The Human Behind Bravado
Bret Harte’s 1868 story “The Luck of Roaring Camp” illustrates how those who may act tough, still care on the inside. Harte’s story is depicting,m the lives of those who moved to mining camps in California during the Gold Rush. The gold rush started in 1848 and ended in 1855. The majority of those who moved were men of rough character, occasionally there was a woman. The bravado of these men is what made the camps seem like a harsh place to be. Some of these men “were actual fugitives from justice, some were criminal, and all were reckless” (Harte, 2013, para. 6). That is just the case in this story. There is one woman in the entire camp and she is known as Cherokee Sal. Cherokee Sal is a Native American woman who was known for her sinful actions throughout the camp. The men of Roaring Camp are stuck with her son when she dies after childbirth. The men are clueless at first because, “Deaths were by no means uncommon in Roaring Camp, but a birth was a new thing” (Harte, 2013, para. 3). Nobody knew who the child 's father was, but that’s not what the men cared about. The story shows how the life of this child can make the men throw off their false toughness and come together to care for Cherokee Sal’s son.
With Cherokee Sal’s passing, the men of Roaring Camp knew that the baby had no other family. The men all file through the cabin to see the baby and to leave items in a hat to contribute to the baby’s future. The next day, the camp had a meeting and
In the novel Montana 1948, by Larry Watson, we witness this through the eyes of David a 12 year old narrator, the sickness and death of his beloved caretaker Marie Little Soldier by the doing of his Uncle Frank whom he has always looked up to. An important character central to the story is David’s father Wesley the sheriff of Bentrock who is brave, courageous, conflicted and, protective of his family. A message Wesley helps us understand a thought-provoking message that it is difficult to choose between family and doing the right thing.
The Red tent is a book that follows the life of a woman named Dinah. The stories that are told throughout take place in biblical times, and follows some of the lineage of the bible itself. The book begins by telling the story of Dinah’s four mothers, along with their relationship with Dinah’s father Jacob. After being introduced to Dinah herself, the book follows her life story from beginning to end, all the way from Haran, through Canaan, Shechem, and into Egypt. Throughout this paper, I will be describing and comparing events of the book verses modern day, in relationship to child birthing practices, family dynamics, personal life experiences of characters, along with discussing herbs, spices, and medications used by
Amy Tan, who wants to understand and figure out her own affiliation between her another mother, wrote The Joy Luck Club. This book explains and uses words to show the differences between the daughters and their mothers by putting in the Chinese culture and the western culture in the article. The Joy Luck Club has four different sections. And they all have common backgrounds but have different meanings behind them.
In Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” the narrator portrays both internal and external conflicts throughout his journey to success. Arnold Junior Spirit is a fourteen-year-old boy who believes that in order to pursue his dream he will have to choose between staying in his Spokane Indian reservation or moving out to an all-white school in the neighboring farm town. But things aren’t as easy as they seem when Junior tries moving schools because he know has to be part of two communities. Many conflicts form within the Spokane Indian reservation and the Spokane Indian reservation as well comes into conflict with the white community.
When America entered into the Second World War it made their friends from different region and everywhere in the world to unite and fight for freedom and also fight against fascism. Ronald Takaki, a famous historian finds out that the armed fight for democracy abroad was followed by disregard of America that everyone was made or created equal. There was racism of all kinds; segregation of African Americans and imprisonment of Japanese Americans and also denying to overall asylum to the Jewish refugees.
In “The Luck of Roaring Camp” by Bret Harte, nature is seemingly created into its own character. Nature has the haunting role of being the giver and taker of life in this story. The forces of nature bring the men of the camp the blessing of a small child. Through this child the men are given life and see the beauty of nature around them. However, nature will ultimately strip the men of both of these things. Harte shows us that nature is the culprit that brings both beauty and pain.
pass on knowledge and lessons learned back in China to their daughters so they won’t make or
The 1920s were a time of social injustices, primarily revolving around racial discrimination. With the revival of the Ku Klux Klan only a few short years before, African Americans lived in fear of lynching and other forms of racism during this period. This form of social injustice was widespread and known by all in the United States, but there was another issue during this time that was not as well known. The West Virginia mine wars had begun in 1920 due to the injustices that the miners had faced for decades. Miniscule wages and dangerous work conditions were only a few of the hardships that the miners had to face. The author of the book Kettle Bottom, Diane Gilliam Fisher, was able to capture these hardships perfectly in her poetry to help shine light on the terrible treatment and the resulting consequences that the miners and their families received during this time. Many of her poems, such as, “Dear Diary,” “Pearlie Tells What Happened at School,” and “Walter and His Mama Talk about Angels,” show the negative impact that growing up during this period of violence and injustice had had on the miners’ children.
