Compose Yourself:Writing & Identity in Douglas, Williams & Walker :: essays papers

Compose YourselfWriting & Identity in Douglas, Williams & Walker For the last several(prenominal) years, whenever I teach an introductory composition course I use an anthology of essays c every last(predicate)ed Fields of Writing.One of the strengths of this collection is the exemplary diversity of its selections, and among the best of these are many essays by African Americans.I assign a number of these in the course, but four in particular I have found to be consistently multipurpose in teaching basic ideas about composition. These four are Frederick Douglasss Learning to Read & Write, Patricia Williamss On Being the Object of Property,and two by Alice Walker, Beauty When the other(a) Dancer is the Self and Am I Blue? Each of these essays conveys a different aspect of the important link between literacy and identity, between the ability to evoke oneself and the process of knowing oneself. Let me explain what I mean by beginning with the oldest essay among this group, Learning to Read & Write by Frederick Douglas. <--if supportEmptyParas--<--endif--Douglass essay is a short excerpt from his Autobiography.It describes the laborious process he had to go through in roll to teach himself how to read and write.Douglas informs us that, in the beginning of his education, his sporting lady had begun his instruction, but in compliance with the advice and direction of her husband, not only ceased to instruct, but had set her face against my being instructed by any one else. Thus Douglass circumstance becomes one in which he not only has to be his own teacher, he also has to, as he says, resort to various stratagems in order to outflank the considerable resistance to his acquisition of literacy.Douglass essay first teaches the students that, in circumstances which in fact resist the formation of an identity--in this case, Douglass identity as a freely literate human being--then literacy and specifically writing is the only way to carve out a space for ones own thoughts. If the words that define you all belong to others--to his mistress and master--then his sense of his own identity is at the mercy of their words, and can, to a certain extent, only be expressed in their terms. As Douglas goes on to point out, it isnt until he is at least partially literate that he can fully conceive the nature of his lack of an independent identity. Without his own language, he has no way to see himself as separate from the world constructed by the language of those who control him.

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BC, which also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979, is one of the plays which he sacred to his father Sam, who was in the military during World War II in Shepards early childhood years. Samuel Shepard Rogers III, born November 5th 1943 in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, is the oldest of iii children. He was nicknamed Steve, since his name came down through seven generations of men. He then changed his name into Sam Shepard. (Sparr, 6) His play has been influenced by his personal life, especially by his father. In his play, the men are all alcoholics and bound to the darker side. Shepard lived in a family filled with aggression, where the men around him were mostly violent alcoholics. (Lahr, 27) Alcoholism goes far back in his life, to the point where he cannot remember one single sober man . (Howe, 14) Thinking about his father, he believes that he owes his father a large bug out of his identity and his damage. Shepard remembers that his father lost his farm in Duarte, after he started drinki ng, in order to forget his ruined life. (Lahr, 30) This can be put into affinity with Dodge not bei...

Portraying the Urban Envirnoment Through the Film Entre Nos Essays

The film Entre Nos has many global issues related to it such as how to succeed in in the altogether urban environment, surviving through a close knit of friendship era world unknown in a big city, and dense urban environments. Entre Nos demonstrates how living in a dense urban approach is heavy because the population is so high which makes it harder to get jobs and find housing. The film also demonstrates how having a close knit of friends in a big city spate be beneficial and can help you succeed in the urban environment. The struggles of in-migration are affiliated to Entre Nos along with the article The Urban perspective by Lewis Mumford which discusses the population crisis in the dense urban environment. A dense urban neighborhood is defined as a geographically connected area with a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile. Entre Nos takes place in Queens, New York which is the fourth-most densely populated county in the United States. Living in such a populated area can cause many issues indoors itself but increases if you are non familiar with the area like Mariana and her children were in the film. Since there are so many people in these dense neighborhoods, constitute and living arrangements are hard to come by. With work, people in the general work force in the United States want someone educated who can speak English fluently. This is hard for people of immigration because the majorities of them are foreign and are having to pick up the language of English. The education part is also hard because normally they have been working all of their lives to support their families and so education was neither a necessity nor time manageable. In the article The Urban Prospect Lewis Mumford states Given the high densities for... ...ck into our economy. In conclusion, Entre Nos demonstrated that the population in a dense urban neighborhood is the cause of the housing and work force being low. Without proper education and fluency in the English language, it is harder to become successful in the United States. The film also demonstrates how having a close friend while living in the big city can help you in the long run. Fellow immigrants are trying to work with each other not in competition. They share their experience and their knowledge with one another. The struggle of immigrants was the last issue that arose. While many immigrants are coming here to seek fulfilment in their lives, Americans have such a negative outlook on them that they are not willing to help them. They see them are thieves for taking our coin rather than hard working people trying to create a better life for themselves.

