Literary Essay Comparing Memoirs The authors from all four memoirs overcame their childhood obstacles by realizing that one action can fix their problems. Gary Soto accepted working in the fields after he realized that coming back to work would fix his problems. Laurence Yep chose to go with his father to kill the rat after he noticed that choosing to go with him would make them bond. Barack Obama and his friends were able to accept Barrack after his dad gave a presentation to his class about heritage. Julia Alvarez’s mother helped Julia through the process of moving to the United States, when Julia didn’t realize that the Dominican Republic was doing anything wrong. All four memoirs describe overcoming obstacles to teach readers that it is possible to overcome any problems that happen in life. Gary Soto accepted working in the fields after he realized that coming back to work would fix his problems. In the text, it states, “buying a pair of pants, two shirts, and a T-shirt.” This demonstrates that Gary was able to buy a pair of pants and multiple …show more content…
shirts while he made his own money, so he wouldn't be able to buy a lot without working. Also, the text states, “Mother thought I was being stuck-up, even stupid, because there would be no clothes for me in the fall.” This illustrates that since Gary isn’t making his own money he won’t be able to buy new clothes, and his mother doesn’t make enough money to be able to buy new clothes for herself and her son. Finally, the author wrote, “That fall Mother bought me two pairs of socks, a packet of colored T-shirts, and underwear.” Gary wasn’t able to receive as much clothing as he was when he was working, because his mother couldn’t have spent all her money on Gary because she also needed new clothes for herself. Therefore, Soto realized going back to work would solve the problem of not having enough money. Laurence Yep chose to go with his father to kill the rat after he noticed that choosing to go with him would make them bond. In the text it states, “Taking a deep breath, I nodded my head. ‘Yes, sir’... Eddy murmured, ‘I think I’ll help Mother.’” This shows that Laurence felt like he made the right choice with choosing to go with his dad to kill the rat because his brother who always was with his dad didn’t have the guts to shoot the rat. Since, Laurence’s brother was always with his dad playing sports Laurence felt he wasn’t his father’s son. In the memoir it states, “You’ve got a way with words.” Although Laurence is unathletic he starts to realize that his dad still believes in him. The text states, “Then I heard my father reassure me… feeling more confident.” At this point Laurence was one-hundred percent sure his father didn’t leave him out on purpose, and that he was his father's son. Therefore Laurence realized that choosing with his father would prove he is brave. Barack Obama and his friends were able to accept Barack, after his dad gave a presentation to his class about heritage. In the text it says, “The ruddy faced boy who asked about cannibalism said ‘your dad is pretty cool.’” Barack was getting made fun of by a couple of his classmates, but after the presentation he got a compliment by one of them. The text states, “she seemed to intent to smile; her faced showed a simple look of satisfaction.” Coretta was a girl that used to be friends with Barack, but he pushed her on the playground and she was really mad at Barack for a while. So, even a girl that was angry at Barack was satisfied. For instance, in the text it says, “All my classmates applauded heartily, and a few struck up the courage to ask questions each of which my father appeared to consider carefully before answering. ” Overall Barack’s classmates really liked his dad’s presentation that they even applauded with joy. Barack realized his dad’s presentation to the class about heritage helped Barack and his classmates accept who Barack is. Julia Alvarez’s mom helped Julia through the process of moving to the United States, when Julia didn’t realize that the Dominican Republic was doing anything wrong.
The text states, “I would learn my english.” Julia was learning english to prepare her for what her parents wanted to do, move to America. In the text it says, “My mother had decided to send her children to American school so we can learn the language that would soon liberty us.” They went to American school because they weren't sure when they were moving so with the time they had Julia’s mom wanted to have the American education to prepare her for what’s to come. The author wrote, “Good news girls! our papers and tickets came! We’re leaving for the United States!” Julia concluded that this is why her mom had put her in American school and taught her english. Julia Alvarez realized her mom helped her through the process of moving to
America. The four authors from the memoirs came to a realization that one action would would help them overcome their obstacle. Gary Soto accepted working in the fields after he realized that coming back to work would fix his problems. Laurence Yep chose to go with his father to kill the rat after he noticed that choosing to go with him would make them bond. Barack Obama and his friends were able to accept Barrack, after his dad gave a presentation to his class about heritage. Julia Alvarez’s mom helped Julia through the process of moving to the United States, when Julia didn’t realize that the Dominican Republic was doing anything wrong. Readers can learn that you can overcome any challenging problems from the four memoirs.
