The Great War And Modern Memory By Paul Fussell

The Great War And Modern Memory By Paul Fussell
In 1975 the Oxford University Press published the first edition of The Great War and Modern
Memory written by Paul Fussell. As Fussell states in the opening line, "this book is about the British
experience on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918." In this paper I will argue, that despite the
numerous literary awards this book has won, it contains historical inaccuracies and shortcomings in
relation to the accurate information provided that takes away from the prestige of the book. Despite
the numerous negative aspects of the book, this paper will also briefly highlight the few positive
areas of the book, therefore providing an in–depth analysis of the book. When analyzing any sort of
book, it is best for the reader to have a basic summary and understanding of the books arguments
and evidence in order to understand further arguments made about said book. It is important to note
at the beginning of this paper that Fussell fought in the Second World War, something he does not
mention until the end of his book. Fussell also states that as wounded ex–infantry officer, who is
fascinated and at times obsessed with his own experience in Europe during the Second World War,
he related his circumstances to those that he wrote about who participated in the First World War. It
is important to keep in mind because it may influence how Fussell wrote his book and the reader
should be aware of this fact while reading this analysis of his work. Fussell's book contains nine
chapters that
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Toni Morrison Influences
During the 20th century, there were many changes regarding African Americans. Public racial
discrimination became illegal in the mid 1900s, thanks to many civil rights activists. There were also
many authors and poets that wrote about African American culture or discrimination, such as Maya
Angelou and Alice Walker. One very important author before this time, through it, and long after is
Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison's childhood influenced her strong confidence in her race. Morrison
was born on February 18, 1931. Her birth name was Chloe Wofford ("Toni Morrison."
EXPLORING). Growing up, Morrison learned a lot about the African American culture. Almost all
of Toni Morrison's family members were storytellers, and they taught Morrison a lot about African
American history ("Toni Morrison." UXL). The things she learned as a child set the foundation for
her continuing love of her culture. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The Bluest Eye, published in 1970, received good reviews (Benson, Brannen, and Valentine). The
book focuses on a young black girl who wishes she had blonde hair and blue eyes, which she
perceives as beautiful ("Toni Morrison." Encyclopedia). She associates her dark skin, dark eyes, and
dark hair with ugliness. She believes her dark skin to be the reason she is bullied at school and
abused at home ("Toni Morrison." DIScovering). In this story, Toni Morrison brought to life the
thoughts that many young African American girls truly have.
Morrison has published many successful books. One of her stories that became a huge success was
Beloved. Beloved tells the true story of a runaway slave that killed her infant to save her from a life
of slavery (Benson, Brannon, and Valentine). Beloved has been described as "a brutally powerful,
mesmerizing story about the inescapable, excruciating legacy of slavery" ("Toni Morrison." UXL).
Beloved was easily one of Morrison's best books.
Beloved received many mixed reviews. A large group of African American writers

Fa Mu Lan No Name Woman
The "No Name Woman" is a failure in Chinese society, but starkly contrasted by the success and
fulfillment of traditional expectations demonstrated in the woman warrior, Fa Mu Lan. In the second
section of Kingston's account, White Tiger, the author controversially develops her own retelling of
this famous myth with herself as the legendary Chinese figure. Kingston initiates this section stating,
"when we Chinese girls listened to the adults talk–story, we learned that we failed if we grew up to
be but wives or slaves" (Kingston 19). The words of her elders engrained in Kingston and her
female peers their place of women, enslaved to their husbands and bound to housework. Yet
Kingston does not accept this reality and instead plunges into a powerful tale of a female who not
only overcomes gender roles but is the champion of the entire Chinese nation. Fa Mu Lan is a
swordswoman, who utilizes her physical and magical training to cause social justice. Despite her
occupations with valor and justice, however, Kingston's character also finds time to nurture a child
and attend the domestic duties traditionally assigned to women, a challenge to ancient stereotypes
and an affirmation of modern ideas of women balancing families with their careers. Similarly, the
weapons Kingston yields are her words and the truth of her experience she artfully relates.

Macon's Change in Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist ...
Macon's Change in Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler at first glance depicts the struggle between two people to find
happiness together, but in actuality it shows the struggles a man faces with himself to find happiness
in his own life. Tyler presents a character, Macon Leary, satisfied with just going through life
unchanged. Eliminating all the luxuries of life Macon feels he will find happiness by going through
a scheduled routine everyday.
Struggling to accomplish anything on his own, Macon returns to his childhood home to further
simplify his life. Hoping to find comfort with his siblings, Macon enters into their life of order and
isolation from the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
(Updike 107) and sleeping in a ?giant sort of envelope? (Updike 107) to keep himself from having
to make his bed. This simplistic lifestyle still can?t bring Macon the happiness he so desires. As a
result, he turns to the only people he knows who are just like him so that maybe he can fit in once
more.
Macon, still wanting to follow a system , moves back to his childhood home to live with his brothers
and sister. Still searching for happiness, Macon further isolates himself and in turn slips further into
his life of loneliness and self–absorption. Rose, Macon?s sister, has her kitchen ?so completely
alphabetized, you?d find the allspice next to the ant poison? (Updike 107). After supper all four
gather around the table and play a game of ?Vaccination?, which they made up as kids, so
complicated that no one from the outside could learn the rules. Still feeling connections to the
outside world, they then decide to go without answering the phone. The logic behind the means is
that if someone needs them they can stop by or call the neighbors if it is important enough.
Living at home with his brothers and sisters, Macon?s dog, Edward, is ultimately what brings him
into contact with the outside world. The vicious nature of Edward forces Macon to contact a dog
trainer to try to tame him. This is when the ?brassy Muriel? (Wiehe 96) enters into Macon?s life.
Muriel tames Edward and

Deep Book Badge Analysis
Deep Book Badge:
Requirements:
Below are the steps for earning a Deep Book badge:
Step One: Choose a "World Changing" or "Life Changing" book.
How do you know if a book might qualify as a Deep Book?
Choose a subject that interests you, and find a book that every expert says you should read.For
example, if you care deeply about Economics, at some point you should read The Wealth of Nations
by Adam Smith.
Google "greatest authors of all times."Select an influential book written by one of these
Pick the definitive biography about a hero or villain who has changed the world.
Look for books that have won major awards. For example, the Booker Prize, Caldecott Medal,
National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, Newbery ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The time of the beginning of the story is 1939 when the Nazis control the government. The
buildings are made out of poor materials. In one house lives a girl Liesel with her two foster parents.
Her dad Hans Hubermann, who likes to play the accordion and is nice to her. Her mother Rosa
Hubermann who isn't nice to her, she calls Liesel "Sachsemench" a curse word. Her mother works
for a rich family that lives in a house that has a library. She hates the family and despises them. At
the time books are rare and hard to find because the Nazi's burn them. Later in the book Liesel meets
her soon to be partner in crime Rudy Steiner. Rudy Steiner is an interesting character. He broke into
the school track at night and ran around it pretending to be Jesse Owens, his hero. He also dislikes
the Nazi party and their practices. The first book that Liesel steals is "The Grave Digger's

