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Literary devices and their effects
10 main literary devices
Navajo culture and traditions
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In language in Society Journal, Anthony K Webster writes about understanding and studying the texts of Navajo poets. He uses three versions of the same poem, Cat or Stomp by Laura Tohe. There are 3 different styles she used for this one poem, one from the version in her book, which is orthographic, the other two are an oral performance, they both have been recorded and analyzed.
Laura Tohe connects to her readers, using her past hardships and poetry to get them to feel her emotion. The author talks about how Laura Tohe wrote this book in English, even though it was about Navajos and their journey through boarding schools. She wanted to connect to everyone and tell her story making sure it didn’t happen again. Since her main audience is white people who speak English and they are the ones who put many Navajos through this rough, traumatic time in their life.
Again, Webster is analyzing Laura Tohe, to have a better understanding of Navajo linguacultural. Paying attention to the way the poems shift when using written Navajo to ethnonym Diné. By showing how linguacultural changes the tone of the oral presentations and what they mean for the cultural and in real-time. As a result, leading to different
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The first oral presentation was structured into three stanzas based on how long the speaker paused during the performance. The stanzas for the oral version do not correspond exactly with the written version, the stanzas are now unique in their own way. There are 35 lines in one of the oral performances verses 23 or 31 in the written version. While the second oral presentation has 25 lines rather than 35 lines. This goes to show how just by different interpretations of an oral presentation of a poem can affect the line size and structuring of the written version. Depending on who the speaker who is presenting the poem they may or may not interpret the poem ever so slightly in different
This book report deal with the Native American culture and how a girl named Taylor got away from what was expected of her as a part of her rural town in Pittman, Kentucky. She struggles along the way with her old beat up car and gets as far west as she can. Along the way she take care of an abandoned child which she found in the backseat of her car and decides to take care of her. She end up in a town outside Tucson and soon makes friends which she will consider family in the end.
Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within himself.
219-224. Library Services Institutefor Minnesota Indians. Guidelines for Evaluating Multicultural Literature: 1970, pp. iv-v. Norton, Donna. 'Through the Eyes of a Child. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffes, New Jersey: 1995.
arranged in open form instead of free verse because the stanzas are separated into lines of
John Farella. The Main Stalk: A synthesis of Navajo Philosophy. Navajo Religion. (Tuschon: University of Arizona Press, 1984)
Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue." 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. 4th Edition. Ed. Samuel Cohen. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 417-23. Print.
last, which is four lines. In the first three stanzas, the poem is told in
Patricia Highsmith’s short story, “Something the Cat Dragged In,” provides various examples of human nature when influenced by evil as it occurs by ordinary people. These situations can be analyzed through Philip Zimbardo’s video, “Psychology of Evil,” and Wendell Bell’s article, “Who is Really Evil?” Their theories further relate to Patrik Jonsson’s article “Rich Kid Gets Probation for Drunk-Driving Deaths. His Defense? ‘Affluenza’.” Wendell Bell defines evil as “Human actions or inactions that harm other people” (Bell 55 C1-2). Bell expresses two categories of evil behavior: idealistic evil and instrumental evil. Idealistic evil is criminal actions that are committed because the perpetrator believes they are right, thus, religious extremism
The writings of Amy Tan and Richard Rodriguez’s depicts a bilingual story based on two differing culture. On Mother Tongue, “Tan explores the effect of her mother’s “broken” English on her life and writing” (506). On the other hand, Richard Rodriguez “recounts the origin of his complex views of bilingual education through Public and Private Language” (512). From a child’s eyes, Tan and Rodriguez describe each joys and pain growing up in a non-English speaking family. Hence, may be viewed that cultural differences plays a major role on how one handles adversities.
As this poem characterizes the view of a native woman expressing feelings of passion relating to her culture, it also criticizes society, in particular Christianity, as the speaker is experiencing feelings of discontent with the outcome of residential schools. It does not directly criticize the faith, but through the use of a heavy native dialect and implications to the Christian faith it becomes simple to read the speakers emotions.
The first stanza describes the depth of despair that the speaker is feeling, without further explanation on its causes. The short length of the lines add a sense of incompleteness and hesitance the speaker feels towards his/ her emotions. This is successful in sparking the interest of the readers, as it makes the readers wonder about the events that lead to these emotions. The second and third stanza describe the agony the speaker is in, and the long lines work to add a sense of longing and the outpouring emotion the speaker is struggling with. The last stanza, again structured with short lines, finally reveals the speaker 's innermost desire to "make love" to the person the speaker is in love
The Essay written by Amy Tan titled 'Mother Tongue' concludes with her saying, 'I knew I had succeeded where I counted when my mother finished my book and gave her understandable verdict' (39). The essay focuses on the prejudices of Amy and her mother. All her life, Amy's mother has been looked down upon due to the fact that she did not speak proper English. Amy defends her mother's 'Broken' English by the fact that she is Chinese and that the 'Simple' English spoken in her family 'Has become a language of intimacy, a different sort of English that relates to family talk' (36). Little did she know that she was actually speaking more than one type of English. Amy Tan was successful in providing resourceful information in every aspect. This gave the reader a full understanding of the disadvantages Amy and her mother had with reading and writing. The Essay 'Mother Tongue' truly represents Amy Tan's love and passion for her mother as well as her writing. Finally getting the respect of her critics and lucratively connecting with the reaction her mother had to her book, 'So easy to read' (39). Was writing a book the best way to bond with your own mother? Is it a struggle to always have the urge to fit in? Was it healthy for her to take care of family situations all her life because her mother is unable to speak clear English?
Momaday forces upon the reader the idea of language as a remedy for sickness; not only of the mind, but of the heart, also. If a speaker can reach a listener and show the listener what she means, then that is the most honorable achievement. Momaday wants the reader to know the importance of word weaving, of weaving the words to form a beautiful picture that can heal souls if spoken correctly. Momaday believes that the Native Americans who never bothered to learn to read and write, those who depend on their words, are those whose words are most powerful. The love for words, spoken with passion, makes them take on a three-dimensional quality. The words become the images and show a listener instead of telling, making the moment an experience instead of just a moment. The listener can feel what the speaker is trying to say; there is no need for interpretation, everything is already understood. Momaday convinces the reader that the spoken language goes beyond what words are being said; the words become their meaning, transcend into complete understanding and clarity. The experience should be remembered as one of self-revelation and understanding, not a moment filled with monotonous words. Momaday does not think it should be about memorizing the words for intellect, but about seeing the image they create. He wants the reader to know how important the woven web of words is so that the reader is able to understand how Native American tradition has lasted so long without words being written; that it is not the remembrance of words, but the remembranc...
In the first poem “Not My Business” the structure is quite simple. The poem is split up into four different verses. The first three verses are in a regular structure they are seven lines long and the last three lines repeat themselves. Whereas the last verse is irregular it is made up of five lines and those three lines are not repeated in this verse. I think the poet has structured it like this so that:-
The construction of the poem is in regular four-line stanzas, of which the first two stanzas provide the exposition, setting the scene; the next three stanzas encompass the major action; and the final two stanzas present the poet's reflection on the meaning of her experience.