During the summer, I was assigned interesting two books to read. One of the books that I read was, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi. This story takes place prior to, throughout, and after World War Two in a small town of Germany, Burgdorf. It is based on a German Zwerg named Trudi Montag, who faces a life with many hardships due to the fact that she is abnormally challenged. However, Trudi does not let this matter of hers prevent her from taking steps into facing the real world. Montag is determined to prevent a major crisis in Burgdof, the impact Naziisim of in order to protect the Jewish people from Adolf the Hitler despite all the obstacles coming her way. The second book that I read during the summer was Dust Tracks on the Road, by Zora Neale Hurston, set in Eatonville, Florida where America’s first black community was founded during living the late 19th century. This story is about the life of a Negro woman, Zora Hurston a poor, yet intelligent girl …show more content…
For example, from Stones from the River, Trudi Montag prayed all her life and stretched everyday by hanging from one thing to another yet never grew even a centimeter. Since Trudi never grew, people treated her as if she was an alien from another planet, no one wanting to form any kind of relations with her. God never returned anything back to Trudi and neither did her hard work, this all resulted to her leading a lonely life for many years throughout her childhood. In Dust Tracks on the Road, Zora Neale Hurston faced a life full of stumbling blocks due to her just due to one trait, her color. Zora had to go to a school only made for Negroes, just because white people thought the people of her race was not worthy enough to be placed with them. Moreover, after her main support, her mother died, poor Zora had to leave her own home, quit her education, and find jobs that fit her race to do such a maid, waitress, and manicurist throughout her early
For example, Ruth and Dennis faced a lot of hate and racism as an interaical couple in the 1940’s, when segregation was a dangerous line to cross. Ruth recalls, (3.) “Me and Dennis caused a riot on 105th Street once. A bunch of white men chased us up the street and surrounded Dennis and tried to kill him, throwing bottles and hitting and kicking him..,” demonstrating the severity and the danger of their situation. Yet, in this circumstances and any other time she was faced with adversity, Ruth found comfort in her religion. Despite the consequences, they eventually get married and start a family together. Even though she and Dennis were poor with a growing family, the more her life revolved around God, the happier and more content she was with her life. She says, (4.) “ After we had our first baby in 1943, we moved across the street to a one-room kitchenette that cost six dollars a week. We had a sink, bed, dresser, stove, and a little ice box that the guy came around and put ice in once a week, All of our furniture was stuff we found or we brought from Woolworth and could be fold… The bathroom was in the hallway and it was used by all the tenants and there were roaches everywhere. We had four kids in that one room. We used the dresser drawers as cribs and the kids slept was us on or on fold out cots. We lived in that one room for nine years, and those nine years were the happiest nine year of my life,” conveying that even though she lived a very simple lifestyle and did not have many material things, Ruth and her family were happy and loved each other
As a reader of the Zora Neale Hurston book; Dust Tracks on a road, I discovered many different significance of the title. Zora was a little black girl growing up in the 1900’s, where in that time period their where a lot of race riots. She never established that she was misused or treated poorly by whites. According to Zora she got the most love and gracious from whites. Due to that time period a color girl being civil with whites and getting treated nicely by whites was not usual. Zora father was the person in town who established all the rules, so Zora had to have this attitude and act presentable because who her father was. At the age of nine Zora lost somebody who was very much important to her (her mother). Growing up without a mother is rather difficult for a little black girl in that time period and can cause many emotions. Many may not understand but can make you want to live a strong life and give your all to do something. As a child a white man said these words to Zora “Do not be a nigger” (Hurston, 1900’s, p.x). Not meaning it as don’t be black, but meaning be more than the color of your skin. As Zora set out on big dreams and goals to not be just a nigger but to be more. So as you think about the title this road that Zora has made she has to gone down this dusty to be a better Zora and not just for herself but for everybody in her race to make them succeed.
Ethnic group is a settled mannerism for many people during their lives. Both Zora Neale Hurston, author of “How It Feels to Be Colored Me; and Brent Staples, author of “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space,” realize that their life will be influenced when they are black; however, they take it in pace and don’t reside on it. They grew up in different places which make their form differently; however, in the end, It does not matter to them as they both find ways to match the different sexes and still have productivity in their lives.. Hurston was raised in Eatonville, Florida, a quiet black town with only white passer-by from time-to-time, while Staples grew up in Chester, Pennsylvania, surrounded by gang activity from the beginning. Both Hurston and Staples share similar and contrasting views about the effect of the color of their
The two classic books that I read were very inspiring and interesting. They are both widely known books that have impacted people’s lives and views on various subjects greatly. These two books that are known worldwide are Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Uncle Tom’s Cabin revolves mainly around the aspect of slavery and how slaves were treated unfairly. We learn about how slavery was once lawful in our country, the United States of America, and how our government punished people who helped fugitive slaves escape.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Spunk: The Selected Stories of Zora Neale Hurston. Berkeley, CA: Turtle Island Foundation, 1985. Print. 106 pages
Maya Angelou fits the hero archetype, and she did it in her own way. She had faced a myriad of hardships, torment, and racial oppression, yet she still remained steadfast through her childhood ordeals of growing up black in the South. Her autobiography discloses these adolescent uphill battles in detail; including how racism in the South overtook her life in most aspects.