Edward Hirsch Taught the World to Appreciate Poetry Essay
Edward Hirsch taught everyone to love and appreciate poetry to its greatest potential. Born in
Chicago on January 20, 1950, he began writing at a young age and his traditional writing style of
formal with a small creative twist. He strengthened America Poetry and gave a different view of
literary criticism.
Like any other eight year old boy, Hirsch loved sports, but he also fell in love with poetry. He found
and read a copy of Emily Brontë's "Spellbound" and loved it. As a child, he did not read a lot or
really enjoy it, but through his mother's coaxing with books about sports, he read. Hirsch's
grandfather helped develop his poetic skills. His grandfather wrote poetry but his was very
unconventional because he wrote in Hebrew from ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Hirsch wrote his poetry in a fixed villanelle form yet was creative with his volatile cadences,
dramatic monologues, and "elliptical and lean lyric sequences" (Barker 216). Edward Hirsch studied
at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania receiving a PhD in folklore. He went on to
teach at Wayne State University and the University of Houston. After teaching for seventeen years at
the University of Houston, Edward Hirsch left to focus on his writing which he began prose writing.
He wrote four books which taught the reader how to read, appreciate, and how he wrote poetry. His
first two books written in 1999 are Responsive Reading and How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love
with Poetry. The later of the two was a national bestseller and "' a product of a lifetime of passionate
reflection'" (Edward Hirsch poets.org 1) by the poet Garrett Hongo. Hirsch's third book, The Demon
and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration, was written in 2002, and Poet's
Choice, a collection of two years worth of his weekly writings for the Washington Post Book World
was published in 2007. Hirsch's books are literary criticisms of poetry but in a new way. Literary
criticism before had been very academic and jargon–filled which frustrated him, "'At a certain point
I decided– because I was frustrated by criticism and a little appalled by the way that poets had
turned over the craft to literary theorists without advocating on

Woman Warrior Essay
The Woman Warrior Argumentative Essay
Maxine Hong Kingston's novel The Woman Warrior is a series of narrations, vividly recalling stories
she has heard throughout her life. These stories clearly depict the oppression of woman in Chinese
society. Even though women in Chinese Society traditionally might be considered subservient to
men, Kingston viewed them in a different light. She sees women as being equivalent to men, both
strong and courageous.
In a few stark story, depressing in their own unique way, attempts to disprove the traditional Chinese
saying "it's better to have geese than girls".
The first talk–story told to Kingston by her mother deals with the suicide of one of her aunts, who
remains nameless throughout the tale. After ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She killed herself and baby to spare them lives of severe subjugation Kingston also states how her
aunt was possibly raped, showing how she was a victim rather than a woman who lacks morals. In
short, Kingston's does not view the story of her aunt as one of shame (like her mother intended), but
rather one of individuality and free will.
The second story, "White Tigers", is a mythical tale of a female warrior who disguises herself as a
male and fights in the place of the father. The story completely contradicts the conventional role of
woman in Chinese society. It places a woman in a position of bravery and heroism, which are
traditionally reserved for men.
This story is unique because Kingston actually places herself in the role of the warrior in the story;
she says, "We made a sling for the baby inside my big armor, and rode back into the thickest part of
the fighting. The umbilical cord flew with my red flag and made us laugh." This depiction of her
fighting while carrying her infant in her arms shows how a woman can fight and nurture at the same
time. She can both give but also take lives, which is something a man is unable to do. This illustrates
Kingston belief that woman are not subservient, but in some cases, better than men in some respects.
The final story is called "The Shaman". It deals with the story of Kingston's mother, also known as
Brave Orchid. Much like the other two stories, Brave Orchid strays from the conventional stigma

The Woman Warrior Character Analysis
Struggle to Find Self Maxine Hong Kingston "The Woman Warrior" takes place in No Society
Village, a medical school in Canton, and Stockton,California, where Kingston was born. The novel
starts with Kingston paternal aunt, whom the family say's is an embarrassment to the point that they
refuse to mention the aunts name. Kingston begins to talk about her mother,Brave Orchid, who
studied in a medical school before joining her husband in America. As continuing Kingston talks
about Fa Mu Lan a great warrior in China, and someone that is a heroine to Kingston since she was
young. In the novel Kingston mentions a variety of people that range from her family, and friends, to
her heroines and more. People struggle to find themselves but by looking through the lens of their
ancestors, they can know and find who they truly are. Kingston struggles on where she came from
and how her family is; therefore, she wants to find out who she is and what her purpose on this
universe is. In this novel Kingston uses characterizations to show her own character in the characters
she creates. The novel shows how Kingston talks about ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
In the " White Tigers" ( Pg. 17) and " Shaman" (Pg. 55) chapters, birds are an important symbol in
the both stories. The " White Tigers" (Pg. 17) chapter has a bird to guide Kingston, as it did with Fa
Mu Lan when she was seven years old, up the mountain to meet her mentors. The representation of
the bird is the bravery of a little girl that would be willing to climb a mountain without fear of
anything. It also represents the possibility of how a girl is rising above her station in life and
growing to become a great leader. In fact, Kingston is especially disturbed that a bird represents
death of her fourth uncle's death–he is killed by communist while he is trying to capture birds as
food for his family. Therefore, Kingston knows more about the symbols within the

Essay about A Civil Action
There are few things in life that could be worse than loosing you child to such a horrible disease as
leukemia. One can only imagine having such a tragedy repeat itself throughout you community time
after time. To compound such tragedies, imagine being poisoned yourself and having to fight some
of the largest local corporations to prove the truth and get it stopped. This is the community setting
for Jonathan Harr's true–to–life legal thriller A Civil Action. The book was an award winner for
"Best Seller" in 1995 and was named the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award.
The setting of the book is in the New England state of Woburn, Massachusetts. This is a sleepy little
community that is overcast by local factories. The factories ... Show more content on
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The W.R. Grace Company, Riley Eannery, and Unifirst Corporation were prominent factories in
Wobourn. Jan speculated they were to have illegally dumped a dangerous carcinogen known as TCE
into the ground, sewer, and water systems of the Woborn community. These poisons were thought
by Jan, and the community, to have polluted two water wells that acted as a water supply for the
community. Many of the people who worked at the factories experienced many medical problems
such as cancer and died at young ages. Community members experienced numerous medial
problems such as flu–like symptoms, memory loss, cancers, leukemia, burning eyes, and skin, and
death. The water over the years was said to have gone from natural, to smelling, to dark and
dangerous.
Though Jan put off the Woburn case for a long time, he took it thinking that a public interest firm
would brunt the cost and workload. As it turned out, he and his associates had to take on the
companies, and their prominent attorneys, single handedly. Even the EPA couldn't conclude a
connection in the poisoning and refused to "help an attorney collect a settlement fee." As Jan
became obsessive with the Woborn case, a reader is able to tag along on a host of legal battles put
forth by the opposing counsel. Rarely used legal rules, such as "Rule 11", were put forth to destroy
Jan and the case itself. This is further complicated by the trial judge, Judge

