How Ramen Got Me Through Adolescence Analysis

1158 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Diving experience essay

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” (Abraham Lincoln) Barry and Veronique Greenwood know how difficult growing up is. In a book excerpt by Barry “Don’t even think you can do a DIY project” and an anecdote by Greenwood “How Roman Got Me Through Adolescence” there are many similarities and differences. The messages in both pieces of nonfiction are relatable because they focus on universal issues that many people will deal with in life. They use similar writing techniques, however the authors have very different personalities. The themes and messages in “How Ramen Got Me Through Adolescence” and “Don’t even think you can do a DIY project” are very alike. In the anecdote about ramen by …show more content…

Greenwoods first sign of imagery is in the first paragraph, “The cafeteria was a place of foul odors, gelatinous spills, horrific mixtures of chocolate of chocolate pudding, fruit cocktail and ketchup consumed on dares.”(Greenwood 1) This imagery appeals to all your senses in a grotesque way. In the second paragraph she uses a hyperbole ”As a survivalist must feel upon surveying his processors before hunkering in a bomb shelter. I would be fed.”(1) From this the reader can clearly see how much she appreciates Ramen. Dave Barry’s article also uses examples of imagery and hyperbole. Barry’s introduction asked “You want to install a machine with long, sharp blades whirling at hight speeds directly over the heads of live human beings?” (Barry 2) His question gives a clear mental image of the dangers of installing a ceiling fan. When Barry goes on Johnny Carson’s show, who is very amusing to Barry, he says “I was on for seven minutes at the end of the show, and it went pretty well because I was being interviewed by Johnny Carson, who could make any guest appear spontaneously funny, including Hitler.”(1) Johnny Carson is exaggerated as being a great interviewer. The two authors use similar writing technics, even through their personalities are so

Show More
Related

  • The Significance of Family Meals in Faulkner’s Barn Burning, Shall Not Perish, and Two Soldiers

    441 Words  | 1 Pages

    The meal, and more specifically the concept of the family meal, has traditional connotations of comfort and togetherness. As shown in three of Faulkner’s short stories in “The Country”, disruptions in the life of the family are often reinforced in the plot of the story by disruptions in the meal.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Miracle's Boys And The Outsiders

    1370 Words  | 3 Pages

    Both these books show how your life as a young adult can be altered by the death of your parents at a young age. In both these stories the authors Jacqueline Woodson and S.E Hinton both portray these boys growing up in a rough area with no parents and the oldest brother taking most of the responsibly if not all somewhat becoming their mother and father in place of what they have lost. You can see right away where a lot of the pressure gets put upon these young men Darry and Ty’ree Bailey. For example, “Darry didn’t deserve to work like an old man” (The Outsiders 16) “Ty’ree had just cashed his check from the publishing company, some evenings he’d sit clipping coupons and take them down when he went grocery shopping” (Miracle’s Boys 30).

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Where Have You Gone Charming Billy

    290 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Tim O’Brien’s “Where Have You Gone Charming Billy”, the contrasting moods of the nightmarish rice patty and rejuvenating sea show that you can never leave your trauma behind when you come of age. Paul Berlin is a new soldier, fighting in the Vietnam War, afraid of being caught out, Paul and his troops had to head to the sea, but on their way, they had to pass a rice patty, it was all “mud and algae and cattle manure and chlorophyll, decay, breeding mosquitoes and leeches as big as mice, the fecund warmth of the paddy water rising up to his cut knee”. The use of imagery to describe the rice patty illustrates the effect of the disgusting rice patty have on Paul Berlin which create a nightmarish mood. Disgusted and afraid, Private First Class

    Read More

  • Loss And Renewal In Beloved, By Toni Morrison

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Specifically the events that happened during “breakfast.” Paul D’s experience with breakfast is not the typical eggs and grits, but it is the sexual arousal the guards received from the slaves. Morrison descriptively showed Paul D’s happenstance with breakfast. Paul D felt so uncomfortable during breakfast, causing him to vomit on the guard and skipping his turn. Eventually, Paul D was lucky enough to escape and receive real breakfast. Moreover, this is a key example that highlights the theme of loss and renewal.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Blackberry Eating By Galway Kinnell

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Galway Kinnell’s “Blackberry Eating,” the author utilizes several literary devices that enhance the symbolic meaning behind the poem. Kinnell uses repeated alliterations throughout the poem through several constant uses of soft sounds that are interrupted quickly by heard sounds to produce pathos for the readers. The slow rhythm of the poem creates a sense within the readers of savoring the blackberries of the poem. The whole poem is an extended metaphor that represents the relationship of tangible blackberries and intangible words. Through sensory imagery, including sight, touch and taste; the author creates a parallel to both the reader’s senses and the word that are contained within the poem. This style that the author has created formulates

    Read More

  • The Other Wes Moore Essay

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    Recently, I readied the book called “The other Wes Moore”, the book is about two boys both raised by their single mother but raised up in two totally different environment, cause they went to two complete different schools, one went to a public school where most of the kids went there are poor and has a lot of problems; the other one went to a private school which is really nice most of b his peers are excellent. Their mother has totally different personality education levels and expectation to their children, one graduate from a community collage and the other one graduate from a famous four collage. After all, than they become two extremely different people, after all, one Wes becomes a successful well-know author, and the other Wes end

    Read More

  • Martin Espada's Poem Analysis

    264 Words  | 1 Pages

    The author puts into light some of the daily horrors of these people. Some of these passages are horrific. The work conditions were anything but clean and safe. The poem touches on how the people were around chemicals, inhaling poison. He goes on about the dangers of going to the canning factories with no safety or labor restrictions. Even though work conditions were

    Read More

  • Erstwhile

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author clearly shows how his childhood effected his adulthood, making in a living example of what he is writing about allowing the audience to more easily trust what he is writing about. Instead of using factually evidence from other dysfunctional family incidences, the author decides to make it more personal, by using his own life and comparing family ideas of the past to the present.

