This essay is about a novel titled Reef, authored by Romesh Gunesekera, this novel is but one of many of his works, he also authored ‘Monkfish Moon, The Sandglass, The match and many others. The novel has won him several awards. The title of the novel holds a meaning in itself, the word reef is defined as ‘a ridge of jagged rock or coral just above or below the surface of the sea’ (Oxford 2005). The novel entails of an eleven year old named Triton, he burned the roof of a heart in his school and his uncle sends him away to work as a houseboy for a man known as Mr. Salgado, a marine biologist in the island of Sri Lanka. The novel is written in the first person with Triton as the narrator, he tells the story is if it was pre-recorded, this helps him tell the story as it is, he outlays the activities as they occur. Triton goes through a ‘rite of passage’, a ‘rite of passage’ can be described as an event that that marks a significant change in one’s life. Triton went from being a kid that was dependent on his family, which was under his family’s guidance and protection to an independent young houseboy who had to face the world on his own and fight all the challenges he encountered on his own. Joseph (one of Mr. Salgado’s workers) was one of the people that gave him problems, Joseph did not like Triton at all we see this in the way he …show more content…
Salgado once found Triton with a dead bird in his and said to him “you know you must not take life, to destroy is easy, but you don’t have the gift to make life so easy”( Gunesekera )in this light one might assume that Mr. Salgado is fond of birds, However when Triton showed him the Oriole bird that was singing, he paid no mind to it , nothing troubled the Bird even though it knew that its time could come at any moment, One can say that Triton was trying to get Mr. Salgado’s mind off the problems he had with Miss Nili and rather focus on the beautiful sounds the bird was making and cherish the here and now as the bird was
Imagine a teenage boy who is isolated on a faraway island, without food or water. The hot and sticky weather is intolerable, but the rampaging storms are worse. He quickly develops malaria and diarrhea, and on top of that, blood-sucking insects and menacing reptiles lurch beneath his feet. He has no idea what is coming, but he needs to survive. This is the story of a young boy who has to travel to the other side of the world to realize that everything can’t go his way.
Alistair Macleod’s “The Boat” is a tale of sacrifice, and of silent struggle. A parent’s sacrifice not only of their hopes and dreams, but of their life. The struggle of a marriage which sees two polar opposites raising a family during an era of reimagining. A husband embodying change and hope, while making great sacrifice; a wife gripped in fear of the unknown and battling with the idea of losing everything she has ever had. The passage cited above strongly presents these themes through its content
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
Problems can always cause trouble in the future and in the novel The Fifth Rule, the story’s protagonist, Reef, is in big trouble. During a hearing, Decker, one of the antagonists of the story, states, “ … this young man [Reef] was, you might say, a graduate of North Hills’s rehabilitation program and yet, a year later at age nineteen, he remains a danger to society” (Aker 144). This incident threatened the closure of the North Hills Group, but because of Frank’s previous support, Reef was able to convince the judge to keep the group open. This shows that Reef meeting Frank has really influenced Reef’s life. Frank helps Reef transform from an inconsiderable egoist to a kind and respectable young man. Reef shows what many teenagers experience today. Counsellors, psychiatrists, and rehabilitation centres are all examples of supportive environments in our world today. When teenagers are anxious, they tend to need all the help they can get, just like how Judge Thomas and Frank Colville have helped Reef. This shows how well supportive environments can help change negative experiences into positive
The ocean is mysterious to mankind. The unfathomable vastness of the ocean intrigues humanity into exploring it. In life, the immense possibilities that lie in the future compel us to reach for the stars. In the poem “The Story” by Karen Connelly, an individual willingly swims into deep waters even though they are fearful of what may exist in the waters. The swimmer later finds out that their fears were foolish, which illustrates the human tendency to venture into the unknown. The theme conveyed in this poem is that life is like a rough, uncertain, uncontrollable ocean that we must find get through with experience.
Thesis: Glaspell utilized the image of a bird to juxtapose/compare/contrast the death of Mrs. Wright’s canary to the death of Mrs. Wright’s soul.
