Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
A short note on the theme of love in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Love is powerful and could change a person’s personality. In “The Book of Unknown Americans”, the author Christina Hernriquez tells us the definition of love. It is a book combined with different stories but each story is connected to others. It talks about the immigrants that moved to America with lots of hope, but didn’t end up with a happy ending. The story is about love, hope and guilt and different kinds of emotional feeling. In the book, Mayor has an internal change because of Maribel, and the power of love. He wants to be a strong man who can protect Maribel. He used to be someone who couldn’t defend himself and he changed because of Maribel.
Love means you are willing to do everything for the one you love. You will fight for the one
…show more content…
Since he is a coward, he often bullied by his peers. Even though he is thinking to stand up for himself, he still doesn’t dare to resist them.“I took a deep breath and shut my locker. I was used to this kind of abuse. Last year, whenever Enrique caught wind of it, he’d tell me to stand up for my self. ‘I know you don’t want to fight,’ he said once. ‘But at least have the balls to tell hem to fuck off,’ And in my head I did. In my head, I was Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer or James Bond or all three of them combined. But beyond my head, the most I ever did was ignore it and walk away”(Henriquez 15). This quote tells us Mayor has been bullied for a long while and he is kind of used to it. He is unhappy, but he just hides his anger and ignores what they did to him. He is willing to fight in his mind, but he doesn’t succeed in real life. It is ironic that he thinks t he is “Jack Bauer” or “Jason Bourne”. They are heroes in people’s mind. The difference between them and Mayor make us feel more sorry for …show more content…
Mayor becames a better man. He doesn’t afraid to fight for Maribel. “And that’s when I punched him. I’d never punched anyone in my life, but before I knew it, I squeezed my hand shut, drew back my elbow, and punched Garrett right in the side of the neck. I’d been aiming for his face, but I missed (128). Garrett keeps humiliating Maribel in the face of Mayor. Mayor can’t stand any bad things or bad words towards Maribel. Therefore, he fights for Maribel and this is the first time he ever fights someone. There are a lot of first time moments after he met Maribel. Even though he doesn’t really punch Garrett. We are still happy to see he changes and finally brave to fight
One of the earliest lessons he ever learned was from his mother. She told all four of her boys to never let people think they were afraid and that they were never to become victims. This is shown with each word that Canada uses in his title. The first phase of his life consisted of “Fist”. He recalls the time when he first moved to Union Ave and he was trapped inside his apartment because he hadn’t established himself in the neighborhood. He would sit up in his 3rd floor apartment and jealously looked on, as all the other kids would play in the streets. One day his older brother John had enough and walked outside to face his fate. The rest of his brothers followed and eventually each got beat up as a pass to the streets. None of them showed their fears or their pain, a lesson that they first learned from their mother. This was only one of many steps/ factors in becoming an established individual not to be reckoned with. Age was the other factor to be considered. The older you were, the more respect you got from others. There were the young adults, who were the biggest and badest on the block. They weren’t usually around to defend their turf because they all belonged to a gang, however everyone knew they ruled all. Next were the mid-teen boys who were the “real rulers of Union Ave (18)” They were the ones who enforced the rules. The lower categories were the early teens and the pre teens. The early teens were just learning the rules whereas the pre teens couldn’t go off of the sidewalk. Geoffrey belonged to the lowest rung, the sidewalk group. As time wen...
When that thief tried to steal Silvio’s mother’s pager from him while out in a car with a group of boys Silvio, like me, jumped to action and tried to get his belongings back. At the time it was a bad idea because the other boy was holding a boxcutter knife and when Silvio reached for the pager his face was sliced pretty bad and he needed sixty-seven stitches to put his face back together. After this incident Silvio wore this scar like a badge of honor and he compared himself to Tony Montana off the movie Scarface whom he idolized. Similar to me Silvio did not stand for that, neither of us would not be treated like some kind of victim just there to be taken advantage of. Although Silvio and I had that in common the difference between us in that fact is that he stole that pager from his mother, something I would dare not do to my parents unless I had some kind of death wish. As one could assume being out late at night and hanging out with the wrong type of people Silvio felt like he could act in such a way because of everything he has already experienced at a young age still feeling
In 1978 after mayor George Moscone and a member of the board Harvey Milk were assassinated, Feinstein decided to run for mayor. Feinstein won in 1979 due to her promises of non-tolerate legal and social reforms, and was reelected in 1983 for a second four-year term. City and State magazine named her “America’s Most Effective Mayor” in 1987 (Leiman). While she was the mayor of San Francisco, Feinstein’s main concern was public safety. She cut the emergency police response down to be four times faster than before she was in office.
In the novel, “The Book of Unknown Americans,” by Cristina Henriquez, she writes about the life of peoples migrating from Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Venezuela and many similar Spanish-speaking countries to the United States. This novel talks in deep about the hardships faced by such peoples. Many characters are involved to make this story interesting. But the story mainly revolves around Alma and Mayor. Alma is married to Arturo Rivera and belongs to Mexico. Also, she is the mother of Maribel. Basically, she is the one who cares for the betterment of her family first rather than other materialistic things around her. She is a great character with many redeeming qualities who sincerely plays her role as a supportive wife and as a dutiful mother.
