...April 2014 The Contribution of Slave Narratives to American Identity Literature as a whole has contributed to the totality that constitutes American identity. It is a powerful tool because of its ability to create conceptions that shape the thoughts and ideas of its readers. It gives glimpses into history by the experiences of its characters; the power of suggestion and information implants ideas into the minds of those who care to explore its pages. From the literature of Native Americans to that of modern day authors, each category has developed a different facet of the definition of an American, and each is needed in its own unique way. The same is true of the writings of those who were forced into slavery in America, who came against their will and suffered under horrific circumstances. Their stories expand the definition of an American into broader territories and reveal the difficult journey that many faced as they endeavored to find their place in a country that championed liberty yet enslaved them. Writers like Harriet Jacobs helped jump-start a new genre in American literature that came to be known as the North American slave narrative which greatly contributed to the defining of American identity. The North American slave narrative was unique in that its authors went to great lengths to present their own personal narrative of their experiences while remaining in the confines of the genre expectations. The goal of these narratives was of course to end slavery; ironically...
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...Introduction How exciting it is to open the bible to the book of Exodus and read the narrative of the fulfillment of God’s promise in the rescue of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt—the call of Moses, the plagues, and the dramatic manifestation of God on Mt. Sinai. Though the book of Exodus is most famous for the revelation of the Ten Commandments contained in Chapter 20, it remains vague in terms of where the biblical account actually occurred, and yet we cannot begin to fully understand the Old Testament if we look at it as merely a piece of great literature, or as some have suggested nothing more than interesting legend, or the elaboration of superior ideals. … The Book of Exodus is a narrative of the sacred history of Israel from the sojourn in Egypt to the completion of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The term Exodus comes from the Greek terminology and literally means “going out,” an appropriate title for the book that narrates how under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites escaped from Egyptian persecution and began their journey back to the Promised Land. To be certain, all human history is the scope of God’s sovereignty. God became especially involved in the lives of a relatively unknown people, culminating a historical event that changed biblical history and altered the course of their lives and culture. When we seek to understand the meaning of our individual life events, we don’t actually begin with birth or infancy, even though a biographical account...
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...America is commonly referred to as the land of opportunity. Whether it's to escape war, flee poverty or to find freedom, people come to America today to fulfill their “American dream.” Many of the reasons why people came to colonial America 400 years ago are the same reasons why people still come today. They are in search of a better life for their families. The opportunities were so good, many of the people were willing to come to colonial America as an indentured servant in order to reap the benefits America provided, including cheaper land, higher wages and the promise of religious freedom. Colonial America offered many people economic stability. In document 3 and 5, we can see how many financial benefits were offered to the poor. They...
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...despite the increasing number of American settlers in their land, they were not interested in becoming their subjects and eventually they would push for annexation in California. On the other hand, the American settlers distrusted their Mexican leaders, and the revolt rose under the close watch of the American army officer John c. Fremont. Although he did not participate in the first attack on the Mexican authorities, he soon becomes the leader of this revolt and directed all its operations. After they had won some skirmishes with Mexican forces, leaders of the group by then Ide and Merritt used a cotton sheet, some red paint and constructed a makeshift flag with a crude drawing of bear and that is where the name The Bear Flag Revolt originated. Early history recognized Euro-Americans as the sole people who brought civilization to the west and most of them believed that they were chosen by God to populate the west through civilization and to bring the democratic institution to the wilderness. As a result, the first English language histories about California were written by Euro-Americans who came to the state during the Gold Rush which was barely based on travel literature. Basically, most of these histories were a product of the racial and racist ideologies of Manifest Destiny in the region. To the disappointment of many historians, the original inhabitants of the state of California contested the dominant narratives of past events, but most of their documents remained hidden...
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...The First Eagle – Analysis Adaptations An interesting aspect of Hillerman's fictions is the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural contexts in which they are set with their particular historical imperatives and consequences. The "Big Res" itself although sparsely populated by the standards of large urban enclaves is nevertheless home to a wide mix of Native American tribal entities including Navajo, Apache, Hopi, Ute, Zuni as well as Anglos and Hispanics of various national origins. Add to this cultural diversity such social elements as the disparity of power and wealth between the communities, and the opportunities for friction and conflict are significant. Therefore, a possible focus for discussions of this novel could be to examine the ways in which Hillerman ignores, acknowledges, utilizes, or highlights particular elements of the cultural and economic contexts in the service of his plot, characterization, and themes. Characters Hillerman populates the novel with a rich cast of characters whom he reveals through their speech, their actions, and their thoughts. He also describes their physical appearance so that readers form specific and distinguishing images of them. Jim Chee is portrayed as a "traditional" Navajo who has studied to become a hatathali, a traditional singer who can conduct traditional curing rituals; he is also a universityeducated (University of Arizona) lawman as is his former supervisor, now retired, Joe Leaphorn (Arizona State University). The relationship...
