Steal and run!! That is what Misha’s life depends on every day because he doesn’t have a home or a family. Why would anyone leave their family and become homeless? That is exactly what Maniac Magee did to his aunt and uncle after his parents died in a trolley accident. In these realistic fiction novels, set in Germany and the U.S.A, the main characters Maniac, and Misha must deal with family issues and not being able to fit in.
In the book Biggie, by Derek Sullivan, it takes place in a small town in Iowa called Finch, where almost everyone plays sports. Biggie however, is an overweight kid who sits at a computer desk during all of his free time. Biggie eventually meets a girl named Annabelle, who he falls in love with right away. Biggie goes to gym class one day and throws a perfect game in wiffle ball and then is pushed by his brother and his mom to try out for the school baseball team. Throughout most of the book Biggie is in love with Annabelle, although at the end of the book, Biggie ends up meeting a different girl named Courtney that he ends up falling in love with.
In the essay, “If Black English Isn’t Language, Then Tell Me, what is?” (1979) Baldwin asserts that “Black Language” is part of the American community, and background, but its social background makes people deny it. He supports his claim by using his personal experience while also including examples of how languages are involved, and it is a key to identity; he also uses pathos and linguistics diversity to encourage his readers to support his claim. Baldwin purpose is to inform his readers about the situation in order to augment how black language is not only a language itself, but how it unveils things about the early days of American society.
The author of the dissertation notes” how hip hop performers such as Ice Cube, Nas, 50-Cent, amongst others, are recovering and recuperating the figure of the black hustler… it assists in developing an understanding of how young black men learn to perform masculinity “(Garnes 2015). This basic need to feel like a man and not conform to the limitation that unbalanced socio-economic inequality forces migrants to deal with. Is exactly what Brown is portraying in this book. Is the protagonist a bad person or a person taking the cue of those not wanting to settle for what has been left and take what is
James Baldwin’s essay on “Black English” comes from the perspective of a distinguished black man, articulating the idea of “What is English”. Baldwin writes in an eloquent tone that creates an atmosphere supporting his argument on why black english is a language because of his racial background. In Order to further his claim he utilizes antecedent to explain how “black english” evolved over time. He also employs antithesis to compare different languages,African Americans and white people.
Additionally, Hip hop is considered as contemporary African-American rhyming games. Previously, rhyming games are used as an inspirational comical approach to indicate race relations between African-American slaves and their white masters and escaping plantations. Such as "Bre 'r Rabbit tales" . Hip-hop journalist Davey D connects the African oral tradition to modern rap: "You see, the slaves were smart and they talked in metaphors. They would be killed if the slave masters heard them speaking in unfamiliar tongues.
The article “From outside, in,” by Barbara Mellix reveals the difficulties among the black ethnicity to differentiate between two diverse but similar languages. One is “black English”, which is comfortable to her while speaking with her family and community and the other is “standard English”, generally used while talking in public with strangers and work. Since childhood Mellix was taught when and where to use either black English or standard English. To illustrate, seeing her aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh, where there was wide range use of both languages, she learned to manage both languages with ease.
In 1776 fifty six men gathered together to sign a document that would change the world as they knew it. The Declaration of Independence was signed in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, solidifying the idea that the thirteen colonies were to be seen as a nation independent of England. Even though the colonists had a hard fight to win before anything was official, the symbolism of this document will live down in history as the start of the country of the United States of America. Years later the U.S. has transformed from a mass of colonies to one of the worlds largest super powers. The U.S has also been perceived as haughty and self center in the past couple centuries.
“All communication (and data processing) is achieved through the use of symbols. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for ‘STOP’” (Google). The adults in TKAM represent different life lessons, such as knowledge and equality.
It was once believed that the languages that the Africans spoke varied drastically from region to region but in reality they were “local variations of a deeper-lying structural similarity” (Herkovits 79). This similarity allowed communicating in the New World to be easier than if the languages were all completely linguistically independent, “whether Negro speech employs English or French or Spanish or Portuguese vocabulary, the identical constructions found over all the New World can only be regarded as a reflection of the underlying similarities in grammar and idiom, which, in turn, are common to the West African Sudanese tongues” (80). Language then became an important part of African American culture, whether it be a “secret” language used to help slaves escape, or to tell stories and folklore to children to encourage and motivate them, or express African proverbs from generation to generation. There has been many times when other races seem not to understand what African Americans are saying because of the slang terms we create that then become popular terms, most recently has been the phrases “on fleek” and “twerking”, to name a few examples. Being proficient in verbal arts was prized in Africa and now a value has been placed on verbal expression in today’s culture through riddles and through preaching and teaching (Williams
I am the Messenger is a novel written by Markus Zusak and published in 2002, it shows the perspective of Ed Kennedy, the main character, about different events that he goes through after his first encounter of a bank robbery, as the novel is displayed in the form of a first person omniscient narrative. Markus Zusak refers to Ed’s ideology when analyzing an event as he interprets what that character may be thinking of, he shows the role of the other characters through Ed Kennedy as he interacts with them and truthfully describes them as he also did when it comes to the addresses that he had to visit and supposedly help. This book provides many themes for the reader mainly through his creative use of symbolism, the most obvious theme is that of love which is shown in many different methods. This led to the question that will be encountered in this essay: How is the theme of love portrayed in Markus Zusak’s novel I am the Messenger through his use of symbolism? Ed Kennedy is a nineteen year old taxi driver who enjoys
The African American community has not gained full equality to this day. Even after fighting for many years this present day issue has come to light in Hip-Hop artists songs like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis song, White Privilege II. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are respected in their line of work because they have become very popular in today 's Hip-Hop music. Hip-Hop has been the newest way of news being broadcasted. As many artists like Macklemore have become more of an activist in this day and age.
This week I watched the Netflix original movie To the Bone. I was first drawn into this movie when looking through the Netflix originals list; when I saw the trailer. The trailer fascinated and captivated me, leading me to watch the movie. The movie follows a young women, named Ellen, on her journey seeking treatment for anorexia nervosa. The movie shows her struggle with thoughts of inadequacy, isolation, along with many other struggles as she struggles with her illness.
Dialect is defined as, “a variety of a language used by the members of a group” (Merriam-Webster.com, 2018). The use of “black” dialect in the story brings the characters to life, makes them more relatable, and contributes to the theme of racism in a way that other literary devices cannot. Particularly, “The increased use of dialect by black authors, particularly children 's authors, was a sign that the nature of the black experience as they wanted to convey it did not have to rely on traditional forms, and literary devices; that they could treat familiar, realistic ideas and situations using a familiar dialect and relate that idea more effectively” (Wells, 1976, p. 39). From “’Ey, ‘lois!
In this novel,”Things Fall Apart” Chinua Achebe uses symbolism to help connect foreign concepts to explain central themes and ideas. There are many symbols throughout the book,three of the most easily recognized symbols in “Things Fall Apart” are yams,fire,and locusts. Each object has a more deeper meaning then they were thought to have. Each of these objects come up repeatedly through the book because the author is trying to tell us that they don 't just have that one meaning. Yams are symbols of masculinity, wealth, and strength in this novel.
