Essay on A Long Way Down

A Long Walk to Water is a novel by Linda Sue Park. This novel is about Salva, an eleven-year -old Sudanese boy who grows up in South Sudan. Later in the novel, he has faced challenges one wouldn’t dream of facing, through a long period of time. He has learned, if one helps other people, those people will then help more people, which will result in more happiness in the world. He is a round character, who changes throughout the novel. Salva is a different person at the end of the book. He has gone from hearing his death journey to fighting for survival to helping transform people’s lives forever.

Many young people are affected in some way by suicide, and must learn to cope with the horrible loss it has taken from them. “Dogrib Midnight Runners”, by Van Camp, “was inspired by a suicide. As far as [he knew, that was] the first published story that ever takes place in Fort Smith. And [Van Camp wanted] to talk about what a great thief suicide is: the huge, never-ending echo of its fatal decision” (Vranckx). In this short story, a group of friends are faced with their friend, Justin, committing suicide for no clear reason. Justin was remembered as an intelligent, fun individual and appeared happy. The reason why Justin committed suicide was unclear. One particular humorous, happy memory his friends had of him was that when he drank too much, he would take off all his clothes and run. In Richard Van Camp’s short story, “Dogrib Midnight Runners”, the “ritual of running” is so important to healing and rebirth because it allows the group of friends to cope with the loss of their friend while rebuilding a meaningful friendship and support system they had lost during the tragedy.

1. The client system, in this case the Lee family, defines Lia’s seizures as both a spiritual and physical ailment. According to Fadiman (1997), “…the noise of the door had been so profoundly frightening that her soul had fled her body and become lost. They recognized the resulting symptoms as qaug dab peg, which means ‘the spirit catches you and you fall down’”(p.20). To the Lee family, Lia’s condition was as revered as it was frightening. While a person with qaug dab peg was traditionally held in high esteem in the Hmong culture, it was also terrifying enough that the Lee’s rushed Lia to the emergency room more than once in the first few months

The world view of the Navajo who had lived for many centuries on the high Colorado Plateau was one of living in balance with all of nature, as the stewards of their vast homeland which covered parts of four modern states. They had no concept of religion as being something separate from living day to day and prayed to many spirits. It was also a matriarchal society and had no single powerful leader as their pastoral lifestyle living in scattered independent family groups require no such entity. This brought them repeatedly into conflict with Spanish, Mexicans and increasingly by the mid-nineteenth century, Americans as these practices were contrary to their male dominated religiously monolithic societal values. The long standing history

Journal Question: How does Momaday use adjectives and descriptive phrases to show profound respect for Rainy Mountain?

Ruth raised her children as Jewish parents would’ve, even if she wasn’t aware of it. Like other Jewish families, she raised her children to be scholastic standouts. They were kept out of the public school system and kept in certain communities. Ruth was particular about the teachers who taught and disciplined them. She wanted he children to receive the best education.

The autobiography written by Ishmael Beah, shows a lot of experience that tells the reader about the human condition and what it means to be a human being. In this story, Ishmael’s experience is displayed for an eye-opener to everyone about the cruel world around them. With that being said, not everyone is at fault, but this book shows a different perspective of a person with an extremely different culture from our own. For anyone that lives freely, this life story would make anyone feel guilty for not having to battle their way to adulthood. Ishmael’s experiences show how quickly a person’s life can change depending on the current circumstances. Ishmael had a very eventful and traumatizing life, one that took surviving, changing as a person, and a process of recovering. After reading this autobiography, Ishmael’s life story tells the public a lot about human condition and what it means to be a human.

As the trucks roll in and the man in uniform with the megaphone announces the war is over, what can anyone do, should they follow the man or just lay down and die. If they follow questionings and interviews decide their fate, if they are rich they die, if they stop walking along side everyone they die, and if they are lucky enough to live they must get used to seeing death all around them. This was Arn’s confusing and misleading start to the genocide that would forever change his life. He was taken from his home and promised freedom, but soon he knew that this was not freedom, but it was imprisonment. Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick is a book about the devastating effects a genocide has on a society and the innocents of a child.

Explorers always wanted to find the "Golden City." Of course, none of them did. In Candide, Voltaire describes a city that is equivalent to any "Golden City." This world is the ideal world that almost anyone would like to live in. However, when Candide finds his "Golden City," known as El Dorado, he leaves it. One might wonder why Candide left El Dorado, but there were many well justified reasons for Candide's departure from the perfect world he was searching for. Candide gives several arguments for leaving El Dorado. Candide wants to find Cunegund, and he wants to be of higher status. In El Dorado, everyone has wealth; but if Candide leaves with some pebbles from El Dorado he can richer then the nobles in Europe.

Suicide affects many all around the world and suicide rate keep increasing, making suicide a growing concern. In the film Cake, the main character Claire Bennett develops an odd fascination with the suicide of a woman from her support group. In this paper, I will focus on Claire.

A worn path is a story about a woman named Phoenix Jackson who needs to go a journey to town to get medicine for her sick grandson. It is a trip she has made before many times before (hence the title A worn Path) but there is something special about this trip, something different. In this paper I plan to dwell into the symbolism behind the Legend of the Phoenix and its relationship to her journey in the story. The legend of the Phoenix is about a fabled sacred bird of ancient Egyptians, said to come out of Arabia every 500 years to Heliopolis, where it burned itself on altar and rose again from its ashes young and beautiful; symbol of immortality. I think this story also represents Christian beliefs because the setting is

The testimonies written in both early exploration narratives and seventeenth century Puritan texts described how a particular explorer viewed the new land of America. Each of these writings had their own deception about the significance of America, both as a physical place and also as an ideal. Christopher Columbus wrote several exploration narratives during his journeys to and from the new land. He offered his own personal definitions and arguments about what he saw and thought about his new discoveries. In the text "Letter to Luis de Santangel", Columbus writes about his crowning achievement, the discovery of new world. I believe that this text helps convey a specific definition of America. Columbus portrayed America as being

     “A Worn Path” is, in my opinion, a very good story. It tells of an old black woman and the struggles she’s had to deal with throughout her life. The author names the woman Phoenix after a mythological bird that died and then came back to life through its ashes which makes it immortal. The author makes the woman “immortal” because she continues to have something to live for, her grandson, whom she apparently considers her biggest gift.

My journey the day I left my home country in search of a better life was not as pleasurable or exciting as I expected. Although it was not a long flight, the accumulation of unexpected vicissitudes during the trip made my dream of traveling an absolute nightmare. Not only my sadness to be leaving my family behind, the uncertainty to fly alone and for the first time, or my inexperience with the procedures at the airport contributed to this calamity, but even my neighbor on the plane added his bit of sand in the affair. All this situation was such traumatic to me that I even considered never daring to fly again.

As a very small child I don’t remember too much, but the things that I do remember were seen through a child’s eyes that has made me the person that I am today and I will always have those memory’s with me until my last breath on this earth. In this essay I intend to show how my childhood and adult life to this point has influenced my life, my journey. By utilizing the adult development theories from this class I also intend on showing how they relate to my Life experiences and where I am today as an Adult student.