The difference between two things are often blurred by way we interpret them. In The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt, the lead character, Holling is witnessing the truth behind people's true emotions. Holling was publicly embarrassed when pictures of him were plastered throughout the school displaying the bright yellow tights he wore in the Shakespeare play. Everywhere he looked he observed student faces manifesting haunting and unpleasant smirks, mocking him without mercy or end. Holling felt like he was engulfed in a bottomless pit of misery and shame.
In the 1950s, Texas was at the forefront of two major, but very different civil rights movements—the African-American movement and the Mexican-American movement. Fighting Their Own Battles by Brian Behnken describes and compares the separate battles for rights of the two movements. People in Texas knew what was happening and newspapers reported about the different events that occurred throughout the 1950s. In hindsight, and with the help of Behnken’s book, one is able to see the subtle influences of both civil rights movements in the Texas newspapers. At the time however, these differences in strategy between the African-American and Mexican-American movements were not so easily understood.
"Shiloh" affords readers a glimpse into her portrayal of symbolic allusions, specifically through her references of the log cabin, the dust ruffle, and the battleground at Shiloh. One of the earliest symbolic references that the audience is knowledgeable of is the log cabin. The log cabin is mentioned quite commonly throughout the duration of the narrative, accentuating its importance. The cabin functions as an assortment of various symbolic interpretations during the course of the short story; the most ubiquitous referring to the state of Leroy and Norma Jean 's marriage. While Leroy believes the cabin to be some type of beacon of hope for his marriage, Norma Jean is skeptical of its existence and views it as unwanted and incongruous.
"The Scottsboro Boys" By Jessica McBirney explains the prejudge towards African-Americans during the mid 1900's. The author separates her ideas by piecing them in different sections of her writing using headings. However, she mentions the main idea of her informative writing throughout the different paragraphs. The main idea of her short writing was that the Scottsboro Boys' trials showed an enormous degree of racial inequality that existed in the United States' criminal justice system and most of the Southern United States. The Scottsboro Boys' trial sparked African-American protestors and activists to push the government to improve the racial equality in justice systems.
Howard Zinn’s unique perspective on American history and the beloved American heroes makes for an interesting story. His book, A People's History of the United States, paints history in a whole new light. While most teachers tell the story of the Jacksonian “era of the common man”, the other side is rarely looked at, the side that Zinn shows in the 10th chapter of his book “The Other Civil War”, and the era of the elite using the middle class to push the lower, working classes down. He also uses other like-minded historians like Christman, Miller, Myers, and Horwitz and historical events to support his claims. These claims are that throughout the 1830s and 1860s there was a class struggle going on between the poor workers of the nation and
I think of Lt. Jimmy Cross as a young man who wasn’t prepared to leave his loved ones to fight in a war. He left his normal life filled with regrets of not doing “something brave” (5). His young adult life was taken from him by the war. He had to experience things that no normal twenty four year old man would have to. He wanted to be in love with a girl and have her love him back.
All high school teens have different obstacles that they have to overcome. The series "Sevens" by Scott Wallens follows seven teens who all have different struggles throughout their high school career but are all connected by a tragedy that happened when they were children. Their friend group was torn apart and everyone went their separate ways. That was until a series of more tragic events brought them closer and closer together.
Communication is needed in any relationship whether it be romantic or platonic. Without communication, a relationship will inevitably collapse. Written by Bobbie Ann Mason, “Shiloh” depicts the troubled marriage of Leroy and Norma Jean Moffitt, a couple whose relationship collapses due to a lack of communication. Leroy and Norma Jean are two contrasting characters who fail to resolve their differences through communication, creating tension between the two and leading to their ultimate divorce. Through the characterization of Leroy and Norma Jean and the depiction of a conflict between two spouses, Bobbie Ann Mason stresses that communication is key.
Because “Shiloh” reveals atypical gender roles, Norma Jean gains the physical and mental strength to start the new life she has always aspired to begin. Leroy, Norma Jean’s husband, was in a trucking accident four months ago, which rendered him unable to walk due to a leg injury, leaving Norman Jean as the working partner of the relationship. Leroy’s fairly new physical
The Black Hills War, also known as the Great Sioux War of 1876, was a series of battles fought from 1876 through 1877, between the forces of the United States and their allies (Shoshone, Pawnee, and Crow) and the Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho). Taking place under two presidencies and resulting in hundreds of casualties on both sides, The Black Hills War made great impacts that would continue to affect Natives for generations. The United State’s extensive relationship with the Native Americans has its intricacies to say the least. With the arrival of English settlers at Jamestown in 1607, there were undoubtedly uncertainties amongst the Native people as to whether or not these settlers would resemble the Spanish settlers who
Ballard is not shown love. His father does not love him enough to not kill himself, “They say he[Ballard] never was right after his daddy killed hisself” (21). The townspeople immediately notice that after his father’s suicide, that Ballard becomes different. He does not receive the love he needs from his father which prevents him from receiving love from other women. Because he cannot receive love, Ballard decides to instead make love with the corpses of dead women.
The hardships that people face, coming from racial and gender injustice, can sometimes affect not just those directly concerned, but their families as well. These injustices, such as the treatment to Troy in Fences during his younger years, change the ways he acts to his sons and the rest of the characters and is the source of much of the conflict they face. Many of the conflicts in the play arise because the characters disagree with the way they see the past and what they want to do in their respective futures. For example, Troy and Cory see Cory's future differently because of the ways they have been treated in their pasts.
His son marries, and the narrator and his wife age further, and the transition into old age is complete with the death of the narrator’s father-in-law. Between these events we can see large shifts in attitudes and ideas, as well as health and well-being. These factors provide clear character evolution within the
“At that time, it was the bloodiest battle in American History. ”(Bradbury 167) In, “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury, Joby, the drummer boy, wants to be more than just a drummer boy. He wants to be a soldier. The general talks to Joby saying “you are the heart of the army.”
The story “Soldier’s Home” by Ernest Hemmingway depicts the wounding and post-traumatic experience of the First World War of the main character Harold Krebs and his family. Like most soldiers’ experience of the war, upon return to their lives back home, their lives virtually had no more meaning to them. Krebs presents a painful realization in this manner in which he interacts with his mother. She tries to think of her son as a hero and make him feel like one by encouraging him to re-tell his tales from the war. Krebs knows that the impressions his mother is making are not authentic and she, just like the rest of his fellow town folk are tired of hearing and reading the same stories from the war (De Baerdemaeker 24).
