...It is clear that throughout this trip, that lasted a mere three and a half months, we have experienced a great deal of narratives. These have ranged from incredibly uplifting to deeply solemn. These stories have shaped the people, places, and history that we have learned about, and continue to shape the people who encounter them today. Some of these narratives are extremely hard to express, verging on the border of the inexpressible. However, there lies an importance in being bale to articulate certain memories and experiences to pass them on to the ones who did not have the privilege of experiencing them. These experiences have shaped me beyond belief, and I hope to express how these varied experiences have changed me for the better. One...
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...Title Annually in the country once known as North America, the nation of Panem uses their dictatorship, they call the Capitol to rule over the twelve districts they have created. The Districts have all had major revolts, as a response to these rebellions the government of the Capitol has enacted a cruel intimidation tactic called The Hunger Games. It is a violent event televised nationally throughout all of the districts where a male and female from each district is picked as a Tribute. These Tributes must fight each other to the death and only one survivor will remain. The Hunger Games is the governments approach of displaying the amount of power they posses over the demoralized people of the twelve districts. The character of Katniss is rare todays society, a complex character with fearlessness, intelligence, and on a mission for survival. Different from the other Tributes, Katniss kills in means of self-defense. Katniss is not only fighting for survival but for fairness and justice as well within the social classes and political power. This character fights for what she believes is right in order to end the class struggle of the Districts and the Capitol. The Feminist views of Katniss make her unique because she is not portrayed as a sex object but as a tough action heroine who fights for what she believes in on her way to victory in an attempt to end the class struggle of the rich vs. poor in her society would also provoke a Marxist reading of the Hunger Games. The...
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...eventual downfall, and her last battle with the Darkling. Bardugo writes both novels in first-person narrative which allows the readers to explore the fantasy world, and learn and experience with Alina. Bardugo also uses the motif of darkness vs. light throughout both novels to symbolize the suffering that war brings, and the hope that everyone clings to. In Shadow and Bone, Bardugo highlights the dominant theme of war by making it the driving force behind the actions of the...
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...A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave The title alone speaks to the dichotomy of the life of the man we know as Frederick Douglass. Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born a slave, but Frederick Douglass was a free man. The path he took from slavery to freedom was long, difficult, and like that of many blacks in the pre-Abolition era. Through a series of events, Douglass was able to first free his mind and eventually his body from the shackles of slavery. His story still stands as a startling first-hand account of the life of an American Slave. Frederick Douglass was born in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Like many slaves, the exact year or day was unknown to him. He knew his mother, Harriet Bailey, but his father’s identity was a secret. It was rumored that this master was actually his father, though he was unable to confirm the whispers. He was separated from his mother, as was custom, at a young age. He knew very little of Harriet and when he was about 7 years old, she died. Douglass noted, “She was gone long before I knew any thing about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger.” After the death of his mother, Douglass was moved around and kept as the live property of various families. With stark details, he describes the conditions of slave life. Slaves received...
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...burning corpses is too often indistinguishable from the bleak horizon. Cuaron’s Theo heads for the coast hoping to find sanctuary. McCarthy’s protagonist, an unnamed father, also heads for the coast hoping that warmer temperatures will be more forgiving to him and his son. Theo and the unnamed father are kindred spirits. Both are just as lost as those they guide but feign competence nonetheless. Both perish at their destination, only for their respective wards, Kee and the unnamed boy, to continue without them. However, the most striking similarity between the two media is the abundant mention of faith and God. Faith is mentioned so frequently in these post-apocalyptic narratives that one starts to wonder if such name dropping isn’t to acknowledge the presence of God, but rather the lack thereof. They search so...
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...Frederick Douglass wrote several autobiographies during his lifetime, none continues to have the lasting literary impact of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. From its publication in 1845 to its present status in the American literary canon, the Narrative has become one of the most highly acclaimed American autobiographies ever written. Published seven years after Douglass' escape from his life as a slave in Maryland, the Narrative put into print circulation a critique of slavery that Douglass had been lecturing on around the country for many years. Yet while the Narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of being a slave, it also reveals his psychological insights into the slave/master relationship. What Douglass realizes that day is that literacy is equated with not only individual consciousness but also freedom. From that day, Douglass makes it his goal to learn as much as he can, eventually learning how to write, a skill that would provide him with his passport to freedom. What gives the book its complexity is Douglass' ability to incorporate a number of sophisticated literary devices...
