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Sea oak by george saunders literary analysis
Sea oak summary george saunders
American literature has many ethnic groups
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The story Sea Oak written by George Saunders is a compelling story about a male stripper, his aunt, sisters and their babies, who resides in a dangerous neighborhood. His only hope and aspirations to help move his family out of the Sea Oak environment are to rely on his unusual job. He copes with his dead Aunt who visits him in his dream. She explains her life struggle and why great things didn’t happen for her during her time living. When Aunt Bernie dies from panicking after a burglar breaks in, her body is discovered missing from the grave days after her death. Aunt Bernie, the peacemaker, pleads with the narrator about him stripping for women by earning $20. The family lives in apartment complexes where the money the male stripper earns, …show more content…
Slipstream is a genre of literature, used to unconsciously teach us through emotion and morals. Slipstream reminds me of a fable which in the end a lesson is learned. What makes me feel odd is how each character actions has a hint behind their lifestyle the author reveal to his readers. There is a representation of a reality that these characters face that I see in the world I live in. The way I view slipstream is that it’s a genre that gives a person deeper meaning about self-perspective. Sea Oak has three slipstream elements that make this story interesting. The characters, setting, and theme in this …show more content…
The only thing, in the end, is that how I thought these would be African Americans because of their condition, it turns out they weren’t. Personal issues that each individual dealt with wasn’t a motivation for one another to work. There are two intellectual people who are ahead of the household while the other two live free of charge struggling. I believe that author, George Saunders, was trying to convey to his audience that you can sympathize with people who break their backs living in a low-income
...ls the African American blue-collar struggle and by the end is left as sheep on their way to slaughter.
This book is telling a story about two African American boys (Wes A and Wes P) who have the same name and grew up at same community, but they have a very different life. The author, Wes A, begins his life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and end up as a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, and a white house fellow; The other Wes Moore begins at the same place in Baltimore , but ends up in prison for the rest of his life. Then why do they have the same experience, but still have a totally different life? I will agree here that environment (family environment, school education environment and society environment) is one of the biggest reasons for their different.
George Saunders, a writer with a particular inclination in modern America, carefully depicts the newly-emerged working class of America and its poor living condition in his literary works. By blending fact with fiction, Saunders intentionally chooses to expose the working class’s hardship, which greatly caused by poverty and illiteracy, through a satirical approach to criticize realistic contemporary situations. In his short story “Sea Oak,” the narrator Thomas who works at a strip club and his elder aunt Bernie who works at Drugtown for minimum are the only two contributors to their impoverished family. Thus, this family of six, including two babies, is only capable to afford a ragged house at Sea Oak,
Despite the difficulties American and Candido went through, they never reached success like Wright did. However, something which links these two illegal immigrants and this African American together is their determination to strive for food and a better future. For discouraged minorities struggling in a society plagued with racism, their will to escape poverty often becomes their only motivation to survive, but can also act as the push they need toward success.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Society tends to encourage virtuous qualities such as kindness, patience and optimism, indeed, these are virtuous qualities that could make up potential leaders and role models. But, the irony is that in some circumstances virtues can become a hindrance not just to yourself, but the people around you as well. This happened to Aunt Burnie, a gentle caretaker of the narrator and two girls Min and Jade, in George Saunders’ “Sea Oak”. Due to burglary, Aunt Burnie’s life came to an end, but due to strange circumstances she was resurrected. This resurrection changed her completely Aunt Burnie was no longer her pleasant self but full of spite and anger due to her life experiences and her compensation in death. Though she worked hard and was complacent
Lareau’s main argument in the text is that when children grow up in certain environments, parents are more likely to use specific methods of child rearing that may be different from other families in different social classes. In the text, Lareau describes how she went into the home of the McAllisters and the Williams, two black families leading completely different lives. Ms. McAllister lives in a low income apartment complex where she takes care of her two children as well as other nieces and nephews. Ms. McAllister never married the father of her two children and she relies on public assistance for income. She considers herself to be a woman highly capable of caring for all the children yet she still struggles to deal with the stress of everyday financial issues. The Williams on the other hand live in a wealthier neighborhood and only have one child. Mr. W...
