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Paulo Coelho once said “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” This shows that in life experiences are valuable. People's morals and values are often shaped by their life experiences whether they are good or bad. These morals and values shape the path that they will take in life. This is often shown in short literature. The two storys “Born Worker” by Gary Soto and “Celebration of Grandfathers” by Judith Ortiz, show how characters can be greatly influenced by there life experiences. In the first piece of literature, “Born Worker”, the main character José learns a very important lesion. The story starts by Arnie, José’s cousion proposes a business proposition. Arnie proposed that he finds work for José while …show more content…
When the narrator was growing up till his adulthood, his grandfather was been a big part of his life. The story begins with “Buenos Dias le de Dios, abuelo.” This how he learned to greet his grandfather. Next he goes into where his ancestors lived and how. His ancestors lived next to the Rio Grande. He also mentions that everyone worked together and they lived authentic lives. The author then goes into one of his other stories called “Bless Me.” This is about the spirit of Ultima who shows him the value of the land and nature. Next, the author describes his grandfather. He describes him as a 5’5’’ man with a beard and a walrus-mustache. He goes into detail of how independent and hard working his grandfather was through his life experiences with him. The experience that stands out tells the opposite story. The last experience the author goes into is when his grandfather was in the hospital. The author first points out the differences about his grandfather. The smell of the land was replaced with the smell of medications and vicks, his patience was gone and little things bothered him. Lastly he could not take care of himself. The narrator saw his grandfather change from a person who was a strong and independent to someone who relied on others. At the end of the story the author goes into detail about the change in the world. When the narrator grew up he learned to
By reminiscing on his upbringing from living in Lima, Peru, a third world country. Father would constantly recall his biographical anecdotes to share with the family. Some stories were beyond gruesome in detail. Going in depth to the painful memories that still lingers around like a scar, my father told us how our grandfather, his own father, was abusive for even the most minute things. For instance, when my father would wore outfits that did not meet my grandfather’s standards, or looked into his father’s eyes fearfully when he was being punished, and even when he did not walk my grandmother to and from the grocery store. The mistreatment had reached the end of father’s patience when he became a rebellious son, breaking curfews and refusing to return home at the end of the day. In Junot Díaz 's short story Fiesta, 1980, narrated by an son, Yunior, who describes the hardships he and his Dominican family shared as they drove to a party in the Bronx in New York City. At the age of twelve, Yunior loses his innocence as a result from the never-ending verbal, emotional, and physical abuse his father, Papi, had taunted him with. This lost innocence was caused by what he had said, did, and did
Life is like a game of blackjack where we unknowingly are dealt good or bad cards. This unpredictability makes it difficult to gamble decisions. Unfortunately many factors can lead to the bad card where in both the game and life, people are trying to prevent us from achieving the goal. There are two choices to change the outcome however, we may either give up (fold) or we may take a chance (call). The beauty of taking the risk is that if lucky, life gives you that much-needed card. When dealt that winning card, a person is immediately uplifted. That one good hand drives a person to outweigh the pros from the cons and continue to strive for the winning pot or in this case, the goal in life. Enrique in Sonia Nazario’s “Enrique’s Journey,” is dealt both the good and bad cards in life, as he undergoes a battle of being pushed internally to continue while also being pulled externally to quit, thus leading him to unearth himself as a worthy human being while on the journey to the U.S; sadly however, his arrival in the U.S refutes what he clearly envisioned for himself.
Throughout the time I spent between the covers of The Prince of Los Cocuyos, I was astounded by Richard Blanco’s dynamic relationship with the novel’s sole “antagonist”: his abuela. It seemed that no matter how many times he was chagrined at her attempts to negotiate the English language, or was forced to repress his very personhood to meet her traditional standards of manhood, she never ceased to be a pillar of support for a young Richard Blanco. But beyond his grandmother, Mr. Blanco made it quite clear that he was surrounded by a pueblo of family and friends throughout his childhood and adolescence, a village that would confound his “becoming” but foster his growth, make him question his identity and yet be intricately connected to it. It
The poem “Behind Grandma’s House” by Gary Soto is a poem about rebellion, through the eyes of a boy who desperately needs attention, who has a lack of respect, and who ironically receives a lesson from his grandmother as a consequence from his behaviors. During the reading of this poem, the reader can feel somewhat caught off guard by its abrupt and disturbing ending. However, after analyzing the author’s own idea of who he was as a child, and the behaviors that may have been expected from him, it gives the reader a better understanding behind the inspiration the author used for his work, more specifically “Behind Grandma’s House.” Many articles have been wrote about Gary Soto’s life and work. However, there is an article titled “About Gary Soto: A profile” by Don Lee, which gives the reader a better understanding of Soto’s background. It also helps in understanding the character that is being represented in the poem.