Voice In The Woman Warrior
Maxine Kingston wrote The Woman Warrior: A Memoir of a Girlhood Amongst Ghosts as a non–
fictional story that relates the common Chinese folktales (or "talk stories" as she calls them) she was
familiar with from her youth combined with her own personal experiences as a Chinese–American.
Each chapter is given to a separate woman who influenced Kingston's life in a memorable way. The
theme of silence and voice comes up frequently throughout the text, but is increasingly evident in
the first page, as the novel opens up with the narrator speaking, "you must not tell anyone"
(Kingston 1). This introduction is interesting and important because of it's irony. Despite the fact
that Kingston was told not to tell anyone of the story she is about to write, she is essentially telling
the world now that it is published. ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Patriarchy rules modern (and past) society, so women are often forced to take a back seat. This
oppression forces women to be quieter and more timid, which is often seen in The Woman Warrior.
The second talk–story the Kingston relates, about the warrior Fa Mu Lan, is an important reference
to this theme. Fa Mu Lan trains to become a warrior, pretends to be a man (through disguise) and
ends up leading an army of men, only to return to being a mother and wife once the battles are
completed. This is an extreme example of how far women have to go to be heard, respected and
successful in the ancient Chinese

Tim O ' Brien : A Man Who Has Positively Affected The World
"Fiction is the lie that helps us understand the truth." This quote by Minnesota author and veteran,
Tim O 'Brien, displays his passion for writing stories that make truth come to life. Tim O'Brien is a
remarkable man who has positively affected the world through his literary works regarding the
Vietnam War. His personal life and authorship through his military experience, have led to making
him one of the most influential war authors to date.
Tim O'Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota on October 1, 1946 (Glerean). He spent his childhood
growing up in Worthington, Minnesota. Worthington is a small town in the southern part of
Minnesota. Tim's father was an insurance salesman and participated in World War II as a sailor
(Glerean). Tim's mother was an elementary school teacher. Tim had an all–American childhood. He
loved learning magic tricks, playing baseball, and reading books. He attended Macalester College
and graduated in 1968 with a degree in political science (Tim O'Brien). Around the same time he
received his diploma, Tim also received an unexpected and unwanted piece of paper: a draft notice
(Glerean). O'Brien was against war, but despite this fact he went overseas to fight for America. He
felt pressure from both his family and his country to fight in the war. O'Brien went to Vietnam
despite his negative attitude toward the conflict. O'Brien fought in the Vietnam War from, 1969 to
1970. "He served in the 3rd Platoon; Company A, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry

Literary Analysis Of The Road By Cormac Mccarthy
Cormac McCarthy's The Road is his post–apocalyptic magnus opus which combines a riveting plot
along with an unconventional prose style. Released in 2006, the novel has won awards such as the
Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award (Wilson). Oprah Winfrey also selected the
book for her book club ("Cormac McCarthy"). The author, Cormac McCarthy, was born in 1933 in
Rhode Island and is said to have wrote the novel because of his son and their relationship. The Road
centers around a boy and his father while they try to survive after an unknown disaster occurs.
While some people may argue that the unusual style takes away from the novel, it adds to the tone
and meaning of the work.
The Road takes place in post–apocalyptic America after an unknown disaster occurs. The novel
centers around a boy and his father, both of whom are never given names. In an analepse, the reader
learns that the mother of the boy kills herself with "a flake of obsidian" as she fears that she would
be raped and murdered (McCarthy 30). "[The man] hadn't kept a calendar for years" and the reader
is left unsure what year or month it is (McCarthy 2). The man is sure, however, that winter is
approaching and it would be best for him and the boy to travel south where it is warmer. They have
nothing but a pistol, their clothes, and a cart with food they scavenged for. The world is barren with
"dust and ash everywhere" (McCarthy 3). The story chronicles the man and boy's journey to the
south while they look for food, supplies, and shelter. The pair must fend off "bad guys" during their
journey as well (McCarthy 39). When one of these "bad guys" puts his knife at the boy's throat, the
man is left with no other option than to shoot the "bad guy" leaving a "hole in his forehead"
(McCarthy 34). Another gruesome event occurs when the man and boy are looking for food in a
house they found. While walking down a cellar's stairs, they smell an "ungodly stench" (McCarthy
56). In the cellar, there are "naked people" who are whispering "help us" and a maimed man on a
mattress with his "legs gone to the hip and the stumps of them blackened and burnt" (McCarthy 56).
These people are being kept to be eaten eventually and the man and his son

Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior
The Woman Warrior is a collection of memoirs written by Chinese–American author and professor,
Maxine Hong Kingston. This book depicts the experiences of the Chinese people who emigrated to
the United States after the Chinese Communist Revolution by combining her life story with Chinese
fables called "talk–stories". The author leads a difficult life as she tries to find a way to express
herself to her unappreciative mother, who berates her for being a soft–spoken girl. Despite the fact
Kingston bottles up the frustration caused by her mother, her emotions come to the surface multiple
times. Throughout the book, it is evident that Kingston's experiences, like the enduring of her
mother's criticisms and her struggle to communicate herself to ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
To help communicate her thoughts to Brave Orchid, the narrator decides to create a list of the
thoughts and complaints she keeps internally. Kingston sets on telling her mother one thing from the
list at a time to prevent the author from feeling uncomfortable because of her difficulty talking.
However, after the first few confessions, Kingston's mother grows impatient of her and tells her to
stop because she does not "feel like hearing [her daughter's] craziness", resulting in Kingston feeling
even more compelled to voice the thoughts kept internally that "[tear] at her throat" (Kingston 200).
Eventually, the narrator feels that she cannot be silent any longer and unleashes a tirade upon her
mother. She "stood up, taking and burbling" and accused Brave Orchid of being untruthful in her
"talk–stories" and pushing to make her daughter a wife and a slave (Kingston 201). In her vocal
outburst, it is evident that Kingston is angry because of her mother's attempt to silence her. It is
revealed that the author's pent up rage can be accredited to her mother who, from the beginning, was
always focused on keeping her daughter from communicating her thoughts. Kingston's experience
of being silenced has a negative impact on her morality which results in a violent outburst towards
her

In this essay, I decided not to summarize Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior since we
have already done that by posting our weekly responses and since it is an open essay; also it might
seem too boring for you to read the same thing again. Instead, I wanted to write more on particular
subjects that Kingston had talked in the interviews.
Watching the video of Kingston's interview with Josephine Reed at F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary
Conference in 2011, gave me deeper understanding and insight about her works and as well as the
way she writes them. Kingston told in the interview that she found inspiration to write about her
deep, hidden thoughts from Fitzgerald's The Crack–Up. At first, she started reading Fitzgerald, not
knowing that he was famous. She found the book very beautifully written. And Kingston ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The description of the interior life was the most important." And she explained, "So that's the way I
wrote like this. And this was when I was a teenager." I think Kingston is not just a writer but a great
reader since she was a young girl. Not only does she read books, but also she analyzes, digs deeper
each of them and brings out the specialty or the uniqueness of how the stories are told and how the
book is written. And I also liked how she is so humble even after achieving this much, admitting that
she kind of followed the writing style of Fitzgerald, which tells inner emotions.
Kingston said that she started writing The Woman Warrior when she was at Lanai, also known as
Pineapple Island, in Hawaii. She was facing the wall, not looking out or viewing sea and just jotting
down the words. And she starts off her

