Julio Serrano
Professor Schuler
English 101
15 September 2016
Expository Essay-Classification Fate. This is a general topic that catches the attention of most people when it comes to one living their day-to-day life. With free-will being pretty much nonexistent for the believers in fate, it is arguable that one’s actions change your fate. Much controversy is created involving this topic, especially in a unique literary text named Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr. This novel consists of six short stories taking place in the slums of lower-class Brooklyn, New York throughout the 1950’s. This novel has aroused much controversy because of Selby’s blunt style of writing involving drugs, sex, prostitution, and violence. Many readers found the novel offensive during the time it was published because they worried about the fragility of innocence of the general public, so much that it was even banned in Italy and was held in trial throughout the United Kingdom at the time. Although it is true that Selby had no restraint when it came to the use of vulgar language or actions, he had a purpose for his unique style of writing. His purpose was to try and show how real-life people lived their daily lives through the depiction of his characters. These short stories within the novel show how the characters kept busy in order to avoid the inevitable boredom which would consume them, how they survived from day to day through unethical actions because of the rough environment, or
The book Max can be viewed in the perspective of many different people, the one that is going to be focused on is through the eyes of Max and Justin. Max is a military dog that watched his partner Kyle get killed in action while they were in Afghanistan serving a tour. Max’s job is to protect his partner and to warn him of any danger that may be ahead. After losing his best friend, hero and marine Max becomes traumatized and is no longer able to work with the Marines. Along with the setting that takes place in Afghanistan, there is characterization, conflict, foreshadowing, points of views and symbols throughout the book.
The text chosen for this unit id the book Refuge by prominent Australian writer Jackie French (2013). Refuge follows the story of Faris, a young refugee feeling from his homeland with his grandmother to Australia. On the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia to Australia, they encounter a terrible storm where Faris falls unconscious and wakes up living his dream life in Australia. However, he has no recollection of how he got there. Whilst on the beach, he meets a strange group of children all from different times and places. Faris soon discovers that each child is like him, a migrant who travelled to Australia searching for a better place. Each child is living in their own ‘dream’ Australia and the beach provides a sort of ‘refuge’ from reality for them. Eventually, Faris has to make the decision to either continue living in this dream land or face his reality. This book is interesting as unlike other refugee texts, this novel serves to tell the multicultural history of Australian immigration. French relays the more than 60 000 year old history of people travelling to Australia by boat and makes the statement that all immigrants and refugees need to be treated with empathy and understanding.
Throughout the book “The Last Night of the World” by Ray Bradbury, there are a lot of vague generalizations that are left unanswered. Ray Bradbury is known for his descriptive literature and vast amounts of emotion and mystery; most of which is never completely understood by the reader. Ray Bradbury is well known for his articulate literature as he often portrays thorough coherency throughout his stories. Modern day literature is straight to the point and easy to understand but Bradbury is not only able to connect his stories to real world events but he also engages the reader by personally connecting his literature
Similarly, Denver’s Emerald Closet functions as a holding space that allows Denver to reflect on her trauma and experience her own pleasure. Morrison uses the environment to demonstrate how Denver is able to feel comfort for her trauma. The narrator describes the closet as being, “hidden by post oaks, five boxwood bushes, planted in a ring, had started stretching toward each other four feet off the ground to form a round empty room seven feet high, its walls fifty inches of murmuring leaves” (Morrison 34). While the closet is a part of environment’s natural creation, it is described as being a house, very similar to that of 124 Bluestone. The descriptions of the “round empty room” and “seven feet high walls” demonstrates how the closet
The book Black Hearts opened my eyes to how leadership from a single Officer can have a grappling effect on such a wide range of soldiers from the lowest of ranks. One of the best takeaways from Black Hearts is to never do anything: illegal, unethical, or immoral. Although this is a easy statement to repeat, Black Hearts demonstrates the difficulties that lie behind these words. It has also painted a picture of how leadership can topple extremely quickly from a top down view. The Army is portrayed in a bad light throughout the book relentlessly. This is due to the concentration of poor leadership of the 1-502nd Regiment (Referred to as “First Strike”), a battalion of the 101st Airborne Division.
“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” (Bradbury pg.104) In Fahrenheit 451 and The Pedestrian, the main characters witnessed the rarity of social interaction and how inclined people are to their screens. Author Ray Bradbury describes how it has gotten to the point where people are more in touch with technology rather than each other. Through foreshadowing and flashback, Ray Bradbury’s short story, The Pedestrian, and his novel, Fahrenheit 451, explain how society has become more ignorant in a technology-obsessed world.
