Literary Analysis: Taking Flight

513 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Adoption identity formation

Abbey Nielsen
Mrs. Benedetto
Contemporary Literature
10 May, 2017
Taking Flight Literary Analysis Michaela DePrince’s book Taking Flight is a memoir about her journey from being a war orphan to ballerina. This book has impact society by teaching young people that they can do whatever they put the mind to, no matter their race or background.
To begin with, Michaela teaches young people to not let their race hold them back. Michaela is a black girl with spotted skin because of her condition of vitiligo. As a child she was often bullied and called a spotted devil child. Once she got older this problem became larger. Her adoptive family enrolled her in ballet classes and she was often told that because she was black she could not be graceful. …show more content…

She lived with her mother and father in Sierra Leone West Africa. When she was about five her dad was shot by rebels. Her mother and her were then forced to live with her abusive uncle. Her mother starves to death not long after that and Michaela is left parentless. Her uncle hatted girls and took her to an orphanage for money. At the orphanage Michaela was known as girl Number 27. Michaela stated that “Being number 27 meant I was the least liked child because of this I was the last to get food so I would end up getting less than the other kids” (DePrince 184). Being the least liked child made Michaela’s struggles greater but one good thing came out of it. At this orphanage Michaela meets Mia girl number 26 and they become best friends. She would also find a picture of a ballerina that would help her to face the struggles of her life and inspire to be a dancer. Michaela was adopted by an American family who were originally only adopting Mia but decided to adopt both. Despite all these obstacles she went on to study at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre and is now the youngest principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
In conclusion, this book helps to understand what it is like to be someone who is different. Michaela kept working hard even when everything was against her and because of that she achieved her dreams. This book shows young people that they can do whatever they put the mind to no matter their race or

Show More
Related

  • Catherine Woodson Character Traits

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    Our class has been reading a book called “Brown Girl Dreaming” for the past two weeks. The author, Jacqueline Woodson talks about her life growing up. For example she talks about how her mom and dad divorced when she was young. She talks about how she moves to Greenville and how her grandpa is like a dad figure, and how her mother came back with a pale skinned baby after she went to New York. Character traits make up a person, and while reading the book, you can see what Jacqueline is like during her childhood. Jacqueline has many character traits, such as being jealous of her older sister, being naive, and she is also respectful.

    Read More

  • Rigoberta Menchu

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her realization that she is not alone in her oppression brings her a sense of freedom. It validates her emerging thoughts of wanting to rise up and shine a light on injustice. Her worries about not wanting to grow up because of the harsh life that awaits her is a common thought among others besides the people in her community. As she makes friends with other Indians in other communities she realizes the common bonds they share, even down to the most basic such as what they eat, which comforts her and allows her to empathize with them.

    Read More

  • The Thief Of Always Literary Analysis

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clive Barker, the author of The Thief of Always, writes a fantasy about Harvey(the main character) taken into into a place full of illusions. Soon he finds out that there was this horrible Hood that had taken his precious time and almost has eaten his soul. So, Harvey then tries to destroy this evil Hood who ends up to be the oh so perfect house. Hood is evil and different ways he is evil. There are many things that makes someone or something truly evil. Hood is ultimately evil. These are the things that make him who or what he is. Evil is significant to most stories because that is the major conflict. The antagonist, Hood, does a really good job of being the bad guy. Usually it’s a person who is has some kind of kindness inside,

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Glass Castle Walls By Jeannette Walls

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    Symbolism, similes and themes helped guide the reader to gather ideas and information about characters in this book about how you can amount to anything if you try hard enough. Walls shows you can come from any background and still make a name and a life for yourself. Jeannette

    Read More

  • Metaphors in Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    The book tells the story of the dreams of a young black American woman who has the beauty and characteristics of a young Caucasian woman. It starts when the young woman is a young girl and grows up under the care of his grandmother. The young girl now grows up to become a young woman. All through the stages of her growth, the young woman, Janie, has several dreams in her life. Janie is later married off to a rich young man by her grandmother. After a while, the two break up and she runs away with another young man who becomes her second husband. The book then takes a turn in the twist of events when it stops from just being dreams and it becomes reality. Janie now realizes the reality of the situation. In the book, the author has used several metaphors to tell the story.

    Read More

  • Why Are The Black Kids Sitting Together In The Cafeteria Essay

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    She goes on to tell readers of a child's perception of race with other life examples that she learned from her own students. She states that children learn prejudices and stereotypes early on in life from cartoons, story books and their own parents. They are easily susceptible these things even if th...

    Read More

  • Race in TWWEG

    834 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a child Janie’s race is something she realizes later, but is still an important part of her life. As a child Janie grew up with a white family, named the Washburns, for whom Nanny worked as a nanny for. It is not until Janie sees herself in a picture with the Washburns children that she realizes she is black, Janie recounts her realization t...

