Afro-Asian Literature

1. “In any war story, especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told the way. “ (71)

In Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal,” the experiences of a Black narrator, specifically those molded by the brutal hands of anti-black violence, paint a pessimistic outlook on race relations and the ability for marginalized individuals to overcome the oppressive structures embedded in civil society. To construct this commentary, the text employs symbolism to communicate the ways in which systemic and structural anti-blackness suppresses and oppresses Black communities.

Beginning my love of reading an early age, I was never the type of child who was drawn to fictional stories. As an 8 year-old child in West Virginia, I was recognized by the local library for my love of biographies, autobiographies and recollections of world events. This love has continued throughout my adult life, desiring to read novels such as “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore rather than watch the major motion picture “We Were Soldiers” starring Mel Gibson. Even though the motion picture received multiple awards, when reading the recollection of Mr. Moore’s accounts, the feeling of loss, distress, anxiety and fear can be felt in each word that he has written while reliving this horrendous war.

Krebs soon comes to isolate himself and oppose discussing his war experience and the influence it had on him. For Krebs, living in a town that has moved past the war, was his reason to reminisce on his war experiences and the women who would walk the streets in Germany and France. After spending two years in World War I, adapting to the real world was asking Krebs to let go of everything that has shaped him since he has been gone. “He sat there on the porch reading a book on the war. It was a history and he was reading about all the engagements he had been in. It was the most interesting reading he had ever done.” Even after arriving home, attempting to adapt to the fact that the war was over, he studied war events he was part of; routes and war sites he had taken and fought at.

The returning of a dramatic event disables a soldier to adapt accordingly to everyday life. Ones conscious of reality is infringed upon Posttraumatic experiences of warfare, which unleashes an outbreak of inhumane actions directed towards existence and significant others. As the short story progresses after the event of the Vietnam War, the narrator says referring to Henry that:

At this point in the book, Malle has succesfully introduced to the reader a controversial theme which demands a lot of thought and consideration, as we are made aware that not all German soldiers had the same principles.

Prior to the war the young men did not have roots in the community, and after the war they have nothing to go back to. Remarque transmits the theme that the generation after the war feels foreign and uncomfortable in their environments with the motif of the lost generation.

There is no doubt that African Americans have a rich cultural background and history like the many different ethnic groups who settled in the New World, whose origins lie in another country. For this reason, America was known as the melting pot. However, the backgrounds of each of these cultures were not always understood or, in the case of African Americans, accepted among the New World society and culture. Americans were ignorant to the possibility of differences among groups of people until information and ideas started to emerge, particularly, the African retention theories. This sparked an interest in the field of African culture and retention in African Americans. However, the study of African American culture truly emerged as a result of increased awareness in America, specifically through the publication and findings of scholarly research and cultural events like the Harlem Renaissance where all ethnicities were able to see this rich historical culture of African Americans.

With intricate detail the author explains these events as frightening and overwhelmingly difficult to tolerate. Beah, exposed to combat at age 12, was traumatized by battle and portrays details of the horrifying events through imagery. “When the rebels finally came I was cooking... My heart was beating faster than it ever had. Each gunshot seemed to cling to the beat of my heart.”

Eric Liu has written two books with Nick Hanauer on politics and civic life, The Garden of Democracy (2011) and the True Patriot (2007) and has written a memoir, The Accidental Asian. His commentary on “branding” appears to be the main issue in the op-ed of the public space in the USA. Eric Liu displays his disagreement on their Bronx homestead’s being named into some brand called “Yankees”. The Yankees showing off their name into the homestead has angered the writes in many ways. The writer thinks it has insulted the great legends born in the stadium. He isn’t happy about this change as he thinks it as a national treasure. Now Yankees will also be a part of a deeper, acceleration trend in our society, the relentless branding of public spacing.

The recruiting phase or the “courting” or “dating process” begins with the initial stages of developing the players’ relationships and to confirm the mutual independence. Colleges and universities are suggesting that they would be equipping them for the future and all the sweets they want. Similar to Friday Night Lights, Colleges and universities heavily court, two star players on the Carter team, Derric Evans and Gary Edwards. They received free trips to tour the universities. Derric Evans and Gary Edwards are jetted around to different schools in the nation. Their mediocre academic scores did not seem to be an issue with these Colleges. Both Derric and Gary are tempted with a bright future and everything from luxury campus residence to

August 6 1945, Kannonmachi Japan. East Asia Tin works clerc. Around 10 o’clock before beginning the paperwork I decided to talk to a girl to the right of me. Although as soon as I turned my head a beaming of light filled the room. The floor and everything on it came falling down, I was so paralyzed with fear I couldn't noticed that the bookcase that was behind me was being pushed. Before I knew it my left leg was being crushed.

The story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien is an enormously detailed fictional account of a wartime scenario in which jimmy Cross (the story’s main character) grows as a person, and the emotional and physical baggage of wartime are brought to light. The most obvious and prominent feature of O’Brien’s writing is a repetition of detail. O’brien also passively analyzes the effects of wartime on the underdeveloped psyche by giving the reader close up insight into common tribulations of war, but not in a necessarily expositorial sense.. He takes us into the minds of mere kids as they cope with the unbelievable and under-talked-about effects or rationalizing

Stuart Hall’s The West and the Rest and Edward Said’s Orientalism both explore notions of power and discourse with regard to the dynamics of the Western world and the non-Western world. The works engage with the concept of a worldwide binary of two unequal sides, and how certain discourses, namely that of “the West and the Rest”, and Orientalism, have both stemmed from this idea and worked to maintain it. While Hall engages with the idea of “the West and the Rest” – the Western world and how it has been defined in opposition to the non-Western – Said analyses the relationship between “the Orient and the Occident” (2). Said’s work reflects in a more concrete way what Hall proposes in his, using the example of “the Orient” as part of “the Rest” against which the Western world positions itself. Both pieces convey significant ideas about how power informs perceptions of difference between societies, and in turn how discourse forms and maintains global hegemonic power.

Orientalism is a study of language and traditions of the people and their culture in the Middle East. These studies are mostly done by people outside of the culture that is being looked at, and mostly the studies are being performed by white western men. Edward Said believed that there was a problem with the way in which other people were studying and writing about his culture. He was upset and spoke up when he wrote a booked called “Orientalism,” in his book he points out many reasons why the study of orientalism is hurting the cultures in which they are studying. The study of other cultures and countries better known as the Orient has become a popular discussion since Said’s book on orientalism was published. This paper will take a look