Jimmy Dean once advised, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to reach my destination.” The novel A Long Walk to Water authored by Linda Sue Park, is a work of realistic historical fiction and a dual narrative focused on adjusting to change. One storyline is about a young eleven year old girl named Nya who is apart of the Nuer tribe and lives in Sudan. Nya lives the life of a young Sudanese girls because they collect water for their family every day. The other storyline is about an eleven year old boy named Salva who is in the Dinka tribe and lives in Sudan, but travels throughout many countries and states in his life. Salva’s story line shows how getting attacked by rebels and escaping from civil war changed his and many others’ lives. Both characters face many changes throughout the story. Linda Sue Park wants readers to know to accept change for good or bad. In Nya’s story line, she endured varies hardships. In the beginning, Nya walks to the pond and back, two times a day, to collect water because this is how she supports her family. As she walks to the pond, she endures heat, time, and thorns. The obstacles that Nya faces will never change because her life will never change. What Nya does is fetch water, every day, as this is expected of her. As the story progresses, Nya’s younger sister, Akeer, falls ill. The reason Akeer becomes ill is …show more content…
Now that they have overcome each challenge by persevering, their lives change for the better. Now having easy access to clean water, Nya and the rest of the village will prosper. Nya’s village will now be able to evolve as a village from having clean water. Now that Salva’s life has changed, he is able to change the lives of others by building wells in their village. In fact, Salva was able to change the life of Nya and her village. Linda Sue Park hopes that readers will take away that change can be for good or
Gloria Skurzynski’s “Nethergrave” is a superior work of science fiction compared to Ray Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder" because it has a more important theme, has better characterization, and is much more original. To elaborate in other words, Nethergrave artistically conveys a meaningful message through a distinct story while A Sound of Thunder bluntly restates a generic idea.
The Changeable nature of life affects us all somehow. Whether it be moving to a new city, having children, or losing people that we love, it can affect people in many different ways. For example, in the novel, the main character Taylor Greer changes her name from Marietta and moves...
People can change their ways overtime in a positive way. Everyone has experienced change once in their life. Some people have acknowledged change over the course of life in a positive way or a negative way. Throughout the novel “The First Stone” by Don Aker, the main character Reef alters his ways a lot positively. Reef is a teenager who changes his lifestyle and makes a huge impact in his life after he meets Leeza. This novel develops the fact that people can change in a beneficial way, no matter what situation they are in.
The book “A Long Way From Chicago” is an adventurous and funny story. The story takes place at Joey Dowdel’s Grandmothers farm house in the country. Joey and his sister Mary Alice were sent to their Grandma’s house during the summer because their parents had to go to Canada for their work. At first, Joey felt uncomfortable with his Grandmother because he had never met her before but eventually he got to know her and they became close friends.
The Color of Water is an autobiography about a woman named Ruth Mcbride Jordan. She is the mother of the author of the book, James Mcbride. Ruth is a very strong woman with a lot of faith in God. She is a Polish immigrant and she faces some hardships in the story. She immigrated to America with her Jewish and Polish family when she was just a little girl. Throughout the book, her identity is transformed through all of the events that occur with her and the other characters. All of the important things in her life consist of: religion, faith, God, education, work, and school. The reason that I say that Ruth Mcbride is a strong woman is because she has the ability to get through several hardships in her life. After reading, The Color of Water, I would state that Ruth Mcbride has obtained the identity of a strong mother with a lot of faith and confidence.
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 relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O'Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.
In The Color of Water, author James McBride writes both his autobiography and a tribute to the life of his mother, Ruth McBride. In the memoirs of the author’s mother and of himself, they constantly face discrimination from their race in certain neighborhoods and of their religious beliefs. The trials and tribulations faced by these two characters have taught readers universally that everyone faces difficulties in life, but they can all be surmounted.
In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, King intertwines stories to create a satire that pokes fun at Indian culture compared to European culture. The book attempts to also poke fun at Judeo-Cristian beliefs by examining the creation story. King makes fun of the story of Adam and Eve. He pokes fun at western civilization and government. Although the book made me laugh some of the meanings behind kings writing puzzled me and made me question king's motives. The book is truly a puzzle that can be hard to decipher for most. I found the book to be challenging but entertaining and interesting.
