Summer Reading Essay Characterization Candace Myers
In Heidi Durrow’s book, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, she creates an eye opening story about the effects of one’s race and how they deal with society. Rachel, the protagonist of the story, is deeply impacted by her mixed race and society’s standards for her. Throughout the book she struggles with her identity, the loss of her family, and the ups and downs of life. No matter what happens to her, she always finds a way to survive, whether it’s jumping from a building or dealing with her fellow classmates. One thing anyone can learn from this story, is that even though it is difficult conforming with society and meeting society’s principles for us, one can overcome the standards set for all of us.
When Rachel first arrives in Portland, she is a shy, insecure, and is a lonely
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When Drew comes over, she meets his daughter Lakeisha. When the two meet, Rachel says on page 117 “ I wonder how she seems so brave. There is no part of her that she hides.” The theme impacts Rachel, because she wishes she had better confidence because of the pressures of society. This also develops the theme, because of Lakeisha’s bravery, Rachel feels like she is too quiet and needs to put herself out there, which shows the impact that society has on us. When Rachel is in high school her classmates still see her as white which upsets her. On page 148 she says “ They call me an Oreo. I don’t want to be white. Sometimes I want to go back to what I was. I want to be nothing.” The theme impacts Rachel’s development in this part of the story, because Rachel feels like she is supposed be one race, but because of her mixed race, she isn’t treated the same as the black girls. Rachel’s characterization develops the theme, because of society’s labels for us, it can affect our day to day lives and can determine the way we are
In this memoir, the meaning of language is intertwined with the search for self-identity. This book was focused on an experience of perusing her own heritage by the use of DNA and genomics. In Raquel’s instance, or Rachael as her friends refer to her as, language has become a force of conflict and discrimination. Raquel wants to fit in with her peers and uses language as a means to relate. “Rachael, if you call me nigga one more time, I’m going to have to fuck you up” (pg. 71). It is this conversation that causes racial tension between Raquel and her friends. She tries to explain that they are all women of color, regardless of how much darker their skin is than hers. Her friends can’t seem to understand why she likes all that “black shit” (pg. 71) referring to her like of hip hop music. Another issue regarding culture and ethnicity occurs with Raquel’s encounter with Simon, who uses discriminatory comments as a joke. Raquel, who finds great offense to it, takes this use of vulgar language personally. The role of language within this novel displays the hardships and struggles of growing up as an immigrant adolescent in the United States. It emphasizes the racial discrimination and adaptation aspect as well. However, despite all of the hatred and uncertainty Raquel possesses, she begins to develop resilience,
One of the occurring themes is of bravery. The Walls children face adversity when moving from place to place, dealing with bullies and their father goes into an alcohol induced rage. “Brian, Maureen, Lori and I got into more fights than most kids.” Walls tells the readers on page 164. The kids had to learn to stand up for themselves in a harsh community; they had to be brave. Walls also used the theme of forgiveness to teach about the importance of forgiving those who wronged you. Her parents constantly ignored their children’s needs and mistreated them, but in the end they were forgiven for all of that and they were a regular family. “We raised our glasses. I could almost hear Dad chuckling at Mom’s comment in the way he did when he was truly enjoying something.” (Walls 288). The purpose of this comment is to wrap up the story, but it also shows forgiveness and growth. By the end of the book all was forgiven, the neglect, the stealing, the cheating and the lying, and they were family. These themes in the book are an overarching device that is a great tool to show the moral or lesson of the certain story.
Danielle Evans’ second story “Snakes” from the collection of short stories, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self depict a biracial girl who has been pressured due to her grandmother’s urge to dominate her. The story pictures her suffering with remarkable plot twist in the end of the story. Evans utilize a profound approach on how to bring readers to closely examine racism implicitly, to make readers recognize the actions may lead to social discrimination and its consequences that are often encountered in our daily life.
...s appealing it is not without consequence. Clare, and those who choose to pass, are not free to embrace their whole identity and will always remain a threat to those they come in contact. Clare exemplified the archetypal character of the tragic mulatto, as she bought tragedy to her own life and all those she came in contact. Clare’s presence forced Irene to contend with feelings of internalized racism, and thus feelings of inferiority. Through diction, tone, and imagery Larsen makes it luminous to readers that "passing" may seem glamorous, however, the sacrifice one makes to do so is not without consequences for themselves and those they care about. Larsen does not allow her readers to perch on the belief that once a member of the dominate group ones life is not without pain and suffering. Every action, even those that seem to make life easier, have consequences.
Amber Hollibaugh is the daughter of an Irish mother and a Roma father. Amber’s mother grew up in a white, Irish working class family, while her father grew up being harassed and branded by the by KKK (Hollibaugh 28). These tragedies made Hollibaughs very cognizant of race, as did having light skinned and blonde hair in a biracial family. While these difference were never made salient, they were evident everyday of Amber’s
In the story, “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, Rachel , The Main charter is very insecure. Why Rachel is very insecure because Rachel doesn't speak up, also because Rachel is emotional.