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...actually listened to what I had to say about my disease and not show his callous apathy toward me like the others, which made me feel so much better about myself”. I’ve been visiting Ronnie for a few weeks now and he has never been so comforted as he seemed then. This really obligated me to think about the extent of the impact a doctor can have on his patients by just empathizing with them. It also made me question, do your doctor’s words and consideration make you feel better than that of your friends or family at times? Is this what narrative medicine is about? Narrative medicine focuses on prioritizing patients needs, values and seeing the illnesses through their eyes. Doctors are well trained in their fields but a lot more can be achieved when doctors implement elements of narrative medicine in their practice along with reflecting upon it like we see in the works of David Watts, Oliver Sacks and Richard Selzer. One important aspect of narrative medicine, i.e. the expertise to listen to the patients is very well portrayed by David Watts in his essay, “What Literature Can Do for Medicine: A Starting Point”. Watts describes a case in his essay where a lady comes to...
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...and brought into slavery of a New World in a terror-filled ship. Equiano's tale is viewed as an authoritative description of the villainous Middle Passage, one of the very first narratives from a slave, a story that gave the hatchling abolitionist movement a buzzing moral influence; except it may not be exact. Therein lays the mystery: Because if the gentleman who penned "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African" was not born in Africa, but rather born into slavery in South Carolina -- as Vincent Carretta suggests -- then who was he? Where did he learn to speak fluent Igbo? And how did he obtain such agonizing details about life aboard an 18th-century slave vessel? The air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains. . . . The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. (Equiano, 1789) In that lies the controversy: Carretta's findings, detailed in his biography of Equiano, have ignited a blaze in academic life, for the most part among those who have extensively considered Equiano the "black Ben Franklin" all on the weight of his auto biography. Given that Equiano's was in print first, Carretta argues that Franklin...
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...picture of the epic journey that the main character in the story, Valentino faces from the time that he flees the country to the time that he finally reaches what he thought would be the “Promised Land” in Atlanta, United States of America. He was soon to realize that even in America, life would not be a bed of roses but it would be marred by unexpected acts of violence and racial discrimination (Dave 28). One striking thing in the narrative is that the author brings out the culture of the Dinka people. For instance, polygamous nature of the Dinka people is clearly illustrated. The myth regarding the origin of the Dinka people is as well demonstrated (Bess). In regards to this origin, the Dinka people are given a choice by God to choose between the cattle and the “What is the What”. They choose the cattle which they understood better rather than “What is the What” which they did not as demonstrated in the line, "—you didn't tell us the answer: What is the What? My father shrugged. —We don't know. No one knows” (Dave 64). Through the narrative, a reader is informed on the historical background of the south Sudanese people. The relative geographical locations of the three African countries of Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya are well described, painting an unforgettable picture in the mind of the reader. The diversity in different cultures comes out clearly in the book as the main character traverses boundaries. Valentino’s story illuminates the story of thousands of Sudanese boys and...
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...The Power of Knowledge Frederick Douglass addresses in his autobiography the cruelty and the barbarity of slavery The Narrative life of Frederick Douglass and his speech, “The Meaning of the Fourth of July to a Negro.” He emphasizes this by using education as the key to the path of freedom. Knowledge has liberated those who have been oppressed by slavery. Nelson Mandela, a famous civil rights activist and the first South African president, once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world.” (Mandela, 1993). Both were subjugated by societies filled with abusive racism. Douglass used education as a weapon to guide him to his independence. Through knowledge, Douglass ascended to be as educated as a white man. By insisting on his credibility, appealing to his readers’ emotions, and making logical arguments against his oppressor, Douglass communicates that literacy is a tool used to overcome the oppression of slavery. This is significant because literacy broadened the perspective of slaves, which enabled them to prevail against inhumane conditions. As a former slave, Douglass emphasizes reliability by talking about his experience as a slave to show how slaveholders would prevent them from knowledge. He realized his life had been molded into an abrupt distorted lie created by the most wicked of men by stating, “My natural elasticity was crushed, my intellect languished, the disposition to read departed, the cheerful spark that lingered about...
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...Immorality in Slavery Frederick Douglass’s “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and American Slave. Written by Himself:” shows the experiences he had while being a slave. By giving us insights into how dehumanizing slavery is for everyone involved. Showing how an innocent slave owner can go from being pure to being extremely corrupt. By being taught to read, seeing that it could be a possible route to freedom. He realized that it could also be a curse as well because he is now more knowledgeable on what slavery is. As to the person who taught him, he is now seeing him as a threat, trying to oppose him. With this detailed information from Douglass, we...
