The poem, "Bully", by Martín Espada, uses irony in a way to describe two major events in America's history that counteract each other. First and foremost, Espada begins the poem off with a serious tone. The purpose for this serious tone is because the theme of the poem is about history; the impact it has made in America today and the changes and outcomes that have come about through time. However, the theme can also include war and how societies change over time, because of the topics Espada touches in the poem. I write that the theme can include numerous topics due to what Espada writes about Roosevelt's involvement in the Spanish-American War and the events happening in Boston during the 20th century. Espada writes, in the first 8 lines, …show more content…
that Roosevelt was a major supporter and contributor about going to war with the Spanish. While at the same time, Espada speaks about the desegregation movements and immigration occurring in Boston and America. After reading "Bully", they use of irony is made quite clear by Espada. The poem essentially contrast the beliefs Roosevelt had of ethnocentrism and provides reasons for invading the Caribbean with that of the desegregation movements in Boston. Espada show this in lines 9-13: "but now the Roosevelt school is pronounced Hernández.
Puerto Rico has invaded Roosevelt with its army of Spanish-singing children in the hallways." Not only do lines 9-13 provide a good example of the irony in the poem but they also gives evidence as to why the poem is titled, "Bully". A bully is generally defined as someone who is normally cruel and intimidates people for whatever reason they deem fit. Roosevelt chose to attack a much weaker Spanish naval ship, compared to the strong forces of the US Navy which makes him a "Bully." However, after a century has passed, the very people Roosevelt was against are now taking over a school that was named in honor of him. This poem addresses a major issue in America, not only in the day of Roosevelt, but even events today that immigration. "Bully" may be considered controversial in the sense where people get upset because Espada is offending Roosevelt's name by saying he was ethnocentric and against diversity. Even today, people are afraid of change and having major diversity in their society. In conclusion, Espada wrote this poem to show culture criticism against America, by forcing readers to see that America is becoming a more diverse country and every human being has the right to be
here.
It is indeed vital to know what happened back then for the reader to really grasp the thesis of the poem. With the right amount of background information, the reader can see how the title becomes more fitting of the poem. Most Americans, especially those who are at the forefront of the battlefield, take pride in how the US conquered countries such as Puerto Rico and Guam. However, the poem presents Roosevelt, and to an extent the US, as a bully who eventually fell under another bully’s wrath. Ironically, it turns out that this another bully who will dominate them was the one they once bullied.
The narrator also discusses about a girl about the same age as her would have never been the “right kind of American.” Minorities such as the African Americans, Dominican Americans and any other ethnicity that came to America were looked right under the microscope. This perplexed me I do not understand why they are treated unfairly by the “True Americans.” There is no such thing as True Americans and that this poem definitely targeted it's audience through racial discrimination rather than cultural changes within a neighborhood in Queens, NY. Another Poet had a much refined and unique style of another part of New York City, he is one of my favorite poets Langston Hughes.
To start off, Ending Poem is written by Aurora Levins Morales (daughter) and Rosario Morales (mother). It is a poem about a girl's heritage and who she is. This poem is 7 stanzas and 46 lines. The authors wrote where every other line is italicised which shows dialogue. Also, the authors didn't want the readers to know who wrote what. The poem talks about how she is proud of her heritage and she embraces what makes her, her. The poem is The theme for Ending poem is diversity. We believe this because the poem talks about a girl whose whole family line used to be immigrants. It also says that you should be proud of who you are. We also believed that the title meant that by her considering herself as an
This poem presents a very tangible and graphic display of both the victim and perpetrator within this bigotry. Therefore, this piece garners value, because it prompts readers to discuss and contemplate a very simplistic degrading mindset, which can be altered by the perspective which this poem provides. In particular, this poem forces readers to acknowledge the position or perspective of both a bully and a victim. These perspectives supply both empathy for the obese and engagement with one’s own biases. While no work of art or even pronounced argument will produce a uniform response from its audience, this poem, for its careful readers, will provide insight into the pandemic of prejudice toward the
As one of the presidents during the Progressive Era, Theodore Roosevelt led the United States of America through a series of dramatic changes that interrupted the lives and ideologies that Americans during the time were more than familiarized with. Industrialization, women’s suffrage, the sexual revolution, imperialism, and “muckraking” journalism were just a few of the controversial, yet significant characteristics of this era. However, perhaps one of the largest and most vital influences during this time period came from the outside. Immigration was an issue that Roosevelt himself addressed rather perceptibly in his paper entitled “True Americanism,” which first appeared in a magazine called The Forum in April, 1894. However, it is not the idea of immigration that vexed Roosevelt; rather it was his concern and fear of the possibility that the increase in immigration of foreign people and cultures would culminate the concept of American patriotism, or “Americanism” as a whole. This paper will analyze the different elements of Roosevelt’s “True Americanism” by exploring the historical context of the document, highlighting Americanism as Roosevelt explicates it, observing the rhetoric used throughout the document, and discerning Roosevelt’s intended audience.