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...edu/burkesusan/stories/storyReader$39). The other category is Monism Sacred power was diffused throughout the natural world (http://faculty.deanza.edu/burkesusan/stories/storyReader$39). This first dimension is The Practical and Ritual Dimension. Both Dualism and Monism have practices, prayers, and rituals. Christianity practices prayers, churches, and hymns. This happens every Sundays, Sunday evenings, and with personal experiences even on Wednesdays. As the Hindu and Buddhist Religion focus on meditation to focus on love and so on (Philosophy of Religion, Gary E. Kessel). The Second Dimension to religion is Experiential and Emotional Dimensions. This means religions with its rituals give us a sense of peace and satisfaction. No matter what type of religion we are. If it wasn’t for the sense of peace or satisfaction we probably wouldn’t believe in our religions. One of the main reason music is so potent in religions is the mysterious powers to express and engender emotions (Philosophy of Religion, Gary E. Kessel). The next Dimension is Narrative or Mythic Dimension. This dimension is where our stories come from. An example of Mythic Dimension is story of Prophet Muhammad, Noah, David and Goliath, and the Story of Adam and Eve. These stories teach us about how the world came about. Why there is...
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...7 BARTIMAEUS (Mark 10:46-52) The story of Bartimaeus is an experience of the healing power of faith that leads to discipleship. It begins in identification with the humiliation of a blind beggar sitting in the dust. It ends with his sight restored as he follows Jesus on the way up to Jerusalem. In a unique way, this story concretizes the power of the faith of persons who are oppressed by physical or mental handicaps, patriarchal social structures, racial discrimination, and economic systems over which they have no control. It is an invitation to allow our own personal and communal humiliation to be seen in the context of Bartimaeus's faith in Jesus as the Christ. The Story And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great multitude, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And many rebuked him, telling him to shut up. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" And Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; rise, he is calling you." And throwing off his mantle he sprang up and came to Jesus. And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Master, let me receive my sight." And Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight...
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...English 2328 Spring 2011 Unit Two: Early Twentieth Century Review Sheets |Survey Highlights |Modernism in American Literature |Imagism, Imagery, Image | |Major Authors |Some distinguishing characteristics— |From Pound's "A Retrospect": | |Historical Context |Rejection of traditional values and assumptions, in society and art. |—Three principles of Imagism: | |Intellectual Movements |Strong break with traditional literary forms and techniques of |1. Direct treatment of 'thing' whether subjective or objective. | |Genres, Elements of Literature |expression. |2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the | |Authors |—Avant-garde, innovative |presentation. | |Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot |—Frost's "old-fashioned way to be new" |3. As regarding...
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...call his name. In this poem, identity is not seen as something that is solid and concrete but as something that is situated and constructed by others, a glimpse of poststructuralist view on identity. Recently, language learning has been seen as participation and negotiation of self (see Higgins, forthcoming; Kinginger, 2004; Lam, 2000; Morita, 2004; Ohara, 2001; Pavlenko & Lantolf, 2000; and Solé, 2007 among others). The trend is resonated in the growing interest in language learner identity and the studies in narratives. In this paper, a case of heritage language learner will be investigated upon the theoretical frame of poststructuralism. Narrative inquiry will be used to analyze how she negotiates her learner identity. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: First, by looking at the struggle a language learner makes to acquire her heritage language, I reclaim the centrality of identity in defining heritage language learners. Second, to widen the horizons of narrative studies to the cyber space as it provides an ample source of easily accessible data and it has become one of the commonplace media of daily communication. Heritage Language Learners and Identity To refer to the Heritage Language Learners (HLLs), various terms have been implemented such as ‘native speakers,’ ‘quasi native speakers,’ ‘bilingual speakers,’ or, from the dissatisfaction with the prior terms, ‘home background speakers,’ and ‘heritage language speakers’ (Valés, 2005: p. 412). There has not yet been...
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...When analyzing the term Pentateuch, it means that it is a description of the first five books of the Bible. These five forms of stories within the Bible made The Old Testament. Also, these Bible Books contain the following books: “Genesis, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and Exodus (Tullock & McEntire, 2006),” which is a narrative form of stories, which illustrates Gods creations mankind that would not be relevant without his creation. Therefore, my personal preference or theme would consist of starting from the beginning. In the book of Genesis 1:1 “God created the Heavens and the Earth” which was to incorporate mankind into his plan. Although God made these creations mankind did not value his work they instead Adam and Eve ate from the forbidding...
