In the short story, “Moonface” by Jack London, an unnamed neighbor (narrator) of John Claverhouse has a deep hatred for him that grows to the point of John’s death. The narrator describes John as a happy, moon faced man with a “Gargantuan laugh” that was haunting. The narrator, not being able to stand John’s happiness, kills his dog and sets his barn on fire in an attempt to anger him. When his actions don’t seem to faze John, he decides there is nothing to do but kill him. He begins piecing together an elaborate plan involving a dog, Bellona, that he trains to fetch and return sticks. After training her, he offers Bellona to John, in hopes that he will take her, John, being John, accepts her and later takes her down by a lake to do illegal fishing. This was all part of the narrators plan, watching a John throws an explosive into the water. Bellona immediately jumps into the lake to retrieve the “stick”. As she gets out of the water with the explosive in her mouth, John realizes his danger and starts running, Bellona following right behind. The narrator watches in enjoyment as Bellona catches up to him and the explosive blows up, killing John and Bellona. His misery needed to have company and this was his way of getting it. In the short story, “Moonface” by Jack London, the changes from a hateful man to a sick-minded killer. Right as the story begins, we start to get a glimpse of how mean spirited the narrator is when s/he thinks, “...at the first moment of meeting, we say: ‘I do not like that man’... We have taken a dislike, that is all. And so I with John Claverhouse” (para 2). This quote displays that the narrator is quick to judge, being that the text never states a prior relationship between them. He has it set in his mind that he hates him so, that will probably never change. John’s personality starts to make the narrator hostile when, “Then I set fire to his haystacks and his barn. But the next morning, being Sunday, he went forth blithe and cheerful” (para 7). This shows that the narrator is truly seeking John’s sadness. As he realizes that it is impossible to make him show that he is mad, the narrator says, “...when I resolved to kill John Claverhouse I had it in mind to do so in a fashion that I
Aristotle once theorized, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” The book, “The Color of Water” describes the lives of James and Ruth McBride and their journeys to find this happiness. Both of these characters, among other characters in the book struggled for the majority of their lives with the issues of race. They felt as if they were caught between two different worlds; the world of blacks and the world of whites. These struggles left all of the characters feeling forlorn. In McBride’s memoir it is made clear that in order to find happiness, the characters must first be able to confront and then overcome the racial divisions that were so prominent in their lives.
People often think of family as positive, loving, and with no flaws. However, there is almost a stereotype that all families love each other and there aren’t problems or challenges in a family. Sometimes families put people through challenges and some families aren’t “perfect”. In the book Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly has two kids and goes through challenges with her family. Most careful readers can see how Jolly has these challenges with her kids and how she is far off from the “perfect” family. She goes through many of these challenges in life and finds a way to overcome them. Jollys family shapes her identity because the challenges she faces ends up making her stronger. Jeremy and Jilly challenging her, LaVaughn helping her out, and her past family all shape her identity.
John, a character of Sinclair Ross’ short story, The Painted Door, is a very admirable character. A struggling farmer, he resides in a small farmhouse alongside his wife of seven years, Ann. During a raging snowstorm, John ventures to his father’s house to assist him. This leaves Ann alienated in the farmhouse. John arranges for his friend Steven to visit Ann and accompany her during her isolated hours. While he is visiting, Steven seduces Ann, and they ultimately sleep together. After discovering this, John commits suicide by freezing to death in the roaring blizzard outside the farmhouse. A hardworking labourer, John is a diligent, considerate and unappreciated character.
The theme of the novel London Calling, by Edward Bloor, is very deceiving when you start off because you don’t know much. You can think that the theme is many different things like choosing your own path or being a rebel but by the time you finish the book you realize that the theme is really powerful and meaningful. The theme is that you don’t have to be powerful to help others or a community. Bloor supported this with a main question stated all throughout the text. What will you do to help? When we reach the inciting incident in the novel, we meet Jimmy, a small English boy. Through Jimmy, Martin learns the questions that should be answered in a lifetime, what did you do to help? After something happens to Jimmy, Martin is determined to take an adventure to answer this question and find out who he truly is and what he is meant to do. He gets some help from his father, who was a heavy alcoholic and wants to fix his wrongdoings and make sure his son does not end up the same way. At the end of the text, they succeed with their task that reunites Jimmy with his father in a weird way. After, this makes Martin feels a sense that he knows who he is, better than he did before.
James W Hewitt is the author of this book. He is president of the Friends of the Center for Great Plains Studies. This story was published in 2015 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. James W Hewitt returns to McCook, Nebraska to see the scene of the crime that scared the small town of McCook.