When reflecting and writing on Eiseley’s essay and the “magical element”, I balk. I think to myself, “What magic?”, and then put pen to page. I dubiously choose a kiddie pool to draw inspiration from, and unexpectedly, inspiration flows into me. As I sit here in this little 10x30 foot backyard, the sky is filled with the flowing gaseous form of water, dark patches of moist earth speckle the yard, the plants soak up their scattered watering, and the leaves of bushes and trees imbue the space with a sense of dampness from their foliage. As my senses tune into the moisture that surrounds me, I fill Braedon’s artificial pond with water. I stare at the shimmering surface, contemplating Eiseley’s narrative, and the little bit of life’s wellspring caught in Brae’s pool. I see why Eiseley thought the most abundant compound on the earth’s surface is mystical.
Beryl Markham’s West with the Night is a collection of anecdotes surrounding her early life growing up as a white girl in British imperialist Africa, leading up to and through her flight across the Atlantic Ocean from East to West, which made her the first woman to do so successfully. Throughout this memoir, Markham exhibits an ache for discovery, travel, and challenge. She never stays in one place for very long and cannot bear the boredom of a stagnant lifestyle. One of the most iconic statements that Beryl Markham makes in West with the Night is:
Jamaica Kincaid’s success as a writer was not easily attained as she endured struggles of having to often sleep on the floor of her apartment because she could not afford to buy a bed. She described herself as being a struggling writer, who did not know how to write, but sheer determination and a fortunate encounter with the editor of The New Yorker, William Shawn who set the epitome for her writing success. Ms. Kincaid was a West-Indian American writer who was the first writer and the first individual from her island of Antigua to achieve this goal. Her genre of work includes novelists, essayist, and a gardener. Her writing style has been described as having dreamlike repetition, emotional truth and autobiographical underpinnings (Tahree, 2013). Oftentimes her work have been criticized for its anger and simplicity and praised for its keen observation of character, wit and lyrical quality. But according to Ms. Kincaid her writing, which are mostly autobiographical, was an act of saving her life by being able to express herself in words. She used her life experiences and placed them on paper as a way to make sense of her past. Her experience of growing up in a strict single-parent West-Indian home was the motivation for many of her writings. The knowledge we garnered at an early age influenced the choice we make throughout our life and this is no more evident than in the writings of Jamaica Kincaid.
In the story "So Much Water So Close To Home" a young girl is raped, killed and found in a river where four men are fishing. What makes this story interesting is that after discovering the body they did not report it until after they left, three days later. When one of the men who discovered her, the husband of the narrator, Stuart returns home he doesn't tell his wife about the incident until the following morning. Because of this, Claire believes that all men are responsible for the murder of the girl. Due to these facts she acts irrationally, suspiciously, and with distrust not only towards her husband, but also to all men in general.
“ Going, the big plastic container held only air. It would take her half the morning if she didn’t stop on the way. Heat. Time. And Thorns.” (Park, 1) That quote showed that Nya has to walk every day to get water, multiple times. Even when there are thorns on the ground and the weather is boiling hot, she still has to walk and carry the water. In the same way, Slave shows perseverance when he got an idea and didn’t know if he could do it. “ Could he do it? It would take so much work! Perhaps it would be difficult, But how would he know unless he tried?” ( Park, 107) Salva knew that his country was struggling with water so he had and an idea. He got help from his new family and other volunteers to help build wells for Sudan. Salva and Nya are pushing forward through the hard times and solving problems for a better life.
poem analysis The poem "Lines" written by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, published in the mid 19th century deals with the topic, how slavery has brought hate and destruction in the world. Interestingly enough, the poem was published in the time of slavery, so Harper kind of reflected back, how slavery has managed its way into the world. The author's aim is to illustrate lively, how hateful and destructive slavery is. Her goal is to stop slavery.