When was the last time you scrolled through your camera roll and stopped to appreciate the story behind a single photo? Do you ever wonder how many moments you've captured but never truly savored? This essay explores how "Finders Keepers" by Teju Cole and "Maple Leaves at the Tekona Shrine, Mama" by Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige both touch upon the theme of wonder and the ways in which humans interact with and interpret the world around them. “Maple Trees at Mama, Tekona Shrine and Linked Bridge” is a woodblock print by Utagawa. It transports us to Mama, a location over ten miles east of central Edo (now Tokyo), celebrated for its autumn maples. "Finders Keepers" by Teju Cole delves into the overwhelming presence of photographs in contemporary society, proposing that our exposure to an abundance of images …show more content…
The picture shows a peaceful scene with soft falling autumn leaves surrounding a Japanese shrine. A sense of serenity and beauty is created by the vibrant colours and meticulous woodblock techniques, inviting viewers to stop and take in the wonders of nature. Hiroshige demonstrates in this piece of art how people can engage with and understand their surroundings with wonder and appreciation. We are reminded of the transience and beauty of our surroundings by the autumn maple leaves, which represent the seasons and the yearly aspect of life. The image is made more dramatic by the mountains in the distance, which highlight the majesty and vastness of nature. Because of Hiroshige's careful attention to composition and detail, viewers are able to fully immerse themselves in the setting and are inspired to reflect on the wonder and beauty of their surroundings. Overall, "Maple Leaves at the Tekona Shrine, Mama" is a testament to the power of art to evoke a sense of wonder and awe in the beauty of nature and the world around
What if all of a sudden your life changed and the next thing you know you find out you have magic in you. What would you do? who would you trust? This is what happens to a fourteen year old boy named Zachary Harriman in Hero by Mike lupica. Hero by Mike lupica is full of twists and turns and is a really good book. It all starts when Zach’s dad dies in a mysterious plane crash. Zach begins to investigate about his dad’s mysterious death because even though the police have concluded it was an accident he thinks otherwise. Throughout this book Zach learns a lot and overcomes and fails some challenges but is stronger in the end. Hero by Mike lupica is a really great book because of three things
Now that we all have this knowledge and have a language to deal with it visually, it’s the time to start dealing with some of the more playful things. We’ve accepted privilege, we’re conscious of all these major issues that the generation before us laid down. — Rashid Johnson
The fourth Chapter of Estella Blackburn’s non fiction novel Broken lives “A Fathers Influence”, exposes readers to Eric Edgar Cooke and John Button’s time of adolescence. The chapter juxtaposes the two main characters too provide the reader with character analyses so later they may make judgment on the verdict. The chapter includes accounts of the crimes and punishments that Cooke contended with from 1948 to 1958. Cooke’s psychiatric assessment that he received during one of his first convictions and his life after conviction, marring Sally Lavin. It also exposes John Button’s crime of truancy, and his move from the UK to Australia.
whole life changes in one night though, when Elsa is raped by a GI soldier, and
The places in which we live are an integral and inescapable aspect of who we are, as they largely determine culture, community, and determine the outlook that one has on the rest of the world. In the American South, physical and cultural geography has played a particularly important role in the historical and modern contexts of racial relations. The dynamic between enslaved peoples and the natural landscape is a complex one that offers innumerable interpretations, but inarguably serves as a marker of the wounds created by institutional racism and human enslavement. In her collection of poems entitled Native Guard, Natasha Trethewey utilizes external features of the natural environment in the South in order to communicate the repressed grief, both personal and collective, which can arise as a result of inflicted systemic violence. Through comparing part one of Native Guard, which focuses on
The fundamental characteristic of magical realism is its duality, which enables the reader to experience both the character’s past and the present. In the novel, Monkey Beach, Eden Robinson uses this literary device to address the the trauma and mistreatment of the Haisla community in Canada by unveiling the intimate memories of the protagonist, Lisamarie, and the resulting consequences of this oppression. Monkey Beach illustrates how abuse in the past leads to another form of self-medication in the future - a neverending, vicious cycle for the members of the Haisla community. Many characters in Monkey Beach are scarred from childhood sexual abuse and family neglect, and resort to drug and alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism. These appalling memories are an account of the impact of colonization on the Haisla territory which continues to haunt the Aboriginal community throughout generations.
Feed by M.T. Anderson is an ADULT sci-fi novel about a world in the future where a new technology, called the Feed, is implanted into your brain. Feed was a boring and uninteresting book that should not be added to the already rigorous English curriculum for 9th grade students. The curriculum consists of other novels such as Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I write to parents, teachers, and school administrators because they have the ability to make the right choice for our students. I believe that the book Feed shouldn’t be adopted into the English curriculum for freshman students because it sets a bad example for students, it teaches very little to children, and it is not practical for 9th graders.
The book I chose to read was “Smile for the Camera” by Kelle James, Copyrighted in 2010. It starts off with chapter one. Kelle, the main character, is lying in bed when her dad walks in. he has a gun in his hand and hes crying, not a good combination according to her. Kelle pretends to be asleep. She decides she needs to leave home. That’s where chapter two begins. She climbs onto the enormous Greyhound bus with her suitcase in hand. She waves goodbye to her father but he only nods. Kelle’s father never really liked her. In fact he hated her. As the bus pulls away, her father waves to her. Kelle was on her way to New York City.
