A Yellow Raft on Blue Water Essay In the novel, A Yellow Raft on Blue Water, the story revolves around the life of three female protagonists of Native American descent, and the narration is provided by three differing, troubled characters. One of the narrating character's, Christine, allows an intake into her alternating perspective, and describes struggles she faces from balancing the relationships she has with herself, her daughter, and her aunt . Throughout her section, she expresses her dissatisfaction with the disconnection she feels as though she has no connection with them even though she tries though best to get on their good side. She feels as though she tries to be a good mother to her only child, and a good daugheter. A contribution …show more content…
these wrecked relationships may be her strong views and intentions. Although, she thinks she is only trying her best to please them, her different personality and views may be the cause of the rift. A An analyzation of Christine’s own life and views consists of a problematic partying lifestyle, frequent trips to the hospital, and a strong self-worth.
In the beginning of the book, her daughter, Christine, reflects on her living, “Twice I have stayed for few days with foster families in Seattle, once when Mom was getting herself sick, and the other time when she was pulling herself together” (101). From this passage, it revealed that Christine is guilty of committing act detrimental to her lifestyle. had to done bad decisions and actions and made Rayona experience the life of a unwanted child thrown from home to Because they are blood related they share some striking similarities the hill (146). Christine’s relationship with and respect herself is one made of recklessness. Being worried about looks and even describing herself as having the “face of a squirrel hoarding nuts in the winter”, she reveals that she is very centered about her appearance” (143). In another instance that reveals this is when she scruntized Rayona for her appearance. (237) In another instant her she decribes that she “came home at five in the morning” illustrating that she values having fun” (158). Being reckless with parties and alcohol, the doctor determined that her she wouldn’t live another six months” (234) One point in the story she revealed that even though she frequently parties and does dumb things, she doesn’t regretthem because she wouldn’t be able to stop critizing herself. From this, it is apparent that Christine has high self esteem and tries to keep a positive image. She doesn’t like to chatise herself for her past mistakes. She also has dignity to the pint where she tine feels as though she needs to prove herself to others in order to feel acceptance. In addition, she boasts that “ what she lacked in looks she made up in other ways.(149). Apart from Christine’s strong self esteem, illustrated even once describing herself “as a perfect size 8” (174). She is in many ways
different from her daughter. Christine also mentioned that while constructing a black box for planes, “ I persuaded myself that I was important, that I was doing something that could survive a car crash” (173). This reveals that she always found a way to convince herself that everything she did mattered to the world so she wouldn’t feel insignificant. She wanted everything she did to have meaning. She was also realistic in the relationship she held with her husband Elgin because she even though she “ trusted Elgin more than any boyfriend” she had before, she was cautious and restrained herself from being foolish (182). This exemplifies she wasn’t entirely reckless and kept her life serious. On the other hand, her daughter Rayona views herself as a nuisance and she frequently compares herself to other people. At her time at the park, she compare herself to Ellen. In addition, she feel jealous towards others for throwing away what she wished she had. When she finds a piece of a letter that made her feel “poor in a way i’ve heard of rich” (81). This reveals that she has always wanted a loving family and parents that care about her. She values family and longs to belong somewhere. While Christine was tough and fought back against the world and filled appreciated her hard work and tried to make her life feel feel important. “ Rayona frequently views herself as inadequate and is self conscious in her physical appearances and she ends up being jealous of others for what she lacks but they have .In the beginning of the book her mother bombarded by tips and trick that will accentuate her beautiful (3). During her stay at Bearpaw State Lake, Rayona, found a loving letter from a mother and daughter directed to their child, and it lead her to think of her own mother, “This scrap of paper in my hand makes me feel poor in a way like I just heard of rich. Jealous. What kind of person would throw it away?” (81). She felt as though her mom isn’t as loving as she could have been and she’s envious of other people’s parents. This may contribute and lead herself to believe that she isn’t pretty enough and cause her to strive for the unachievable state of perfection. be As illustrated in the moment where her father Elgin came to the hospital to return her mother’s car keys, she immediately suspected that her father was scrutinizing her body and expect him to comment that she’s “too skinny” (6). Later on in the book, Rayona runs into some boys who don’t view her as a girl and he reflect on her her mom being in her position and how “she’d have the two of them eating out of her shoe” (80). From this, it is revealed that Rayona wishes she could be like her mother in certain aspects. When Rayona ends up ditching the reservation after her mother disposed her on it, she ends up working at a park and encounters a girl who she is envious of named Ellen. She described Ellen as the girl who “has everything”, and she is quick to add that she would “trade places” with this stranger(93). From this it reveals that Rayona dislikes her living predicament with her mother. She has a very negative image of herself. She doesn't have the best relationship with herself. IN addition, she feels as thought she isn’t enough o good enough for others. From these quotes, it is imaged that Rayona is a