During the book, the author use words or phrases as a form of mock seriousness that gives way to the absurd. Especially after a person died, there will have “So it goes” (Kurt Vonnegut, 1969). The author wants to use this kind of specific words to emphasize that the war is really oppressive and cruel. The author through the Billy’s perspective to explain his own feelings, and condemn the Fascism’s brutal, and laugh at human start the war stupid because the war causes a lot of unfair, make many people died, and anyone involved the war have bad life. The only thing that the war can give us is unhappiness, and cannot bring anything good. Conversely, the peaceful environment not only can make people fell security, but also promote the social
Child of the Americas written by Aurora Levins Morales (1986) is a poem about being a Puerto Rican- born American. It is a poem about an American who came from a mixture of several cultures that make up her heritage as well as her identity as an American. This poem is very interesting to me as it tackles the subject of having a diverse cultural background and what it is to be a multiracial individual. Being that she is of American, Jewish, and Spanish decent she is able to view the United States with a different perspective than one who is of just European decent, or just Spanish decent, etc. Being that the United States is already a melting pot of multiracial, cultural, and religious people, she can feel more comfortable with being a citizen of this nation.
Murphy expresses how justifying bad deeds for good is cruel by first stirring the reader’s emotions on the topic of bullying with pathos. In “White Lies,” Murphy shares a childhood memory that takes the readers into a pitiful classroom setting with Arpi, a Lebanese girl, and the arrival of Connie, the new girl. Murphy describes how Arpi was teased about how she spoke and her name “a Lebanese girl who pronounced ask as ax...had a name that sounded too close to Alpo, a brand of dog food...” (382). For Connie, being albino made her different and alone from everyone else around her “Connie was albino, exceptionally white even by the ultra-Caucasian standards... Connie by comparison, was alone in her difference” (382). Murphy tries to get the readers to relate and pity the girls, who were bullied for being different. The author also stirs the readers to dislike the bullies and their fifth grade teacher. Murphy shares a few of the hurtful comments Connie faced such as “Casper, chalk face, Q-Tip... What’d ya do take a bath in bleach? Who’s your boyfriend-Frosty the Snowman?” (382). Reading the cruel words can immediately help one to remember a personal memory of a hurtful comment said to them and conclude a negative opinion of the bullies. The same goes for the fifth grade teac...
One of the main themes of The Great War and Modern Memory was the irony that surrounded the war and affected the soldiers fighting in it. One of the reasons why the war was so ironic was because it was worse than many people were expecting it to be. In response
Poems are expression of the human soul, and even though, is not everyone’s cup of tea when the individual finds that special poem it moves their soul one with the poet. There are many poets in the world, but the one that grab my attention the most was no other than Langston Hughes. It would be impossible for me to cover all the poems he wrote, but the one that grab my attention the most is called “Let America Be America Again.” It first appeared in “1938 pamphlet by Hughes entitled A New Song. Which was published by a socialist organization named the International Worker Order” (MLM) and later change back to its original name. I have never felt such an energy coming out of a poem like this one which is the reason that I instantly felt in love with it.
Knowing that it would be four years of relentless pestering, I knew that someday I would surpass my tormentors; I would keep under cover of my books and study hard to make my brother proud one day. It would be worth the pain to someday walk into a restaurant and see my former bully come to my table wearing an apron and a nametag and wait on me, complete with a lousy tip. To walk the halls of the hospital I work in, sporting a stethoscope and white coat while walking across the floor that was just cleaned not to long ago by the janitor, who was the same boy that tried to pick a fight with me back in middle school. To me, an Asian in an American school is picking up where my brother left off. It’s a promise to my family that I wouldn’t disappoint nor dishonor our name. It’s a battle that’s gains victory without being fought.
... They focus more on the cultural aspects of identity that Hughes is very proud of, while poems “Democracy” and “Theme for English B” touch on some of the social concerns that created a struggle for dignity as a black person in the early/mid twentieth century. The “Democracy” is a slightly stern and direct request to take action and fight for civil rights. The “Theme for English B” is a compassionate and low-key personal anecdote that reiterates the unpracticed concept that “all men are created equal”. Despite the difference in tone and subject, all four poems relate to the central theme that dignity is something that white men may take for granted, but Langston Hughes, as a black man and a writer, sees and feels dignity as a fight and a struggle that he faces and that the black community as a whole faces every day.
Mehri fell in love with the neighbor’s son. One day, the neighbor’s son gave Mehri a letter. She didn’t know how to read and write. She made Marji read it to her and write letters to him. In the end Mehri couldn’t be with him since she was a lower class. According to Marxist Criticism nobody can be with anyone higher than the person’s social class. This shows irony because Mehri got a letter to read, but she didn’t know how to read and write back. Irony is the contrast between what appears to be true and what actually is true. The poem “You Tell Us What To Do” also displays irony. It is stated that the people have injuries, but no medicine can fix it. It is ironic because they have wounds, but the wounds could never heal. The wounds are mental, so physical medicine could never help. Oppression from their government caused them mental scarring for life.
Being an immigrant in the United States is not easy. Nothing but a little bit of common sense is needed to understand the struggle that leaving your natal country, starting from scratch, and abandoning your family represents. For these people being in a new country in which their all-life traditions are misunderstood, or in which their language is not even spoken, definitely complicate their daily life. Thanks to technology, society is connected more than ever, reason why we hear new stories about immigration all the time (through television, radio, or internet), but a great part of history is hidden underneath the lines of several poems from past ages.
The powerful words of this poem ring as true in the current day as they did when initially published in 1978. Society has made great strides in the topics of inequality and equal opportunity; however, we still experience racial differences in social and political arenas.