...Fireweed The short story Fireweed, written by Skye Brannon, is the story about a young man named Baluta. He has migrated from West Africa to America, and with him is his brother Jato, and Jato’s wife Sama. The story is about how an ordinary workday triggers some memories. These memories start out as good and nice memories about his family back in Liberia, but turn bad. It is memories he has been trying to forget. As we read the story, the memories get tied together, and we end up discovering that something truly awful has happened to him and his family. The story takes place in America. The protagonist, Baluta, lives in the ghetto with Jato and Sama. Baluta drives an old rusty car he calls Swiss Chevy, because it is full of holes. Baluta is very goodhearted by nature: “… Jato and Sama who had to wake up at five a.m. to catch the buses to work. Baluta felt awful for this, but he had to work to get a car, and he needed a car to get to work.” The story follows the storyline chronologically with some flashbacks. It starts out with Baluta thinking of his dead little sister Alanso. He describes her as a very loving and happy person: “It was Alanso’s laugh, flowing like doves out of her bright smiling mouth. It was Alanso’s laugh, out from between those cheeks caught the sun and held it in a warm glow the rest of the day”. It carries on as an ordinary workday: he showers and drives the Swiss Chevy to his worksite. I suspect that the worksite is a so called Gated Community, as there...
Words: 842 - Pages: 4
...Fireweed Fireweed, a short story written by Shy Brannon in 2009, is about a boy named Baluta, or Joel. Baluta works as an uneducated carpenter in the United States. He lives with his brother Jato and tis sister-in-law Sama. The tree of them had to flee from Liberia, because of war and destruction where Jato saw his father and Sisters death. I believe the story takes place around 1989 (– 1996,) just before the first Liberian civil war raged: The war will be coming our way soon. The main themes in the story are taking things for granted or not just value the things you have in life. Some of the smaller themes or sub themes are war, culture differences and racism. The main character is Baluta, who is originating from Liberia in Africa. He has moved to USA, and now lives in a ghetto with his brother and sister-in-law. He works as a carpenter. The story is a day in Balutas’ life. He has got a job for Mrs Giles (Tiffany), she is an over class women. That lives in a big house with her boyfriend/man. When he arrives to the house where he needs to fix some cabins, even though he doesn’t she the problem he starts to fix it. When he first arrives Tiffany is very suspect about him, and wont open the door for him, this look on her face makes him think of his father’s monkey-traps back in Liberia. Though the story he gets flashback, or jus remembering the time in Liberia, so we sort of get a background far about him. For example, Tiffany is wearing a diamond, which that makes him...
Words: 587 - Pages: 3
...Fireweed We all have some kind of memories. It can be bad and fond or pleasant memories. Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose. But even though there is something you do not want to remember the memory will stay in you. It will not disappear. We can see in the short story “Fireweed” how much a memory can overwhelm a person if the memory is tragic and is hard to forget. In the beginning of the short story Baluta wakes up from a nightmare. He sees his sister Alanso who stirrers at him from the dead. His sister’s death had given him a memory he cannot run away from. There will always come something in the way that will remind him about his tragic memory, which he will not forget. “Fireweed” is written by Skye Brannon in 2009. It is a short story about a man named Baluta who immigrated to the United States of America because of civil war in Liberia. His family was killed back in Liberia, and the story might take place around 1980-1990 because of the civil war in Liberia. As it says in the text: “”The war will be coming our way soon.” Baluta remembered; it was the first time he had seen fear behind his father’s strong eyes.” (p. 11, line 95). There is a song that is highlighted in the text. “Tiffany’s cellphone rang. It was a custom ring of a song called ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ by U2” (p.11, line 103). The song comes from U2’s album from 1987, so the story might be around 1987-1990. ...
Words: 801 - Pages: 4
...Fireweed by Skye Brannon The short story, Fireweed, is written by Skye Brannon. Skye Brannon gained her sense of adventure early on, spending her formative years at her parents' skydiving business. In her mid-20’s she spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer on the island of Samoa. She is a traveler, writer, artist, and tech geek currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fireweed, takes place in United States, where the main character Joel lives. His real name is Baluta and there are certain flashbacks, which indicate his earlier life from Liberia. I believe that the text is happening around 1980-1990’s, because of the civil war in Liberia. It is mentioned in the text: “The war will be coming our way soon.” Baluta remembered; it was the first time he had seen fear behind his father’s strong eyes.” That might explain why Baluta, Jato and Sama left Liberia and immigrated in the US. “Tiffany waved absently. “She said you were from Africa?” “Liberia.” Baluta clarified.” Baluta lives together with his brother (Jato) and sister-in-law (Sama). Jato’s “American” name is Bob. I believe they live and alternative life in the poor part of the city as the lower-class. As an example, Baluta is washing himself in cold water, because his brother and sister-in-law have had their shower before him. That shows that there is not enough warm water for all of them, in the apartment. “Baluta washed in the shower, cold after his brother and sister-in-law had had theirs.” Obviously...
