Warsan Shire titled in her book of Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth expressing the uncompromising decisions immigrants and refugees must make as they are experiencing tragedies, for the survival of their families and theirs. Shire must transform herself as a different identity, to start a new chapter of her life, as her native-born country depicts her and the accent she carries within herself. Now that she has settled herself, she is aware that her life will be full of obstacles, but won’t know when to encounter them. Shire reunites her sense of nostalgia by her “...own city” pulling her “by the hair...” because she recalls the tragedies that occurred in the scenarios. The bad experience she went through, has made her realize that it can …show more content…
She'll never forget the past, but won't hold on to what happened; tries to move on and adapt to her new life. The “blackouts and curfews...” is what made Shire settle down as she reflects upon. She continues to apprehend the values that were given to her and has turned out to better herself for the best. The inconceivable choices refugees must make, has put them to reconsider what they’ve done to deserve all evilness. They have allowed themselves to be dehumanized for the result of winning back their place. Shire “can’t afford to forget” her language because she is identified as to where she came from and carries the culture in her. She is consumed by the memory of the place she was forced to flee and never come back. She has previously had amalgamated feelings towards her nation, but if she does not maintain her roots in her, she will learn to forget. The unforgettable footprints that get marked in her hometown will always mark the ending of her country and people. Nostalgia has signified a person where they’re from. Things are not like they used to be. Shire notices the change of her not being recognized in her new country by her beauty, but through …show more content…
The sensation that Shire can finally be understood by her native peers and feel the connection through images of “...memory of ash on their faces.” The barriers that they faced, spoke a lot about who they truly are, but have continued to suffer ever since the point, in which they started flying out to settle somewhere else. Others who have not put themselves in their shoes, have felt the obligation of encountering acceptable roles, languages, customs, notions, and changes in their native land. Shire and her people will begin to disappear little by little, while nobody notices them. Shire asserts that “..tongue against loose tooth.” makes her feel like home once again and is able to cherish her stories. Their definition of beautiness will never scope other’s attraction. Through the back of their minds, all they remember is everything happening so fast that they can’t recall when was the last time they had smile. They have come to comprehend that they were put under control through “curfews” for the sake of safeness in their neighborhood. The “..old anthem in my mouth…” has given Shire the will of “no space” to forget. Although home will never be replaced by its uniqueness, home can also be found by those who were forced to obey and never come back, in a different place in
Anna Quindlen, author of “Sex Ed”, believes that sexual education is vital to America’s future due to the fact that teenage girls are getting pregnant. Children should have the tools they need in order to understand their own body and sexuality. Quindlen uses compare and contrast in order to differentiate between what sex culture was, and how it is in 1986. In “Sex Ed”, Quindlen speaks about her experience at a family planning clinic in one of the poorer neighborhoods of New York City. She uses strongly uses irony in the first part of the excerpt, stating how all of the teenagers perfectly understood the reproductive system, yet they were all pregnant. The answer to teenage pregnancy is sexual education; how someone gets pregnant, how someone avoids pregnancy and how to handle unplanned pregnancy. However, educating students about pregnancy and the reproductive system is not a magical solution
“It was a large, beautiful room, rich and picturesque in the soft, dim light which the maid had turned low. She went and stood at an open window and looked out upon the deep tangle of the garden below. All the mystery and witchery of the night seemed to have gathered there amid the perfumes and the dusky and tortuous outlines of flowers and foliage. She was seeking herself and finding herself in just such sweet half-darkness which met her moods. But the voices were not soothing that came to her from the darkness and the sky above and the stars. They jeered and sounded mourning notes without promise, devoid even of hope. She turned back into the room and began to walk to and fro, down its whole length, without stopping, without resting. She carried in her hands a thin handkerchief, which she tore into ribbons, rolled into a ball, and flung from her. Once she stopped, and taking off her wedding ring, flung it upon the carpet. When she saw it lying there she stamped her heel upon it, striving to crush it. But her small boot heel did not make an indenture, not a mark upon the glittering circlet.
When Thomas Jefferson wrote the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, it became one of his greatest legacies. In the first line he wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" (U.S. Constitution, paragraph 2). Jefferson wrote these words to give inspiration to future generations in the hopes that they would be able to change what he either would or could not. The word “men” in the Declaration in the early 1700 and 1800’s meant exactly that, but even then it only was true for some men, not all. Women, children, and other segments of the population such as slaves and Native Americans were clearly not included. Jefferson himself was a slave owner and held the belief that women were inferior to men. Though women played no role in the political environment, they were crucial to the development and economic success of the times. The strength, courage and work ethic of pioneer women like Martha Ballard in “A Midwife’s Tale” (Thatcher, 1990) created the very fabric of the community and wove it together so the community could thrive.
This extract emphasises the lonely, outworld feeling that would have been felt living in such settings. This puts into perspective the feeling that will be felt during the coarse of the plot development.