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...ARTICLE IN PRESS Social Science & Medicine 58 (2004) 1647–1657 Understanding breast cancer stories via Frank’s narrative types Roanne Thomas-MacLean* Dalhousie University Family, Medicine Teaching Unit, Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital, P.O. Box 9000, Priestman St. Fredericton, NB Canada E3B 5N5 Abstract While breast cancer narratives have become prevalent in Western culture, few researchers have explored the structure of such narratives, relying instead on some form of thematic analysis based upon content. Although such analyses are valuable, Arthur Frank (The Wounded Storyteller, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1995) provides researchers with an additional means of studying stories of illness, through the examination of their structures. In this article, the author applies Frank’s work to a phenomenological study of embodiment after breast cancer. Frank’s three narrative types are used to enhance understanding of the ways in which stories are culturally constructed, using data collected through one focus group discussion and two in-depth interviews with each of 12 women who had experienced breast cancer. The author then conveys the significance of this form of analysis for future research. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Breast cancer; Qualitative and narrative Introduction Frank (1995) writes that those who are ill ‘‘need to become storytellers in order to recover the voices that illness and its treatment often take away’’...
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...Here you go. Be warned...it's long: Ok, so here’s the argument: Let’s begin with the traditional narrative: At Muhammad’s death, there is a power struggle between Abu Bakr and Ali. The supporters of Abu Bakr’s claim are the Sunnis, the supporters of Ali’s claim are the Shi’ite. The Sunnis believe that leadership should be elected from those who deserve it, the Shi’ite believe it should be passed down Muhammad’s bloodline. The Sunnis win out and Abu Bakr takes power. Over time, these two groups have various fights resulting in the civil war termed the Fitnah. There are major theological which are a direct result of differences on where spiritual authority rests. My response: None of this makes sense. Let’s start at the beginning. At Muhammad’s death, there is supposedly a struggle between Abu Bakr and Ali over who should be the leader. This doesn’t make sense. Ali is far too young to be a contender for leadership. Remember, this is still in the early stages of Islam, so everyone is used to the pre-Islamic leadership structure. The leader is traditionally the sheikh, an elder of the tribe who brings wisdom and experience to the table. Abu Bakr, at 61 years old, fits that bill. Ali? He’s in his early 30’s. No one will take his leadership seriously. And that’s something that is very important because whoever takes leadership is going to face rebellion. What happens when you have an extremely strong leader and he dies? People start rebelling. They test how much power the successor...
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...For many years there were many slave narratives coming from slaves that were born into slavery and found their freedom either through emancipation or escaping. These narratives personified the harsh and cruel reality of slavery while also justifying their escape. Never was it know the true unbiased good and bad of slavery until 1853 with the publication of 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northrup a free born man of Saratoga, NY that was kidnapped, sold into slavery, and escaped to his freedom and how he viewed and survived slavery based on what he experienced as a slave and what he knew as a free man. Once Northrop regains his freedom he begins to travel and lecture about his time of bondage and writes this novel with the purpose of gaining the attention of people in the north more specifically white people in the north that have no true understanding of the south, the institution is slavery in the south, and the treatment of slaves in that area. Due to his appeal to those with little to no prior knowledge of the south and slavery in the south he has to write and speak in a way that everyone can understand. He must give explicit details of his life before slavery living as a free man in New York making wages by playing the Violin and doing other skilled work, and his life as a slave such as picking cotton and being a victim of whippings and abuse at the hands on an angry master. Northrup is also speaking to anti- slavery groups and abolitionists to prompt them to work more in their...
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...reading and teaching. Where Lord of the Flies has been read reductively, Original Sin writ large over it, readers have tended to respond to the novel in terms of its doleful view of humanity or its perceived theology. Its initial success reflected post-war pessimism, the loss of what Golding (1988a:163) has called his generation's "liberal and naive belief in the perfectability of man". Although the novel does not groan under a dogmatic burden to the extent that some critics have alleged, it has seemed the prime example of Golding's earlier writing, a tightly structured allegory or fable. … It is not surprising that the Bible's first and last books, on humankind's "origins and end" beyond the horizons of knowledge, turn to symbolic narrative. In Lord of the Flies Golding draws heavily on imagery from Genesis and the Apocalypse, together with prophetic eschatological imagery, as this article will attempt to indicate. As the primitive myths were essentially magical and religious, Frazer (1957:169), in his great if a-historical study of mythologies, expressed the belief that the "movement of higher thought ... has on the whole been from magic through religion to science". This faith in the "progress upwards from...
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