Words: 848 - Pages: 4
...“Fireweed” by Skye Brannon Fireweed is a short story, which partly takes place in the United States of America, and partly in Liberia. The main character, Baluta, is originally from Liberia. He immigrated to the United States of America, because of civil war in Liberia. Baluta immigrated together with his brother Jato, and his sister-in-law, Sama. I believe that the text is happening around 1980-1990’s, because of the civil war in Liberia. It is mentioned in the text: “The war will be coming our way soon.” Baluta remembered; it was the first time he had seen fear behind his father’s strong eyes.” That might explain why Baluta, Jato and Sama left Liberia and immigrated in the US. “Tiffany waved absently. “She said you were from Africa?” “Liberia.” Baluta clarified.” Baluta, Jato and Sama are not able to pronounce english like the native americans. Skye Brannon tells us, by writing words that starts with “th” to “d”, when either Baluta, Jato and Sama are speaking. It especially shows at the 12th of the text. “Dese Americans,” Jato said, “if you tell dem your Mandika name, dey look like you have given dem a riddle…” Later in the story, Baluta takes the cover name, Joel. Baluta is a thoughtful young man, who pays attention to the people around him. He is very keen on making people feeling good in his company, and he is also sad for not being able to make life easier for others. He is sad that he is the one who needs to use the car. Another example is that he makes sure when...
Words: 781 - Pages: 4
...Fireweed It’s a short story about a young man named Baluta and some of his family members, who moved from Liberia, to a new country where the story takes place. We don’t know which country it is, because we aren’t told in the story. We do know that the main language is English, so there is a big chance it’s somewhere in the United States or in Great Britain. In The beginning Baluta wakes up because of a dream, where his sister is laughing and smiling at him, the memory is so meaningful precious to him, that he doesn’t want to get up, it’s described as his sister Alanso is “stirred from the dead to wake Baluta”. We don’t get to know through the story how old Baluta is, but we can conclude he is relatively young. The author Skye Brannon shows through her way of spelling different words, that Baluta has an accent, for an example she spells “dem” instead of “them”, but he speaks and understands English very good, which tells us he lived in the country for at least a few years. He comes from the working class, because we know he isn’t very rich, but he still works as a kind of handyman, where he helps other peoples with fixing furniture and different stuff. He lives with his brother and sister in law. He doesn’t sleep in a normal bed but in something called a cot, because they can’t afford a bigger bed. He shares bathroom with the brother and the sister in law. He goes to work in a car, as the only one of them, because there is no bus line to where he works, he feels very...
Words: 605 - Pages: 3
...Shirley Golden, "The false Moon", 2011 Introduction: The Short story´s main theme is escape, graffiti and troubles, because the main character always run away at night but come back the next morning before his mother is awake. At the night he is out and painting graffiti, and put some links out to a girl who is finishes them. The troubles is because he has troubles with his mother and her new boyfriend, so the mother solve this, because she broke up whit the boyfriend, and find out that the boy is painting graffiti in a tunnel near the bus station, and the mother is completely broke. I am first going to make a characterization of the narrator, the second write about the main character´s relationship with his mother and finally the use of symbols. Main Part: The writer has a special way to write stories because this short story is very complicated and messy, she skips some parts, first is the narrator home, then out and sudden he is home again. The narrator is a I-narrator because we see it all from the narrator point, and we get not a chance to listen what the other people think, but the narrator tells what they said, but not their thoughts. The narrator and the main character is the same person. The narrator is a boy who love graffiti, and his parents are divorced or else his father is dead, we don´t get any info about that, however, the boys mom is working on shift and he is usually asleep when she gets home, but at the time she goes into the bedroom and start...
Words: 744 - Pages: 3
...Fireweed Skye Brannon ”Fireweed” is a short story written by Skye Brannon, and takes place in the United States. The main character is Baluta, or his alias, Joel. Baluta lives with his brother and his sister-in-law. They are refugees from the civil war in Liberia. They do not have a lot of money, and you can see that by the description of the car that Baluta is driving; ”The old Camero had so many holes in its body, the attempts at duct-tape patchwork had been abandoned, and Baluta heard the wind whistle through them as he drove through the ghettos of his neighborhood”. Here we also see that they live in a ghetto, which confirms that they do not have a lot of money. Also they do not have a lot of warm water, because there is only cold water left after Baluta’s brother and his sinster-in-law have taken a shower, which again show us there are poor. In the text there are two stories, the current time of Baluta’s life, and his memories from Liberia. Right in the start we are told that Baluta often have these “remembering days”, where many memories hit him. We can see that he has these days regularly; “Sometimes remembering began later in the day. But not today.” The current time story is told chronological, with interruption of his memories from Liberia. As soon as he sees something that reminds him of his former life, the memories hit him. For example just that he sees a pond, makes him think of when he and his sister caught fish in a pond as kids in Liberia. His memories of...