(insert an attention grabber, such as a quote or question). In Erik Larson's “The Devil in the White City”, (a nonfiction novel that spans the years surrounding the building of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair) that recreates the lives of two real men, Daniel Burnham, the architect who builds the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and H. H. Holmes, the serial killer who exploits the fair to find his victims. Larson uses intense imagery, juxtaposition, and allusion to create pure and immoral tones between Daniel Burnham and H. H. Holmes. In the novel Larson uses intenses imagery to thoroughly illustrate the coexistence of good and evil.
His survival is heavily influenced by every choice he makes, from ignoring the exhortations to escape impending danger to choosing to stay with his father in spite of difficulties. His experience with the Holocaust directly shapes his role as a frontline fighter for recognition of Holocaust victims. In moving to Canada, I also shaped my role in society. My skills, such as playing sports; hobbies, such as reading; and characteristics, such as persistence and studious attitude have all developed due to my moving to Canada. My exposure to a life so plentiful in opportunities has also caused me to take many things for granted. Events in people’s lives shape who they become. Some of these circumstances are brought about by the decisions of others, while the majority of occurrences are caused by deliberate choices. These decisions can shape destiny in a life-or-death situation or a can be like a small, yet equally profound, choice to smile at a stranger. While some decisions are out of one’s hands, a conscious effort to have a positive outlook on life can still influence destiny. Like a rudder, daily decisions made with a positive mentality can steer people to a prosperous life. It does not do well to dwell on what may have happened, but rather on how the life one creates can be consequential in further extending the development of
Part 1: The Devil in the White City is a true crime novel that takes place during the building, during, and aftermath of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. There are 2 main narratives,the first is Daniel Burnham, one of the main architects and designers of the World 's Fair. This plot line shows the extreme stress that all of the Architects experienced, as the construction was slow to start, slow to build, and was filled with shortages, deaths, and awful communication. The second narrative is centered around H.H. Holmes, one of America’s first notorious serial killers. His narrative takes place in his “Murder Castle” and shows his complicated history and his numerous credit scams, identity scams, and most importantly,
When you see the homeless what do you think about? Do you see them and feel disgust or are you someone who wonders how and why they are where they are, or maybe, you are one of the few who want to help and who are able to. In the U.S., more than 3.5 million people experience homelessness each year and that number is growing. They are families with little children, people who are trying to escape domestic violence, people with mental illness, veterans who have served our country, and many more. From what I read in Jonathan Kozol’s “Untouchables” city officials in various places are only coming up with short term solutions, that aren’t helping the homeless. City officials are just trying to get rid of the homeless from their cities or area. I think it’s time that more individuals and groups, really gets involved and figure out a way to help those who are already homeless, and stop future people from becoming homeless. We have to come up with ways to help the homeless readjust and get back into the world.
Throughout the story, Lost in the City by Edwards P. Jones there are many different ways the city influences the different characters. Lost in the City takes the reader through some difficult times of many African Americans in Washington. The different characters form bond that cannot be broken in order to handle what life throws at them. In the stories "The Girl Who Raised Pigeons" and "The First Day" the city influences the different main characters in different ways, to help them come of age.
A life lived under someone else’s expectations is no life at all. Many people live their lives allowing others to tell them what to do. They allow others to put them down, and to make them feel less of a person. There have been stories about man versus man, man versus nature and most importantly man versus self. In “The story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe we see how each writer uses setting, characterization, and dramatic irony to show how allowing others to dictate ones life can lead to disastrous ends.
In the movie A Bronx Tale, young Calogero witnessed a shooting outside his house. The cops show up at his house later that day to question him. The police officer had Calogero go to where the police had a line of men who were suspects of the shooting. Calogero got to Sonny, who was pretty much the head gangster of the neighborhood. Calogero knew it was Sunny but chose to tell the police it wasn’t any of them. The lie that Calogero told to the police is morally wrong because according to Pollock, in the ethics book “Morals and morality refer to what is judged as good conduct. (Pollock, 8, 2012). I would say that the lie he told
The book opens with a squad of soldiers running a tactical control point just outside of a village called Yusufiyah. They are approached when a man Abu Muhammad had found his cousins family brutally murdered not too far off. Sgt. Tony Yribe and 3 others went to go investigate it. Although it was a terrible scene Sgt. Yribe had just assumed that it was like most other situations in Iraq in that the family was a victim of Iraqis attacking other Iraqis. The one thing that bothered him was that there was a shotgun shell and Iraqis do not normally use shotguns.
How heavily do one’s characteristics impact their life? Hardy Lawrence’s, The Mayor of Casterbridge, answers this question with the main protagonist. By focusing on psychological aspects, nuanced characters, and the everlasting concept of life’s consequence, the power of the character is revealed. Ultimately, one’s character defines their life substantially.