New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age, 1865-1905 written by Rebecca Edwards provides readers with many different individual accounts to illustrate the transformative time of America during the Gilded Age. The work shows the cultural, social, political and economical elements of the age that aided in forming the America we have today. Edwards’s purpose in writing New Spirits is to offer readers new insights on the era by eliminating predetermined stereotypes one may have established before reading the work. Edwards wants readers to put aside their prior knowledge to understand just what it was like to live in the Gilded Age by providing readers with the consequences and achievements of people during the time.
Eileen Kane’s insightful work, Trickster: An Anthropological Memoir, illuminates the cultural atmosphere and life of the Northern Paiute people of Yerington, Nevada, during the early 1960’s while reflecting on the many contrasts and parallels to her own upbringing in Youngstown, Ohio. Guided by her research topic, documenting the religious beliefs the Paiute people practiced after the death of Jack Wilson (Kane, p. 155), Eileen Kane depicts the acculturative effects on Paiute religion occurring at this time. For those living on the reservation, the traditional-native spirituality had already witnessed the indoctrination of Christian beliefs by missionaries and whites among many Native American groups, though conservatory attempts to maintain
In Anne Fadiman’s book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, two cultures clash with each other in the struggle to save Lia Lee, a Hmong child refugee with severe epilepsy. Although Lee and her family live in the United States, and thus receive medical care from Westerners, her family believes that Lee’s condition is sacred and special. The following miscommunications, both culturally and lingually, between the American doctors and the Lee family leave Lia Lee in comatose at the end of the book. However, Lia Lee could have been saved if the Lee’s had a better understanding of the American doctors’ intentions, and the American doctors understood the Hmong culture. Essentially, the tragedy of Lia Lee can be attributed to the clash of American and Hmong cultures at both the surface and sub-surface level.
Superstitions and Folklore: Bibliography Essay on Superstitions And Folklore in Charles W. Chesnutt’s Stories Charles Waddell Chesnutt is an African American writer who writes many novels and short stories about African American superstitions and folklore of the south in The Conjure Woman. The Conjure Woman is a collection of folk tales that explore complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Civil War. Chesnutt writes these stories in vernacular forms to represent the oral act of storytelling and express Chesnutt’s black identity and cultural heritage of African American people. Chesnutt 's folktales are narrated either to teach the readers lessons or to represent how African American people are treated by whites as second class citizens. The following essay concentrates on superstitions and folklore in Chesnutt’s stories, and how Chesnutt uses African American folklore to celebrate his black identity throughout telling these stories.
Many may believe that reading a book about religion would be challenging to accomplish for someone who is not religious. But those people have never read Anne Lamott’s, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. If one were to ask non-religious college students to read a book by a random author about spirituality and “Finding God” through conversion, they would most likely roll their eyes and bear through it. In Lamott’s series of essays, one does not have to “suffer through the readings” because her writing style is one of a kind. She has strategically chosen every word because she is aware of how important her spiritual experiences are to so many people, religious or not.
We travel back to when Jeanette was three years old in Arizona and the dress she was wearing had caught fire while she was cooking. After six weeks in the hospital, her father Rex, mother Rose Mary, older sister Lori,
Like Water for Chocolate The theme of magical realism is manifested in the Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate. Elements of magical realism are reflected mainly through Tita’s food recipes, as the food takes on supernatural qualities. The effects that they have on the characters in Esquivel’s book may seem far-fetched and yet it fits in with the nature of her book where impossible lactations, ghosts, the salt producing tears and so much more. These elements are cathartic releases for the characters. There are many instances in Like Water for Chocolate where Laura Esquivel uses magic realism.
Critical Book Review: The Lightkeeper’s Daughter We are oysters, concealing our tender insides with hard shells. (Lain Lawrence, 2002, P81) The Lightkepper’s Daughter is hitherto the most interesting modern fiction in the recorded history. It is written by Lain Lawrence in 2002.
Kelli Raque Ms. Stout Creative Writing 26 April, 2023 TW In St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell the reader follows a collection of short stories told by many perspectives. From the four that the class read there are many literary devices used, one that really stuck out was how she decided to tell the stories and who told them. Russell uses point of view effectively throughout a lot of her stories, by making the narrator a younger kid telling the story it helps provide to the magical realism in the book and also lets the readers have different interpretations of the story and debate if it's all real magic or just the magic of childhood. In the short story Haunting Olivia the story is told by a young boy named Timothy
Quen Head Comp 2 11:30 Literary Analysis “Trifles” Gender Roles Everyone around the world has a mindset that certain genders have certain rules in relationships and everyday life. The author, Susan Glaspell, showed many ways in the story “Trifles” how males can look at things in a different perspective than women sometimes do. For generations, women have fought for power and rights, one of the biggest events in history is The Women’s Rights’ Movement starting in 1848 and going on for years until 1920 when the 19th amendment that granted American women the right to vote. Throughout history the fight between women and men has been a long process from rights, to gender specific roles in career, pay, and equality.
The Lottery In the short story “The Lottery”by Shirley Jackson, the characters of the story all have mixed emotions about this lottery. The character, Tessie Hutchinson, her emotions about this lottery is that she thinks it is unfair. Mrs. Hutchinson thinks the lottery is unfair because they didn't give her family enough time to pick a slip. But i think it was fair because everyone takes their own time.
She is displeased with her new home and desires a better life. The adventurous child discovers a parallel universe through a tiny door in the living room. On the other side of this door she uncovers the world of her dreams. Another set of parents with button eyes provide her with anything she asks for. However, she soon learns that things are too good to be true.
The art of storytelling is at the heart of fairy tales. Since the beginning, fairy tales have captivated readers with its magical worlds and enchanted characters. Quintessential to fairy tales are destined happy endings and the clear division between good and evil. The nature of these stories creates distorted perceptions that do not align with reality, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion. This is portrayed in Terry Pratchett’s Witches Abroad, in which Lilith Weatherwax struggles to free herself from the fictitious world she has fabricated.
In “Terwilliger Bunts One,” Annie Dillard reflects on her childhood and the various lessons her mother taught her.(MS 7) Growing up Dillard observes her mother’s unique mindset and her love of language. Her mother’s bold personality inspires her to form her own opinion, defend her position, and think for herself. Dillard expresses her mother’s eternal impact throughout her childhood with the three literary elements tone, imagery, and word choice.(MS 2) Through tone, Dillard communicates her positive emotions toward her mother and the eternal impact she has on her. Throughout her essay, Dillard expresses admiration for her mother by conveying her mother’s dramatic attitude and communicates her own feelings through an appreciative tone. Reminiscing
The boy and girl had their chance, but believing that if their love was meant to be they would know each other when they next saw each other, they let it pass them by. One never knows what can happen even within a minute that could change his or her life. In the case of the “100% perfect” couple, all memory of each other was lost and because they did not take hold of their fate, they missed out on true love. The narrator’s tale begins with an optimistic “once upon a time,” but ends with “a sad story, don’t you think” (3). Stories do not always have the ending that was expected when they cheerfully began.