Reflection Of The Woman Warrior
In 1976 Maxine Hong Kingston won the National Book Critics Circle Award for the best work of
non–fiction for her book The Woman Warrior: Memories of a Girlhood among Ghosts, a novel built
up from a collection of stories that draw on from Chinese folklore and myth intertwined with her
own life's experiences and episodes from her and other female family members' life. While labelled
as an autobiography, American readers enthusiastically welcomed it as work of fiction that deals
with the exotic, mysterious and unfathomable China. This illustrates the why and wherefores of the
many readings that this work has originated since its publication. The lack of adherence to one
genre, especially autobiography, presents one of the central issues of how ... Show more content on
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Turning to Jung, one finds that myths are shared by all members of a community and by extension,
all humankind, although their true meaning can only be attained within the individual psyche, their
workings are strictly personal, being instrumental in the eternal quest towards self–realization.
Under this point of view, the reinterpretation of the Chinese folktales signifies to Kingston the
construction not only of her own speech but also of the structure for understanding her Chinese
American identity; in Kingston's words: "myth have to change, be useful or forgotten. Like people
who carry them across oceans, myths become American.... I take the power I need from whatever
myth" (quoted in Grice,

A Lesson Before Dying Summary Notes
Corinne Murdock Nolan
AP Lit
10 August 2015
A Lesson Before Dying Summary Notes
Title of Book
Entire novel about a teacher trying to teach a man named Jefferson that he is a man, not a hog,
before he is executed.
It was important for Jefferson's caretaker, Miss Emma, and the entire black community that he dies
as a man– proud and brave.
Author– Ernest J. Gaines
Born in 1933 in Oscar, Louisiana
Author and educator
Wrote several books– Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman discusses period from the Civil War to
the civil rights movement
1994– National Book Critics Circle Award for A Lesson Before Dying
Year
Published in 1993
Setting
Set in the late 1940s in small Cajun community and the city of Bayonne
Jim Crow laws in place, segregation– "separate but equal." Page 25– describes separation.
Inequality between blacks and whites
Character Analysis
Grant Wiggins o School teacher for black school o Wants to leave Bayonne o Dating Vivian, a white
woman o "I tried to decide just how I should respond to them. Whether I should act like the teacher
that I was, or like the nigger that I was supposed to be" (Gaines 47). o Not religious– according to
him, he is too busy to attend church. He does not believe in heaven, a place where everyone is
happy. But he does believe in God. o "I know you believe... You don't want to, but I know you do"
(Gaines 105). o Round character– very conflicted. Mixed thoughts with religion, wants to leave but
feels a responsibility to stay,

The Woman Warrior is about five women who are related to Maxine Hong Kingston, the author of
the book, the first chapter is about her long–dead aunt, a imaginary female warrior who was called
Fa Mu Lan who was mentioned in chapter two, Kingston's mother who was mentioned as Moon
Orchid in the third chapter, in the fourth chapter which is about about an emperor who was married
to five women, and in chapter five, the last section of the book, talks about Kingston herself.
Kingston who is Chinese American writes about women who impacted her life, which are her aunt,
Brave Orchid, Moon orchid, Fa Mu Lan and herself. During the first chapter, she talks about her
long–dead aunt who was shunned by her family because she had a baby by another ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Her mother who was a doctor, midwife, fought ghosts and told stories to Kingston, her daughter,
which were called talk–stories that described horrifying stories such as Kingston's aunt giving birth
to her vast alone in a pigsty. Her mother was a very complicated character she was loving but also
told stories that put her views towards women contradict herself because of Chinese culture.
Kingston in the book has problems with that because Brave Orchid, her mother, is supposed to be
the most important woman in her life but would submit to the traditions of Chinese culture against
women on how they would be forgotten and shunned for having a child with another man other than
their husbands, which causes tension between Kingston and her mother. But over some time they
began to become close to one another again set aside their differences. Also in chapter four titled "At
the Western Palace" talks about a human who left behind his wife in China to go move to America to
be with another woman. Kingston's aunt named Moon Orchid is left in China where her sister
encourages her to go to America and claim what is hers but she cannot speak any English and when
her sister leaves her in America alone to fend for herself she ends up going crazy and dying in a
California state mental

A Song For A Barbarian Feed Pipe Character Analysis
In this chapter, "A Song For A Barbarian Reed Pipe", Kingston expressed the idea of cultural aspects
and how they can hinder a woman's ability in society. Kingston talked about how she was silent for
most of her life. However, it was not only her. As she stated, "[t]he other Chinese girls did not talk
either...so I knew the silence had to do with being a Chinese girl," (cite). Their silence was based on
their traditional Chinese culture. Now, I can connect why Kingston brought up the way Chinese
women were because it can manifest unto their children, whether they were born in China, America,
or elsewhere. Kingston's character has always being tested by her mother Brave Orchid. Her mother
has put pressure on her since kindergarten to speak up, though her speaking abilities did not
manifest until later in her life. It was interesting to see that Kingston included such intimate,
personal details about her struggles in this chapter. Chinese women did not speak up in their families
because they were not the head(s) of the households; they kept to themselves. Yet, Brave Orchid is
portraying the complete opposite. She has picked up on American culture and how most people
speak up for themselves, which I believe is a conflict for Kingston. She was not like her mother at
all. Kingston struggled with both her American and Chinese cultures. ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
At first I was confused at this fact, but then I realized why Kingston behaved better in her Chinese
school environment. It was due to the fact that tasks were done together. The students sand, read,
and ... together (cite). This all made sense because in China, they behave in a collectivist way. The
focal point is on a group and not an individual. When the old teacher had been replaced with a new
one, it made Kingston shut down again. It was like "American" school; everyone was expected to do
things individually

Maxine Hong Kingston's No Name Woman
Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese American, who has been in distinctions between modern and
traditional Chinese societies. Kingston, the narrator, has a negative perspective of Chinese aspects
because the society keeps their collectivism inclination. Disregarding individual's life is the one of
the damages of collectivism. In this sense, No Name Woman especially works tackling subjects such
as the division of gender role. In No Name Woman, Kingston desolates and reveals woman's trauma
about a hostile society where sexual discrimination toward the woman, and the lower quality of
woman's lives based on the story of her aunt. The story is basically about Kingston's aunt in China.
Throughout the story, the narrator does not disclose her aunt's name. Literally, her aunt's does not
have a name. The story speaks for all women in the traditional Chinese society where the majorities
of people trample on women's individuality. The whole community, which her family even included,
denying the woman's existence based on their double standards. Prevalence of the idea of the
predominance of men over women in Chinese society calls forth much ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
This main story is about "Father's drowned–in–the–well–sister" (3350). According to Chinese
conventional social forms, women do not have any choices about social changing. Showing the
women's situation contrast to the men's highlights a number of instance of injustice. In 1924 in
China, women had been locked up in the same place to do social obligations such as cooking,
cleaning and child–rearing duties at home, while every man in town like "your father and his
brothers and your grandfather and his brother and your aunt's new husband" (3349) head out to the
new world for a better future. Women were just standing around the same place. They seemed like
forever just waiting there. Women were like second class citizens, and everybody treated them as