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
Throughout the story, the reader comes across several things that he or she will question. In the beginning of the story, a young boy goes to the aquarium to see the axolotls. He soon becomes obsessed with them and goes everyday to watch them. At the
“The Swimmer” is an allegory that is narrated in third person point of view as someone who is observing Neddy’s journey. This enables the reader to discover the reactions of friends and neighbors as Neddy arrives at their homes while still revealing the shift of the round character’s own attitude and feelings as his journey through life continues. Cheever wisely tells the story from a perspective in which the reader can still be connected to Neddy from the beginning to the end of the story while learning how his actions have disappointed others and not just himself. It also uncovers the involvement of each character and their relationship with Neddy before and after his mid-life crisis. If this story was told from any other point of view then the reader would only be obtaining one sided, in a sense a close minded, version whereas with a third person point of view the reader is approached to the entire situation given all perspectives. It guides the reader from one meaningful piece to another on an even level without any bias impressions while the story is being delivered.
When the children become stranded on the island, the rules of society no longer apply to them. Without the supervision of their parents or of the law, the primitive nature of the boys surfaces, and their lives begin to fall apart. The downfall starts with their refusal to gather things for survival. The initial reaction of the boys is to swim, run, jump, and play. They do not wish to build shelters, gather food, or keep a signal fire going. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom and life as they knew it deteriorates.
In the poem there are two birds, one is caged and is forced to watch the other free bird. “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” The caged bird in Maya Angelou’s poem is forced to watch the free bird from his cage. This caged bird can’t beat his wings, fly, or move, he can only sing a song that is a cry for help. The caged bird can’t do much about his situation, he is trapped and disabled. “ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” the caged bird cannot fly anymore because his wings are clipped. Even though he can’t fly the bird still opens his throat to sing. The caged bird in “ Caged Bird” is not as free as the bird in “Sympathy” because if this bid is free he can fly and do whatever he wants. But the bird in Maya’s poem cannot, he isn’t truly free, there is more hope for the other
bird as the metaphor of the poem to get the message of the poem across
The Old Man and the Sea has been a time old classic by a both beloved and occasionally despised author Mr. Ernest Hemingway. In the Old Man and the Sea Symbolism and references that reflect Hemingway’s own life can be seen in many different lights, he had many ups and downs similar as Santiago’s struggles and as I have chosen to explore the suffering that can be seen in Santiago and in relation to Hemingway’s own life.
The novel Reef by Romesh Gunesekera is about a lad named Triton. The novel marks his coming of age. As the novel progress young Triton grows from a boy to a man.” Triton at the age of eleven” and “I told him I had a business nearby a restaurant”(Gunesekera1) ,this show that he had grown up from a lad to man. Triton experiences a number of events that his coming of age. In my essay I will explore these events of an insider and outsider.
“A Bird came down the Walk,” was written in c. 1862 by Emily Dickinson, who was born in 1830 and died in 1886. This easy to understand and timeless poem provides readers with an understanding of the author’s appreciation for nature. Although the poem continues to be read over one hundred years after it was written, there is little sense of the time period within which it was composed. The title and first line, “A Bird came down the Walk,” describes a common familiar observation, but even more so, it demonstrates how its author’s creative ability and artistic use of words are able to transform this everyday event into a picture that results in an awareness of how the beauty in nature can be found in simple observations. In a step like narrative, the poet illustrates the direct relationship between nature and humans. The verse consists of five stanzas that can be broken up into two sections. In the first section, the bird is eating a worm, takes notice of a human in close proximity and essentially becomes frightened. These three stanzas can easily be swapped around because they, for all intents and purposes, describe three events that are able to occur in any order. Dickinson uses these first three stanzas to establish the tone; the tone is established from the poet’s literal description and her interpretive expression of the bird’s actions. The second section describes the narrator feeding the bird some crumbs, the bird’s response and its departure, which Dickinson uses to elaborately illustrate the bird’s immediate escape. The last two stanzas demonstrate the effect of human interaction on nature and more specifically, this little bird, so these stanzas must remain in the specific order they are presented. Whereas most ...