One can learn responsibility through experience, whether the experience is great, or if it is tragic. In The Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes, twelve year old Lanesha demonstrates her growth by bringing her and others to safety during a deadly storm. Once nurtured and cared for by her non-biological grandmother, Lanesha learns to take care of herself and others. This significance shows her transitioning from a girl to a young woman. Hurricane Katrina is approaching New Orleans, Louisiana, including the Ninth Ward, where Lanesha and her guardian, Mama Ya-Ya live. The chapter, titled “Sunday”, starts off with the newspapers and the televisions emphasizing the word “evacuate”. Mama Ya-Ya, who is normally up and about, ready to greet the day, is curled up on the couch asleep. Something has been bothering Mama Ya-Ya; Lanesha even sees it when she wakes up. “I walk through the house. Even though it’s Sunday, there’s no smell of cinnamon-spiced waffles or pancakes. I can’t smell any bacon. (I’m not hungry anyway.) There’s quiet when there should be pots rattling in the kitchen. Me and Mama Ya-Ya should be at the table, talking up a storm” (Rhodes, 70). Towards the middle of the chapter, Lanesha notices that her neighbors are preparing for the storm’s arrival. This gets her worried: “I feel nervous, watching my neighbors readying for the storm. Tonight when it hits, we’ll all be inside our houses. I wonder if they feel like I do. Scared. If they worry about getting hurt or not having enough to eat. Afraid that like the big bad wolf, the wind might blow all our houses away” (Rhodes, 73). Seeing this, Lanesha comes to a realization that something must b... ... middle of paper ... ... of these important decisions. As the stories goes on, Mama Ya-Ya is withering away as the storm goes on and as the days go by. Lanesha uses Mama Ya-Ya’s wisdom and visions to guide her through preparing for the storm. When Mama Ya-Ya passes away during a significant part of the storm, Lanesha takes into account that she is now a grown woman, who needs to get out alive. The chapter “Sunday” specifies how Lanesha comes to the realization that she must grow up quickly. Her transition from being Mama Ya-Ya’s child to an independent soul stands out in this part of the story. Lanesha proves to the readers that she is able to make constructive decisions by herself and that she can hold her own. She also shows that she can truly take care of others such as Mama Ya-Ya, her friend TaShon, and his dog, Spot. Sometimes, we may need an experience, good or bad, to help us grow.
A storm such as Katrina undoubtedly ruined homes and lives with its destructive path. Chris Rose touches upon these instances of brokenness to elicit sympathy from his audience. Throughout the novel, mental illness rears its ugly head. Tales such as “Despair” reveal heart-wrenching stories emerging from a cycle of loss. This particular article is concerned with the pull of New Orleans, its whisper in your ear when you’ve departed that drags you home. Not home as a house, because everything physical associated with home has been swept away by the storm and is now gone. Rather, it is concerned with home as a feeling, that concept that there is none other than New Orleans. Even when there is nothing reminiscent of what you once knew, a true New Orleanian will seek a fresh start atop the foundation of rubbish. This is a foreign concept for those not native to New Orleans, and a New Orleanian girl married to a man from Atlanta found her relationship split as a result of flooding waters. She was adamant about staying, and he returned to where he was from. When he came back to New Orleans for her to try and make it work, they shared grim feelings and alcohol, the result of which was the emergence of a pact reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet. This couple decided they would kill themselves because they could see no light amongst the garbage and rot, and failure was draining them of any sense of optimism. She realized the fault in this agreement,
escape the wretches of poverty. Katrina’s story reflects the untold struggles of many women in
Janie’s first parental, godlike figure is Nanny, and she is the first to assume the form of a metaphorical hurricane or “[s]omething resembling a hurricane in force or speed” (“Hurricane”). Nanny establishes her parental, godlike status to Janie when she says, “’You ain’t got no papa, you might jus’ as well say no mama, for de good she do yuh. You ain’t got nobody but me…Neither can you stand alone by yo’self’” (15). While acting as the sole provider of love and protection to Janie, Nanny assumes the speed and force of a hurricane; “she bolt[s] upright” upon witnessing Janie’s first kiss an...
At the age of ten, most children are dependent on their parents for everything in their lives needing a great deal of attention and care. However, Ellen, the main character and protagonist of the novel Ellen Foster, exemplifies a substantial amount of independence and mature, rational thought as a ten-year-old girl. The recent death of her mother sends her on a quest for the ideal family, or anywhere her father, who had shown apathy to both she and her fragile mother, was not. Kaye Gibbons’ use of simple diction, unmarked dialogue, and a unique story structure in her first novel, Ellen Foster, allows the reader to explore the emotions and thoughts of this heroic, ten-year-old girl modeled after Gibbons’ own experiences as a young girl.
