The Cay, by Theodore Taylor is a realistic fiction that took place in around World War II. The book is about a young boy named Phillip Enright, who lived with his overprotective mother and laid back father in Carrisal. Carrisal was currently surrounded by German ships. Phillip’s overprotective mother, decides it would be best if the family went back to Williamston, Virginia, where his mother was born. Phillip and his mother board The Hato, a ship that would take them to VA. On April 6th, The Hato was torpedoed. During the chaos, Phillip gets hit on the head by falling debris, and when he regains his consciousness, he finds himself on a boat with an old black man (Timothy), and a cat (Stewcat). Later,, Phillip finds out, that he is blind,
Bud Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis, takes place in Flint, Michigan and Grand Rapids, Michigan. It took place in the 1920's (during the depression). It is about a boy named Bud Caldwell who is on a search to find his father. He uses lies throughout the whole book to get him where he wants to go. He is 10 years old and his mother died when he was 6. Bud tells everyone she died a fast and painless death.
In all of Sherman Alexie’s work, there are many recurring symbols. These symbols represent ideas that Alexie thinks are important to Native American life on a reservation. One of these symbols is basketball. Alexie uses basketball as a substitute for war. In Native American culture, war is a way to win glory and respect.
Many people dream about leaving everything behind and starting a new life, but it’s not as easy as it seems. Learning how to adapt to a new environment may be a challenge. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless has no knowledge of the conditions he’s going to face when he arrives in Alaska. I would classify Christopher McCandless as a fearless crazy guy, because he leaves his well-shaped life behind. McCandless is not prepared for his expedition to Alaska, because he’s not familiar with the different lifestyles. Making all of these changes to his life like, detaching himself from his family and changing his name to Alexander Supertramp was a bad idea; because losing all of his connections means that he has no help from the people who really know him.
Ultimate freedom is an odyssey everyone, at least once in their lifetime, tries to conquer. Chris McCandless did everything in his power to try and capture that freedom he was searching for. He ultimately gave up his own life during that quest. Did he find what he was searching for? We may never know. Very many people have diverse opinions on this character. Chris McCandless was not selfish. He was a young, well-educated boy. His parents handed him everything on a silver platter; he wanted to prove not only to himself but to everyone else he could do things on his own. His possessions did not define who he was as a person. He thought towards everyone else he was just another brick in the wall, a pretty rich boy, and that did not “fly” with him. He had to prove his worth.
“Jungle of Bones”, written by Ben Mikaelson, is about the journey of an 8th grader, Dylan Barstow. Dylan is an agitated and distraught child, for the death of his father, a war correspondent in Sudan, disturbed him deeply. He developed hatred for the world and everything in it. Dylan releases his anger in a variety of ways, from stealing candy bars to going on joyrides; in addition, he is cruel to his mother and lives a lonesome life. Instead of sending the teenager to juvenile detention, Dylan’s mother decides to ship him off to his Uncle Todd, an ex-Marine, for the summer. Living with an old man who talks and acts like he is still in the military didn’t seem difficult for Dylan. But he soon realized that Uncle Todd plans an expedition to Papa New Guinea in search of the B-17 bomber that Dylan’s grandfather crashed
In 1990, when he was 22 years old, Christopher McCandless ventured out into the Alaska wilderness in search for true happiness, and 2 years later he suffered a tragic death. An aspiring writer, Jon Krakauer, found McCandless’ story fascinating and chose to dedicate 3 years of his life to write a novel about him. The book entitled “Into the Wild” tells the tale of Christopher McCandless, an ill prepared transcendentalist longing for philosophical enrichment, who naïvely, failed to consider the dangers of isolating himself from human society for such a long period of time. Though Christopher McCandless made a courageous attempt to separate himself from society, in order to achieve self-fulfillment, the stubborn nature of this reckless greenhorn led him to his unfortunate demise.
This historical document, The Frontier as a Place of Conquest and Conflict, focuses on the 19th Century in which a large portion of society faced discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and religion. Its author, Patricia N. Limerick, describes the differences seen between the group of Anglo Americans and the minority groups of Native Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics Americans and African Americans. It is noted that through this document, Limerick exposes us to the laws and restrictions imposed in addition to the men and women who endured and fought against the oppression in many different ways. Overall, the author, Limerick, exposes the readers to the effects that the growth and over flow of people from the Eastern on to the Western states
Neither white nor black people want to be poor, hungry, or unfair judgment put on them. However, being born with the blood of their parents, they have to live under different circumstances. Their lives are comfortable or struggled that depends on the kind of blood their parents give them. Especially, the mulattos who have mixed blood of white and black have more difficulties in life because of having multiple cultures. Indeed, the novel “the House Behind the Cedars” of Charles W. Chesnutt main message about race relation is that mulattos struggle dramatically in racial society of white, black, and mulatto their own kind people.