Both Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes were great writers but their attitudes towards their personal experience as an African American differed in many ways. These differences can be attributed to various reasons that range from gender to life experience but even though they had different perceptions regarding the African American experience, they both shared one common goal, racial equality through art. To accurately delve into the minds of the writers’ one must first consider authors background such as their childhood experience, education, as well their early adulthood to truly understand how it affected their writing in terms the similarities and differences of the voice and themes used with the works “How it Feels to be Colored Me” by Hurston and Hughes’ “The Negro Mother”. The importance of these factors directly correlate to how each author came to find their literary inspiration and voice that attributed to their works.
She tell us about her experiences she went through herself while growing up. In her essay she states, "Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereotypes- for example, that of the Hispanic woman as the "Hot Tamale" or sexual firebrand" (page 105) because she gives us an example how men think a Latina woman is sexy female with an attitude that can be explosive. She did not believe that she should be judge by how society images a Latina, nor how they should act. In Zora Neale Hurston essay "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" she feels judge when she moves from cities. Zora was a African American living in Eatonville, Florida a little Negro town where she was never judge for the color of skin, yet until she had to move to Jacksonville. She states in her essay, "It seemed that I had suffered a sea change. I was not Zora of Orange County any more, I was now a little colored girl" (page 186). Zora Neale was never judge for the color of her skin in her old town but when she moved to Jacksonville she realized that the world wasn 't how she pictured. She was being treated different for how she looked like. Both essay had the same situation of being judge for their race, yet how their alike their too are
In Swallowing Stones, the Fourth of July is a magical holiday all over our country, and a lot of people love to shoot off their guns to celebrate. Michael Mackenzie shoots off his new rifle into the air thinking nothing of it; Suddenly, four blocks away, Charlie Ward looks down at his daughter then collapses. However, In The Wave, Gordon High School has a teacher who takes his authority way too far in an experiment with his students that turns the whole school. This now gives Laurie Saunders a choice, stay true to herself, or do what everyone else is doing. However, The Wave doesn’t happen everyday, accidental shootings do. High school is a very tricky time, and students have so much to learn, especially about life. Also, they do not know enough
The book I chose to do my book report on is "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". The book is about the most forceful indictments of political oppression in the Stalin era Soviet Union. It is a captiving story about the life in a Siberian labor camp, related to the point of view of Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner. It takes place in a span of one day, "from dawn till dusk" (pg. 111) . This book also describes his struggles and emotional stress that he must going through.
The location of the novel would be Flint,Michigan and Birmingham,Alabama; which would be appropriate for the novel because it talked about the difference between the weather in the parts of the country that they are in. Some events that were appropriate for the time period would be that racism was in effect still, an example would be that in the story a negro church that Joetta was in had gotten bombed by two white americans but the book said the americans probably wouldn’t get caught for their act of crime because they were white and the topic of ending segregation was major back in the time period of the novel, and in the state of Alabama. A theme that would be appropriate for the time period of the novel would be that the author wanted you to know that racism is bad, and hurts people, but whites and african americans are equal and you have to put yourself in the negros
Zora Neale Hurston’s writing embodies the modernism themes of alienation and the reaffirmation of racial and social identity. She has a subjective style of writing in which comes from the inside of the character’s mind and heart, rather than from an external point of view. Hurston addresses the themes of race relations, discrimination, and racial and social identity. At a time when it is not considered beneficial to be “colored,” Hurston steps out of the norm and embraces her racial identity.
The account of Harriet Scott Palmer was by far the most interesting and most enjoyable to read. It was filled with many adventurous moments that really kept my attention. But with the long hard journey came hardships such as the sad passing of both friend and family. It was saddening to read about those who did not
During times when racial tensions were high, many African American authors and poets began to rise and give consciousness to racial inequality and injustice. Famous poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes began to give a voice to African Americans. For example, in Maya Angelou’s, “Still, I Rise,” she speaks of overcoming her oppressors as a woman and expresses a great amount of self-love and self-worth. In Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” he states that he is an equal and emphasizes that being black does not degrade your beauty which allows the readers to feel empowered. Angelou and Hughes used similar means to raise awareness and fight for their rights through literature, even though, Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” also states the issue of sexism and Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” just focuses more on equality.
Another flashback in the novel Cutting for Stone where death and destiny come together is when Marion loses his twin brother, Shiva. By being conjoined at birth, Shiva and his twin brother Marion have had a connection ever since they were born. Through the mistakes and challenges that the brothers had faced throughout the years, in inevitably led to the day where Marion would need a liver transplant from Shiva. Because of this impossibly difficult surgery, it leaves Shiva brain dead in the end. The love between brothers causes Marion to cry out to his father;