"I had traveled much on the Kennebec, by water, by ice, and, during those treacherous seasons when the river was neither one nor the other, by faith" (e.g., A Midwife's Tale). Martha's diary is one of the few documents written by a woman that exist today and that describes the behavior, occupation, roles, and daily activities of a common society in the 18th century during and after the Revolution. Although she dedicates her whole life to help others and her family, the diary exposes a very different world with the very different community. Many other history documents lacked the problems of women and the lack of written documents by the female gender. Through this document, Martha gives the importance of women in the community and how they
The poet explores this notion in the poem ‘Kornilia’, when written Kornilia the other of Peter is reluctant to the change that Is occurring as her son adapts to the western culture. Kornilia questions herself as to where she went wrong with Peter “Where did I go wrong?” the tone and imagery in this is reluctance and regret towards her son and the overall cultural displacement. This influences the mindset that change is a given. This poem portrays change as a device that influences our thinking, that change at times is undesired. Over time within the poem it is a clear image of unwillingness to adjust to the change she is now forced to face which in hindsight is a positive progression for the family, Kornilia has not progressed she begins to be withdrawn from her “new world” and stilling longing for the old. To further highlight the uncertainty of change the use of metaphors helped convey the concept “Her feet make no imprint” Kornilia stayed constant she was at a halt, she didn’t change she refused it. The change in her life wasn’t only altering her lifestyle but was changing her only son
Pat Barker's riveting World War I novel Regeneration brilliantly exemplifies the effectiveness of fiction united with historical facts. While men aspired to gain glory from war and become heroes, Regeneration poignantly points out that not all of war was glorious. Rather, young soldiers found their aspirations prematurely aborted due to their bitter war experiences. The horrible mental and physical sicknesses, which plagued a number of soldiers, caused many men to withdraw from the battlefield. Feelings of guilt and shame haunted many soldiers as they found themselves removed from the heat of war. Men, however, were not the only individuals to experience such feelings during a time of historical upheaval. Women, too, found themselves at war at the dawn of a feminine revolution. One of the most contentious topics of the time was the practice of abortion, which comes to attention in chapter 17 on pages 202 and 203 of Barker's novel. Through Baker's ground-breaking novel, we learn how men and women alike discovered that in life, not all aspirations are realized; in fact, in times of conflict, women and men both face desperate situations, which have no definite solutions. Illustrated in Barker's novel by a young woman named Betty, and many broken soldiers, society's harsh judgments worsen the difficult circumstances already at hand.
Forced to become a child soldier, Beah experiences many horrific and life changing things. Among these, the drastic cultural changes that occurred as a result of the war. The increased western influence in the region only advanced the societal changes. In the memoir, Beah explains the significance of western culture and both the positive and negative effects it has on him and his peers. On one side, western values and items were beneficial to Beah and his peers in the sense that the cassettes Beah carried around with him saved his life on multiple occasions.
In her essay, “Motherhood: Who Needs It?”, Betty Rollin emphasizes the pressures of motherhood that society puts on women and highlights the fact that becoming a mother is not a natural instinct.
Analysis of The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks. For this assignment, I chose the poem "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is generally about abortion and the feelings a mother has. It's about the remembrance of the children aborted and the little things children do that the mother will miss.
basis of the plot and themes of this novel. The fond memories she possessed of her mother and the harsh ones of her father are reflected in the thoughts and
In “The Revolt of Mother,” written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, along with the narrator, we can experience how human beings communicate. Time and setting are the most important definitions of a person’s life. A person cannot change the time he lives in. He lives in the present, the past, or the future. However, his place in location, he is able to choose himself. If a person lives in a city, on a farm, in the mountains, or by the ocean—this can define the nature of his daily activities and even his character. The heroes of this story lived nearly a century ago. They resided on a farm. This was a time when there weren’t a lot of modern accommodations. That’s why Mother and Father had to do everything themselves. Mother raised the children, milked the cow, and cooked the food, which she produced on her own farm. Father also had many responsibilities, such as tending to the animals and farming. They both worked a lot—completed their own given tasks. This separates them from each other, and at the same time, adds to their character.
Discuss how any two of the myths of motherhood in the textbook/lecture support or refute what is being discussed in this interview?
After locking her self in the solitude of her bedroom she begins to recognize things that one would not think of after a loved one just passed away. " She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life (paragraph 5)." This is the point at witch she begins to deal with the grieving process, but also starts to realize the beauty of life. She begins to see that ...
...novelists have presented a realistic and touching picture of the palpable life of the Diasporas, who are on a river with a foot each in two different boats, and each boat trying to pull them in separate directions. But every coin has two sides to it. It is an enriching experience if taken in a positive way. Being an immigrant teaches them much about the world and about human beings. It enlarges their consciousness about things which they would never have understood if born and raised in one place. It enables them to speak concretely on a subject of universal significance and appeal.