Megan White
Adv. Literature
Ms. Brown
12-13-16
N. Scott Momaday
Momaday was born February 27, 1934 in Lawton, Oklahoma. He was born in the Kiowa and Comanche Indian Hospital, and was then registered with having seven-eighths Indian blood. N. Scott Momaday was born of having a mix of English, Irish, French, and Cherokee blood while, his father, Alfred Morris Momaday was a full blood Kiowa. His mother was a writer and his father, a painter. In 1935, when N. Scott Momaday was one year old, his family moved to Arizona where both his father and mother became teachers on the reservation. Growing up in Arizona allowed Momaday to experience not only his father’s Kiowa traditions, but also those of the Southwest include: Navajo, Apache, and Pueblo traditions as well. In 1946, Momaday moved to Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, at twelve years old and lived there with his parents until his senior year of high school. After high school, Momaday attended college and was awarded his Bachelor 's of Arts degree in English in 1958, from the University of New Mexico. After continuing his education at Stanford University, he received his Ph.D. in English Literature in 1963. With all of the culture he has absorbed over the years he has been able to learn how to build a bridge of communication between all the cultures he has lived with and learned about.
The way people grow up can really influence who they become. Where Momaday grew up there was a lot of cultures mixed together, which can be
Momaday’s grandmother was part of the last generation of the Kiowas that were in a sense traditional. Her generation experienced the true Kiowa customs and language. When Momaday’s grandmother died, all he had left was her memory and the wisdom that she left embedded in his mind. Upon returning to his grandmother’s house Momaday stated, “Now there is a funeral silence in the rooms, the endless wake of some final word” (Momaday 12). This event is what brought Momaday back to his origins; it is what started his journey to bridge the gap between his grandmother and himself. His
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.
John “Crash” Coogan is the typical jock; he lives in Pennsylvania and is starting his second year of middle school as a 7th grader. I thought the main theme of the book is don’t judge a book by its cover. At least what most of us have in mind as a jock? Crash had always picked on his neighbor Penn Webb because of his choices and his lifestyle until later he realized something about Penn that he was his meant- to- be best friend. Crash has a wonderful life, until life deals him a hand that he could not have expected. When Crash 's grandfather unexpectedly has a stroke, Crash instinctively steps back and re-evaluates his life without even realizing he 's doing it. Suddenly, his cool friend, Mike doesn’t seem so cool anymore. Things that
The book written by Joel Spring was based on the constant derogation and the oppression of the people that were not considered “white”. The constant segregation between races caused many fights for equal rights among Native Americans, African American, Asian and Hispanic people. The conflict was never easy because the United States demonstrated an ethnocentric attitude, which caused the idea of deculturalization for many of the incoming immigrant races. The book demonstrates accuracy in many of the historical struggles between education, language, culture lands, and equal rights for a voice among the people in the United States.
Punished was written by Victor Rios and published in 2011. Rios wrote the book to chronicle the challenges young black and Latino boys faced within their improvised highly criminalized neighborhoods. Rios grew up in Oakland California and lived in what was considered the ghettos mainly a minority poor community; he was also a gang member with his fair share of trouble. Rios began looking for answers to the plights he and his community faced after the murder of his friend while they ran from a rival gang member. A conversation with the police whom Rios claimed told him they wanted the gangs to kill each other off made him seek answers to the prevalence of violence that plagues his community.
Every individual has traditions passed down from their ancestors. This is important because it influences how families share their historical background to preserve certain values to teach succeeding generation. N. Scott Momaday has Native American roots inspiring him to write about his indigenous history and Maxine Hong Kingston, a first-generation Chinese American who was inspired by the struggles of her emigrant family. Kingston and Momaday manipulate language by using, metaphors, similes, and a unique style of writing to reflect on oral traditions. The purpose of Kingston’s passage is to reflect upon her ancestor’s mistake to establish her values as an American
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.
While growing up Michael Dorris never encountered a Native American literary character that he could relate too, and being of Modoc Tribe of California descent, this was something that was very important to him. After graduating from Georgetown University, and earning a Master’s Degree at Yale, Dorris began to create these characters and ideas that he had longed for himself during childhood. He married his literary partner, Louise Erdrich, who was also of Native American descent. They had three children together, plus the three that Dorris had adopted, all of which were born on Native American reservations. All three of his adopted children suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. During a twenty year period before Dorris’ death, he published fourteen books and over one hundred articles. In 1987 he published his first novel “A Yellow Raft in Blue Water.”
Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, America’s first Female Native American writer and poet, exemplifies a unique multicultural influence in her writing as a result of her intermarried parents. Robert Dale Parker (2009), in his paper “Contemporary Anticolonialist Reading and the Collaborative Writing of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft,” describes her controversial writings “as representing the cacophonous medley of internal contradictions that she lived in” (p.52). Specifically, that of her poem Pensive Hours, which exhibits the layered nature of her works, shown through her Anglo-American heritage (with an emphasis towards Christian) tones hidden alongside her native spirituality, establishes Jane Johnston Schoolcraft as an American poet influenced by more than English Romanticism.
Momaday, who is Kiowan himself, is explicit in saying that his work is meant to emphasize the dignity of his ancestors in their “golden age”- when they controlled parts of the southern Plain of Oklahoma, and before they succumbed to U.S. forces. Because this era of greatness is also inextricably linked to their land, Momaday weaves in his personal experiences amongst the land and its people. This allows for the legends of the past to transcend time and write themselves into present memory.
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.
IV. What is the main problem Breyer describes in Breaking the Vicious Circle concerning United States policy making? What causes it and how does the problem develop? How does it affect business? What solution does Breyer propose? Describe another plausible solution. Which of the two solutions, Breyer’s of that you just described do you consider morally preferable and why? What ethical theory discussed in class best supports your position? Critically assess this theory by contrast with other ethical theories discussed in class.
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.
But they found the means to engage with their detractors by authoring their own accounts of Indians that challenged stereotypical beliefs, demanded equal political rights, and proved that Indians were neither disappearing nor silent. Native American authors have faithfully presented some of these issues of inherent native rights, the duplicities of federal policies, and the burdens of racial identities in their short stories and novels.
Kazuo Ishiguro, although still alive, has already changed the face of the field of literature. He has done this through the variant style with which he writes and the way that his Japanese background influences his writing (Sim). He has a unique writing style that is seldom mirrored in the works of other writers in the same genre (Brownstein). Many critics note that he is always producing different books that have such diverse plots which proves that “the most exciting thing about his work is just this refusal to stand still as a writer, this desire to push the envelope” (Sim). Kazuo Ishiguro is a writer who, like many, enjoys exploring a certain topic or emotion, and he especially liked writing about how regrets and memories affect people throughout life (Taylor). His utilization of memories and regrets helps him make deep meaningful characters who allow people to sympathize with their causes (Taylor). Kazuo Ishiguro’s most important contribution to literature is the variety he adds to his field by incorporating his Japanese heritage, his twist endings that surprise readers, the emotions of memories and regret to allow for realistic characters, and his diverse range of writing.