In the story Jubilee by Kirstin Valdez Quade A young very bright Latin American woman, Andrea, struggles with feeling like she’s been accepted in today’s society despite all of her achievements. These feelings tend to peak and turn negative whenever she’s around the family of her father’s lifelong employer, the Lowells, and in particularly their daughter Parker. Although the Lowells, as a whole seem to love Andrea and her family, she finds that their success and good fortune directly correlates to her family’s second rate citizenship. This story reveals that obsession with being accepted as an equal can be an ever increasing stressor that can severely damage a child’s identity, social skills and ultimately lead to misplaced resentment and
Rachel Robinson is a thrilling character in I Never Had it Made by Jackie Robinson. She displays several qualities which make her an engaging character. Rachel is fierce, and it is evident when she thinks Jackie is cocky, conceited, and self-centered. Rachel is also helpful. The author shows this when Rachel helps Jackie Jr. with his homework. Lastly, Rachel is loyal. We witness this when Jackie goes into the army and Rachel does not see him for two years, but she stays with him. This essay will show that Rachel possesses the three qualities just mentioned. This essay will also show how the events specified show unique attributes.
Whether it's about your looks, the way you dress, your skin color, or who you are seen with. “The Flowers” by Alice Walker shows what the worlds actions and thoughts on skin color can do to someone. As a child you are as carefree as can be, without one care about what's happening in the world. Because, you live in your own special world. Myop’s world is the path in the woods she always took until she strayed from the path. “She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts” (Walker 1). She's started to explore the world around her as do most children do once they start to grow older. However, exploring the world can have some consequences. Myop at a young age finds "Very near where she'd stepped into the head was a wild pink rose. As she picked it to add to her bundle she noticed a raised mound, a ring, around the rose's root. It was the rotted remains of a noose, a bit of shredding plowline, now blending benignly into the soil...Myop laid down her flowers” (Walker 1). Seeing that slave dead is the product of what society does to colored people. Teaching her that the world wasn't as colorful as she thought it was. That she’ll never be treated equally because of her color ruining her innocent view on the world. Giving her a negative view on society and losing her hope in it ever improving. “And the summer was over” (Walker
You encounter many events in your life. Some may be bad, while others can be good. Some events affect us so much that we remember them throughout our whole life. Some events can even affect your whole life. In the short story “Eleven,” by Sandra Cisneros, and the poem “Losing Face,” by Janet Wong , the events in the characters’ lives affect them in different ways. The short story is about Rachel, a girl who is eleven, but doesn’t feel like she is that age when she encounters an issue at school. Her teacher assumes that the ugly and raggedy sweater is Rachel’s when it is not. When her teacher, Mrs.Price gets peeved, she tells Rachel to wear the sweater and then Rachel starts sobbing and feels like she is three years old. The poem is about a girl who cheated on an art contest to make her mother proud. Then she wants to tell her mother the truth, but also doesn’t want to lose her mother's proud face. The characters’ lives are affected by events in the short story and the poem both positively and negatively.
Must race confine us and define us?’ The story The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, written by Heidi W. Durrow, revolves around the protagonist Rachel, who has bi-racial parents. After her mother and two siblings plunge to their deaths from a Chicago building, young Rachel Morse survives and is sent to Portland. Furthermore, part of her story is learning about how she conform into the world while dealing with her ethnicity. Additionally, when Rachel’s moves in with her grandmother, she is faced with racial expectations at home and at school.
Although it often goes unknown, Allison wrote Two or Three Things I Know For Sure and it shares experiences that reveal intersectionality and it addresses how her life experiences and environment shaped her into who she is now. This book also reveals the juxtaposition between how people identify themselves with intersectionality and how society or others view and hold them to specific standards. This book reveals how history can repeat itself, how others can be impacted by the intersectionality surrounding them and how they feel pressured to stick to a standard placed upon them such as the reoccurring idea of being “pretty”. The book ends with Allison and her sister addressing Allison’s niece as being “pretty” and Allison breaks down the walls surrounding her allowing herself to see the battles she’s faced in the
Sandra Cisneros writes a memoir through the eyes of an eleven year old. Turning eleven happens to be a tragic day for the main character, Rachel. Through various literary techniques such as hyperbole, simile, and syntax, Rachel is characterized. Rachel is a fresh turning eleven year old who finds herself in an awful situation on her birthday. Forced to wear a raggedy old sweater that doesn’t belong to her, she makes it defiantly clear her feelings towards the clothing item, and we see this through use of hyperboles. Rachel describes the sweater as ugly and too “stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope.” This extreme exaggeration demonstrates the fire within Rachel. She is a defiant and pouty little girl who out of stubbornness has to defy the sweater in her mind. “It’s maybe a thousand years old”, she says to herself in act to degrade the filthy red sweater even more. The sweater to Rachel has become an eternal battle of ages. She is torn on whether or not to stand up and act bigger th...
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.
Cinderella’s mother passed away and her father remarried a woman who had two daughters from a previous marriage. A few weeks passed and a prince is holding a three day festival and all the beautiful young girls in the town were invited. Cinderella wanted to go but her evil stepmother gave her two impossible tasks to complete before she could attend the festival. Cinderella completes the two tasks with the help of her bird friends and her mother’s grave. Cinderella goes to the festival and she dances with the prince all three days. Finally, the prince has fallen in love with her and eventually they get married. Fairytales and Disney productions threaten gender politics and women’s role by portraying women in certain areas like domestic behaviors