self-conscious, shy teenage girl. Because Christine values appearances a lot, she pushes them onto Rayona which may lenthening the rift between and push preventable self-image issues onto Rayona. , Rayona is determined and strong to the point where she is “awarded the hard-luck buckle, for the amazing feat of being bucked off the same horse (121). Her mother also showcases that she is brave and determined to prove others wrong with actings such as stripping of all of her clothes and running “to the bottom” of Christine’s relationship with Aunt Ida is a mess because she never learned that her biological mother is really Clara. Because of this Christine is left to believe that Aunt Ida wouldn’t admit that she was her mother, “the bastard daughter of a woman who won’t admit she’s my mother” (page 141). She feels rejected and abandoned. A comparison of Aunt Ida reveals that these two have different wants and needs. Christine and Aunt Ida are able to stand up for themselves. When Aunt Ida receives backhanded compliments from her lover, Willard Pretty Dog, she “no longer wanted him”(351). She is also able to see the complete truth in others such as her Aunt Clara who she sacrificed family for (find quote later). She is too hopeless and looks at the things that could go wrong. Even though Willard Pretty Dog accepted her and was loyal to her, but she expected the worse out of him. On the other hand, her daughter. Christine suffers because she always hold a little hope for her cheating husband, Elgin, to come back to her. Christine allowed Elgin to treat her badly and she did nothing about it (232). In addition compared to Christine and Rayona, Aunt Ida was extremely naive and sacrificed bits of her childhood for her Aunt Clara, but she was also able to see reality. In addition, Aunt Ida had to deal with the death of her mother and an abusive father. Aunt Ida provides a transition from being a naive little girl to a grown women who has to take care of everything. Aunt Ida is strong and independent. In Aunt Ida’s eyes, the author illustrates a girl who had too experience adulthood too soon and be indepent. In conclusion, these three clashing views on the world led to broken relationships. The three voices illustrate the age of the personalities of these characters. In conclusion the multiple perspective create three different world in which these charcters live in where they face their own burdens and have secrets they keep to themselves.
April was a fair-skinned Metis. She never felt that she fit in to either culture. “How was I going to pass for a white person when I had a Metis sister?” (p. 49). She believed that her Metis heritage led to nothing but bad choices and it would only damage her future. She believed that the white society was classy, rich and they were treated with more respect. The family she was born into was one of alcohol abuse, parties and neglect. She hated everything about her Metis background. Her sister Cheryl on the other hand, was happy to be who she was and proud to express herself as a Metis person. Cheryl would defend the Metis traditions under any circumstance. She tried convincing April of the importance of their culture, ancestry and history. Cheryl sent April many letters, assignments and essays written by Metis people in hopes of changing April’s thoughts
As a teen, Rayona is in a confusing period of life. The gradual breakdown of her family life places an addition burden on her conscience. Without others for support, Rayona must find a way to handle her hardships. At first, she attempts to avoid these obstacles in her life, by lying, and by not voicing her opinions. Though when confronting them, she learns to feel better about herself and to understand others.
Most everyone has someone they admire or look up to. In the book, A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, written by Michael Dorris, one character stands out and has the most admirable traits. Rayona is one of the main characters and throughout the book she shows us that she is hard working and never willing to give up. As well as getting the job done, Rayona has to be brave in a lot of different situations. Being clever is a trait that everyone looks up to. Everything Rayona does portrays how clever she really is. Rayona is the most commendable character in this novel because she displays young adult behavior.
They are already in a compromising situation in celebrating her eighteenth birthday at a gas station having coffee which was already established as being not the norm earlier with Marie recounting her own large party where her “mother made a large party” (154). There reality is broken when the teenagers arrive and “One of the girls went to the juke box and put money in” and they are forced to leave because of Carol condition which causes her to have a breakdown from the noise (157). The arrival of the kids forced them to come into contact with their own reality which can never coincide with the one they have fabricated. This small reminder of what the norm is supposed to be is often brought to their attention through others such as when they “could see, in the light shaft of light, a boy, two girls and a dog” (155). In this instance, they are walking on the way to their weekly picnic, which is in itself repetitive, when they are shown the norm of other having fun “the boy splashing in the water with the dog” while they are forced to go through the motions without much emotion. This depiction of the norm unsettles their reality and, even though they don’t stop trying to alter reality to shelter Carol, shows how dysfunctional their own situation is as it can be seen as a potential version of themselves without Carol’s
The Jump-Off Creek introduces the reader to the unforgiving Blue Mountains and the harsh pioneer lifestyle with the tale of Lydia Sanderson, a widow who moves west from Pennsylvania to take up residence in a rundown homestead. She and other characters battle nature, finances, and even each other on occasion in a fight for survival in the harsh Oregon wilderness. Although the story is vividly expressed through the use of precise detail and 1800s slang, it failed to give me a reason to care because the characters are depicted as emotionally inhibited.