The novel Tangerine, written by Edward Bloor, perfectly demonstrates how a character can change their ways and learn lessons. When the protagonist, Paul Fisher, was first introduced, he was a shy, quiet kid, who never tried to change his situation. He has a terrible relationship with his brother, Erik, and is literally terrified of him and what he will do to him. In the beginning of the book, he was moving from Houston, Texas to his new home in Tangerine, Florida. In his fresh start to life in Tangerine, he learns that he shouldn’t be scared, and that he needs to start standing up for himself and letting his voice, thoughts, and opinions be heard. Even though Paul starts off scared, afraid, intimidated, and full of self doubt, he learns that he needs to change his ways and attitude towards his life, and to take action to make things right.
In their respective life journey, both Wes Moores often found them facing with some hard choices or decision to make or standing at a crossroads of life change without knowing which way to turn. Therefore, “for all of us who live in the most precarious places in this country, our destinies can be determined by a single stumble down the wrong path or a tentative step down the right one” (Moore xiv). During their early childhood, both Wes Moores struggle at school and had troubles with the law. However, for the author Wes Moore, attending the military school was the biggest turning point in his life. Aware of his mother’s determination, his family’s sacrifice, and encouragement from classmates and instructors as well as the influence of role models, the author Wes Moore finally made up his mind that he wanted to succeed in the military school. At the end, the author Wes Moore fulfilled his dream and did well academically from then on. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore had tumbled on a series of missteps along the road: dropping out of school, getting involved with drug trade, committing violent crimes, and being a father of four when he was so young and immature. Even though there was a time when he tried to reinvent himself: joining the Job Corp, getting a high school diploma, and finding some decent jobs, the reality and his making-quick-money mentality eventually brought him back to the original path with no return. At last, by committing an armed robbery that left a police officer dead, the other Wes Moore irreversibly drove himself to the dead end of life. Obviously, based on their early life experiences, both Wes Moores would have gone the same route to failure. Nevertheless, at some critical points of their lives, the author Wes Moore made some good choices with intervention and guidance of good people while the other Wes Moore lost his footing under undue
In a person’s life, one must overcome obstacles that have the potential to either negatively or positively impact their future. Whether it is a serious obstacle, such as being involved with drugs, or a minor obstacle, such as procrastinating an important essay for the night before it is due, the choices people make can influence the way they live their lives. In Wes Moore’s inspiring non-fiction book, The Other Wes Moore, two boys with the same name start off living a few blocks away from one another, but turn out to be completely different individuals. At first, they were both troublemakers, getting in trouble with the law. However, as time progressed, the author, Wes Moore, became a Rhodes scholar and quite successful, while the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison. The difference between these two men was the surrounding influences that shaped their growth as people. In a person’s growth, the most important factors are a positive role model in a positive environment because a positive role model will provide the path to success and will aid that person in achieving prosperity.
Amy Tan and Sandra Cisneros are both excellent writers. Their stories are really interesting and entertaining, especially for college students and for individuals who are just looking for something to read. After reading several papers to do this paper on, I chose two that really spoke to me and were definitely worth the read. These two stories are Amy Tan’s “Rules of The Game”’ and Sandra Cisneros, “Only Daughter”. I choose to analyze these two stories in their socio-economic setting in terms of the notions of success, and compare and contrast how the main characters deal with these conflicts in their lives. Through comparing and contrasting Tan’s “Rules of The Game” and Cisneros’ “Only Daughter”, it is evident that their
The author and Wes Moore faced very similar environmental changes and challenges. The differences that resulted these two on opposite ends of the spectrum was their family’s influence upon their decisions. The actions of each Wes Moore’s mothers had a great effect in their lives. The author Wes’s mother, as well as his grandparents, played a key role in his success as an adult. The sacrifices of time and the minimal amount of extra money she made went towards the author and his other siblings which ensured him the best educational environment. Without his mother, Joy, a college graduate herself, who “raised all of her children together, and she worked multiple jobs to send all of her children to private school” Wes could not have aspired to be where he is today (Moore 48). She persisted with him by laying down her expectations for him to excel in ...
