America is a country that is constantly in motion, change is always inevitable, opportunities always available, how America's unique openness to the betterment of oneself is placed upon each of her individuals shoulders. Change and the betterment of oneself as a reoccurring theme within America history has unsurprisingly become a theme within American literature. The world made Straight, by Ron Rash plays heavily into this ideal of self movement and empowerment as expressed through the protagonist Travis Shelton. Travis, like America as a whole is influenced by circumstances of many origins, a prominent one being culture. Travis grows up under the influence of his home in western north Carolina, which dictates the importance of self-reliance over education, yet it is quickly shown that Travis’ life is changing "the best days of tobacco men is behind them." …show more content…
(Rash, pg 35) In the novel Travis goes through huge transitions, not unlike the nation who, while young in comparison to many countries such as England has gone through many transitions, many of them painful.
Travis is forced into the home of Leonard, a man convicted on drug charges and fired from his teaching job, yet despite the man's shady past Travis say "He's a better man than you...he's treated me better than my blood kin have," (Rash, pg 231) to his father during a dispute. The civil war's affect on the American people North Carolina is a heavy topic for the characters, Travis' father expresses the weight of the past upon the region by tell his son within the same argument, saying "That's kindly ironic, ain't it...His momma's great-granddaddy helped kill off near ever member of your family." (Rash, pg 232) This toxicity to holding to the past is a constant throughout the book, yet Travis moved forward, something that is fundamentally important the the United States. so that her individuals can progress to make a city upon the hill far better than the one Winthrop
imagined. As America has moved forward there is no doubt that we have made mistakes, yet some of these mistakes may not have been viewed as such by the Puritans as demonstrated through their cultural ideals. In the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, the main character Junior, experiences the after effects of many of these mistakes first hand. The book opens as many Diary subject books do with a description of the main character, but quickly dissolves into a social commentary on the lives America's mistakes have forced many Native Americans to live. Settlers, even pious Puritans wished to push Native Americans off of their land and the negative impact of such actions are immeasurable even in more recent history where the American government created reservations,as Junior says "I wish I were magical, but I am really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation." ( Alexie, pg 7) Another issue addressed within the book is education of the Native American people, viewed in a rather negative light for very good reason "We were trying to kill Indian people. We were trying to kill Indian culture," (Alexie, pg 35) Junior's teacher, Mr. P, tells him this and it is hardly a new idea. The Puritans themselves wished to wipe away the Native American's culture in settlement they called "praying towns" where they converted Natives and stripped them of their language and culture. At the time people viewed this as the right thing to do, the Godly thing to do, which despite not being set in puritan times is directly addressed by Mr. P who said "It was a different time...a bad time. Very bad. It was just wrong." (Alexie, pg 35) Mr. P moved forward, something that the Puritans and their "city upon the hill" seemed stubborn to do, lucky America as a whole has moved forward to creating a new idea of a model nation. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go until our past transgressions resonate into the both the modern day and future, something clearly expressed when Mr. P tells Junior "you have to leave the Rez forever...if you stay on this Rez they're going to kill you," America has killed many cultures in its pursuit of a city upon a hill and while in the past decades the nation has bettered itself there is no doubt we have a long way to go before the past no longer tethers that pursuit. (Alexie, pg 36)
For example, Sherriff Poppell shows this characteristics when he sees poor black families arrogate a crashed semi truck for all of the shoes " All day long under a sky like white coals the High sheriff stood spread legged on the highway, directing traffic; the road crews swept and shoved; and hundreds of local families quietly harvest shoes" ( Greene 4). Considering how the sheriff did this it shows his compassionate side towards the poor African Americans in the county of McIntosh. Similarly, The author of the story dedicates a major time of the story to show the audience the dedication Alston had as a compassionate father. " Four sons were born to her and Thurnell; Thun, Anthony, LeVan, and Keith; and four foster children were taken in by them. Chickens in the backyard, dogs all around, mother in law and sisters in law and brothers and aunts in cabins and trailers in the pine woods about the house" (Greene 48). It describes him as a father that's really compassionate and loving for the
Tony Kushner, in his play Angels in America, explores a multitude of issues pertaining to modern American society including, but not limited to, race, religion, and sexual orientation. Through his diverse character selection, he is able to compare and contrast the many varied experiences that Americans might face today. Through it all, the characters’ lives are all linked together through a common thread: progress, both personal and public. Kushner offers insight on this topic by allowing his characters to discuss what it means to make progress and allowing them to change in their own ways. Careful observation of certain patterns reveals that, in the scope of the play, progress is cyclical in that it follows a sequential process of rootlessness, desire, and sacrifice, which repeats itself.
Walter seems to be a good father to Travis, but starts to lose control by the end of the play. When with Travis, Walter relates too much to money, instead of focusing on their family fun in life. Walter tries to impress Travis with money and thinks that teaching Travis to be rich is the happiest way to go. In the play, it shows that Travis is becoming like his father and is starting to think about money at too young of an age. In scene two in Raisin in the Sun, Travis complains to his mother, Ruth, that he wants to work so he can earn some money. His father responds by giving Travis money and trying to impress him. Walter says to Travis, "In fact, here's another fifty cents... Buy yourself some fruit today or take a taxicab to school or something!"(Page 30). It is all right to be happy with money but it shouldn't be the reason to be proud of your family.