Words: 819 - Pages: 4
...Introduction The story is a short story named Fireweed written by Skye Brannon and about a special day in Baluta’s life. Baluta is an uneducated carpenter in U.S.A, and lives with his brother Jato and the brother’s wife Sama. Baluta has had a rough background, he was witness to his father and sisters death, and had to flee to America, from Libya from war and hate. Main Theme There are several themes in the story, such as, culture difference, racism and poverty, but all these, are sub-themes. The overall main theme of this short story must be to cherish the present, and take nothing for granted. The fact that Baluta saw his dad getting killed and his sister raped and killed, is a view into an absurd world of violence and hate, described without many feelings. “He saw his father, swinging from a tree, on a rope”[1], and “He saw little Alonso’s ten-year old body, limp, naked in the sun, being passed from one soldier to another, his pants mingling with the dust.”[2] This is a matter of course that he will never take anything for granted, because he has learned that he will never know when it’s going to stop. A more positive sign on the main them, of this short story, is that he is actually having a better life now, in America. And he won’t take that for granted even though, there are a lot of other people with much better conditions, like...
Words: 254 - Pages: 2
...The short story Fireweed, written by Skye Brannon in 2009, is a story about a young man named Baluta whose family was killed back in Liberia. I believe the story takes place around 1980-1990 (civil in Liberia) because we hear about the soldiers killing his family and his father also mentions a war coming. The story takes place in America where Joel, which is the name he goes by in America, also lives. Baluta is a carpenter but is having a difficult time finding jobs. He lives in the ghetto with his brother Jato and his sister-in-law Sama. They have all migrated from West Africa to America probably because of the war. We can see in the text that Baluta and his brother are not very good at English because of the way Brannon writes. Brannon shows us that they pronounce the English sounds a little bit wrong by writing “d” instead of “th”. Baluta is a kind and sensitive man. We know he is kind because he feels bad about taking the car so his brother and sister-in-law have to take the bus and we know he is sensitive because of his sister. It’s clear how much he misses her and how close they were. Even though he is trying to forget the things that happened in Liberia the memories still means a lot to him. He treasures them even though it’s sad memories. Baluta was brought up in Africa. He lived with his family who are Mandinkas. It sounds like they were a strong family with a close relationship. They knew what to do and how to use the things they had. We always hear that...
Words: 694 - Pages: 3
...Page . . . 2 4 7 Texts 1. Rosemary Bennett, “Couples that live apart. . .stay together”, an article from The Times website, May 12, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Jill Brooke, “Home Alone Together”, an article from The New'Y0rk Times website, May 4, 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. Gary Picariello, “Just What Modern Romance Needs”, a comment from Associated Content website, March 30, 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B Write an essay (700-1000 words) in which you analyse and interpret Sky Brannon’s short story “Fireweed”. Your essay must include the following points: - the way the story is structured - the main theme - a characterization of Baluta/Joel - the setting Text , Page Skye Brannon, “Fireweed”, a short story, 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 s 1 Side 2 af 12 sider A 2 t 5% 3 I 21 TEXT l Rosemary Bennett ijtga l Couples that live apart...stay together Q The unusual living arrangement of Shirley Denny and Peter Lawrence has raised eyebrows among friends and neighbours over the past two...
Words: 4642 - Pages: 19
...Side 9 af 12 sider B Skye Brannon Fireweed I t was a remembering day for Baluta. I t began w it h laughter, or a dream o f laughter. I t was Alanso's laugh, flowing like doves out o f her bright smiling mouth. I t was Alanso's laugh, out f ro m between those cheeks that caught the sun and held i t i n a warm glow the rest o f the day. I t was Alanso's laugh, stirred f ro m the dead to wake Baluta. Sometimes remem5 bering began later i n the day, but not today. Baluta had to l if t f ro m beneath a stone o f g rief , so heavy w it h his sister's memory, to get out o f his cot. He had work today, after a ll . Baluta washed i n the shower, cold after his brother and sister-in-law had had theirs. Cold like Kpatawee Falls back home, Baluta thought. Yes. Today would be a remembering io day. He pulled a work shirt over his head. The name ' Joel ' was simply embroidered over the heart. The name had been his brother's idea. "Dese Americans," Jato said, " i f you tel l dem your Mandika name, dey look like you've given dem a riddle. You tell dem your name is Bob, and dey are all smiles." Jato grinned at his younger brother. " Bu t you can't have Bob, dat is mine" is Jato and his w ife , Sama, had already gone. Since Baluta had to have the car to go where the bus route didn't, i t was Jato and Sama who had to wake at f iv e a.m. to catch buses to work. Baluta f el t awfu l f o r this, but he had to work to get a car, and needed a car to get to work. So, here he was...
