me to buy snacks and spent it recklessly. One day, a kid stole the money that my parents had given me to buy snacks, and at that moment, I got so angry that I realized how much that money was worth and how valuable it is to me.
Jewett uses different literary techniques and ideas to convey a message of endurance and perseverance through the taxing and overwhelming environment that leads to victory and triumph for Sylvia. The tree is described using vivid imagery, first being an obstacle then becoming a marvel and beautiful after enduring pain and suffering.
Before being given any context, the speaker shares how she is packing tomato seeds or what her friend Denise refers to as “love apples” (4). Still unsure of her destination, she shares how her father says, “they won't grow” where they are going (5). By including the term “love apples” the author intends to show the reader that the seeds symbolize love, specifically the love the speaker has for Denise. Although the speaker does not specify where she is going, her father’s mention of how the seeds “won't grow”, tells us that the environmental conditions are so harsh, even tomatoes won't grow. The speaker’s action of packing the seeds is hopeful and nearly oblivious whereas her father is fully aware of their future conditions.
The story touches on things such as poverty, alcoholism, bullying, abuse, etc. It is an extremely eye-opening, humbling book that shows you that you can change your life around no matter how you were raised. This book is relatable to many people, including children and teenagers who are or may have gone through some of the same things that Jeannette and her siblings did. The theme that most resonated with me while reading the book was alcoholism. It is something that has been a part of my family life for a long time.
The Poverty-stricken area is filled with death and sickness. He describes it as a horrible place to have to live and work with starving orphans and many sick and dying people living in morbid conditions. The waste filled streets and fire prone buildings were just a regular thing for the people living under the poverty line. 2.) The story takes place in the slums of New York City.
For the first ‘bare’ part of her life, Janie is a mule not to a man but to her own grandmother. In her youth, Janie yearns for relationships and objects that to her symbolize freedom. She is drawn to a blossoming pear tree because of how its “barren brown stems [turn] to glistening leaf-buds; from the leaf-buds from snowy virginity” (10), Here, Janie is awed by something changed from ‘barren’ to beautiful as she struggles with the suppression of her grandmother, who goes on to bash Janie for kissing a boy through a gatepost. It is clear Janie associates the pear tree with freedom, as she was avoiding her chores to sit under it. Thus, the beauty she finds in the turn from stem to blossom is directly correlated with the joy she finds in the escape from her grandmother and discovery of freedom.
Nanny wants her to have a man with money, but as Janie undergoes her marriage with Logan she finds out that the bond is more important than the money. Janie didn 't love Logan and didn 't like how he treated her. This relates to the motif of the pear tree because all Janie wants is love from a man, like how “the tree receives from the pollen-bearing bee”( Dilbeck 102).The tree represents her life and how she is looking for that special man which the bee represents. Janie’s marriage with Logan made her realize that she should not be treated like property and that she deserves better. After the marriage with Logan failed, Janie thought that Joe was the one.
Readers can infer that poor people were deprived of food and possibilities because of the strong use of pathos and imagery. Also, the substandard jobs were reserved for the poor because they were ineligible of equal opportunities because they were deemed uneducated. Americans still view poor people as being uneducated and wrongfully inferring that as the cause of their poverty. This incorrect thinking leads poor people to have less rights than others because they have to
There is beauty in life for those who choose to see it. The Marigold is a story that is about the time of the Great Depression and how people were growing up in poverty with no shoes, little to no clothing, and barely a roof over their heads literally. The theme is see the good in little things for those that do see it. The marigolds were a symbol of beauty in all of the ugliness that was around them but at the time Elizabeth could not see it until it was too late. The title of the book is Marigolds short story by Eugenia Collier and is historical fiction.
“Mom and Dad smiled at each other and laughed. It was a sound that Tree hadn’t heard from them in the longest time” (132). This shows how Tree wasn’t sure his parents were ever going to get along again, but they end up having a good time. This is an example of how family matters most and hope is always around. This situation gave Tree strength to preserve.
Poverty and discrimination affects both main characters but in different ways. Richard is ashamed of the pity he is getting and Maleeka is bullied because of what she wears. Both feelings will stay with the main character for the rest of their lives and that's what truly arises emotion in the reader. Richard was so determined to prove he had money, he told his class he would donate 15 dollars to the cause. If he had 15 dollars he probably would have given them in rather than buying himself the food he desperately needs to survive.
This novel talks about the life in America during those times back in 1937 how many people struggled to live. Many people during those days lost their jobs. There was no welfare state or unemployment benefit. Disabled or old people had to depend on their families or charity and keep working for as long as they could. Everyone was so competitive in order to get a job.
In A.S Byatt’s “The Thing in the Forest”, the author uses the elements of a short story to craft a dark, mature fairytale. The title of the story, “The Thing in the Forest”, in the sense that it foreshadows the main idea of the story. The audience expects more than just a "thing", as listed in the title. Byatt emphasizes through figurative language that the main characters, Penny and Primrose, are dealing with more than just a creature in the forest that affected them for the rest of their lives, and that with this use of symbols to express a larger meaning to objects in the story. A.S Byatt emphasizes more on plot and setting, characters, theme and symbols.
“Schoolteacher’s nephew represents a dismissal by whites of the dehumanizing qualities of slavery”. When Sethe is raped, schoolteacher observed how her body is exploited. The scars on Sethe’s back are so many that they resemble the trunk of a tree with its branches. Sethe bear scars on her back because she was whipped due to her try of escape. Amy Denver, a white girl that helped Sethe when she was running away from Sweet Home, calls the tree a chokecherry tree.