    Read More

  • Poverty Of Culture: The Problem With Teacher Education

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    She explains that African American and Latina/o students and their families continue to have high educational aspirations despite persistent education inequities. The culture of power as the “norm” of Whites.

    Read More

  • Overcoming Struggles: A Study of 'The Help'

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    She shows how these fictions are woven into the fabric of everyday life in Jackson, from the laws to ordinary conversations, and how these beliefs get passed from generation to generation. It shows a deep mistrust of whites on the part of the black community, who have been betrayed by them again and again. It also shows how powerful and how dangerous it can be to challenge the stereotypes and dissolve the lines that are meant to separate people from each other on the basis of skin

    Read More

  • Racism In Karen Hesse's Witness, A Classic Book

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    As racism continues on to thrive in the town, Esther Hirsh, becomes a young girl who also faces discrimination only because she was a Jewish. In the same school as Esther, was a young African-American girl named Leonora who faces bully about almost every day, and everywhere, just because of her race. Her family is very well in poverty, and her mother is badly sick. She died later that month. In one quote,”Why can’t white folks leave me alone?”(P7), explains how excruciating racism was.

    Read More

  • The Way to Rainy Mountain Literary Analysis

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Way to Rainy Mountain, the author Scott Momaday uses the theme of a journey to drive this story. He begins his journey after the passing of his grandmother, the journey to reconnect and rediscover his own culture. He shares this moment on page 10, “I remember her most often in prayer. She made long, rambling prayers out of suffering and hope, having seen many things…the last time I saw her she prayed standing by the side of her bed at night, naked to the waist, the light of a kerosene lamp moving upon her dark skin…I do not speak Kiowa, and I never understood her prayers, but there was something inherently sad in the sound, some merest hesitation upon the syllables of sorrow”. The passing brought a realization upon him to have to keep the culture going. He can barely speak Kiowa, while his grandmother was one of the few members who were completely fluent. I believe this book is a call out to his tribe to take the same journey Momaday took.

    Read More

  • Book Report On The Other Wes Moore

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    Richelle Goodrich once said, “To encourage me is to believe in me, which gives me the power to defeat dragons.” In a world submerged in diversity, racism and prejudice it is hard for minorities to get ahead. The novel “The Other Wes Moore” is a depiction of the differences that encouragement and support can make in the life of a child. This novel is about two men, with the same name, from the same neighborhood, that endured very similar adversities in their lives, but their paths were vastly different. In the following paragraphs, their lives will be compared, and analyzed from a sociological perspective.

    Read More

  • Warriors Don't Cry

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    She filled her thoughts with the better education she would be receiving, as well as the huge step she would be taking in making sure all people of color would eventually receive a better education. She wondered about the white friends she would soon be making. Above all, she felt proud, knowing that she deserved this chance at a better life. Even before she stepped foot in the hallways of Central High, however, Melba’s sense of excitement and anticipation began to subside and was replaced with fear and frustration. As she went through her first few months at Central, she was plagued with a daily fear for her own personal safety.

    Read More

  • Being Biracial-Personal Narrative

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    I was late for school, and my father had to walk me in to class so that my teacher would know the reason for my tardiness. My dad opened the door to my classroom, and there was a hush of silence. Everyone's eyes were fixed on my father and me. He told the teacher why I was late, gave me a kiss goodbye and left for work. As I sat down at my seat, all of my so-called friends called me names and teased me. The students teased me not because I was late, but because my father was black. They were too young to understand. All of this time, they thought that I was white, because I had fare skin like them, therefore I had to be white. Growing up having a white mother and a black father was tough. To some people, being black and white is a contradiction in itself. People thought that I had to be one or the other, but not both. I thought that I was fine the way I was. But like myself, Shelby Steele was stuck in between two opposite forces of his double bind. He was black and middle class, both having significant roles in his life. "Race, he insisted, blurred class distinctions among blacks. If you were black, you were just black and that was that" (Steele 211).

    Read More

  • The Sleeper Literary Analysis Essay

    1056 Words  | 3 Pages

    Death can both be a painful and serious topic, but in the hands of the right poet it can be so natural and eloquently put together. This is the case in The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe, as tackles the topic of death in an uncanny way. This poem is important, because it may be about the poet’s feelings towards his mother’s death, as well as a person who is coming to terms with a loved ones passing. In the poem, Poe presents a speaker who uses various literary devices such as couplet, end-stopped line, alliteration, image, consonance, and apostrophe to dramatize coming to terms with the death of a loved one.

    Read More

More about Literary Analysis: Taking Flight

Open Document