All towns, cities, and areas have their own specific traits. Small towns tend to be more like a family, while big cities tend to be more passive. Then there are the small areas where people do not make much money and struggle to get by. These areas tend to be more violent and more influenced by drugs and alcohol. This is the area that Andre Dubus III grew up in, in his memoir Townie. His parents were divorced and neither of them made much money so he and his two sisters and brother ended up moving from one small crummy neighborhood to another. In these neighborhoods he would get involved in the wrong crowds and end up doing drugs, drinking, and fighting. This became a way to show power. The most powerful people were strong and always came out on top in fights, had all the drugs and alcohol, and therefore all the power. This drove many people to fight so that they could move up this chain of command. No one wanted to be the bottom because that was the position of the most abused people of the neighborhood. This need and fear is what drove Andre to fight and the understanding of this fear is what drove him away from fighting.
...ed by the ancient symbol of fear, conveys the child's panic. The mother's approach is a source of terror for the child, written as if it is a horror movie, suspense created with the footsteps, the physical embodiment of fear, the doorknob turns. His terror as 'he tries to run' but 'her large hands hold him fast' is indicative of his powerless plight. The phrase, 'She loves him...' reiterates that this act signifies entrapment as there is no reciprocation of the ‘love’. It is ironic that her love is deemed 'the frightening fact'. Clearly this form of love will destroy his innocence, his freedom to think for himself, his ability to achieve emotional fulfilment. We sense the overpowering, suffocating nature of this form of love, but also the nature of American cultural imperialism, which is similarly stifling to the development of national identity and fulfilment.
After reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, I realized how difficult immigrating to the United States can be. I am an immigrant also, so just reading the story makes me relate to many problems immigrants experience relocating to a different country. Immigrants often face many issues and difficulties, but for some it is all worth it, but for others there comes a point in time where they have to go back to their hometown. Alma and Arturo Rivera came to the United States to better their life, but also so that Maribel could attend a special education school. While Arturo had a job things had gone well for the family, but once Arturo lost the job and passed away the two of them had to go back because they felt that that was the best option for them. Reading this book made me realize how strong an individual has to be to leave their own country and relocate somewhere else not knowing if this will better your life or cause one to suffer.
...ything to have been on Himmel Street that night so that Rudy survived rather than himself.” (547)
The City of God is based on actual events that occurred in Rio de Janeiro during the 1960’s and 1970’s. The movie is about the rise and fall of a fearsome sociopath gang leader Li’l Ze, who reigned as king of the drug lords during the 70’s. The first part of the movie illustrates some of the forces that mold Li’l Ze into the man he becomes, while the second half shows his ruthless leap to power, followed by the war he wages against opposing gang leaders Carrot and Knockout Ned. The film is narrated by Rocket, a photographer who exists on the outskirts of Li’l Ze’s circle of dominance and control. In the film the city is filled with ruthless acts of delinquency and is basically in chaos. There are two theories that I would like to discuss in relation to the city’s unusually high criminal acts.
Much of my life, love has been defined by an unexplainable and uncontrollable feeling that burns inside your soul. One that when you look at a person you will just know and the rest will be history. This definition of love I grew up love was also demanding, controlling, dependent, and selfish. But still it was something to be desired and something everyone couldn’t wait to feel. To love
Around the city Hancock’s self image is a super human who’s always drunk, and arrogant. He’s very destructive to the city as he help stop crimes. The citizens are tired of him and his shitty attitude so they call him an “asshole”. Hancock’s lack of self worth affects him because he feels abandon. In one scene Hancock said, “I have nobody” (Goldsman A, Lassiter J, Mann M, Smith W & Berg, P. 2008). In another scene Hancock had said, “Gotta wonder, though. What kind of bastard must I have been, that nobody was there to claim me?” (Goldsman et al 2008).
In this essay I would like to emphasize different ideas of how love is understood and discussed in literature. This topic has been immortal. One can notice that throughout the whole history writers have always been returning to this subject no matter what century people lived in or what their nationality was.
Love is said to be one of the most desired things in life. People long for it, search for it, and crave it. It can come in the form of partners, friends, or just simply family. To some, love is something of a necessity in life, where some would rather turn a cold shoulder to it. Love can be the mixture of passion, need, lust, loyalty, and blood. Love can be extraordinary and breathtaking. Love being held so high can also be dangerous. Love can drive people to numerous mad things with it dangerously so full of craze and passion.
In “What is an American” by Hector St John de Crevecoeur, the writer described many notable differences that he discovered when he first arrived in America. He marveled at the many differences in structure, diversity, and the overall equality of this new land. Crevecoeur’s early America was much different than the land that he once knew. America gave him a sense of freedom, hope, and possibility. He wrote letters in hope to inspire all who were looking for a change in their lives, and who would be ready to contribute to the advancement of such a great land. America was more united, with every man working for themselves. There were no monarchies with Kings and Lords who contained all wealth while others suffered. Every
LOVE: Love can be defined as a sincere intense tender affection for another person. It is an expression of adoration and trust, which serves as a double-edge knife; it can be a person’s strength or weakness. Despite being a basic human emotion, there is no actual way to describe love, which applies to all people. This is said because love is expressed in several different ways, and can take on numerous forms; an individual cannot decide when, how, and where love appears, as love is unpredictable. In saying that, love is generally defined as a romantic affection for another individual.