...become the American he is currently known for. He endured what most would call a life set up for failure, yet he challenged himself and transformed from a young Mexican American to a genuine man. However Rodriguez remembers his own experience being a minority, questioning his own value and self as he grew older. Through his narrative we are able to see his core obstacle of learning to become the ideal American. Rodriquez consistently...
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...Richard Sherman: The Rejected Embodiment of the American Dream If I work hard enough, I can do anything. If I put my mind to it, I can make all the money in the world. If I give it my all, I can get everything that I want and more. This rhetoric is what our great country is built upon: The American Dream. No matter who you are and where you come from, with determination and persistence, you can fulfill your wildest dreams. This concept represents several key American values: racial equality, capitalism, and an emphasis on merit over social status. Although the American community preaches equality for all, its racially-fueled disapproval of Richard Sherman’s “outburst” is a microcosm of Americans’ selective application of the American Dream, the tendency to view those who come from underprivileged neighborhoods as inherently and genetically unequipped with the cognitive tools required for academic and professional success. On January 19th, 2014, the day of the NFL NFC Championshp, the stakes could not have been greater; Richard Sherman was just thirty seconds away from his first Super Bowl. Sherman’s Seattle Seahawks led the San Francisco 49ers 23-17, leaving the 49ers with a final opportunity to win the game. The 49ers ran a play for Michael Crabtree, whom Sherman was guarding, who was making his way into the end zone. Sherman, the NFL’s best cornerback, leaped with Crabtree and tipped the pass towards a teammate in a historic play that ended the 49ers season and, in turn...
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...things that influence our life from utero to birth and then form birth to death. Some are the environment around us while some from the natural aspects like our features which we inherit from our parents. Whatever we do, good or bad, it helps form who we are. Family, education, financial status, are some of the factors that come into play when we think about how an individual is molded into who they are. Or is an individual born with these qualities? Are cold blooded killers naturally born as killers? The environment where you grew in may have a great effect on you. It influences the way you behave and respond to situations. What shapes us and how we...
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...Barriers Influencing American Dreams Do obstacles in one’s life change one’s aspirations? If something hard or even Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:49 PM Comment: TITLE SHOULD REFLECT OVERALL THEME OF ESSAYß Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Attention Getter unexpected occurs, does one turn his or her back on all that has been worked for? In an American society, there is an idea of a dream. Most people have dreams that differ from one another. Dreams are not limited only to society. Countless numbers of times in American literature, there are moments when an obstacle slows or possibly halts progression. Dreams can also be found in American literature; however, like the reality of society, barriers can be a component of having aspirations. Barriers create obstacles, whether emotional or physical, that make achieving a dream difficult or even appear to be impossible. In American literature dreams seem to be unattainable because of barriers. In all the years of literature, dreams, goals, and aspirations come in contact Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Broad Topic Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:35 PM Comment: Narrow Topic Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Thesis Statement Winston Patterson 5/17/10 9:36 PM Comment: Clincher Sentence with a conflict. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Jay Gatsby has a dream to be with Daisy Buchanan. Gatsby has a passion for his dream so fierce that he pursues ...
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...David Schleicher Narrative Essay 5/27/2014 Moving to America Transformed My Life In the past I came across many changes but leaving my country was the toughest change in my life. I had to learn how to live away from people I love and how to start a new life in a new country. Immigration is a life changing experience; learning a new language, adapting to the culture and lifestyle changes are all strenuous things that were thrown at me once I became a part of this country. Even though moving away from my family and friends was a difficult decision, it changed my live for a better. It taught me how to deal with change, how to become an independent and responsible person, and how to feel this country my home. I never imagined living in another country. I remember as it was yesterday when my mom said, “Daniela, I know you do not want to leave Colombia but I have to take you with me, you are my youngest child and I will not let you here” I started arguing with her, saying that how she could do that to me when I already had plans to start college and that I was happy in my country but at the end I gave up and decided to come to America. It was February 10th, 2010, when I left Colombia and was forced to leave my friends, my grandmother, my school, my language and culture to move to this big new country to start a new life. As I took my last look at my home, I remembered all the fun times I had with my mom and sister and friends throughout my life. Tears were...
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...Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context Leah Rang University of Tennessee - Knoxville, lrang@utk.edu Recommended Citation Rang, Leah, "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2010. http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/655 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact trace@utk.edu. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled "Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimaging the Nation in a Global Context." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in English. Urmila Seshagiri, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Lisi Schoenbach, Bill Hardwig Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Leah Rang entitled ―Bharati Mukherjee and the American Immigrant: Reimagining the...