The Accidental Tourist By Anne Tyler
The Accidental Tourist Recognized with a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985, Anne Tyler
's The Accidental Tourist explores the complex relationships within families and their long–term
effects on the quality of our lives. The Accidental Tourist introduces us to Macon Leary, a "kernel of
a man that nothing real penetrates" until he meets Muriel Pritchett, with whom he opens up and
shares his pain over the death of his son (Tyler 180). Their relationship transforms Leary's emotions
and brings him out of his cocoon of sadness and isolation. Macon comes to see that Muriel has dealt
with a great deal of pain in her life, helping him realize that he is not unique in his struggle to cope
with his own loss. Considered by many critics to be her best work at its publishing, as in many of
Tyler's other novels, The Accidental Tourist explores the idea that our family, the same people who
"should bring us happiness," are "just as likely to grieve us deeply, drive us mad" (Schaeffer).
Consistent with her previous novels are the characters – "messy," "quirky," and "so predictable we
want to shake them" (Schaeffer). Demonstrating the skill that later earned her a Pulitzer Prize for
Breathing Lessons, Tyler develops the idea that the "highest stakes" in life, are in the family where
"through struggle and compromise and daily courage, we learn to persist and endure" (Schaeffer).
Above all, The Accidental Tourist is a story about how the loss of a loved one at an early age, and

Patriarchy In The Woman Warrior
Unlike math or science, most literature is often open to different interpretations; within every novel
there is an inevitable grey area in what an author exactly means to convey to their readers. The same
is undeniably true within Maxine Hong Kingston's memoir The Woman Warrior, a nonlinear
hodgepodge of ghosts, white tiger and tongues. In the traditional roman fleuve, the protagonist
strives to reconcile self and society so that they can construct a coherent self and achieve wholeness,
in The Woman Warrior however, Kingston cannot reconcile. The fact is, Kingston has internalized
so many doctrinal values of the patriarchy, that she incapable of discerning a middle ground between
slavery and rebellion. Throughout the memoir it is apparent ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
There was one knot so complicated that it blinded the knot maker. Finally, an emperor outlawed this
cruel knot and the nobles could not order it anymore. If [Kingston] had lived in China, [Kingston]
would have been an outlaw knot maker." (163). The story harkens back to all the previous "buttons
and frogs" that were strung together and the reader is reminded that each story Kingston has told is
'outlawed' and forbidden. With Kingston as the knot maker, all these unspoken tales of suicide,
sitting ghosts and women warriors are combined into one "cruel knot" that Kingston utilizes as her
weapon against the suppression of her culture. Kingston, in finally finding her voice through these
forbidden stories, leads a triumphant act of rebellion against the traditional Chinese silence that has
haunted her throughout the course of her

Analysis Of Claudia Rankine's Citizen
Ever since Europeans found the new continent which we call America today, over three million
black natives were sold from Africa to it to be the lowest slaves in the past three centuries. They had
borne tragic lives so many years. Though there were several times of resistance movements for the
rights of the black, Americans even have gone through the Civil War which almost ruined the U.S.,
they still could not be totally free and earn most people's respect yet. After reading Claudia
Rankine's "Citizen", it becomes much clearer about the racial discrimination in our real daily life.
Claudia Rankine is a poet who is good at writing lyric poetry, her book "Citizen: AAmerican Lyric"
reveals a tragic fact that even as a powerful developed ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
People post some disgusting essays to Facebook or vent to their friends about white privilege,
calling for a conversation on race. Even when Venus Williams and Serena Williams are on the tennis
court, or Zinedine Zidane is on the soccer field, they may be looked down upon by many white
people because of their black blood. The irony is that when they won the champion or led the team
to win, people started to flaunt their nationalities, saying, "She or he is one of our country." That
certainly would be ironic, wouldn't it? They can feel grief and sad just like everybody, after all!
There are so many people who scorn black people from the bottom of their hearts, they carry out
intentional offensives to the black all the time, in words and actions. Sometimes even if part of us
don't harm them deliberately, and some of those encounters are mild and insignificant, what we do
seem to be just a casual move, it also expresses the most truest neglect of people's heart. Thus, black
ones bear too much stress, they begin to dare not to appear in public, they have lost the ability to talk
and communicate with others, some of them even lose the courage to live in the world. Because of
the white man's disgust, their life has a lot of bad. And then it's their resistance, some people may
hate the society extremely and revenge on the society, which brings social unrest. Therefore, from
all aspects, black people should gain respect as a citizen in a country.
There are so

Cultural Norms In The Woman Warrior
A young Chinese–American girl in the 1950's would try to break out of her parents' cultural norms
and prove to her parents that their thought process is invalid, and doesn't fit inside the parent's
patriarchal cultural mindset. The young Chinese–American girl we follow throughout the story is,
Maxine Hong Kingston, and she believes that women aren't just to be married off and truly do have
a life of their own. The Woman Warrior is a book written by Maxine Hong Kingston wrote a book
based on her own childhood events. As she breaks through these stereotypes, as she breaks these
stereotypes she learns through both Chinese cultural stories and family stories told by her mother
and father. Maxine would express throughout the story, the subtle word choice that her mother
would use to incline how Maxine should be lucky to be born and have a good life. ... Show more
As an immigrant and the child of an immigrant, I know the challenges of trying to get past your
parent's cultural hurdles and the difficulty to change their mindsets on gender norms. Gender norms
vary throughout different cultures and we see many break them here in western culture on a large
scale, but seeing Maxine break through it on a personal level is more motivational. Overcoming
cultural, gender barriers is done in a number of forms and we see with Maxine it is done with
stories, both indirect and direct actions. Maxine is repeatedly told that she can't go or do things due
to her being a female, yet she'd overcome it in a number of ways. As a number of people might not
know in eastern culture, in particular, Chinese culture it is an extremely patriarchal society that aside
from dominating them in the workplace, women are also dominated at home. The house is usually

A Critical Biography : A Critical Biography Of Jennifer Egan
The purpose of this research paper is to provide a critical biography on Jennifer Egan. I choose to
write about Egan because she always changes her themes and genres up. Her literary work
significantly impacts society by giving her readers real–life situations but she either makes it
comical or uses some type of literary device to keep her audience entertained. To me, this impact is
interesting and makes me want to read more of her novels and short stories. Jennifer Egan was a
contemporary American literary novelist. She was born on September 6, 1962, in Chicago, Illinois
(Schwartz). Her mother's name was Kay Egan and her father's name was Donald Egan. Her parents
divorced when she was two years old. Egan moved to San Francisco with her mother. After she
graduated from Lowell High School she began touring Europe. Once she returned from Europe, she
made up her mind and wanted to become a writer. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and
received a B.A., she was later awarded a scholarship to attend St. John's College at the University of
Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which is where she earned an M.A. in English literature
(Hibler). She met the love of her life, a theater director David Herskovits. Egan and Herskovits got
married and moved to New York. While taking care of her two sons, Manu and Raoul Egan was
working different jobs and writing (Schwartz). Egan's novels are all different. They all have
different themes but still connect in some way. She uses many