    Read More

  • Essay on Imagery, Language, and Sound in What's That Smell in the Kitchen?

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first lines of "What's That Smell in the Kitchen?" the author makes her point that women are burning dinners all over America. This gives us a general idea of what the poem will be about, yet it makes us want to read on to see why this would be happening; in other words, it triggers our curiosity. The author goes on to describe foods that are common to certain cities in the United States, bringing about a very gustatory and olfactory image in the mind of the reader. Following this, the author uses repetition to emphasize her introductory statement yet again, and adds an additional phrase, ". . . women are burning/food they're supposed to bring with calico/smile on platters glittering like wax." This statement is somewhat ironic, because it conveys an image of a very "false" woman, something like a mechanical doll or robot, or even like the flawless "model mom" figure of June Cleaver of the television series "Leave it to Beaver." Not only do we picture a woman in an apron with an artificial smile but Piercy alludes...

    Read More

  • A Father's Unfailing Prescence

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... overall themes, and the use of flashbacks. Both of the boys in these two poems reminisce on a past experience that they remember with their fathers. With both poems possessing strong sentimental tones, readers are shown how much of an impact a father can have on a child’s life. Clearly the two main characters experience very different past relationships with their fathers, but in the end they both come to realize the importance of having a father figure in their lives and how their experiences have impacted their futures.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rebecca Makkai's Short Story 'The Briefcase'

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    Base needs met, Chef moves to fulfill sexual needs without love; just an opportunity to pontificate to “get the girl”. A painting of an apple causes Chef to dwell on times past; a time before war. A time of friendship; not love. We do not need details. The apple peeling away is enough. It is a comfort to him. A simpler less complicated time where his life was his own. Art stimulates the mind.

    Read More

  • Essay On A Character Is A Caricature

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    The subtly of interplay between The Comedian’s persona, his humanity, and even his hypocrisy strongly support his status as a living person alongside Dr. Manhattan. To create living people should always be the goal in literature. It is how a writer can illuminate a new facet of existence and can only be achieved through the use of a sympathetic imagination. Hemingway erred however, when he argued, “A character is a caricature” (153).

    Read More

  • Confessions of a Second-Rate Mind

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    Recently, I found myself drawn to Woody Allen’s essay, “Random Reflections of a Second-Rate Mind.” I liked the title; I can relate to random thoughts, but I hated the idea of relating to Allen himself. I dislike him on a personal level. I have trouble condoning the behavior of a grown man who refuses to ignore his animalistic urges and sleeps with his teenage step-child. But perhaps Allen had some clue as to what he was doing considering that the latest Hollywood tabloid reports that he and his step-daughter/wife have just had a child together, and are doing well. I won’t speculate, but I have put aside my issues with his personal life, and have found common ground. I too, have random thoughts, and often take the “free association” approach in my writing. But what really got me with Allen’s essay is that all the random thoughts he includes, were all inspired by one chance meeting with a Holocaust survivor in a trendy New York Restaurant. Allen’s analysis of this man began, and I was hooked: As I eavesdropped, I wondered: If an angel had come to see him [in the concentration camp], when he was scheming desperately not to be among those chosen for annihilation, and told him that one day he’d be sitting on Second Avenue in Manhattan in a trendy Italian restaurant amongst lovely young women in designer jeans, and he’d be wearing a fine suit and ordering lobster salad and baked salmon, would he have grabbed the angel around the throat and throttled him in a sudden fit of insanity? Talk about cognitive dissonance! (22). This little passage did two things to my mind. First, I recalled countless times when I could not have even tried to predict a positive outcome to a given situation, much less a fu...

    Read More

  • Robert Cormier: The Chocolate War And I Am The Cheese

    284 Words  | 1 Pages

    “ I have always had a sense that we are all pretty much alone in life, particularly in adolescent. People always ask me the role models that I am providing for kids, and I say I can’t be concerned with that. I’m not worried about corrupting youth. I’m worrying about writing realistically and truthfully to affect the reader.”- Robert Cormier. Cormier is an author known for his negative novels such as “The Chocolate War” and “I am the Cheese”. He knew from the start that he wanted to become a writer. In all his work he likes to display the cold truth instead of making a joyful ending in everything resembling most books. The aspiration of all his books are all the conditions going on his kids lives. Robert Cormier’s childrens teenage lives influenced

    Read More

  • Sitting Down To Breakfast Alone By Christian Wiman

    429 Words  | 1 Pages

    Through imagery, Wiman allows the reader to comprehend his perspective of the diner. He mentions details such as “the jangly door or a crusted pan, the wall clock’s black, hitchy hands”(11-12) to portray how the diner itself isn’t visually pleasing. Later in the poem, Wiman describes how the waitress remembers where all of the customers sit, including the “crook-backed builders, drought-faced farmers, VF’ers mumbling through their wars, night-shift roughnecks so caking in black it seemed they made their way back every morning from the dead”(39-43). This imagery provides the reader with a sense of the rich variety of people who eat at the diner. Even though the diner isn’t in the best shape and the customers are somewhat rough, this doesn’t dissuade Wiman from eating there. Rather than having a disgusted attitude, Wiman has an intrigued attitude because these unique elements of the diner are what make it

    Read More

More about How Ramen Got Me Through Adolescence Analysis

Open Document