Richard Brautigan’s short fiction stories incorporate protagonists that are recognizably fictionalized versions of the author himself. He writes in order to extract his own struggles of the past and the difficulties of discovering himself in the present. Through the characters in The Weather in San Francisco and Corporal, the portrayal of his optimistic view of life as a consequence of the rigors of daily life, and the use of symbols, Brautigan presents his personal story through the words on the paper.
Not having much knowledge of this type of children’s literature I decided to read one of her stories to include in the discussion and have become more educated on the types of books she is reading. Dogs of War by Shelia Keenan focuses on the military dogs who serve during World War I, World War II and Vietnam. The storyline of third story in the book tells the story of a boy who moves to a new place, gets a new dog and discovers a solider living near by who is struggling after the war. They start to interact with the dog and the solider begins to open up about the hardship of war and his military dog Sheba. The illustrations by Nathan Fox really capture the emotions of the solider and the pain he is dealing with along with the war setting in Vietnam. The audience for this book is geared for boys, but will appeal to dog lovers like my daughter. If it is appropriate for anyone under 9 or 10 is still in question. It is a heavy topic and it does include soldiers dying and war
A Gathering of Old Men by Earnest J. Gaines is a great novel about race relations in the south. The novel begins with a child narrator who relates the report that there has been a shooting on a Louisiana plantation, and a white, Cajun farmer Beau Boutan, is dead. He has been killed in the yard of an old black worker, Mathu. Because of the traditional conflict between Cajuns and blacks in South Louisiana, the tension in the situation and the fear of the black people is immediately felt in the novel. I would definitely recommend this book to someone else.
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger was the true story of a mid sized swordfish boat and it’s crew going out of the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts and getting caught in one of the worst hurricanes of the century. The six crew members on the ship were there to catch as many swordfish as they could and return quickly to get as much money as possible. The crew of the Andrea Gail knew there was a large storm coming, but wanted to get back to port before the fish went bad. Trying to avoid the storm, the Andrea Gail ended up right in the middle of it. The crew was presumed dead days after they started searching for them. The book shows these people had a lot of drive to them, but unfortunately they could not survive. Because it is a true story, some parts are unknown. Also, It was controversial at first when Sebastian Junger was writing this, because many felt it was disrespectful to the families of the deceased. Junger was a journalist so he wrote as it is, but could really dig deep and show you every detail he heard from the family members. His descriptions were so vivid it was like you were there.
Francis Bret Harte’s sentimental short story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” illustrates that even the most rugged of men can change to the needs of a delicate situation. Harte describes in this short story of a situation taking place at “Roaring Camp”, a fictional gold digging settlement set in the 1850s, where reckless outlaws and refugees are entrusted with the task of taking care of an innocent, pure, baby which brings “The Luck” to their camp. Harte artfully utilizes the imagery depicted to portray the regeneration, or rather the new birth, of the camp and it residents due to its newfound “Luck”. The characters, who further emphasize the theme of conversion, makes the reader aware of the changes a newly converted man can undergo to suit his new situation.
“Sitting around miserable all day won’t make you any happier” said the famous Irish author, John Boyne. John Boyne is best known as being the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and John Boyne Biography. This quote is used as an example of his optimism during a horrible period of time. John Boyne was born on April 30, 1971 in Dublin, Ireland. He studied English Literature and Creative Writing at Trinity College. Boyne started writing when he was a very young boy once he built up the passion for reading. This inspired him to write. John Boyne’s writes mostly short stories and has published more than 70 of them. The most famous book he has written is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Being set in Berlin, Germany; Bruno, a nine year old boy tells a heartwarming yet heartbreaking story about his life during World War II. After examining the life and the works of John Boyne, it is obvious that the context of John Boyne’s stories reveal life during war which helps to enhance his relevance, historical importance, and his optimistic yet compassionate style of writing.
'Ulysses' is both a lament and an inspiring poem. Even modern readers who are not so familiar with the classics, can visualize the heroic legend of Ulysses, and so is not prepared for what he finds in the poem— not Ulysses the hero but Ulysses the man.