Character Analysis: A Lesson Before Dying
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in 1940's, a time period of segregation. This
was a time when blacks were often at fault for a crime they did not commit, such as what transpired
in this book. A man named Jefferson was convicted of a crime he did not commit and was insulted
during court. Now his family, friends, and even Jefferson himself were trying to prove the white
community wrong about their beliefs that a black man is unequal and lacks dignity against Jefferson
and the black community. Not only is Jefferson going through a period of suffering on death row,
but others, like Grant Wiggins and Miss Emma, are also facing their struggles and they will try to
prove others wrong and redeem themselves through knowledge, ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
It was redemption for the black community as a whole. This was a way of letting the white
community know that they are all human. It was a way of showing them that the black community is
intelligent and not the animals that they think they are. If it did not prove anything to the white
community, it did show something to the black community that had doubted Grant's efforts. It made
them realize that they have the power to stand up for themselves just like Jefferson did. As stated in
Manhood in A Lesson Before Dying, "Jefferson does feel that he has experienced a change in
identity by the novel's end, and that change is made possible through his and the black community's
appropriation of social institutions and of myths and ideologies" (Auger 75). It similar to The Sun
Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway in which Jake Barnes manages to "live life all the way up" by
following the values the Count Mippipopolous had taught him about, love, passion, and living life
all the way up (Hemingway 67). The redemption in this novel is displayed by the black community
trying to prove to the white community that they can't be treated the way they are being treated and
that they won't let it hurt them, but empower

The Woman Warrior Essay
Thesis: The similarities of coming of age tales and how women grow up and are shaped by love,
sex, and marriage. (OR MOTHER HOOD AND COMING OF AGE)
The Woman Warrior:
Insincere standard being help up out of obligation, but hid the fact that her mother loved her from
the start.
Kingston in The Woman Warrior is largely figuring out what it means for her to be a Chinese–
American women by way of considering the lives of great Chinese women before her: her nameless
aunt, her mother Brave Orchid, the warrior Fa Mu Lan, her aunt Moon Orchid, and Ts'ai Yen. This is
a coming–of–age story and a memoir of girlhood. Issues involving motherhood, daughterhood,
sisterhood, child–rearing, child–bearing, wifehood, and patriarchy are explored.
One might say that The Woman Warrior is first and foremost an autobiography, stories directly
based on Kingston's life. When she writes about her mom, we believe her to be writing about her
actual mom; the family history and intensities are based in real relationships. We could also rightly
categorize Kingston's memoirs in the ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
A memoir is supposed to be about real life. What's up with the ghosts? For one, the Chinese word
for ghosts can also mean foreigner, or non–Chinese. Kingston would, of course, have been
surrounded by such "ghosts" growing up in America. Issues surrounding foreignness and cultural
identity are certainly a main thread thought the memoir. Of course, foreign people aren't the only
ghosts in the book. We see literal ghosts in the first chapter "No Name Woman" and in "Shaman."
All of the mythology and supernatural in this book swirl into the real and until we can't be sure
whether the ghosts are "real" or not. The interplay between "woman" and "girlhood" in the title tells
us, too, that this is a story about growing up–and more specifically, growing up from a female

No Name Woman, By Maxine Hong Kingston
In "No Name Woman", Maxine Hong Kingston discusses a story her mother shared with her. It is
about Kingston's aunt who, while her husband was in America, became pregnant and committed
suicide the day of her illegitimate child's birth. Also included in the story is a raid, undertaken by
neighbors and other villagers, on the aunt's family and home. In order to fully understand the story,
it is necessary to know the historical context. Taking place in 1920s China, the instability,
importance of the family, and attitude towards women impact the final essay. Without taking those
three things into account, one cannot properly analyze Kingston's work.
Before 1924, when the incident takes place, China suffered numerous hardships. There was, for
example, the first Sino–Japanese War, which was followed by the Boxer Rebellion only a few years
later. Then, in the span of only a couple of years, the Manchu Restoration and the May Fourth
Movement begin and end. Both of these are attempts at creating a new form of government and are
two of several examples depicting the instability of that time. In addition to that was the rise of the
Communist Party and the constant political infighting within the Republic of China. Overall, ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Confucian beliefs placed women as subservient to men overall. They were meant to obey others in
their family unit, especially their husband, and this belief was only strengthened with the rise of
neo–Confucianism. Because the villagers held these ideals, and Kingston's aunt was married, the
reaction to her infidelity was harsh. It also explains why everyone in the family treated the story of
Kingston's aunt as inherently shameful. Kingston's mother, for instance, insisted that nobody else
should know what happened for fear of judgment. The attitude towards women is also why Kingston
assumes that her aunt's child was a girl– if the child were a boy, there would have been "some hope
of

Literary Elements Of Maya Angelou
Literary Elements of Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in
St. Louis, Missouri. She was a writer and civil rights activist best known for her 1969 memoir, "I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." As a young child Angelou witnessed her parents' divorce and she
and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. While in Arkansas,
she constantly experienced racism and discrimination, and she was able to translate the emotions
that she felt, into her works. Toni Morrison was on February 14, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She was a
novelist and a Professor at Princeton University. Her novels kept her audience's attention because of
the vivid dialogue and epic themes used in her stories. Some of her best known novels were
Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and Song of Solomon. In Morrison's and Angelou's novels, they showed
similar styles of writing, through the use of racism, symbols, and epic themes. Maya Angelou was a
phenomenal writer. In her novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", she wrote about the
situations that she experienced from childhood to adulthood. In the novel, she expressed that she
experienced racism at a very young age. Maya talks about the fact that she had to live on one side of
town with the black people, and white people lived on the other side. As a child she had the idea that
straight, blonde hair was beautiful. In the story she says, "Wouldn't they be surprised when one day I
woke out of my black ugly dream,

The Woman Warrior Summary
In Maxine Hong Kingston's "The Woman Warrior", in chapter 2 "White Tigers" Kingston says that
Chinese immigrants say things such as "better to raise geese than girls". They also say "Chinese
executed women who disguised themselves as soldiers or students, no matter how bravely they
fought or how high they scored on the examinations". I argue that in doing this, the texts suggest
shockingly, that Chinese immigrants continue to treat woman as if they are worthless, which is why
Maxine Hong Kingston compares herself to Mulan. She just wants to honor her family and feel
accepted. Kingston wants to honor her family once and for all. In order to do so, Kingston completes
fifteen years of training. At the age of fourteen she wants to save her Brother and Husband but her
mentors tell Kingston she is not ready to fight, that she is too young. What was so intriguing about
this situation was when Kingston said "When I could point at the sky and make a sword appear, a
silver bolt in the sunlight, and control its slashing with my mind, the old people said I was ready to
leave". This shows that the sword flying in the air represents Chinese culture. Kingston then
continues to say "I saw the baron's messenger leave our house, and my father was saying, "This time
I must go and fight", taking her father's place. Kingston then pretends to be a man, becoming a great
warrior, wearing male armor and commanding men who fight under her. What was most shocking