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...“A reality check for America” Mary C. Terrell was a powerful pioneer in civil rights and a powerful leader who faced many struggles of prejudices because she was a colored woman. Because she had lived a difficult life in the capital of the US, she decided it was time the world knew of her the many trajectories she continued to face along with many other African Americans. On October 10, 1906, Terrell gave a speech titled, “ What it Mean to be Colored in the Capitol of the U.S.,” to the members of the United Woman’s club in Washington, D.C. This speech was very influential and significant speech that served as a voice for other African Americans who had no voice. This speech also was a time for Terrell to explain the unnecessary hassles she and other blacks had to take on when trying to live as a citizen in the capital. Through this speech we can see an abundance of prejudice that taint the lives of African Americans in the U.S.. In the following paragraphs, I will establish the notability of this speech, analyze the historical context that sparked the discourse into existence and explore other rhetorical features that will establish my analysis’s significance. Mary Church Terrell embodies feminine style rhetoric in her argument to address the social, economic and political struggles placed against African Americans with the undertone of constitutive rhetoric, topical structure, pathos and logos to validate her point. History: Mary Church Terrell...
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...Thomas Jefferson and Unwillingly to End Slavery Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, at Shadwell plantation in western Virginia. He inherited his father’s farming skills and had to take care of about 5000 acres of land. His mother was of high social standing. Jefferson endures excellent education of his time, at 17 years of age, he entered the College of William and Mary where he got his first considerable knowledge in science. After college, Jefferson became involved in government and was elected president of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Jefferson became a philosopher where he successfully practiced and was admitted to the bar in 1767. Jefferson soon found himself a forerunner of the American Revolution, when he was appointed to write the Declaration of Independence. Authoring this important document positioned him as one of the new nation's most important founding fathers equal to Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, James Madison, and John Adams. Where his father was part of the early settlers at that time it was mostly a slave colony. One of the most treacherous things in American history is slavery and how it was common for some blacks and white to be owners. During, Jefferson’s life his father died in 1757, leaving him 60 slaves when he turned 21 he could have charge...
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...1) I believe that although there is no dialogue or actors in this film, there is still a discernable narrative that guides the film. The first shots in the film are entirely of naturally occurring landscapes and phenomenon that occur on Earth. Although no dialogue is ever spoken, the music combined with the scenic nature shots create a sort of “build up” to the next element introduced to the film, humans. The narrative throughout Koyaanisqatsi, seems to be a reflection of the increasing impact that sentient life has on a planet. It is interesting, however, to observe which footage Reggio used to depict this mounting involvement of humans and technology into the plot. At first, I thought Reggio was attempting to make a statement about the harmful impact of environmental pollution caused by man. However, as the film progressed, the footage of technology and man seemed to play an indifferent role towards nature. The footage of factories and vivid time-lapse shots of city skylines at night are not portrayed in a negative light but instead in more of a chaotic one. In my interpretation, this chaos of the human impact on nature and the growing complexity of technology are depicted because that is simply how life has become for modern humans. Life is chaotic and the addition of increasingly intelligent beings trying to make order out of chaos will ultimately be futile. In other words, the very attempt at creating order out of chaos is chaotic in and of itself. The footage of nature...
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...Research Paper Maya Deren – At Land Maya Deren was an experimental filmmaker who was engaged in many additional artistic spheres, including music, dance and poetry, and which helped her to create six films that are well-known in the world of Avant-Garde cinema. She produced her first work, Meshes of the Afternoon in 1943 together with her husband Alexander Hammid, and a year later she completed her second work At Land. These two films placed the beginning of her career as a filmmaker and classified her as a pioneer of the modern and aesthetic American film. As a graduate student in English literature and Symbolist poetry from Smith College, she was able to transform her verbal knowledge about the emblematic value of objects and rituals to a visual format. Therefore, many of her ideas were influenced by studying T.S. Eliot’s poetry and his intention for objective mutual relationship. However, after the release of her first film, she began to work more precisely and be very careful in her choice of images and places in order for her works, starting with At Land to look original and abstract. She wanted to isolate her work from the idea of obvious symbolism and therefore, make the spectator more deeply involved in the process of decoding the scenes. As Millsapps states, “Deren knew the difference between images and symbols, and discusses this in her thesis: ‘…For the Symbolist, the image is a point of departure for mysterious distances, whereas the Imagist departure is limited...
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...The Puritans are a group of English protestants during the 16th and 17th century who sought to purify the Church of England. They are a strong religious group who migrated to the America’s to escape religious persecution in what is know as the Great Migration to create land where they could be religiously free. In these Puritan societies they emanated a strong sense of faith but although they were strict and harsh, the Puritans did indeed embody many admirable traits. In Goodman Brown and The Minister's black veil one exemplary trait that is demonstrated through their writings is the puritans being very persistent in keeping their faith. Both characters in these texts the show the struggle of keeping faith after being exposed to evil side of mankind but are still able to look up to God. Another trait was how the Puritans were very aware and valued God’s presence in their life as seen in Narrative of the Capacity, From of plymouth plantation, and Burning of our house. Lastly, another laudable trait the Puritans depicted was...
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