The sympathetic humanist might bristle at first, but would eventually concur. For it's hard to argue with poverty. At the time the novel was published (1912), America held very few opportunities for the Negro population. Some of the more successful black men, men with money and street savvy, were often porters for the railroads. In other words the best a young black man might hope for was a position serving whites on trains. Our protagonist--while not adverse to hard work, as evidenced by his cigar rolling apprenticeship in Jacksonville--is an artist and a scholar. His ambitions are immense considering the situation. And thanks to his fair skinned complexion, he is able to realize many, if not all, of them.
Although, African Americans are considered minorities in the United States, not all of them live in poverty. Many African Americans live in a middle class society along with the dominant culture. However, many African Americans do not live in a middle class society, but rather live in poverty and have to suffer along with this poverty. For instance, Donald Goines’s Black Girl Lost and Tina McElroy Ansa’s Baby of the Family, two narrative novels, that illustrate the difference in two young African American girls lives and the society in which they inhabit. Not only do these young African American girls represent the two sides of poverty, they also represent how children can also qualify in the minority category. For example, Sandra lives in a run down apartment with a drunk mother who could care less about her daughter. In addition, Sandra remains all on her own and has to find ways in which to survive each day. But on the other hand, Lena lives in a nice size home with her two parents, her two brothers, and her grandmother, all who love her very much. Moreover, Lena has many family members who look after her and take extra special care for her because she is the baby of the family. Although, both Sandra and Lena lead very different lives, both are faced with challenges as a minority and as a child which questions their view on life.
Two migrant workers, George and Lennie, attempt to reach their version of the American Dream or “the ability of all Americans to attain a better standard of living, including owning a home” (“American Dream” 96). The two men are most concerned with owning “a little house and a couple of acres” and their ability to “live off the fatta the lan’” (Steinbeck 14). Their journey, however, is presented as more challenging than most as Lennie struggles with a mental deficiency and relies heavily on George for both structure and guidance. Each time George and Lennie begin to settle into a job, Lennie makes a mistake causing George to uproot his life and yell at Lennie for how he “Jus’ keep[s] [him] shovin’ all over the country all the time” (Steinbeck 11). Although their quest for happiness and success along with Lennie’s difficulties appear to be the main conflicts of the novel, there is much more below the surface as the two big relocations discussed in the novella come about because of a woman’s
Within the course of two decades these three novels deal with racism, diversity of people and similar economic status. The writers raise awareness of the oppression of the African American communities and the long lasting struggles that these folks had to endure to survive.
African-Americans living in the Harlem area while explaining what happens when their life goals and
Throughout the story, the African-American maids are treated unfairly in several different ways and Stockett does a great job of making the readers picture that in their mind as they progress through the story. She made sure to show that when people take a stand and make their voices be heard they can make a difference. When someone wants to be heard they will be heard if they try hard enough. So, with a bit of courage and hope anything can be achieved if you really want it to. Through this compelling story, it is seen that writing does have the power to make forceful yet positive changes, on individuals and a community as a whole, even when society has such a strong outlook on what is right and
The second character I chose to focus on was Hilly Holbrook, she is a member of the high-society women in Mississippi. Mrs. Hilly is ignorant of African-American culture and it is evident throughout the movie that she could not care less to learn about them. Mrs. Hilly’s outlook on the African-American community was that they were carrying multiple diseases and they held seemingly no compatibility with the whites. This perspective was, unfortunately, a common one during the 1960s. A majority of the time this unjustifiable thought of African-Americans originated from forefathers and was passed down through
By the year 2060, rainforests will be but a dream (facts about the rainforest). The rainforests are the lungs of Earth providing 40% of the world’s oxygen yearly. The world needs to preserve the rainforests because without them our ecosystem will suffer. The rainforests provide the western world with one out of four of the prescription drugs sold today and many valuable resources (contribution of rainforests to mankind). The balance of the ecosystem, water cycle, and carbon dioxide levels depend on the rainforests. Furthermore, rainforests are home to many animals, plants, endangered species, and tribes.
The Black American blue-collar workers also believe that they are being held down by the white-collar workers who are the white business men. The Youngers, specifically Walter, believe "no matter how hard black folks work they can't get ahead in this world." He also believes it is so much harder for black people to get anywhere that he would lose all of the money Mama had given him, trying to spread it around getting the businesses going.