Jem and Scout, throughout “To Kill A Mockingbird,” learn to consider things from other people’s perspectives. Atticus, Jem and Scout’s father, says “you never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin and walk around in” (Lee 39). They learn this through experiences with their neighbor Boo Radley as they mature beyond their years. At the beginning of the novel, Jem and Scout make fun of Boo and assume that all of the rumors going around about him are true. However, later on in the story the children grow an admiration for Boo and learn to understand him. As they matured, Jem and Scout naturally learned many life lessons of appreciation, respect, and courage
As hardworking women living of the prairie, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters can relate to Mrs. Wright’s situation. They know personally that long days of doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning can become very tiresome (Hedges 91). They realize that living on the prairie can force a woman to be confined to her own house for weeks at a time, and because Mrs. Wright never had children, the grueling loneliness that she suffered must have been excruciating. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters both experience the constant patronization and sexual discrimination that most women in the early twentieth century lived with. They empathize with the difficulties of Mrs. Wright’s life and almost immediately a bond is formed with a woman they do not even know.
Hemingway's "Indian Camp" concerns Nick Adams' journey into the unknown to ultimately experience and witness the full cycle of birth and death. Although Nick's experience is a major theme in the story, cultural inequality also is an issue that adds to the the story's narrative range. Throughout this short story, there are many examples of racial domination between Nick's family and the Indians. Dr. Adams' and Uncle George's racist behavior toward the Native Americans are based on the history of competition between Caucasians and America's indigenous peoples.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” Unfortunately Native Americans have deep roots with racism and oppression during the last 500 years. “In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven,” Sherman Alexie tries to show racism in many ways in multiple of his short stories. These stories, engage our history from a Native American viewpoint. Many Native Americans were brutally forced out of their homes and onto Reservations that lacked resources. Later, Indian children were taken from their families and placed into school that were designed to, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In the book there are multiple short story that are pieces that form a larger puzzle that shows the struggles and their effects on Native Americans. Sherman Alexie shows the many sides of racism, unfair justice and extermination policies and how imagination is key for Native American survival.
Ilan Stavans says that Juan Rulfo’s book, The Plain in Flames, is best represented by the phrase realismo crudo. Stavans defines this phrase as “a type of realism interested in the rawness of life”, meaning that he characterizes Rulfo’s writing as an unfiltered view into the lives of the average Mexican (Stavans, xi). By writing in this style, Rulfo is able to provide “an image—instead of just a description—of our landscape” as stated by Octavio Paz (xv). To create this image, Rulfo broke his story writing the process down into three separate steps. As paraphrased by Ilan Stavans, the first step “is to create a character”, the second step “is to place him in an environment where he might move around” and the third step “is to discover how the character expresses himself” (xiii). Rulfo was able to repeatedly crafted stories that were filled with high levels of realismo crudo by using that special three-step process. By creating his protagonist, crafting an environment for said protagonist, and allowing the character to express themselves within this environment, Rulfo crafted a three-tier image of post-revolutionary life in Mexico that has never been seen before.
The mother in the story, Sarah, is not happy with her husband’s decision to build a new barn instead of a house on their farm. She believes her family deserves something nicer than the filthy house they have been living in for decades. She is very humble in the way she approaches her husband and asks that he rethink his decision. Sarah says, “ I ain’t never complained, an’ I ain’t goin’ to complain now, but I’m goin’ to talk plain” (Freeman 664). This woman takes a courageous stand and is not willing to back down for what she believes in. She takes a risky leap of faith and moves everything her family owns to the completed barn. When Sarah’s husband sees that she has relocated their family to the newly built barn, he realizes that he was blinded to his wife’s needs and desires. The husband says, “I hadn’t no idee you was set on’t as all this comes to” (Freeman 672). Through Sarah’s courageous actions, she helps change the course of her family’s beliefs. Michael Tritt argues about Sarah’s son, “Sammy represents the next generation of males whose view of women is changing”. Sarah undoubtedly gives other women courage to fight for what they believe in. Sarah truly epitomizes a true American. She lends a voice to those who do not realize that they too can chase after their dreams and desires. Sarah lives true to herself and because of this she has left a lasting impact on her future
In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven the author grabs the attention of the reader when he focuses on moments of racism and discrimination of Indian characters, these situations can be applicable to modern day American society. In the collection, Alexie depicts the life of several Indian’s lives, living on the Spokane Indian reservation many of whom face discrimination on a daily basis. The ideas behind the bigotry in the assortment of stories are backed by Alexie’s personal experiences of being discriminated against as well as the experience of many other Indians living in today’s society. The subject matters of racism, discrimination and stereotyping are very prevalent themes in the stories as they make the