The novel Suttree is centered on Cornelius “Buddy” Suttree, a college educated man who has decided to forsake his former life and live in a houseboat on the Tennessee River outside of Knoxville, Tennessee in a fairly destitute area known as McAnally Flats in 1951. He leaves his wife and child, a son, giving up the comfortable life to live as a river rat of sorts. He seems to be searching for something, unbeknownst to him or the reader. Possibly the meaning of life, but more than likely it’s a way to deal with death that seems to follow Suttree around throughout the novel. He’s not one for social norms, coming off as being an anarchist. He runs from his responsibilities, rebels against authority, and refuses to be bound by social convention. His everyday life is a hodge podge of drunken adventures, be it brawls or waking up in the morning in the local lockup hungover and confused. He associates with the …show more content…
He fails at most things he does, but that doesn’t mean he is a failure or a degenerate. He does have good qualities in him and his unwillingness to conform to societal norms, what others perceive he should be, is more attributable to his hesitancy than his being a bad person. Take his abandonment of his wife and child for example. Though most would see this as a cowardly and reprehensible act, it is not criminal or necessarily indicative of his character towards others that he cares about. One could also look at the predicament Suttree finds himself towards the beginning of the novel. He wakes up imprisoned not because of illegal or inherently wrong actions, but because he was simply intoxicated at the wrong place at the wrong time. Suttree is rebellious against the society that he is supposed to be a part of, but he does not transgress against its laws or customs. It is more the questions of life and death, the metaphysical, that Suttree is more concerned
In the Lilies of the Field by William E. Barrett, Homer and Mother Maria both display straightforward, hardworking, and stubborn character traits. Firstly, Homer and Mother Maria both display a straightforward personality by being brutally honest about their opinions. For example, when Mother Maria asks Homer to build a chapel, Homer speaks his mind by telling her he does not want to build it. Mother Maria shows her straightforward behavior during Homer’s stay at the convent. One morning, when Homer sleeps in late, Mother to becomes extremely upset and is not afraid to show how she feels about him. Secondly, both Homer and Mother Maria display a hardworking spirit. Homer is a hardworking man because after finally agreeing to build the chapel,
Quests do not need to be started by the most likely people, as long as they put all that they have into it they can still succeed. In the book Into The Beautiful North, Nayeli is inspired by the movie “The Magnificent Seven” to bring back men from the United States to liberate Tres Camarones. She wants to bring back the men and her father who had left for jobs, to defend their village from the banditos. There are many circumstance in which Nayeli has to face before she can even get to “Los Yunaites”. She will need assistance from what is most unlikely source. She will face trials that she was never prepared for. Before all of this she has to be called to save her village from outsiders. Nayeli’s perseverance after many trials and her desire
In The Big Field, author Mike Lupica explores the theme, "Success uses motivation as fuel." Lupica portrays this theme through the main character, Hutch. Throughout the entire book, Hutch, a young boy that has just recently joined a highly talented baseball team, displays moments that exemplify this main theme. Hutch and his team have a chance to play in the stadium of the Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, as long as they can keep winning games and advancing through a challenging tournament; however, Hutch's favorite position on the field, shortstop, the position located between 2nd and 3rd base, has already been filled on the team. Unfortunately, Hutch gets a demotion from shortstop, to second base, the position located between 1st base and 2nd base. Although Hutch was disappointed and melancholy about the switch in position, he was even more upset about the downgrading of leadership, since the
The production of Honky is a satirical comedy, following the lives of five people and the language of racism. While it focuses on the plot of 5 characters, the storyline was well thought out and intriguing. One actor in specific, Gerard Joseph, who played Thomas, did an exceptionally well job at conveying emotion and projecting to the audience, in my opinion. The overall directing, from the actors to the soundtrack and lightning, seem to be presented with excellent detail. Overall, this production was well done.
Laura Hillenbrand’s novel Unbroken incorporates the improbable life of the main character, Louie Zamperini. She introduces both the inspiring and powerful journey that Louie encounters in his life as he grows up. Hillenbrand looks to and successfully does catch the versatility of the human soul. Zamperini’s story including his involvement in World War II gives a persuasive stage in which the author demonstrates numerous qualities of Louie. Leaving readers to appreciate his courage, quality, grit and above all else, his bravery. “Confident that he was clever resourceful, and bold enough to escape any predicament, [Louie] was almost incapable of discouragement. When history carried him into war, this resilient optimism would define him.” Louie
If my life had no purpose, no individuality, and no happiness, I would not want to live. This book teaches the importance of self expression and independence. If we did not have these necessities, then life would be like those in this novel. Empty, redundant, and fearful. The quotes above show how different life can be without our basic freedoms. This novel was very interesting and it shows, no matter how dismal a situation is, there is always a way out if you never give up, even if you have to do it alone.