Words: 2405 - Pages: 10
...Fireweed (Fall) Fireweed, also known as rosebay willowherb and narrow-leaf fireweed, is a perennial wildflower that grows in many areas of the United States. The plant can reach a height of 5 feet and produces small pinkish-purple flowers. As long as you live in a climate with adequate moisture, you can grow this plant by planting the seeds directly in the ground. Fireweed can become dormant during hot summer weather. The plant will require some care to promote health and growth. 1.) Select an area with full to partial sunlight. Ideal locations include areas near drainage ditches or near bodies of water in full sunlight. These areas will be high in humidity, which is ideal for fireweed. Make sure the soil is moist to slightly soggy. 2.) Pull up any weeds in the area before planting the seeds. Mix an all-purpose fertilizer in the soil according to the package directions. Use a small tiller or shovel to mix the soil and fertilizer about 5 inches in depth. 3.) Smooth out the top of the soil without packing it down firmly. Spread the fireweed seeds over the soil. You can place the seeds about 3 feet apart, as the plants will grow fast and fill in the bare spots. The optimum time to plant fireweed seeds is during the fall season. Cover the seeds with 1/2 inch of soil. Due to fireweed’s rapid reproduction rate, only plant a few seeds at a time, as stated by the University of Washington, until you determine how many plants you will need. 4.) Water the seeds after planting...
Words: 2697 - Pages: 11
...sammenhæng mellem teksterne og til dels ing-formen. Disse fejl er selvfølgelig noget som jeg skal arbejde med, så jeg undgår at de lave de samme fejl fremover, men især kongruensfejl og kommafejl skyldes nok at jeg til tider kan være til ukoncentreret og at opgaven bare skal laves hurtigt. Når jeg efterfølgende får opgaven tilbage og den er rettet kan nemlig sagtens se fejlene, og ærgrer mig over hvorfor jeg ikke lige læste opgaven igennem én gang til. Når jeg skriver disse opgaver har jeg det med at få dem lavet så hurtigt som muligt og det kan også ses på flere af de fejl jeg laver, men jeg synes trods alt at når jeg virkelig gider bruge tid på en opgave så kan jeg godt undgå flere af disse fejl, f.eks. brugte jeg rigtig meget tid på opgaven fireweed og det kunne også ses på den mængde fejl der var at finde, idet at der var mange færre end tidligere og den opgave fik jeg også 10 for. Til gengæld brugte jeg stort set ingen tid på den seneste opgave om Indian rape, hvor der var rigtig mange fejl at finde og en masse af dem kunne jeg sagtens se, efter den var blevet rettet og den fik jeg derfor kun 02 for. Det som jeg er blevet lidt bedre til er min tekstforståelse, som ikke var så god tidligere, men der skal dog stadig arbejdes på den. Derudover er mit ordforråd blevet større og brugen af alle taksonomiske niveauer er også forbedret en smule, men der skal stadig også arbejdes på dette område. Jeg bruger Gyldendals ordbog på internettet og til tider Google translate. Det er meget...
Words: 392 - Pages: 2
...Jered Duda Professor Joseph Wolcott English 110 4/3/13 Grizzly Bear Diets The grizzly bear is a subspecies of the brown bear; which generally lives in the uplands of western North America which crossed to Alaska from eastern Russia 100,000 years ago. In 1815, the grizzly formally got his name due to the color of its grizzled grey fur. Biologist John Muir once said that these bears “eat everything but granite.” The eating habits of these bears are pretty extreme and are known to be quite the scavengers. Food sources vary in availability from year to year, and from season to season. Grizzlies move throughout their habitat looking for foods available at that time of year. The availability of many foods is known to the bears by Season and the bears move to these areas based on their experience. In this way, the general seasonal distribution. The three main seasons in which grizzly bears have an extensive diet are Spring, Summer, and Fall (Grizzly Bears). From late March to May, Grizzlies arise from their dens, when adolescent vegetation begins to grow. Within early spring, bears move to lower terrain, away from the snow, to feed on this vegetation. Common spring food sources include ants, grasses, dandelion, clover, and other plants. The Grizzly diet consists with a significant amount of ungulate or hooved animals like elk and bison. Grizzly bears also dig up caches of nuts and pine seeds, stashed by pocket gophers and red squirrels from the previous fall. These inspiring giants...
Words: 746 - Pages: 3
