Oral History, Lee Smith’s fifth novel, was published in 1983 and garnered national attention due to its status as a “Book-of-the-Month Club” selection (“Biography”). Oral History opens at the base of Hoot Owl Mountain, home to the remaining descendants of the almost mythical Cantrell family. A younger and somewhat estranged family member, Jennifer, comes to the Appalachian setting to gather information about her unknown past for a college assignment, appropriately termed “Oral History.” She is drawn to the small, now coal-mining community due to a legend surrounding the Cantrell family and their former home, Hoot Owl Holler. The legend morphed into a ghost story involving a haunted cabin, witchcraft, and a supposed curse on the family at hand.
The main character of the book, Allison Mackenzie, came from a middle-class family that owned a home off Chestnut Street. Her mother, Constance, owned a shop in town called the Thrifty Corner Apparel Shoppe. Allison was born out of wedlock and her father was out of the picture. Constance was ashamed of this fact and hide her secret past from society. The situation surrounding Allison was an example of the time period’s denial of family dysfunction.
Isabella Baumfree, now known as Sojourner Truth, was born into slavery in 1797, though her birthdate was not recorded. Isabella Baumfree protested when John Dumont , Isabella Baumfree 's previous owner whom she ran away from, sold her son, Peter, to a family in Alabama. Two white lawyers, whom we don 't know the name of, in New York gave Baumfree free legal help and liberated Peter through the courts. Sojourner Truth moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1857 and became active there helping black people escape on the Underground Railroad to freedom.
The protagonists of both Erik Larson’s the Devil in the White City and Denis Johnson’s novella Train Dreams share similar experiences despite being located in different parts of the country. “That he'd taken on an acre and a home in the first place he owed to Gladys. He'd felt able to tackle the responsibilities that came with a team and wagon because Gladys had stayed in his heart and in his thoughts.” (Johnson, 82). At a time where women are beginning to venture out and become increasingly present in society, Grainier acknowledges the strength and support he received from his late-wife Gladys.
Mary Jemison was one of many white captives who lived a full and happy life with her indian captors. The day Mary Jemison was taken by the indians started out like any other day. A friend of her father’s needed to borrow a horse in order to carry a bag of grain to the Jemison’s house. The friend had also taken a gun with him in case he saw any game fit for killing. The Jemison’s heard gunshots coming from nearby outside and quickly became alarmed.
Selena's Musical Career Selena Quintanilla Pérez was a famous Mexican-American singer. Selena had an amazing career in the making. Selena sang Disco, Tejano, and Technocumbia music whenever ever she performed. Selena had it rough growing up as a singer because she was a girl.
With Maria Esther Santillan for more than 10 years when I met her, she lived in the address 1511 Lyan Street, Sanger, CA 93657. Since I have been able to tell Maria I can say that she is a good behavior. Very kind, responsible and very hardworking. Maria Esther has never been involved in any problem of any kind in what I can remember, since in various occasions I have been preset money and always paid me on time. I know that Maria Esther is applying her application to legalize her immigration status in this country and I can testify that Maria Esther is a person who would be of great benefit to that country to be accepted her application Maria Esther is a person who loves this nation, loves the culture and laws of this country and she could
The following essays are part of a portfolio for two books that have their roots in factual history, but are still works of fiction. Real-world examples were the basis for their creation. The two books assigned were My Antonia and All The King’s Men. My Antonia by Willa Cather is a story about an immigrant family from Bohemia struggling to find their place in Nebraska.
In the book My Antonia, the characters developed a lot throughout the story, but one character development that stood out to me was Antonia Shimerda. Antonia's character developed so much in this novel, she becomes a more independent character, but that's only because of the challenges she faced when she moved from Bohemia, her dad committed suicide, she had to work as a servant girl and when her fiancé left her. In the beginning of the novel, Antonia and her family are welcomed into Nebraska. They stay next to Jim Burden and his grandparents, they are the ones who welcomed them.
When two people from vastly different walks of life cross paths, they are bound to learn a lot from each other. My Ántonia by Willa Cather is set in Nebraska in the late 1800s and tells the story of the relationship between a Bohemian immigrant, Ántonia Shimerda, and an American boy, Jim Burden. In the beginning of their relationship, Jim teaches Ántonia English as requested by Mr. Shimerda. However, Jim learns more through their relationship because Ántonia inadvertently teaches him things he would not have learned otherwise.
Although Selena was becoming one of the most popular people in Tejano music, she still struggled with speaking Spanish. As it was her goal to take her music across all barriers, she knew she had to master the language if she wanted to make a difference (Marvis 12). She could sing in Spanish with the help of her father, but when it came to talking in press conferences and with others, she had difficulty with the language. She did not let her mistakes discourage her from trying to speak the language. Instead, she often laughed off her mistakes in Spanish interviews and never gave up trying to master the language (López 13).
Complex numbers were first encountered by the ancient Greeks and the ancient Egyptians through their applications of architecture. When dealing with a negative square root in the calculation of the volume of a square pyramid, the famous mathematician Heron changed a negative 63 to a positive 63. Diophantus discarded all negative solutions to his quadratic equations. It was not until Descartes that imaginary numbers were given their name. Imaginary numbers gave mathematicians a way to deal with the square root of negative numbers, but at the time they had no way of operating on the numbers algebraically.
With this interpretation, the focus is Antonia’s lasting effect on Jim- with not as much thought of how the latter affects his older neighbor. Throughout My Antonia, Antonia’s life is shaped by her relationship with Jim. When the Shimerdas first move to the Nebraskan prairies, Jim has just moved in with his grandparents. Jim and Antonia become friends immediately, and it seems as though all will go well for the young girl. Along with being a friend, Jim fulfills Mr. Shimerda’s request of being a teacher to his new neighbor, helping Antonia learn English.
Julia child- Cooking is like love it should be entered into without abandon. Julia Child was a french cuisine chef master. Her love for cooking didn 't start until she was 32 actually! Julia Carolyn McWilliams was born August 15th 1912 in Pasadena, California. Some of her nicknames were Jukie, Juke, and Juju.
Antonia transltes Mr. Shimerdas words to Jim’s grandmother after recieving help from the Burdens, “he wanted us to know they were not beggars in the old country”(50). The Shimerdas were a well respected and self-sustaining family in Bohemia, but America has been tough on them. The Shimerdas are somewhat reliant on the generosity of their neighbours who also build the