The book was first published by Martin in 1830 with the title A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Incidents That Occurred Within His Own Observation. In 1962, it was republished under the title Private Yankee Doodle, Being a Narrative of some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. In 2001 it was republished again under the title A Narrative of a Revolutionary Soldier.
Romance can be a part of someone’s life, but it isn’t always the main focus. In the article “I Can’t Think About Kissing: Strong Female Protagonists and Romance in Dystopian Young Adult Fiction”, university student Mollie Hall discusses romance in dystopian novels: “Romance is pursued, but it is a side pursuit in the female protagonist’s journey instead of the goal.” (Hall 5). This statement is true in the novel Blood Red Road by Moira Young. Saba is a girl with a plan, who has had her brother stolen from her own home. She vows to get her brother back and sets off on a journey, meeting many interesting, villainous, and kind characters. That being said, Saba finds a bit of romance. This, however, is not her main goal. This is evident during Saba’s first meeting with Jack, her need for help, and her thoughts on her relationship with Jack. To begin, the initial meeting between Saba and Jack demonstrates a romantic viewpoint in the novel. Upon seeing Jack, Saba instantly feels a sense of love from her heartstone, a necklace charm that heats up when you are near your heart’s desire:
From the beginning of the book, Half the Sky, the stories of Srey Rath, the vibrant girl from Cambodia, and Meena Hasina, the courageous mother from India, and other stories like theirs have helped many people understand the tragedies taking place all over the world. Their stories have inspired the authors and many who have read their stories to dive deeper into thought about worldwide issues plaguing many countries, including the United States. The global issues surrounding women’s health in the beginning of this book include the topics of: the three types of abuses, the inaccuracy of the term “sex trafficking”, and the initiatives to stop slavery.
Where to begin? In the beginning of the book Red Mars, the character Arkady states that “History is not evolution! It is a false analogy! Evolution is a matter of environment and chance, acting over millions of years. But history is a matter of environment and choice, acting within lifetimes, and sometimes within years, or months, or days! History is Lamarckian! ” (Robinson 88). Arkady is stating that we choose our own history. Over the course of the book, the story of Mars twists and turns, and becomes something completely different. Mars changes from red to green.
Sal a 13 year old moves to Euclid Ohio due to her loss of her mother. How would you react to one of your greatest fears? Such as you had to move due to the fact someone left your family. Think about how something or someone externally made an impact in your life. Well in the book Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Sal the main character changes due to many external forces that she went through.
When it comes to critical thinking, reading and writing are two factors that deal with the critical thinking process. A few key aspects of critical reading and writing are identifying the tone in ones writing, how to throughly read and annotate a text, and the revision process. In the essay, “The Maker’s Eye”, Donald Murray explains how the attitude of a writer, listening to what readers have to say and how to edit your own writing makes your work better when critically thinking in college. These aspects of critical thinking, reading and writing make will keep the reader interested and make the writing easier to translate when read.
In the fascinating novel “Freak the Mighty” by Rodman Philbrick The author sets an intriguing tone and mood to develop the characterers.As Philbrick represents his characters Kevin and Max through their countless adventures he builds their trust and relationship back from preschool to jr high.
Jalapeno bagels is about a boy named Pablo whom cannot decide what to take to school for International Day. He wants to bring something from his parents’ baker. He wants something that represent his heritage but he cannot decide what to bring. His mother who is Mexican baked pan dulce and change bars. His father who is Jewish baked bagels and challah. Both of the bake good were good but while helping his parents with the bakery on Sunday morning, Pablo made a decision on what to bring. He decided to bring jalapeno bagels because they are a mixture both of his parents and just like him too. The multicultural representations in the story line is Mexican and Jewish. The pictures that were drawn in the book, the family has the same color of skin even though the parents are different cultures and the main character is mixed. There were no different skin colors.
The novel “Flight” was a very interesting story about a young boy who seems to be lost in life and has an identity crisis which leads him down the wrong path and makes the poor decision to shoot up a bank. To have the boy come to the conclusion what he was doing was wrong Sherman Alexie sends him to different places and times to show teach him something more, almost like the Scrooge and the many ghosts he encounters in “A Christmas Carol”. I will discuss a few of his “flights” analyzing each flight and his journey from Zits to Michael through emotional encounters and tough lessons.
Lynn Nottage is one of the most talented contemporary playwrights in the Untied States. Her focus indeed is on the African American lifestyle and through her work she manages to touch topics and share ideas that are usually quite controversial. In addition, her approach towards each of her plays is different, in the best expectable way. Nottage’s intention is to present the world of the play in the most unique and memorable. Crumbs from the Table of Joy and Mud, River, Stone are two plays written by Lyn Notagge that reveal her magnificent playwright skills. Both of the plays are unique in their own way and represents stories that are different, but also connected in a way.