Overall, the use dual narration in this novel is very effective as it conveys the thoughts of both narrators. Furthermore, altering chapters also acquire momentum for the text, as well as foreshadow the events of McBride's life through that of his mother, plus suggest the similarities between them. Subsequently, by highlighting similarities between two stories due to the different narration, the novel, The Color of Water achieves complexity and nuance. While the parallelism of several issues and the rhetorical strategies further contribute to the meaning of the novel’s message, when Ruth and James finally came to terms with their past and when Ruth was able to help James understand his origin.
The starting point of this book shows how much she hates Ms.Leone and complaining about her current situations. For example, in one of her first entries, she talks about when she got in trouble for coming home late from school. Her foster parents think she is doing drugs, so they search her. After that they lock her in the laundry room. ...
By educating herself she was able to form her own opinion and no longer be ignorant to the problem of how women are judge by their appearance in Western cultures. By posing the rhetorical question “what is more liberating” (Ridley 448), she is able to get her readers to see what she has discovered. Cisneros also learned that despite the fact that she did not take the path that her father desired, he was still proud of all of her accomplishments. After reading her work for the first time her father asked “where can I get more copies” (Cisneros 369), showing her that he wanted to show others and brag about his only daughters accomplishments. Tan shifts tones throughout the paper but ends with a straightforward tone saying “there are still plenty of other books on the shelf. Choose what you like” (Tan 4), she explains that as a reader an individual has the right to form their own opinion of her writing but if they do not like it they do not have to read it because she writes for her own pleasure and no one else’s. All of the women took separate approaches to dealing with their issues but all of these resolutions allowed them to see the positive side of the
Her father works out of town and does not seem to be involved in his daughters lives as much. Her older sister, who works at the school, is nothing but plain Jane. Connie’s mother, who did nothing nag at her, to Connie, her mother’s words were nothing but jealousy from the beauty she had once had. The only thing Connie seems to enjoy is going out with her best friend to the mall, at times even sneaking into a drive-in restaurant across the road. Connie has two sides to herself, a version her family sees and a version everyone else sees.
In conclusion, the use dual narration in this novel is very effective as it conveys the thoughts of both narrators. Furthermore, altering chapters also acquire momentum for the text, as well as foreshadow the events of McBride's life through that of his mother, plus suggest the similarities between them. Subsequently, by highlighting similarities between two stories due to the different narration, the novel, The Color of Water achieves complexity and nuance. While the parallelism of several issues and the rhetorical strategies further contribute to the meaning of novel’s message, when Ruth and James finally came to terms with their past and when Ruth was able to help James understand his origin.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
This documentary is about two girls’ journey as they are released from their juvenile home after committing a crime. At first glance, these two girls look the same; both of them committed some sort of crime and ended up in a juvenile home. Throughout the documentary, Shanae is seen as someone who wants to change because of her past mistake. On the other hand, Megan struggles more because she is starved for love. What makes this girls circumstances different is that Shanae has a family that loves her and want her to get better, while Megan comes from a broken home where her mom is constantly in jail. In order to understand both Megan and Shanae’s struggle, the labeling theory is one of the theories that fit their situation.
At the alternative school, Precious is inspired and encouraged by a very caring and passionate teacher, Blu Rain. She also meets many other female peers just like herself in the program. They all become a support system for each other. Precious learns to read and write, and starts journaling daily about the life that she daydreams about having for herself. She feels as that her body, looks, incest, and abuse in her home with her mother have caused her life to be unpleasant. She daydreams about dating a “light” skin guys, being in movies, and having a very functionally family with her two
In the story “Two Kinds”, the author, Amy Tan, intends to make reader think of the meaning behind the story. She doesn’t speak out as an analyzer to illustrate what is the real problem between her and her mother. Instead, she uses her own point of view as a narrator to state what she has experienced and what she feels in her mind all along the story. She has not judged what is right or wrong based on her opinion. Instead of giving instruction of how to solve a family issue, the author chooses to write a narrative diary containing her true feeling toward events during her childhood, which offers reader not only a clear account, but insight on how the narrator feels frustrated due to failing her mother’s expectations which leads to a large conflict between the narrator and her mother.
Huck and Jim’s oldest and most reliable companion, except each other, is their raft. It carries them away to safety and freedom and protects them from dangers along the way. I have chosen to replicate this raft for part five of my Huckleberry Finn portfolio. I imagine that this raft is from sometime after Huck and Jim’s encounter with the Walter Scott, from which they obtained the supplies.