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...Modernist writing highlights the absence of, and search for, meaning and features experiments with new forms. Loss and absence lie at the heart of Woolf’s art, resulting from the experience of loss as an adolescent – her half sister, father, brother and mother. Her refusal to give one single view of anything, offering instead multiple, often conflicting views which the reader has to balance and bring together is another modernist trait. In contrast, WAVW was written in a far more conservative context, and although Albee does challenge societal roles, he does it in a more blatant way. Written during a time of Cold War tension, where fear and instability was disguised beneath the facade of the Great American Dream, Albee is still able to paint a dystopian image of the stereotyped family unit. Post-modernist writing abandons all meaning and the Theatre of the Absurd, emerged at the time, as a theatrical technique used by Albee to reflect a post-modern world. Interestingly, AROO and WAVW are both representations of a privileged intellectual life and criticise the values in the society they lived in because the composers believed them to be detrimental to the...
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...stuwritten for the dents per group. Philadelphia “Conbersaychunal,” he says, allowing the fat vow- 2 Inquirer for more than els of his accented English to collide with the sawedtwenty years. off consonants. I tell him that will be fi ne, that I’m familiar with 3 Barrientos was born in Guatethe conversational setup, and yes, I’ve studied a bit mala and raised of Spanish in the past. He asks for my name and I in El Paso, Texas. Her first novel, Frontera Street, was supply it, rolling the double r in Barrientos like a pro. published in 2002, and her second, That’s when I hear the silent snag, the momentary Family Resemblance, was pubhesitation I’ve come to expect at this part of the exlished in 2003. Her column “Unchange. Should I go into it again? Should I explain, conventional Wisdom” runs every the way I have to half a dozen others, that I am Guaweek in the Inquirer. This essay originally appeared in the collectemalan by birth but pura gringa by circumstance? tion Border-Line Personalities: A Do I add the humble little laugh I usually attach New Generation of Latinas Dish to the end of my sentence to let him know that of on Sex, Sass & Cultural Shifting. course I see the irony in the situation? We selected this reading because This will be the sixth...
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...Minimalist contentions: Fight Club Introduction Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most influential American fiction writers who emerged in the 1990s. His debut novel, Fight Club (hereafter: FC) reached cult status after the film adaptation by David Fincher was released in 1999, and widespread and divided critical reception was soon to follow. Much of the current debate about Fight Club focuses on the political implications of the text, but most often recourse to it by way of referencing the film. These arguments usually question or celebrate the transgressive potentials of the book (Giroux; Mendieta), or address issues of masculinity brought into the fore by their literary and cinematic representations emergent in the same decade (Tuss; Friday). However, few, if any, have addressed the literary aspirations of the text and its author. Although none of the approaches to the thematic concerns of Fight Club are unjustified, in the argument that follows I will suggest that conclusions drawn and critical judgments passed have been hasty, and not only failed to take into account the formal aspects of story-telling, but that the narrative features of Palahniuk’s text have largely went unexplored, and constitute a blind spot of the reception. Critics condemning or acclaiming the novel, and, indeed, many a cultic reader of Palahniuk ignored Fight Club as a literary narrative, and have inadvertently been repeating the catchphrases of the text, either reinforcing or trying to undermine what...
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...any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism. I. Title. PN81.T97 2006 801’.95‑‑dc22 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge‑ny.com 2006001722 I gratefully dedicate this book to my students and to my teachers. I hope I will always have difficulty telling you apart. Contents Preface to the second edition Preface for instructors...
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...NORTH AMERICAN FICTION BRIEF INTRODUCTION: Before starting our study of American Fiction we must understand what American Literature is in itself and which pieces of writing we can include within this label. It is believed that when a piece is written in North America, more precisely in the USA, it would automatically be given this epithet. But it should be taken into account that this idea is quite broad and doesn’t reflect the real essence of the term. However, there is also another definition that gathers this essence: American Literature is the one that represents the Americanism, the singularity of the USA philosophy and culture. This way, instead of focusing on who the author is, it is focused on the content of the writing. In that which concerns Fiction, the following documents are the ones considered as narrative: Speeches Letters Short Stories Essays Political Documents Sermons Novels Diaries 1 FIRST LITERARY EXPRESSIONS The first documents in which the idea of Americanism is very present are the Sermons. They respond to the strict Protestantism settled in the New Continent after the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers and Puritans in the Mayflower (1620) and the Arabella (1630). They established a theocratic community whose main and only point of reference was the Bible. That is why the idea of the ‘city upon a hill’ is still very present in American mentality. As we all know...