This book is written in the style of a memoir. The characteristics of a memoir are that it is a first person account of an event, has a very organized sequence of events, gives feeling into the events, and has...
The purpose of my memoir is to awaken the power of Sociological Imagination in an attempt to analyze my own life experiences through sociological lens in order to understand how my life and opportunities in society have been shaped by race, class and ethnicity.
When they first arrived to the United States their only hopes were that they would have a better life and that there were better special education programs for Maribel to attend at Evers. Alma imagined that the buildings would look a lot nicer than they really were. The family was surprised that they could take things from the street that someone threw out of their house, but were in working condition. When they arrived they didn’t think that you would actually have to learn English to be able to communicate, but after going to stores and interacting with people they learned that they need to learn English if they want to live in America. They hoped that you could be able to afford anything in America by working, but based off of the money Arturo was making they learned that you can’t buy everyth...
In the work of Amy Tan’s “Mother’s Tongue” she provides a look into how she adapted her language to assimilate into American culture. She made changes to her language because her mother heavily relied on her for translation. She was the voice of her mother, relaying information in standard English to those who were unable to understand her mother’s broken english. She tells about her mother’s broken english and its impact on her communication to those outside their culture. Her mothers broken english limited others’ perception of her intelligence, and even her own perception of her mother was scewed: Tan said, “I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mothers ‘limited’ English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say.” (419) The use of standard english was a critical component to Tan’s assimilation into American culture. Standard English was an element she acquired to help her mother but more importantly is was an element that helped in her gain success as a writer. Tan changed her ‘Englishes’ (family talk) to include standard English that she had learnt in school and through books, the forms of English that she did not use at home with her mother. (417-418) Tan realized the ch...
She brilliantly conveys this message by incorporating the theme of self-liberation in both stories, while contrasting the means by which each character achieves freedom. By creating two stories that both compare and contrast, the author presents the choice between two roads to freedom. How will women redefine the behaviors that are expected of them and liberate themselves from oppression? The challenge comes in breaking the cycle of revenge, choosing the freedom of forgiveness over the captivity of resentment, and crossing the border into true
Everyday people are overcoming adversity. Amir was faced with many challenges throughout his life. He was determined to right the biggest wrong of his life and in the end he felt he did just that. Each day, each event, each friend is a paragraph in our story. Hassan helped write Amir's epilogue and his prologue. “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime, Amir.” - Baba
In the story “Only Daughter”, Sandra Cisneros is the only daughter in a family of 6 children. Since she’s the only girl, she faced challenges in her transition from childhood to adulthood. She constantly had to prove that she would be outstanding in life or that she was on the right path. Eventually, she did achieve awesome accolades, but still fret her father’s response to it all. More pressure was put on her, she felt than her brothers. Her story is related to mine because our transition from childhood to adulthood was filled with life lessons and memories that didn’t flow like it should’ve.
Both “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “Freedom Writers” teach the readers that people should stay strong and positive in bad times, though their problems are different.
“ALS is like a lit candle: it melts your nerves and leaves your body a pile of wax.” (Albom 9) Morrie was a professor at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He is diagnosed with ALS a disease that doesn't let one use their body. In the Memoir tuesday with Morrie , Morrie teaches people how to live life through lessons learning about death, showing emotions, and forgiving people.
Have you ever read a book so good, that on every page it had something that catches your attention so much that you couldn’t wait to turn the page for something new ? This quote, “The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page” is the meaning of that question to me. Reading is like the trigger in your brain. Through the course of my readings helped me develop in many ways, from the early readings in childhood to my current readings in class. During these different stages of my life, I learned how to comprehend more and gained a better vocabulary.