The theme of isolation is utilized in writing to shape the principal characters and provide a particular vision on some crucial aspects of their identities. Authors such as Nancy Mairs in, “On Being a Cripple” Zora Neale Hurston in, “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” and Sherman Alexie in, “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me”, offer us characterization to set the theme of isolation in their writing. In “On Being a Cripple” Mairs examines the public’s view of the disabled, as well as the views they have of themselves, and compare them to her own. In “How it Feels to Be Colored Me” Hurston discusses how she embraces being a girl of color in a world where people can be very discriminating. In “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Sherman talks about how reading and writing helped shape his life in a positive way. Every author has their own unique way to express isolation in their writing such as personal experience which provides creditability to the writing and further engages the reader. Sherman, Zora and Nancy, are the principal characters of each story and are portrayed as entirely isolated personalities who, despite the different background and different living conditions, experience similar loneliness and despair. Sherman is an Indian kid who grew up in the Indian Reservation and did not follow the rules that all the Indians had to follow. He mentions that when he states, “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike” (75). Zora has moved to a new town and is now faced with having to discover how it feels to be black in a world where discrimination is a huge part of society. “I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a littl... ... middle of paper ... ...y, but ultimately achieves the same conclusion of overcoming their individual isolation. They also do a great job of demonstrating their isolation theme in different ways. Being isolated can be demonstrated in writing very effectively when used the right way. Works Cited Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 73-76. Print Hurston, Zora Neale. “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 166-170. Print Mairs, Nancy. “On Being a Cripple.” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 183-193. Print
In the face of played down labels and censored judgment, Nancy Mairs calls herself a cripple. By doing so Mairs exudes power, resilience, and truth. A protruding message is conveyed through Mairs’s writing, it is that society crams many into a delicate cage to mask the imperfect reality.
“How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” explores the life of Zora Neal Hurston from her autobiographical point of view. The essay explores Zora’s unique outlook on the social and cultural nuances that affect the relationship between blacks and whites in the time period of the 1920s and 1930s.
In ‘How it feels to be colored me’ Neale Hurston opens up to her pride and identity as an African-American. Hurston uses a wide variety of imagery, diction using figurative language freely with metaphors. Her tone is bordering controversial using local lingo.
Nancy Mairs’ “On Being a Cripple” is centered around a teacher/writer with a psychocentric personality that chooses the synonym cripple as the way to define her chronic degenerative disease called multiple sclerosis. Also she takes you on her personal life journey, which is plagued with challenges, depression, realizations, joy, hatred and acceptance of the disease. Mairs’ hates the way society views physical appearance and abnormality.
In today’s world, humans are exposed to many different types of illness, and diseases’, some are born even born with critical health conditions. But as a matter of fact, that should not change their perception of viewing their life. As Mairs once stated, society prefers being a dead than being crippled. She uses sarcasm to let readers know that despite the fact that many people could offend her, by calling her terrible names and making her feel depressed due to her disability, she does not care. By evoking audience empathetic and showing them that it does not matter that she is crippled, she express gratitude that at least she is alive and able to breath. This is shown in her words: “I want them to see me as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely” ( Mairs 1).Mairs’s choice of word and her resilient tone indicate that she is strong even in her weakness. Despite Mairs’s illness, she does not want the society to believe that because she was disabled, they could take advantage of her and treat her unfairly.She also mentions how she wants to be a tough customer, and she uses her strength to make a connection with readers who have a disability like
The passage of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was a positive step in helping those living with disabilities but it in no way cures the suffering they face everyday. While the ADA made discrimination against the disabled illegal, it has not been able to fix everything the disabled have to go through or feel. There are still lots of issues that are there for those with disabilities. Nancy Mairs is one of those people as she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at 28 years old. In her essay “On Being a Cripple”, she writes, “People- crippled or not- wince at the world “cripple”... Perhaps I want them to wince. I want them to see me as a tough customer… who can face the brutal truth of existence squarely.” The choice of cripple over “disabled”
Sherman Alexie in the “Superman and Me” essay wrote “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike. … We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid.” Alexie’s father, who was an avid book reader, transmitted his passion for reading to his son. At an early age, Alexie taught himself to read. He read as many book as he could come across with. This addiction for books made him very clever and grow quickly. But being a literary genius didn’t fit with the picture of being an Indian child living in a reservation. Alexis desperately fought to escape his Spokane Coeur d’Alene reservation to accede an High School that could offer him a proficient education and opportunistic future. He craved
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” The Arlington Reader: Context and Connections. 3rd Edition. Eds. Lynn Z Bloom and Louise Z Smith. Boston:
When you hear the word “cripple,” do you instantly develop a negative image of a person in a wheelchair, who is unable to care for himself or herself in any way? Or do you think of someone with just a minor disability, maybe a physical one, but who still has the brainpower of an average person, such as Stephen Hawking? Both definitely do exist, but it’s a matter of personal perception that affects how you think of inconvenienced individuals. To most people, the life of a cripple seems abstract and unthinkable, but when one writes an essay about her life, it gives new perspective to those who cannot understand it first person. In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs maintains a prideful tone, develops a sympathetic mood within the reader,
Zora Neale Hurston, born in 1891, is considered one of the most inspirational female black activist for her literary contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. Social activist, novelist, folklorist, short story writer, and anthropologist, lived in an era of total discrimination and women degradation. Her literature, in particular, gave insight to what it meant being an African-American between the 1900s to 1960s. But, it was her tenacity and devotion for writing that persevered despite criticism and unrecognition from the white and her own black community. Her life upbringing influenced her perspective which now reflects in her novels, essays, and short stories. The color of her skin also greatly influenced her career as a writer, namely as a
How does Zora Neale Hurston’s race affect her approach to life? America has a long history of discriminating certain groups of people, particularly people of color. African-Americans were treated as slaves and was not seen as equal. Although slavery remained a history and was ultimately legally abolished, race still plays a big role in determining superiority today. Author of How it feels to be colored me, Zora Neale Hurston, describes her journey of racial recognition outside her world that reshaped her conception of racial identity that resulted in the prideful embrace of her African American heritage.
Janie discovers that she is African American when she sees a picture of herself and asks who that person is. When she was told it was her who had very dark skin, she responded with “Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!” (Hurston Par. 9). For the first time, Janie discovers
In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston breaks from the tradition of her time by rejecting the idea that the African American people should be ashamed or saddened by the color of their skin. She tells other African Americans that they should embrace their color and be proud of who they are. She writes, “[A socialite]…has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges,” and “I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (942-943). Whether she feels “colored” or not, she knows she is beautiful and of value. But Hurston writes about a time when she did not always know that she was considered colored.
Words and characters represent symbols that contribute to the depth of literacy works, and these symbols vary according to cultural standards. Stemming from the Harlem Renaissance, Zora Neale Hurston’s work presents issues that focus on the disruption of African Americans. from American literature in the nineteenth century forward. Not only did African Americans write about their experiences coming out of slavery, but they also faced spiritual and gender changes, which altered the entire world view of their people. An important writer, Zora Neale Hurston, had “ideas concerning a folktale genre which were characterized chiefly by their reliance upon personified images” thus,
Upon reading “How it feels to be colored” it is apparent that Hurston was fearless, optimistic and bold from her apparent attitude towards life. She says that she is not tragically colored, nor weep at the world for she is focused on sharpening her oyster knife ( Reading this, her proud and charismatic personality shines through as she boldly views the world differently from those that see color or race as opposed to who they are. Zora embraces her dark skin color and says she is proud to be a strong woman of African American descent. She does not allow the notion that her skin color and the reasoning she is from a different race affect her attitude towards life. She says that she is not concerned by