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...London, 1816–1817 date of first publication · January 1, 1818 publisher · Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones narrator · The primary narrator is Robert Walton, who, in his letters, quotes Victor Frankenstein’s first-person narrative at length; Victor, in turn, quotes the monster’s first-person narrative; in addition, the lesser characters Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein narrate parts of the story through their letters to Victor. climax · The murder of Elizabeth Lavenza on the night of her wedding to Victor Frankenstein in Chapter 23 protagonist · Victor Frankenstein antagonist · Frankenstein’s monster setting (time) · Eighteenth century setting (place) · Geneva; the Swiss Alps; Ingolstadt; England and Scotland; the northern ice point of view · The point of view shifts with the narration, from Robert Walton to Victor Frankenstein to Frankenstein’s monster, then back to Walton, with a few digressions in the form of letters from Elizabeth Lavenza and Alphonse Frankenstein. falling action · After the murder of Elizabeth Lavenza, when Victor Frankenstein chases the monster to the northern ice, is rescued by Robert Walton, narrates his story, and dies tense · Past foreshadowing · Ubiquitous—throughout his narrative, Victor uses words such as “fate” and “omen” to hint at the tragedy that has befallen him; additionally, he occasionally pauses in his recounting to collect himself in the face of frightening memories. tone · Gothic, Romantic, emotional...
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...Area of Study: Belonging * ‘As You Like It’ written by William Shakespeare * ‘Towelhead’ directed by Alan Ball in * ‘The Surfer’ written by Judith Wright | As You Like It | Towelhead | The Surfer | Language Form and Structure | * ‘As You Like It’ is a stage play in the form of a comedy * It also qualifies as a pastoral romance * Shakespeare wrote the lines of the play in both verse and prose | * ‘Towelhead’ is a film | * Poem * 3 stanzas * Free verse | Personal, cultural, historical and social context | * Written during the reign of Elizabeth I and ironically, both Rosalind and Celia would have been played by men * Appealing nature to both lower and higher classes * Used as a model of social critique | * Set in Houston, Texas during the 1990s * Occurred during the Gulf War * Follows the sexual awakening of Jasira (an American-Lebanese girl) | * Set in Australia | Identity One’s sense of belonging is built upon their exploration of self and the confidence they establish through their own identity. | Identity is explored most obviously with Rosalind’s disguise as Ganymede. This concealment of her true identity allows Rosalind to discover whether Orlando truly loves her. It also allows Rosalind to gain a deeper understanding of herself. This is seen through the use of dramatic irony, this enhances the audience’s connection with the characters and adds to the humour of the play. “Nay, you must call me Rosalind”. Ultimately, it...
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...of accounting, at least in part, for these complex effects, I wish to look at two particular aspects: the double sense of time in the novel and the style of magical realism. Finally, putting all these elements together, I shall address the question posed at the start. I would like to suggest that this novel does, in fact, have something very insightful and important to reveal about the social and political realities of the world it depicts and that this theme may be difficult for North Americans fully to recognize. One Hundred Years of Solitude as an Epic It seems clear to me that, in any conventional sense of the literary term, we are dealing here with an epic work: a long narrative fiction with a huge scope which holds up for our inspection a particular cultural moment in the history of a people. The novel is the history of the founding, development, and death of a human settlement, Macondo, and of the most important family in that town, the Buendias. In following the historical narrative of...
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...autobiography was “a simple, straightforward story, with no attempt at embellishment,” readers for nearly a century have found it richly rewarding. Today, Up From Slavery appeals to a wide audience from early adolescence through adulthood. More important, however, is the inspiration his story of hard work and positive goals gives to all readers. His life is an example providing hope to all. The complexity and contradictions of his life make his autobiography intellectually intriguing for advanced readers. To some he was known as the Sage of Tuskegee or the Black Moses. One of his prominent biographers, Louis R. Harlan, called him the “Wizard of the Tuskegee Machine.” Others acknowledged him to be a complicated person and public figure. Students of American social and political history have come to see that Washington lived a double life. Publicly he appeased the white establishment by remaining cautious in his charges and demands. Privately he worked tirelessly to undo the effects of institutional and cultural racism. Although he seemed to have made a grand compromise, first with the white south and then with white America, he worked in deepest secret to undermine the compromise and advance the social and economic position of blacks. No doubt exists as to his greatness....
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