Winifred "Winnie" Foster from Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is a sheltered but curious pre-teen who wants to explore the world outside the gates of her home, but is never allowed to because of her helicopter parents. At the beginning, all she wants to do is run away and make a difference in the world and have an adventure of sorts. But what Winnie doesn't know is that particular summer will be one she will never forget. That summer will change her from a sheltered, shy, and obedient little girl in to a selfless, witty, and fearless hero. She will also have to make one of the hardest decisions of her life; whether or not she will join the Tuck's everlasting lives by drinking from the spring. Specifically, her crucial decisions throughout the novel are what make her character so gallant. Although it appears that Winnie Foster is a shy introvert who only wants to be left alone, she is actually an adventurous character who's personality transforms in to a heroic protagonist at the end of the narrative.
One in five veterans from Afghanistan and Iraqi wars have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event and mostly effects military veterans. The book Lone Survivor, written by Marcus Luttrell, is an eye witness account of the 2005 operation Red Wing that tells the harrowing story of SEAL Team 10. Throughout the book, Marcus hears voices in his head of his fallen teammates. Even today, Marcus wakes up in the middle of the night because of the terrible nightmares, which are symptoms of PTSD. There are a lot of ways to combat PTSD so our troops do not have to endure this hardship. Some of the ways to combat the disorder is to understand PTSD, detect it early, having family support and preventing it.
Justin Torres Novel We the Animals is a story about three brothers who lived a harassed childhood life. There parents are both young and have no permanent jobs to support their family. The narrator and his brothers are delinquents who are mostly outside, causing trouble, causing and getting involved in a lot of problems and barely attending school, which their parents allowed them to do. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father, leading them to become more violent to one another and others, drinking alcohol and dropping out of school. Physical abuse is an abuse involving one person’s intention to cause feelings of pain, injury and other physical suffering and bodily harm to the victim. Children are more sensitive to physical abuse, they show symptoms of physical abuse in short run and more effects in the long run. Children who sustain physical abuse grow up with severely damaged of sense of self and inability. The narrator and his brothers were physically abused by their father and showed long run symptoms of Antisocial behaviors, drinking problems and most importantly they becoming more violent themselves. Many psychological and sociological studies such as “Childhood history of abuse and child abuse potential: role of parent’s gender and timing of childhood abuse” and “school factors as moderators of the relationship between physical child abuse and pathways of antisocial behavior can be used to prove the argument that children who sustain physical abuse grow up with criminal and antisocial behaviors.
In the “Iks” by Lewis Thomas, the author describes how a small tribe of hunters from northern Uganda called the Iks tries to survive after being forced by the government to give up their homes and living area and move to a poor hills and become farmers. Society is extremely harsh towards the Iks and this causes them to rebel and become abnormal. The Iks were a bunch of selfish people who only cared about themselves, left elders to starve and die, and did not cared about the children. They didn’t share things with each other and they find joy in the other’s misfortunes. Anthropologist were sent to observe the Iks, an anthropologist described the Iks to be ill- mannered fashion. Over the two years he had studied there, he was constantly being harassed and disgraced. After he had published his book, he wrote how he despised the Iks. Thomas then went on to say that he now sees similar behaviors implying on nations and cities compared to the Iks making points saying that the Iks share common characteristics of greed, cruezl, and selfish just like different nations fighting against each other.
Sanity is subjective. Every individual is insane to another; however it is the people who possess the greatest self-restraint that prosper in acting “normal”. This is achieved by thrusting the title of insanity onto others who may be unlike oneself, although in reality, are simply non-conforming, as opposed to insane. In Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, this fine line between sanity and insanity is explored to great lengths. Through the unveiling of Susanna’s past, the reasoning behind her commitment to McLean Hospital for the mentally ill, and varying definitions of the diagnosis that Susanna received, it is evident that social non-conformity is often confused with insanity.
For as long as man has walked the earth, so has evil. There may be conflicting moral beliefs in this world, but one thing is universally considered wrong: serial killers. Although some people may try to use insanity as an explanation for these wicked people, they cannot explain away the heartlessness that resides in them. As shown in The Stranger Beside Me, infamous serial killer Ted Bundy is no exception to this. Even though books about true crimes may be considered insensitive to those involved, the commonly positively reviewed book The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule handles the somber issue of Ted Bundy’s emotionally destructive early life and the brutal crimes he committed that made people more fearful and aware of the evil that can exist in seemingly normal people well.
The story that Jess Walter tells, much like any other novel, is one of joy and sorrow. Lives intersect and separate, people fall into and out of love, and dreams are made and broken. What Walter does with his plot though is quite different. He writes it in a way where the whole book itself relies on the reader’s ability to realize that though some people meet for only a brief amount of time, their dreams and hopes, can hinge on even the briefest moments. Sometimes the characters in the novel have their stories intersect, some in very interesting ways, and other times you see their story as it is and was, just them. Walter does a wonderful job of bringing together many different lives, many stories, and showing how just because you feel alone, does not mean you are, your life and story can at any moment intersect with another and create a whole different story. Perhaps, Alvis Bender puts the idea that Walter is trying to convey into the best words, “Stories are people. I’m a story, you’re a story . . . your father is a story. Our stories go in every direction, but sometimes, if we’re lucky, our stories join into one, and for a while, we’re less alone.”