Rita Dove : The Life And Life Of Rita Dove
Rita Dove was born August 28, 1952. She was born in Arkon, Ohio. Her spouse was Fred Viebahn,
her mother was name Elvira Hord, her father was Ray Dove, and their beautiful daughters name was
Aviva Dove–Viebahn. She has officially started everything she loves to do and will continue to do
what she loves to do, she really enjoys making poetry and quotes.
This part is gonna be telling you how Rita Dove started her career, Rita Dove was an African
American poet. She loved poetry and music from a very young age. She was a very execptional
student and was invited to the White House as a Presidential Scholar out of high school. She was
studying on a Fulbright Scholarship. Later on in her future she was writing at Arizona State
University. She has won MANY awards for all of her work in 1897. She has written many poetry
books, "Mother Love" and "Sonata Mulattica". She has received a "Pulitzer Prize" for the book of
Thomas and Beulah.
During her educational and personal life she had developed a love for learning and literature at an
early age in a household that encouraged reading. She had been honored as a Presidential Scholar,
being ranked at the top 100 high school student in the high school, and as a National Merit Scholar
attended Ohio's Miam University, graqduating 1973 summa cum laude. She studied abroad in
Germany before returning to the states and earning her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa.
Later on in her more personal life, she had met her fellow writer Fred Viebahn,

Maxine Hong Kingston 'The Woman warrior' takes place in No Society Village, a medical school in
Canton, and Stockton,California, where Kingston was born. The novel starts with Kingston's
paternal aunt, whom the family say's is an embarrassment and refuses to mention the aunts name.
Then Kingston starts talking about her mother, Brave Orchid, who studied in a medical school
before she joined with her husband in America. In the novel Kingston mentions a lot of people that
are her family, friends, heroines and more. What Kingston wants is to find who she is. Kingston
struggles on where she came from and how her family is. People struggle to find themselves but by
looking through lens of their ancestors, they can know and find who they truly are. ... Show more
When Kingston is written the novel she gives information on where all the stories are been set. The
stories from every single character starts with Chinese villages, urban China, and at the end
America. As Kingston writes the setting she can realize that every single thing that happens in China
doesn't suit her. It makes her uncomfortable because there's no liberty and in America she feels more
free. Half of the setting of "No Name Woman" the aunt and half of Fa Mu Lan story takes place in
their village Canton,China. It continues then with her mother story, taking place in a urban area
where the mother worked. Then it passes to her aunt, Moon Orchid taking place in America where
she immigrates. As the reader continues reading the last chapters, the setting differs to Brave
Orchid,Kingston's mother, taking her sister Moon Orchid to America where her husband

The Theme Of Sexism By Toni Morrison
In addition to that, Toni Morrison is one of the most prominent contemporary analysts of black
experiences. Considered as one of the foremost figures in contemporary American fiction, Toni
Morrison has won international acclaim for works in which she examines the role of race in
American society. She received awards like American Academy Award, 1977; National book critics
circle Award, 1977; New York states Governments Awards, 1985; Book of month club Award, 1986;
Before Columbus Foundation Award, 1988; Rogers F. Kennedy Award, 1988; Melcher Award, 1988;
M.L.A Common Wealth Award in Literature, 1889; Pearl Buck Award, 1994; Condorcet Medal
Paris, 1994; Rhegium Juli Prize, 1994 and National Book Foundation Award, 1996.
Toni Morrison's writing ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She also explores the theme of sexism which is integrally connected with racism in the black
society. Not only has she demonstrated that sexism existed in black communities, but she has also
challenged the prevailing definition of woman in American society, especially in relation to
motherhood and sexuality. While dealing with the theme of education of the black, her message has
been consistently plain that formal education for blacks is destructive. Love is another major theme
in her fiction. Morrison has united her themes with a series of brilliantly dramatized foreshadowing
events, skillfully made frames, and splendid characterization.
Another way that Morrison took advantage of her style was by also applying periodic and inverted
sentences in her novels. The author's reason for including these types of sentences was to break the
stream of monotonous reading by creating dynamic sentence that are somewhat unexpected. In
addition, Morrison entices the reader by manipulating sentence length and word to express the tone
or emotion she is trying to convey. This author's distinctive style was what has made so renounced
and prominent in the literary

Relationship Between The Father And The Road By Cormac...
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He has written many
novels relating to violent and post–apocalyptic genres. McCarthy has won multiple awards for his
novels such as the U.S National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award for the novel
All the Pretty Horse. His novel No Country for Old Men also won four Academy Awards. In
addition to that, The Road, also won the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for
Fiction. The Road is a story about a little boy and his father who journeys through post–apocalyptic
America. Many have named this novel an american classic due to one of many reasons– the loving
and personal relationship between the father and his son despite the fact that any traces of life is
essentially dead. McCarthy starts his novel in the woods, where the father realises that his son and
himself will not survive another winter in their current location thus having to keep moving South.
As the father stares into the nothingness of the country he starts to think about his son, "He only
knew that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke" (5).
Knowing that it will get harder to survive, the father believes that his reason to keep living is
because of his son. He proves this thought during the conversation between him and the little boy
who asks what the father would do if he died: "If you died I would want to die too...So I could be
with you" (11). The father's only

Woman Warrior Character Analysis
In her novel Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston provides insight on the struggle that growing
up with dual heritage presents in the understanding of one's identity. Kingston recalls feelings of
frustration when faced with the high expectations she felt she needed to live up to as the daughter of
immigrants, who constantly talk–story to her about fantastical and idealized Chinese figures.
Kingston, in the face of these expectations, feels conflicted on whether she should strive for success
in her parents' eyes, or towards success in fitting into American society. This conflict results in
Kingston never fully understanding her identity as a Chinese American, as she is unsure which
aspects of herself are derived from being a first–generation ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Kingston finds herself constantly questioning and studying pieces of her upbringing, figuring out
how they impact her even as an adult. Kingston notes that she feels obliged to, "tell what [she] really
think[s], whether or not [she loses] her job, or spit[s] out gaucheries all over a party" (205). Here,
Kingston is utilizing simple but clear imagery by describing the abrasive bluntness, that is a direct
influence of Kingston's mother, as "gaucheries" that are "spit out." This trait is one that is common
amongst Chinese people of Kingston's mother's generation. Kingston then goes on to list possible
sources of aspects of her personality, saying, "[she continues] to sort out what's just [her] childhood,
just [her] imagination, just [her] family, just the village, just movies, just living" (205). By listing the
possible sources, Kingston neatly lays out all the probably influences on her development into who
she is now. Her imagination as a child was wildly fanciful, her family felt eclectic, and movies,
especially American made ones, that portrayed Chinese people were most likely full of gross
exaggerations and stereotypes. All of these sources added to the conflicting sense of self Kingston
grew up with, resulting in a long lasting feeling of unease with her identity as a Chinese

