A Christmas Story By Annie Dillard

They would see a young girl in a red Christmas dress excited to see what was in her stocking. Not that the fact that her parents had lied to her about a fictional character: to excite her, to persuade her to be good all year, and carry on a tradition. To me, this picture has more meaning than showing the spirit of Christmas. For me now, this picture reminds me of the times when I was easily persuaded to believe in lies, was not aware of the cruel world where people take advantage of children’s innocents, there was no dream too big or too small, and finally where everyone was my friend, there was not jr high drama or who is dating who. Looking at this picture allows the viewer to see a glimpse into my life, but what they see and what I see are different. I see my innocents, and they see a smiling, happy, little girl in a red dress, opening her stocking. The times where I still believed in Mr. Santa Claus was an easier time. I was unaware of what was to come in the next

Charles Chesnutt’s “The Doll” is a story of seeking truth, facing discrimination, and making bold choices for the sake of one’s own livelihood. Through Tom Taylor’s slow-building narrative, Chesnutt reveals the complications keeping the barber from exacting his revenge on the man who murdered his father, Colonel Forsyth. Despite having the perfect opportunity to do so, Tom remains steadfast in the face of the colonel’s taunts, ultimately deciding to stay silent. Aside from highlighting Tom’s emotional turmoil throughout the tale, “The Doll” also ponders how black Americans are to advance and protect themselves, especially as individuals within a societal system built against that very idea of social mobility. The story therefore

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is about six of the worst children in the history of the world, they include Gladys, Claude, Imogene, Leroy, Ollie and Ralph Herdman. Mainly, because they lie; steal, smoke cigars, talk dirty, hit little kids, cuss at teachers, and take the name of the Lord in vain. A small town is turned upside down when the Herdman decide they want to take part in the annual Christmas pageant. According, to Charlie Bradley the best thing about Sunday school is that there are no Herdman there.

Everyone has a favorite holiday. There is Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, the Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then there is everyone’s favorite- Christmas! Christmas comes with the feeling of warmth, of family, and of home. What happens, though, if all one ever knew during Christmas time was completely changed? What happens if home just is not home anymore? Sandra M. Castillo addresses that situation that actually occurred in her own life in her poem, “Christmas, 1970.” Castillo moved from Cuba to the United States in 1970 and as an eight-year old she reveals her true feelings during and about the Christmas season. Throughout the poem, she reveals a theme of what home means to her, written in her point of view as she sits under her aunt’s Christmas tree at her aunt’s apartment. Castillo uses devices like symbolism, imagery, and flashback to support her them that no one can return to their childhood home.

The definition of abuse is when someone uses cruel and violent treatment to negatively affect a person repeatedly. Abuse can come in a variety of ways, such as psychological abuse, mental abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and one of the most common yet overlooked is sexual abuse. In the book A Child Called IT, David Pelzer writes the story of his childhood. A child whose whole life was surrounded by abuse, his mother would beat him and hurt him in such a way that she left him almost dead in several occasions. Sharon olds wrote a series of poems that all seemed to link up together after reading them consecutively. I go back to May 1937 is dealing with changing her existence, Little things is about focusing on enjoying small things,

The relationship between a mother and daughter may be very difficult. Today modern women live different lives then a long time ago. A lot of women are single parents and hold a career, therefore making the job of a mother very difficult. There are many complications and heartaches, but then there is always the plus size of love and rewards. This is no exception between Nola and her mother Mrs. Dietrich, characters in “Shopping by Joyce Carol Oates. Nola is obviously trying to spread her wings and fly into a young woman, however; Mrs. Dietrich is having a really hard time letting her go. In Oates short story one is exposed to the hardship that a mother has in watching her daughter transition from a girl

The story of “ St. Lucy’s Home for Girls” by Karen Russell introduced a girl named Claudette and followed her through her life during school. The author wrote about her learning how to be civilized. She talks about Claudette’s transformation from her old culture to her new culture. The transformation is put into five stages. The stages represent emotions that Claudette and the other girls would feel during these courses.

