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Narrative essays high school
Narrative essays high school
The boy who harnessed the wind essays
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William Kamkwamba is a very unique person with a more incredible story. William’s personality is the type that makes him persevere through the tough times in Malawi, which is a village located in Africa. William is also the type to work for what he wants. During the story, “ The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind “, William shows several times that if he wants something badly enough, he will be determined to get it. One last trait that William has is that he never wants to give up. The fact that he never wants to give up makes him determined to persevere through the tough times in Africa. William has three very important personality traits which helped him be in the position he is in today as a successful man, instead of being like most of the …show more content…
people in his village still living in poverty and hardly making due with what is available for them. William wasn’t afraid to be himself and make his creation of the windmill, even though the people of his village thought he was wasting his time and made fun of him for it. William has a lot of very important characteristics that many would be lucky to have.
First one, would be his perseverance attitude. Even though life in Malawi was very difficult with many setbacks, William still found a way to survive and get through those hard times by making the best of them and doing what he enjoyed. Which was building and creating new this with his friends. Another time in the story when William shows perseverance is when William is told many times by people in his village and that he is wasting his time trying to build this windmill. “At first I’d tried to explain the windmill, but they just laughed and said, “ Iwe, you’re wasting your time. This junk is good for nothing (Kamkwamba,188).” William didn’t let the people of his town get the best of him, by choosing to continue doing what he loved which is creating new things. Throughout the story, William shows a lot of perseverance which helped him be the successful man he is …show more content…
today. The next trait that William upholds is the determination to work for what he wants.
He’s determination is shown in the story when he becomes unable to go to school anymore because his family is cannot pay the school dues. Instead of being doing nothing, William started going to the library everyday and reading books because he was determined to learn. “ But because my family still couldn’t afford my school fees, I was forced to stay home doing nothing (Kamkwamba,160).” At the library William found the same textbooks that his friends were using at school. “ I left that afternoon with books on geography, social studies, and basic spelling--the same textbooks my friends were studying in school. It was the end of the term, and my hope was to get caught up before classes started again (Kamkwamba,161).” These quotes show that William was determined to keep up his education, so he would be ready for school when it started again. His determination his showed very strongly throughout the book, especially about his schooling. William had the determination to learn so he went to great strengths to keep up his education that he
treasured. Another trait that William has is the ability to never give up. No matter how many setbacks, he always found a way to break them down till and overcome them. When it comes to learning, William did not wish to end is days at school, so he chose to not give up learning by going to the library almost everyday. William also showed this trait towards his creation of the windmill, fixing of radios, and figuring out how things work. “But one evening, my father’s friend rode up to our house on his bicycle with a lamp powered by a dynamo. As soon as he hopped off the bike, the light switched off. “What made the lamp go off?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him turn a switch. … Once he went inside to see my father, I jumped on his bike to try it myself, to see if I could make the lamp work. … The dynamo had its own metal wheel that pressed against the rubber. Turning the pedal with my hand, the tire spun round and also spun the wheel of the dynamo. Then the light came on (Kamkwamba, 79).” This example of William wanting to figure out how the dynamo worked shows that he wasn’t going to give up on figuring how it worked. Even as a young boy William has the great trait of never wanting to give up by striving to find answers.
In his piece “The Storm” Elijah Paschelke reflects upon his 7 months in solitary confinement. He states that he “will never see the world the way I did before,” and then continues “I will never not see it the way I did before.” This statement suggests that he used to not notice the world around him, hence “not seeing”. He vows that he will never live the way that he did before because his time in prison has made him more appreciative of the smaller things in life.
Upon watching the movie and understanding the concepts of these two theories it becomes apparent that William was in a state of anomie and he used all five of the modes of adaptation in order to adapt to his strain. William’s ability to enter into the four delinquent modes of adaptation, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, and rebellion, were a result of the breakdown of his social bonds, attachment, involvement, commitment, and belief.
In Terrance Hayes Book of poetry Wind in a Box, one can see that the poems are devoted to personal history, blues variation, prose poems, and attempts at getting to the core of defining one’s lineage. The blue poems in particular consider 20th century representations of race, culling wisdom, and impressions from many famous people. Hayes uses the word blue in many different titles of poems in order to show various themes throughout them that tie them together using popular cultural icons. It is obvious to see the significance the word blue plays throughout the Wind in a Box poetry collection. Hayes poems “The Blue Suess” and Booker’s Tomb” from the collection Upright Blues emphasize the times of tradition, rare and freedom in the most interesting ways.
He motivates me to be a better person and to stand up when I know that I need to. William is known as an unsung hero, and I think that after what he did he should be extremely famous and known. His story is impeccable and I will think of him as a role model everyday.
Douglass’ eagerness to learn had did not stop him from furthers his education. Douglass brought his book for read with him when he was sent out
Daniel Brown’s The Boys in the Boat is a book that shows2 the strength of the University of Washington’s crew team. The book teaches many valuable lessons from life in the 1930’s. This piece of literature is based on the interviews, which went on for seven years. Joe Rantz, the star of the crew team, was abandoned by his father and step mom, for the second time at age 17. He eventually found comfort in the Olympic bound crew team. Joe Rantz went through many hardships when he was by himself, as well as the intense team workouts, the following quotes exemplify how Joe channeled his energy to be a great crew teammate, that could trust and be trusted by his teammates.