The effect of an individual 's personal experience may be one of the controlling factors of their life. In the short story “The Hand”, Yves Theriault presents the idea of the importance of an individual 's personal experience, and the effects of these experiences on their life. Yves shows how these personal experiences are important to one’s life, because it is in control of how an individual will change, and how it will develop their character and personality. This is shown by the character Géron, where one event in his life changed a personality trait that he had for most of his life. Many of my personal experiences could relate to Géron’s incident, where a small event had a large impact in my life, and how the story of our life is influenced
Sometimes many similarities can be found between two completely different works of literature. The poem “I am Joaquin'; and the short story “The First Seven Years'; at the same time exhibit both contrasting positions and similar ideals. Even though “I am Joaquin'; is told from Mexican-American perspective while “The First Seven Years'; is told from Jewish-American perspective, similarities are found in both. They tell of the American Dream and of the two mentioned families’ roles and influences as a means of attaining that dream. The roles of the families in these works and each version of the American Dream are based on the same ideals, but involve different methods.
Familial influence can have a great impact on a protagonists’ life decisions and future, whether it be a lack of paternal guidance or cultural expectations. This can be seen in the life of Yunior, the protagonist in Junot Diaz’s Drown. Yunior immigrated to the USA from the Dominican Republic when he was little shortly after, his dad left the family and went to live with another woman. This lead to Yunior’s mom becoming a single mother and the breadwinner of the house. The focus of this essay will be on the chapter in the book called “Drown”. In the chapter Yunior remembers his adolescence with his friend Beto and their life in their Dominican dominated neighborhood. The chapter showcases the financial struggles of Yunior and his family along
Antonio Márez, the main character of Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, begins the Departure element of Joseph Campbell’s Hero Cycle when he initiates his journey to adulthood. He questions whether he belongs to his mother’s family, the Lunas, who live as farmers, or his father’s family, the Márezes, who freely wander the land. His care for his family demonstrates his maturity at attempting to always do the best he can for everyone. Although his parents each want him to follow their families’ paths, they remain absent from Antonio’s true journey of understanding his own thoughts and beliefs, leaving him “frightened to be alone” (Anaya 7); the lack of parental support through his personal conflict leads him to have trouble knowing how to address
(Coelho 26) For example, Santiago’s first true test was to decide to leave behind his flock of sheep on the rolling hillside and follow his heart for adventure and head to Egypt in search of unknown treasure. Deep within himself, Santiago is questioning life and the meaning of it. But, it is only through a series of trials, adversities, and successes, that he comes to find his “Personal Legend”. (Coelho 26) Throughout the entire process Santiago does not lose sight of his objective, he maintained his focus on reaching the end of his goal. The qualities that Santiago personified of fate, commitment, love, and listening to the omens are what Paulo Coelho is teaching his readers to examine regarding their own “Personal
The point of view and tone for this story helps relate to the theme. The narrative is in third person point of view with limited omniscient. This means that the reader is able to go inside the mind of the grandmother and know what she is thinking and feeling. The only ot...
This agency creates a complex self-realization that readers find in both of the characters, however both shows different approach that differentiate their character from one another. As a result, both characters manifest a sense of victimization, but somehow in their hope for upward mobility, negate that. The power of this purpose is retrospective to all migrant workers because that is all they have---it’s rather success or failure.
In these essays, the authors are telling a story about the characters life. The stories are directed towards the audience to express the kind of pain and suffering the characters went through to learn and apply what they had been yearning for.
The author connects Antonio’s anxieties about change in his life to the culture in which he lives. Ultima’s intrusion into Antonio’s life marks a crazy time of change for Antonio. Anaya reiterates Antonio’s position on the threshold of change by showing his nerves about beginning school, moving away from his mother, and facing his unusual future. The vaquero lifestyle preferred by his father renews the values of freedom, independence and mobility, all of which are rules in the vaqueros’ love of the llano. The Luna family lifestyle preferred by Antonio’s mother, but emphasizes family and productivity,
...e that even if they are having a hard life, something beautiful will happen someday to take you out of that ugly and ordinary position, just like the arrival of the angel. Marquez demonstrates that even if someone is physically and/or mentally different, he always has beautiful aspects, just like the villagers described the old man as ugly but they called it “angel” which is a beautiful supernatural being. The story shows also that even in things we dislike or find gross, there is always something great and beautiful. Through these fictional devices, we can clearly see the theme of see the beauty in the ugly and ordinary. This story should convince many people that even if they are going through tough moments in their life, they simply have to look from an outside point of view and they will find out that there is always something beautiful in the ugly and ordinary.
All in all, courage and bravery is an important aspect in life that every human needs to get through hardships. In order to support my theme, “courage and bravery must be gained in order to grow”; I used three literary elements, imagery, tone and motif to prove that courage and bravery must be gained no matter how young or old you are. In our world today, people must have these aspects in order to go further in life, such as taking on new opportunities, especially as high school students. No matter how hard things get in life we must continue to grow and learn by building courage and