“By making college unaffordable and student loans unbearable, we risk deterring our best and brightest from pursuing higher education and securing a good-paying job.” -Mark Pocan
Faulkner uses the view point of an unnamed town member while he uses a third person perspective to show the general corrosion of the southern town’s people.
Atticus shows true courage by defending Tom Robinson, a black man charged with the rape of a white woman. Atticus continues to fight for justice despite knowing he can’t win the case because he is doing what he knows is right. The town is against this…..
life in the mid to late twentieth century and the strains of society on African Americans. Set in a small neighborhood of a big city, this play holds much conflict between a father, Troy Maxson, and his two sons, Lyons and Cory. By analyzing the sources of this conflict, one can better appreciate and understand the way the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work.
As a person grows to join society, they will inevitably run into the corruption of the world. The beautifully written To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic piece of American literature that explains this part of life. Maycomb County, Alabama is the home to southerners who seem friendly but are generally offenders of bigotry. Throughout the story, Lee describes the coexistence between good and evil in these people. People are sometimes considered either good or bad. In an imperfect world, there is some ratio between the two. Through her characters, Lee makes the reader understand the complexity of good and bad of people and society.
A character named Jefferson, an African American male, is wrongly accused when he is in the wrong place at the time during a shoot-out between two African American men and a storeowner. During the shoot-out the storeowner and both men were shot and killed, Jefferson in shock stays at the scene of the crime until authorities arrived and arrested and tried Jefferson for murder. Jefferson being found guilty and compared to a hog fills him with hate and anger. Jefferson has an aunt that reaches out to a creditable teacher at a local school named Grant; she gets Grant to help Jefferson find a purpose. Grant helps Jefferson find a sense of dignity, although it took some time he was successful. Grant later focuses his time and energy on the importance of Jefferson’s death and tries to explain it to him. Jefferson doesn’t really understand it until members of the community come to visit him; young children, old men, strangers, friends, all come to see Jefferson in his cell and speak to him. The onslaught of attention makes Jefferson begin to understand the enormity of his task. He now realizes that he has become much more than an ordinary man and that his death will represent much more than an ordinary death. Gaines emphasizes the worth and dignity of everyday heroes like Jefferson; just as Christ did during his
America is an easily divided nation, especially when it comes to political stances. Often people seem not to even consider the implication of their vote. In his film, “180”, Ray Comfort poses questions aimed at changing people’s votes. Ray Comfort is a New Zealand born American Christian evangelist. He is also the founder of Living Waters Publications, and has written numerous books. In the documentary, Comfort successfully compares the Holocaust to America’s rising abortion epidemic while using ethos, logos, and pathos build an engaging argument.
When Atticus decides to take the case of Tom Robinson many people of the town are disappointed in him because Tom is black even his own family turn his back against him. When Francis says "If Uncle Atticus lets you run around with stray dogs, that's his own business, like Grandma says, so it ain't your
In Martin Scorcese's Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle repeatedly expresses two ideas that are central to the film. First, Travis has an undying wish to purify the world. He wants to rid his city of all the evil and scum that currently inhabits the city's cold and damp streets. Second, is the method by which Travis tries to obtain his goals. Travis Bickle tries to clean up his city by methods similar to those of religious figures. He even takes on a role as a savior figure. Travis Bickle's quest to save the world via religious ideas fails, and instead results is a bloodbath.
In chapter 5 of Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he refers to specific groups of people as “Plastic People.” This phrase refers to people that act fake, or say things to people when they actually are thinking something different about them. Since Chris lives his life on the edge and doesn’t like the settle down he probably considers make people plastic. “On the face of it, `Bullhead City doesn’t seem like the kind of place that would appeal to an adherent of Thoreau and Tolstoy, an ideologue who expressed nothing but contempt for the bourgeois trappings of mainstream America.” (39) Chris probably sees many of the bourgeois or middle class families as “Plastic People” because they live in much different ways than he does. He may also see
Mapes, the white sheriff who traditionally dealt with the black people by the use of intimidation and force, finds himself in a frustrating situation of having to deal with a group of black men, each carrying a shotgun and claiming that he shot Beau Boutan. In addition, Candy Marshall, the young white woman whose family owns the plantation, claims that she did it. As each person tells the story, he takes the blame and, with it the glory.
Portraying the characters rejection to conformity, American literature illustrates the distinctive following of one's own standards. From what has been analyzed previously, the authors are trying to display a message of change through the characters words and actions. Many times it is apparent that the characters are in there times of most comfort when they are acting in such that makes them their own being, stepping aside from the standards of the rest of society. Writers try to express the importance of stepping outside of that comfort zone in order to grow and develop as a human being. How will one ever know who they are if they conform to be what everyone is told to be? The biggest advocate of rejecting the norms of America is Chris McCandless.