The Road Essay
The Road Named one of the four major novelists of his time, Cormac McCarthy has won numerous
awards such as the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and the 2009
PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, which places him in the highest rank
of American literature. His tenth and latest novel, The Road (2006), known as his most traumatic yet
intensely personal work, has won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature Award in 2007, as well as the
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (2007,) and the Quill Book Award (2007.) The Road is one of
three novels that have been made into a film and was featured in theaters in 2009. Nominated for
various cinematography awards, and winner of the Pulitzer Award, The Road is a ... Show more
With only their knapsacks on their backs, an old shopping cart used to carry essential supplies for
survival, and a pistol with only limited ammunition, the two ultimately reach their goal, but neither
the weather or food availability gets better as the man furtively hoped so. The boy is later left alone
and forced to travel the road by himself since the man dies from his implacable illness. The
mourning boy stays by his dead father unknowingly of what to do now, until an old veteran shows
up. Him and his family, wife and two children, boy and girl, have been tracking the man and boy
and convinces the boy that he is one of the "good guys." The boy accepts the invite to join the
family and he is back on the road once more. The characters of the man and the boy change through
their journey throughout the novel. The man has great bravery and skill, but one thing that stands out
from him is his love and devotion for his son. "He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said:
If he is not the word of God God never spoke" (McCarthy, p. 5). The man refers to his son as a
warrant which insinuates that the boy gives him a reason to live. The man is ready to protect his son
at all costs which makes him ruthlessly violent and cynical. The wife's suicide and apocalypse have
internally wounded the man, but he also seems burdened by his past – a happy childhood; another
life before the catastrophe. The man is resourceful, well–educated, and

The Road by Cormac McCarthy Essay
he Road, written by Cormac McCarthy was inspired by a trip he took with his young son to El Paso
Texas. He was imaging what the town would look like 100 years into the future and he though of
"fires on the hill" and then thought about his son's safety. McCarthy admitted to having
conversations with his brother about different scenarios for the apocalypse. For example,
cannibalism, "when everything is gone, the only thing left to eat is each other." He made some notes
about this vision of his, but didn't act on it until a few years later in 2006, while in Ireland. He
started and finished the novel and dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy. In addition to this
history behind the novel, The Road has received a plethora of reviews ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The connection that the man feels with his son is sacred and throughout the novel the man makes
great sacrifices to allow his son to live on and have a future in a world that has gone dim. He shows
his son how to "carry the fire", first with his help, and then, later, without him. The novel opens after
some unknown apocalyptic event has struck the entire world. Neither the man nor the boy is given a
name; this anonymity adds to the novel's tone that this could be happening anywhere, to anyone.
McCarthy also chooses to not use any quotation marks in dialogue. This was very interesting, but
makes sense because this is a post–apocalyptic story, and the exemption of these punctuation
elements might serve as a way for McCarthy to indicate that in this new world, things of the old
world like electricity, running water, and humanity; no longer exists, or they exist in very scarce
amounts. The first few pages of the novel establish us in the scenery. The land is filled with ash and
the remains of living animals and vegetation. Many of the remaining human survivors have resorted
to cannibalism, scavenging the rubble of city and country alike for flesh. The father carries a
revolver with him with only two bullets inside. We assume that they are for him and his son if need
be. We then find out the boy is told to use the gun on himself, if necessary. During their journey the
father uses one bullet to kill a man who

In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston uses talk–stories to illustrate the necessity of
finding one's voice or identity when trapped between the expectations of two clashing cultures. In
"No Name Woman," Kingston has difficulty with sorting fact from fiction in her mother's talk–
stories, and "[separating] what is peculiar to childhood, to poverty, insanities, one family, [her]
mother who marked [her] growing with stories, from(...) Chinese tradition and [the] movies" (5–6).
Kingston grows up in a world she only knows through her mother, who "marked [her] growing with
stories," creating a world for Kingston which she can only dream about. She struggles to ascertain
the difference between Chinese culture and "the movies," because the only ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
Furthermore, Kingston's aunt, Moon Orchid, serves as an example of what happens to one who fails
to find their voice. In "At the Western Palace," Moon Orchid, who is deserted by her husband, faces
him after years apart, and unable to overcome the patriarchal structure which governs her, can only
"whimper, (...) open and shut her mouth without any words coming out, (...) she [shrinks] from his
stare; it [silences] her crying" (152). Moon Orchid adheres to the patriarchal view that women
should always remain silent in the presence of a male, and can only "whimper, (...) open and shut
her mouth without any word coming out," when she faces her husband, and cannot express her rage
and grief when he rejects her. His stare "[silences] her," demonstrating how voiceless Chinese
society expects women to be. Through the example of Moon Orchid, Kingston learns that she must
abandon some Chinese traditions so she will not be rendered mute by oppressive males. She realizes
that she needs an individualized voice to stand up to racist bosses and defy the patriarchal

Who Is The Expectations For Conformity In Toni Morrison's...
The famous novel 'Sula' is written by Toni Morrison. Toni Morrison is the Robert F. Goheen
professor of Humanities, Emeritus at Princeton University. She received the National Book Critics
Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. She
lives in Rockland County, New York, and Princeton, New Jersey. Toni Morrison is not just an
important contemporary novelist, but a major figure in our national literature. "Sula novel examines
the dynamics of friendship and the expectations for conformity within the black community"
(Morrison, Toni). The main character in this novel 'Sula' is Sula Peace. She is the daughter of
Hannah Peace and granddaughter of Eva Peace. Sula Peace has a best friend Nel Wright. ... Show
more content on Helpwriting.net ...
She is completely free of her goals, with no money minded, and no jealousy. She is faced with a
racist small medallion town and a sexist society. She defends herself by creating a life, however
strange, that is rich and experimentally. She denies to settle for a woman's traditional marriage,
raising child, labor, and pain. The women of the bottom hate Sula because she is living criticism of
their own terrible lives of public notice. Furthermore, gender inequality is another major issue that
the readers won't be able to miss as they read the adventures of Sula, Nel, and all other interesting
people living in the Bottom. Sula Peace is a black woman who fights for against the racist,
conservative thinking, and bottom line women in small town. "Unconventional young woman
growing up in a black community that was founded on worthless land once given to a freed slave"
(Cassidy, Thomas). She wants to destroy traditional thoughts and beliefs; such as belief on
conservative traditions, get married, have kids, raise kids, and live under the patriarchal society. In
addition, Sula is a strange, extra–ordinary, super feature birth mark on her eyes; symbolizes bold and
independence from the bottom line

The Misery Of Silence By Maxing Hong Kinston
Critical Analysis of The Misery of Silence The Misery of Silence is a short essay in the book by
Maxing Hong Kinston, The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, published in
Alfred A. Knopf in 1976. This narrative illustrates the author's childhood as a first–generation
Chinese American and how her personality was split by living both in American culture and Chinese
culture. When Kingston was little, she was so afraid of speaking English that she was silent in
American school, which was a misery for her. Even when she spoke, she forced herself to make her
speech sound softer and thus acceptable for Americans. By contrast, she and her Chinese American
fellows behaved as they liked in Chinese school. This essay is composed roughly of two parts:
Kingston's ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
As for sight, for example, she recalls covering her paintings with black paint to illustrate her
depressed feelings. As for hearing, she implies her insecurity by describing that her voice became
weaker when she was asked to repeat what she said. In particular, she details Chinese American
students' speaking with a lot of rhetoric, such as an impressive metaphor of her voice, "a crippled
animal running on broken legs." As this shows, voice is the key word in this essay. She describes it
as an indicator of Chinese American children's personality; their silence means temporary
personality death in American community, and the girls' American–feminine way to speak means
established another themselves. This narrative is helpful to know how immigrant children feel in the
new environment where there is a huge language barrier. It is still relevant today considering
increasing migration to the U.S. ("U.S. Immigrant Population and Share") and urgent need for
special education for ESL students. In addition, it would let Americans have a more objective view
on their own culture, which they take for

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