William Wilberforce was an example of a common mortal hero. He was a normal, completely realistic person, in that he stumbled many times and often emphasized his humanity by saying, ?Am I not a man?? After years of work without success he felt he had failed, but he still pressed forward. He possessed no extraordinary power or skill, but he rose to the occasion and changed the world. Not only was William one of the few who was disgusted by the slave trade, he was also one of the select few who had the courage to stand up against it. Someone once said, ?Courage does not consist in feeling no fear, but in conquering fear. He is the hero who seeing the lion on either side goes straight on, because there his duty lies.? William saw the lions?many of them, nevertheless he continued on because he knew it was his duty. William Wilberforce was an ordinary man, but he was able to overcome fear and be a hero. However, he would not have been able to do it without the help of many friends.
In the novel a Grain of Wheat written by Nugugi we explore in-depth the hardships and courage of African men and women who were forced to fight for their independence in the War of Independence. This book reveals to us the life of a man named Gikonyo. As a reader we learn that Gikonyo was through into a detention camp a poor and confused man. When released, Gikonyo is a new man with motivational and leadership abilities. Finding his true self in the camp and proving to be a true leader among his people. Although he is a new man after the camps, Gikonyo finds himself falling further apart from his beloved wife then he had ever been before.
According to Webster’s dictionary, a tragic hero is a protagonist that is otherwise perfect except for flaws that are intrinsic to his or her character, which often leads to his or her demise. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, the protagonist was unlike tragic heroes such as Oedipus, Iago and Beowulf, because he was not born into nobility, but had to rise to fame and earn respect through his exceptional stamina, hard work and his historic unrivaled success at defeating the famous Amalinze the Cat. Like Beowulf and Oedipus, Okonkwo shares traits that are characteristic of a tragic hero. These traits exposed his mortal fear of failure, his fear of weakness and his fear of becoming like his father who was lazy and poor. Okonkwo also possesses an unwavering pride and an irrepressible anger. Fear, pride and anger are some of the traits of a tragic hero that were inherent in Okonkwo, and this paper will seek to explore how these traits contributed to his downfall Okonkwo’s connection of manliness with rage, ferocity and recklessness eventually leads to his downfall. Okonkwo finds it difficult to accept the changes the Missionaries have brought to Umuofia. The missionaries changed the way the people of Umuofia think, leading to an irreversible division among the people.
Although the world is filled with air, it is perceived to be invisible. Only when one is thinking about air does it become considered visible. As the protagonist develops throughout the novel, Battle Royal, created by Ralph Ellison, he quickly witnesses how microscopic his achievements are to the “Big Shots” in his dominantly white community. To discover that he was just as human as the white men, he had to learn that he could only become visible to them when they wanted him to be. He will never get that constant gratitude of being an individual, instead, like air, he will only seem important when thought of. On his grandfathers deathbed, his father was told to tell him to never be a traitor to not only his culture but more importantly himself.
“Chapter 3” of No Promises in the Wind begins with the author, Irene Hunt, placing Josh and Joey in complete bewilderment. Unfortunately, they have just lost their comrad, friend, and brother, Howie. Attempting to leave the train, Howie lost his life trying to give his banjo to Josh. Dying right in front of his best, and only friend, was an event that Josh would remember for the rest of his life. Grieving, Josh and Joey do not know what they are going to do without their buddy, for without his optomistic attitude or talented musical skills they lost faith in themselves.
Kate Chopin, a well known prolific writer of the late nineteenth century, enlightened readers to empathize with the characters in her literary works. Upon reading and analyzing Chopin’s The Storm, the author uses a rich and profound use of setting to avoid the moral judgments of female sexuality and inner turmoil of each character as a means of providing the reader with an understanding of the suppressive nature of women living in a predominantly male governed society. Chopin illustrates the approaching of the storm as a catalyst between Calixta and Alcee, driving them into their adulterous affair. Ultimately, the retreating of the storm unveils marriage into question.
The poem begins with Mathew, William’s friend, inquiring him why is he wasting his time away sitting outside daydreaming. Mathew views education as a necessity for the human mind to grow in reason and knowledge. Without books, humans become “forlorn and blind” from all the reason and knowledge of the world. Therefore, Matthew feels that books are necessary to “drink the spirit breathed/ From dead men to their kind”, meaning, the knowledge obtained from books comes from the experiences
Okonkwo is a self-made man. He achieves greatness through his own hard work and determination. Okonkwo started his life without the benefits that other young men had. His father, Unoka, was a lazy man. He had acquired no honorary titles. When Unoka died, Okonkwo did not inherit any barn, title, or young wife. He merely acquired his father’s debts. Therefore, Okonkwo sets about to make a name for himself and to achieve greatness in his community. He diligently plants and harvests his yams, building a farm from scratch. He builds a large commune for his family. He marries three wives; one of them was the village beauty. He acquires two titles. Okonkwo is not a failure, like is father was. In Umuofia, “achievement was revered”, and Okonkwo’s achievement was immense (8). He was “clearly cut out for great things” (8). To the Igbo people, Okonkwo epitomizes greatness and success.
William went to a junior school before going to the Grammar School when he was 7. There he learned how to speak and write Latin. No one knows what he did after he left school at the age of 14.