Grace is a very sweet and sensitive girl. She made some mistakes herself, but because of her foster parents she got through the tough parts. In Far From the Tree written by Robin Benway, she created a character that had a child in highschool and Her little girl was adopted and has a better life than what Grace could have offered her. Once Grace got told she had a sister named Maya she bursted into joy. Her heart was beating out of her chest when she was emailing Maya to meet up. When Maya replied with an answer Grace was ecstatic, but at the same time she did not know what to think. The moment when she saw the answer was ¨yes¨ she ran downstairs to tell her parents. Her whole life was now different because she had a relief that she had someone
One of the most striking parts of the novel Sugar, by Bernice L. McFadden is her choice of names, especially that of the main character, Sugar. McFadden chooses a name that was unconventional for the time period and remains unconventional today. Not only is there significance in the name Sugar, but the names Pearl and Mercy also have deeper meanings intentionally chosen by the author to further expand upon their roles as characters within the setting of the novel. Each of these three character’s names represent a persona that can be applied outside of the constraints of the novel.
“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy of each other’s life” -Richard Bach. Far from the Tree by Robin Benway explores the meaning of family, and the impact that loved ones have on identity. The novel tells the story of three siblings who have three very different lives reunite after spending all of their lives separately. Grace, Maya and Joaquin grow dependant on one another, and unknowingly give and take values from each other that help them solve their own issues slowing being brought to light. With the help of his parents and siblings, Joaquin reveals a critical capacity for change as he leaves his old self behind and moves on to a better future with a loving family.
In “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich the two main characters Lyman and Henry are brothers that have an amazing relationship with one another. In the beginning of the story Erdrich writes about how Lyman and Henry bought a gorgeous red convertible; and together they went on plenty of road trips and bonded over the car. On the other hand, the two siblings in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” don’t have that same sibling bond. The siblings in “Everyday Use”, Maggie and Dee, are complete opposites. Dee is extremely vain, snobbish, and outspoken while Maggie is coy, insecure, and timid. Although Maggie and Dee aren’t as close as Lyman and Henry, they still have a very complex relationship in terms of being “close” to one another even though it seems as if they’re from two different planets. In the stories “Everyday Use” and “The Red Convertible”, the characters share one particular trait which is
This theme relates to Huck Finn in a major way. When Huck is with the widow and is learning how to be civilized, he is always feeling uncomfortable. He doesn't like it much and wishes to go back to his normal life out in the wilderness. However, when he thinks about not doing something that the widow is trying to make him do, he remembers where he is, in society. If he doesn't do these things he will be an outsider and society will not accept him as much. As he is on the river, he lays back and relaxes all the time. Whenever he goes back into society, he finds that he can not live within its limits so he always denies who he really is and makes up some false identity all the time. When he finally runs from society at the end, one last time, it was clear that he believed that society was too much for him. Also that they would try to make him civilized again, which he didn't want, so he goes off alone to finally be truly free of his troubles and restraints.
Sutter Keely, a very conflicting character. Have you ever met someone who is so destroyed and utterly ruined by their surrounding that they can’t help but turn into that person themselves? Sutter Keely hasn’t had it easy, and now that he’s a senior in high school he really isn't reacting well. Unfortunately he doesn’t have much time left until he’ll have to truly face the consequences. Sutter has just met Aimee and they’re slowly getting to know each other, but Sutter isn’t sure about it, he’s skeptical of what it is. They are both very enthralled by each other, interested to see what each is about.
Suskind creates a narrator with a kaleidoscopic view. The narrator morphs from a gossiper, to reader’s friend, to historian, journalist, and ultimately an accomplice to the murders. With many different personas why does the reader still trust him? There are many sides to the storyteller of Perfume, and the reader may realize too late that there seems to be a fine line between friends to accomplice to murderer.
Naturally when JT met Sudhir he was very hesitant to open up or offer any form of help to Sudhir cause. As we have learned through our time spent in this class gangs are a tightly knit formed community and outsiders usually are not welcome to partake in any of the gangs activities or day to day operations. Sudhir however was able to get JT to open up within a few weeks. According to Sudhir (2008), he did tell me a good bit our first few weeks together (Venkatesh, 2008, P. 27). While it did take Sudhir a few years to get JT full story, the relationship created was one that would be useful for not only Sudhir but JT as well.
Noah is the one of the main characters of The Notebook. He is the hero of this novel. Noah represents true love and true loyalty. In a way, The Notebook is similar to every modern day romance movie, and Noah represents the “dream man” that all the girls always imagine of having. The characters in movies are used to symbolize ideas, and in this novel, Noah represents true, faithful, committed love. Noah remains loyal to Allie even in the situation where he is unsure whether they will ever meet again or not.