Relationships Between Mothers and Daughters in Tans The Joy Luck Club

Relationships Between M other(a)s and Daughters in Tans The Joy Luck ClubNow the woman was old. And she had a daughter who grew up speaking but position and swallowing more Coca-Cola than sorrow. For a long time now the woman had wanted to give her daughter the single swan square and tell her, This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions. And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English (Tan 3).The American culture focuses more on the individual. Typical Americans always want to be independent. Traditionally, they never appreciate anything that they have, are selfish, and ignorant to other cultures. On the other hand, the Chinese culture has many strong beliefs concerning the family. Chinese women value their parents, especially their mothers. It is expected that their daughters also do the same. Women from Asia value family. Family is all important. Husband, children, pa rents, relatives come first. Husband and children never take second place to her career (China Bride). The Joy Luck Club emphasizes family values by explaining how each mother, Suyuan Woo, An-Mei Hsu, Lindo Jong, and Ying-ying St. Clair, came to America so that their daughters could have better lives and everything that they didnt have. Because the daughters in The Joy Luck Club were born in America, they wanted to be more Americanized than to recognize their true Chinese culture. In particular, Waverly Jong was less roaring than her mother, Lindo, in finding her true identity. Lindo honors family and self. Waverly has a hard time finding her true identity. She builds a wall between her and her mother and tries to be he... ... when she lets her mother in. Waverly lets her mother in when they are at the salon. Lindo tells her daughter about her childhood and how she ended up in America. She tells Waverly that she named her after the street they lived on so that when she grew up and left, that she would take a piece of her with her. Waverly finally understands her mother. Her mother has been waiting for Waverly to let her in, to concur her Chinese heritage so that she can accept Waverlys Chinese-American future (49).Works CitedCarey, Gary. Cliff notes on Amy Tans The Joy Luck Club. Lincoln, Nebraska. Cliff Notes. 1994. The China Bride. 23 March 2000. http//www.chinabride.com/gen/whyasia.html Chinese American Women in The United States. Liu, Spring. 1997. http//www.ics.uci.edu/tdo/ea/chineseWomen.html Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York. Ivy Books.1989.

Title Analysis of Everything that Rises Must Converge By Flannery OConnor :: essays research papers

Literally converge means to tend toward or approach an intersecting point. But I believe that words meaning especially in literature changes, or even contains two antithetic meanings. So in the story Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O Connor converge affects the title but has different meaning. The title means that the past is nothing and the present is more important. Not only that, but everything provide return as God made as the time goes by.First of all, the story was written during the time when slaves were emancipated and all of the blacks fought for t replacement own rights and freedom. So the fond flow and especially the rights of both races turned protrude to be Normaland Equal now. However the author yields that the re transaction of discrimination still exists inside the unclouded people and through the actions of Julians mother. Julians mother keeps talking or so Julians grandfather who had a lot of slaves and a humongous fortune. However, this was a very dangerous thought at that time of the story, because the black had achieved equality an they were all intellection about equality. The thought led Julians mother to get hit by a black char who had the same hat as that of Julains mother. Her actions of superiority and her action of trying to give the black fair sexs son a penny provoked the black woman to strike Julians mother is the face, since in olden days many a(prenominal) whites used to give all the young blacks a penny, and reminded the black woman of discrimination.The author, in contrast, as well tries to show the equality of two races through Julian himself and his thoughts. When Julian sees his mother wearing the same hat as one of the black woman, he says that the black woman looks better in the hat. Not only that, he tries to engage in conversation with a black man to show the blacks wise. In this way, Julian tries to acquire his mother that now it is not time for divergency but equality, and her thoughts about those blacks should be changed to fit in with the society.Not only that, but the author also shows equality with the backgrounds of the story. Julian graduated from university and his mother is an heir of rich family, yet he is still to-be-a writer, he is poor and has no job at the blink of an eye and is desperately in need of money because of his mothers illness. prenomen Analysis of Everything that Rises Must Converge By Flannery OConnor essays research papersLiterally converge means to tend toward or approach an intersecting point. But I believe that words meaning especially in literature changes, or even contains two different meanings. So in the story Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O Connor converge affects the title but has different meaning. The title means that the past is nothing and the present is more important. Not only that, but everything will return as God made as the time goes by.First of all, the story was written during the time when slav es were emancipated and all of the blacks fought for their own rights and freedom. So the social flow and especially the rights of both races turned out to be Normaland Equal now. However the author shows that the reaction of discrimination still exists inside the white people and through the actions of Julians mother. Julians mother keeps talking about Julians grandfather who had a lot of slaves and a humongous fortune. However, this was a very dangerous thought at that time of the story, because the black had achieved equality an they were all thinking about equality. The thought led Julians mother to get hit by a black woman who had the same hat as that of Julains mother. Her actions of superiority and her action of trying to give the black womans son a penny provoked the black woman to slap Julians mother is the face, since in olden days many whites used to give all the young blacks a penny, and reminded the black woman of discrimination.The author, in contrast, also tries to sh ow the equality of two races through Julian himself and his thoughts. When Julian sees his mother wearing the same hat as one of the black woman, he says that the black woman looks better in the hat. Not only that, he tries to engage in conversation with a black man to show the blacks wise. In this way, Julian tries to teach his mother that now it is not time for difference but equality, and her thoughts about those blacks should be changed to fit in with the society.Not only that, but the author also shows equality with the backgrounds of the story. Julian graduated from university and his mother is an heir of rich family, yet he is still to-be-a writer, he is poor and has no job at the moment and is desperately in need of money because of his mothers illness.