In Annie Dillard’s essay “Sight into Insight” she talks about one of mankind’s most value sense, the ability to see. Annie writes about how she views the world in her very own handpicked words which results in me being so mesmerized by her writing, because she explains her picture of the world in such a matter that will disassemble, reassemble and rotate your viewpoint of the colorful world just like a Rubik’s cube. I believe the main idea in her essay “Sight into Insight” was that she tried to teach us how to perceive the world in a new way. She wants the audience and herself to see more than what meets the eye, she shows us how by letting us relieve her childhood memories and by scientifically proving the existence of “disguised” beauty.

portunity to move up the career ladder, financial stability, having a family, owning a car, ability to receive an education, and having freedom and equality. Is this American Dream really attainable for everyone? Some groups of American citizens seem less likely to ever achieve this dream even if they work hard. Society and their circumstances are against them either because of their race, gender or class. Women, minorities, immigrants and the poor are left out of the American Dream. They may strive for the dream, sometimes even for a number of generations, but they will only get so far because of the obstacles they face from society, specifically from the individuals who already achieved the dream. How can it be called the American Dream when many individuals cannot achieve it? Or is it called the American Dream because many will be left dreaming about it their whole lives? Many families struggle to even get close to the American Dream. In Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”, the Younger family struggled for money, despite having numerous jobs, and a descendant living space. Being African American in the 1950’s made it difficult for the family to move up in class to achieve the American Dream. In “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, the Younger’s cannot fully achieve the American Dream due to societal obstacles they experience based on their race when trying to obtain a good paying job, buying a house and receiving an education.

From the first day that we can walk, talk, and think for ourselves, we are dreamers. These dreams can be nothing more than an illusion, or the foundations to the very lives we live daily. The American Dream is no exception to this, shaping the lives of millions of Americans each and every day, as it has done so for decades. We can see this through the works of many notable authors and their works. Some examples of these people are F. Scott Fitzgerald, Lorraine Hansberry, Thomas Jefferson, and even some more recent writers like John Meacham and Lena Williams. While all of these people may have been alive at different time periods, they all, for the most part, share one common ideology: the American Dream is still alive,

This book is great to read to children the day before Martin Luther King Jr. day or on the day if there is school. It will teach children the

Holiday Book: The teacher will read to the whole class Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer. During the reading the teacher will be asking the students if some of the activities Olivia is completing in the story they do with their own families. After completing the story, the teacher will be asking the students to create their own holiday book. The teacher will create her own holiday book with the students that they receive and idea of what is to be completed. After completing her story with the students. The students will receive there and outline to help them set up their stories. Once the online is completed children will be able to create their holiday

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne is about an unlikely friendship between Bruno, the son of a German Nazi commandant and Shmuel, a Jewish captive in a concentration camp ran by Bruno’s father. The novel takes place during 1940’s, allowing us to recognize that the Holocaust is taking place. The Holocaust was a large genocide led by Adolf Hitler and his army of Nazi’s to exterminate all Jewish people in Europe. The novel begins with Bruno and his family moving into an ‘out-with’, which happens to be in the middle of nowhere. Bruno decides to explore the area around his house and comes across a “farm” surrounded by barbed wired fence. On the other side of the fence was a boy, Shmuel, around his age that is wearing striped pajamas.

Within every human's soul, lies a secret, and no matter how innocent it may seem or how well the intention for keeping it is, there is a reason it is being hidden. In Henry Ibsen's "A Doll's House," the main character, Nora Helmer hides a secret from her husband that can very well ruin not only her life, but his as well. Despite having a good intention for her actions, the secret tortures her throughout the entirety of the play, and once revealed, changed the mood and depth of her character significantly, keeping the story on a stressful and sorrowful note.

The Marxist criticism is based on the socialist theories of Karl Marx and how the readers must closely examine the dynamics of class as they attempt to understand the works they read. In a world where there is no pain, no prejudice, no emotion, and no detestation. Lois Lowry gives a vivid description of a community where everything is equal, everyone is just as important as another, and life choices are made by only one individual. In the book The giver by Lois Lowry, it expresses the exact opposite of Marx’s most important ideas which is a prime example of what people will do if they were forced to live a certain way.