It can be examined from a few different standpoints, from the dramatic, psychological, and even mythical. Although this play has so many different views to explore, they all mainly focus on the protagonist of the play, Jessie, and her motivations for her decision to take her own life. Through further exploration, I will analyze one of the major scenes before Jesse takes her own life and would like to further explore the character of Mama.
Even though Mama is a strong woman, there are many flaws. Not so much with her, but more so with her family. Her youngest daughter Maggie was burned in a house fire, which has left her broken and battered. Mama really talks down about Maggie, but it’s all true, she says “Have you ever seen a lame animal,
When we compare to the life of Mama and that of Maggie, you find that Maggie has never undergone major challenges in life compared to her mother walker who faced a great deal of personal tragedies while in college. In order to overcome all the tragedies, she faced life with courage, dignity and strength of mind. It is with this reason that she emerges to be a very strong character who is able to live her own life confidently and also becoming and accomplished writer of exceptional calibre and competencies (Walker, pg7). Walker is an educated woman unlike her daughter Maggie who is shy and has no education. Mama is seen to be more concerned about the physical life around her as compared to Maggie who hovers around doorways doing nothing instead of involving her life with things around her and it is so evident that Mama is a very clear defined and strong character. It can be compared to Maggie who is broadminded and unselfish with a spirit of sacrifice to her
The story “Eleven,” shows the morning of a girl’s eleventh birthday. However, her day turns sour when she faces an unexpected problem that morning. In the story, the author, Sandra Cisneros, uses imagery, childish diction, and first person point of view to characterize Rachel, the main character.
The thunder and lightning were getting bigger and bigger in the sky. He heard a window crash underneath him and saw kids running around on the wet concrete. “Get back into your houses and stay there until this is all over. I don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
It must soon be time for the Beasts to roam. The Beasts roam ever earlier in the day, and it is not safe to be out of doors. When she was a child, the Beasts dared not appear while the sky held light. Monsters are bolder now.
Fink, Sheri. "Hurricane Katrina: after the flood." The Gaurdian. N.p., 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Today’s readings we looked at the effects that Hurricane Katrina had on the women and children in New Orleans. The devastation that was caused by Katrina was massive and in “Women of Katrina: Taking Care, Weaving Networks, Crossing Borders” looks into how women got through the disaster with displacement and their families. During Super Storm Sandy my mom was not pleased when my sister said that she was going to wait out the storm at her boyfriends at the time. Her reasoning was that we need to be together as a family during this difficult time, and that was the reasoning for those who did not evacuate during Katrina. During disasters women are more likely to want to evacuate because of the mentality of protecting the family however, the final
The readers become sympathetic to the author by looking into her frustrations of continually falling short of her mother’s expectations, her resistance to being changed, and even the way she describes others. They can further understand the desire to be loved, which leads to her misbehaviour. This story suggests that both the mother and the daughter have their own strong standpoints, and will behave in the way which is most suited to her own beliefs.
“Well, I realized dad is right. We have hurricanes all the time, and this one is no different. We have lived through all those other ones, and there hasn’t been much damage, this one will be the same.” I really hoped Jacob believed me because my words couldn’t even convince myself that everything would be okay. Jacob sniffed and raised up from the floor. He was still crying a bit, but at least he had stopped shaking in fear. I needed to think of a way to distract him so he wouldn’t keep thinking about this approaching hurricane and the warning the officials
Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, uses many literary devices to characterize a complex eleven-year-old. Rachel, the ingenuous 1st person narrator, relates the details of her humiliating eleventh birthday. Although her diction reflects her age, Rachel conveys the difficulty of growing up with adult precision. She is embarrassed and feels helpless, but knows she will soon be home with her parents, and her terrible day will drift away. Rachel's age is given away not only by the title, but by her word choice. She employs numerous similes, describing crying like uncontrollable hiccups, drinking milk to fast, and little animal noises. Her confidence rattles like "pennies in a tin Band-Aid Box," and she is always on the edge of lapsing into another session of tears. However, Rachel's diction does not simple betray her age. Descriptions like "smells like cottage cheese" are insights into her true personality. She is passionate and curious, almost to a fault. Because she describes things like runaway balloons, she is a believable eleven-year-old. First person narration reveals though Rachel's thoughts are those of a typical eleven-year-old her descriptive ability is more mature. Rachel has an uncanny ability to convey her feelings. However, because she is an ingenuous narrator, she sometimes misses the deeper significance of her feelings. Although she twice mentions she is looking forward to cake, her birthday song, and normal birthday things, she does not mention she also needs the comfort of her parents. On the other hand, unlike most older, or mature, people, she understands enough about life experience to know she does not have enough.