Title Analysis of Everything that Rises Must Converge By Flannery OConnor :: essays research papers

Literally converge means to tend toward or approach an intersecting point. But I hope that words meaning especially in literature changes, or even contains two different meanings. So in the story Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O Connor converge affects the title but has different meaning. The title means that the past is nothing and the present is more(prenominal) important. not only that, but everything will pass off as God made as the judgment of conviction goes by.First of all, the story was written during the time when slaves were e servicemancipated and all of the swarts fought for their own rights and freedom. So the social spring and especially the rights of both races turned out to be Normaland Equal now. However the author shows that the reception of discrimination still exists inside the w weee mess and through the actions of Julians puzzle. Julians niggle keeps talking about Julians grandfather who had a lot of slaves and a humongous fortune. How ever, this was a very dangerous thought at that time of the story, because the black had achieved comparison an they were all thinking about equivalence. The thought led Julians mother to get hit by a black woman who had the corresponding hat as that of Julains mother. Her actions of superiority and her action of trying to give the black womans son a penny provoked the black woman to slap Julians mother is the face, since in olden days many whites used to give all the young blacks a penny, and reminded the black woman of discrimination.The author, in contrast, also tries to show the equality of two races through Julian himself and his thoughts. When Julian sees his mother wearing the same hat as whizz of the black woman, he says that the black woman looks smash in the hat. Not only that, he tries to engage in conversation with a black man to show the blacks wise. In this way, Julian tries to teach his mother that now it is not time for difference but equality, and her thoughts about those blacks should be changed to fit in with the society.Not only that, but the author also shows equality with the backgrounds of the story. Julian graduated from university and his mother is an heir of rich family, yet he is still to-be-a writer, he is curt and has no job at the moment and is desperately in need of money because of his mothers illness.Title Analysis of Everything that Rises Must Converge By Flannery OConnor essays research papersLiterally converge means to tend toward or approach an intersecting point. But I believe that words meaning especially in literature changes, or even contains two different meanings. So in the story Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O Connor converge affects the title but has different meaning. The title means that the past is nothing and the present is more important. Not only that, but everything will return as God made as the time goes by.First of all, the story was written during the time when slaves were ema ncipated and all of the blacks fought for their own rights and freedom. So the social flow and especially the rights of both races turned out to be Normaland Equal now. However the author shows that the reaction of discrimination still exists inside the white people and through the actions of Julians mother. Julians mother keeps talking about Julians grandfather who had a lot of slaves and a humongous fortune. However, this was a very dangerous thought at that time of the story, because the black had achieved equality an they were all thinking about equality. The thought led Julians mother to get hit by a black woman who had the same hat as that of Julains mother. Her actions of superiority and her action of trying to give the black womans son a penny provoked the black woman to slap Julians mother is the face, since in olden days many whites used to give all the young blacks a penny, and reminded the black woman of discrimination.The author, in contrast, also tries to show the equa lity of two races through Julian himself and his thoughts. When Julian sees his mother wearing the same hat as one of the black woman, he says that the black woman looks better in the hat. Not only that, he tries to engage in conversation with a black man to show the blacks wise. In this way, Julian tries to teach his mother that now it is not time for difference but equality, and her thoughts about those blacks should be changed to fit in with the society.Not only that, but the author also shows equality with the backgrounds of the story. Julian graduated from university and his mother is an heir of rich family, yet he is still to-be-a writer, he is poor and has no job at the moment and is desperately in need of money because of his mothers illness.