One’s past experiences are very influential in the mental growth of that person, the life they live and the lessons they learn. The history of someone’s life can affect them detrimentally, having an impact so great even altering their future. In Color the Sidewalk for Me, written by Brandilyn Collins, this thought is captured perfectly. The novel is based on Celia’s life, flicking back and forth between her rough past and her happier present. Collins can incorporate religion into the story through forgiveness and blame, as well as teaching the reader morals necessary to a happy life, and tying in emotional twists along the way that portray both love and pain. Religion is present throughout the whole novel; sometimes hidden and other times …show more content…
There is a strong presence of love all throughout the story; first with Celia and her friend Danny and then with Celia and her mother towards the end. Even if the love is denied, hidden, or just simply implied, the characters are used to show that its present no matter what. The format of the writing is able to keep it interesting with the reader going back and forth between emotions. When in the past tense, the reader feels the love for Celia and Danny, but also the neglect Celia receives from her family. Although, when in the present tense, regret and nervousness is felt for what Celia must deal with. It is a constant change that keeps the reader hooked. Pain and sorrow are also revealed through the character’s past. When her mother is on her way back from the hospital with her baby brother, she designs a colorful sidewalk. Instead of being proud, her mother shuns her for the generous action. “I guess we won’t spank her this time,” the mother says in dismay of the sidewalk. (Collins, 25) When Celia admits to falling in love with bad-boy Danny, her mother refuses to accept it. Guilt-ridden and grieving, Celia is driven from her hometown and family. It is upsetting and heart-wrenching for the reader to follow. Collins provides a powerful and emotionally charged story, compelling the reader to feel a certain way due to the descriptive
The author, Ernest L. Thayer, of "Casey at the Bat," uses humor to describe Casey's experiences. He uses humor in the form of rhyming. He also uses humor in the form of figurative language. A good bit of humor is shown through these forms of humor. The humor is described very well by the author.
Most would not suspect that a woman’s most indispensible relationship would not be with her mother or spouse, but with a best friend she met as a child who lives across the ocean. Maeve Binchy’s Light a Penny Candle is centered on the daughters of two close high school friends, Violet and Eileen, who choose extremely diverse paths in life. Violet’s daughter Elizabeth endures a painful life when Violet leaves for another man, dates a lover who will not marry her, and must cope with a marriage lavished with arguments with her husband, Henry Manson. Eileen’s daughter Aisling experiences a childhood full of love due to committed parents, but marries an alcoholic who leaves her a wealthy widow; she then has meaningless relationships with
Powerful diction aids in the portrayal of the deep-seated agony in Luis’ core due to his mother passing. One thought passing through Luis’ conscious was regarding a woman that came to the junkyard. He dreamily thought, “She was like a smooth wood carving. Her skin was mahogany, almost black, and her arms and legs were long and thin, but curved in places so that she did not look bony and hard -- more like a ballerina.” This reason for his affection towards her is possibly because of the lack of a woman in his life. The death of his mother led him to desperately desiring a feminine figure in his life. Seeing someone beautiful like her, he wanted her to be in his life, therefore he instinctively felt affection toward her. The diction assists in showing his feelings of affection. Without diction, the author would be unable to fully show his want for a woman in his life. An additional example that displays the gaping hole left in his life at his mother’s eternal departure was shown through a memory he has concerning her delectable food. Luis recalls, “yellow rice and red beans, the fried chicken, or the mouth-watering sweet plantains that his mother had cooked for them.” This shows the want that Luis had for his mother to be back in that he remembers vividly how great food was made by her. Even more, though, he remembers the underlying love in her making the food for him. He greatly desires to have that back.
Imagine being a thirteen year old girl walking home from school with your best friend. Out of nowhere a bully punches your friend in the eye. Since that day he hasn’t spoken to you. You feel a little part of your heart die. After many conflicts within her relationships she still maintains healthy relationships. Miranda and Sal had a great relationship until a bully changed that. Since they aren’t in best turms Miranda developed better relationships with Julia and Miranda’s mom. Each character and Miranda go through many changes with their relationships.
He sees that by doing so, Richard will not only please the preacher, but he will demonstrate the strong love he has for his mother. This finally makes him do what he was trying to avoid most. Although he has a rough childhood, it is clear that love remains in his heart, but as he begins to be deprived from it more and more, his hunger for it becomes less intense.
As she gets to her foster parents house, Rosa and Hans Hubermann she is not willing to go in the house but is forced to by her mother. As she meets Hans and Rosa she has an amiddit connection to Hans and likes him but she is not so sure about Rosa. Liesel starts school but does not know how to read. She meets a boy named Rudy who is her best friend. One night Hans finds Liesel's book and teaches her how to read.
Readers grow more sympathetic for Ellen as the story progresses, as her mama's mama immediately sends Ellen to work the fields with her grandma's black staff or, "help", on the farms she owns in the scorching summer heat. Through this, we see how cold-hearted her mama's mama is, and grow only more empathetic for Ellen, as all she wants and deserves is a nice family, but instead gets an almost soulless grandmother. When her mama's mama dies from illness, readers finally believe Ellen may get that happy ending. But, instead she is sent to her Aunt Nadine's and her obnoxious daughter, Dora. We find out how cold and vain Dora is, as she only wants her mother to herself, and finds sharing futile. At church, Ellen constantly sees a woman with many children. A foster mother. Ellen sees how well she treats them, wishing that she might find a happy ending with her. Hope has been tough for Ellen to keep, as she has juggled many challenges that destroyed whatever chance she had for being happy. But, maybe this woman could be that chance. On Christmas, Ellen finds out the truth when Nadine kicks her out and she tells Ellen that she never wanted her, and nobody ever did, which not only made readers have sympathy for her, but also gives Ellen the courage to seek out her own happy ending. Ellen goes to the foster lady's house, and bribes her to just let her stay there until high school, then she'll be on her way. The lady declines the bribe, but agrees to take her in and give her
“How it Feels to be Color Me” by Zora Neale is about her growing up and not knowing the negative aspects of being a person of color (Neale 1). Although she acknowledges the hardships her ancestors face and that she still faces today she realizes it should not hold her back and that she can be a powerful woman (Neale 2).
The award-winning novel, “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker, is a story about a woman going through cruel things such as: incest, rape, and physical abuse. This greatly written novel comes from a very active feminist author who used many of her own experiences, as well as things that were happening during that era, in her writing. “The Color Purple” takes place in the early 1900's, and symbolizes the economic, emotional, and social deprivation that African American women faced in Southern states of America. The main character of the story is Celie, a fourteen-year old that starts writing letters to God for thirty years, and then to her sister, Nette, who ran away to Africa to save herself from the troubles Celie went through. Celie starts off as a pushover and very dependent girl that would eventually grow and develop into an independent flourishing woman that opens a business making pants for all genders. This novel shows the hardship of a girl becoming a woman over the course of her life and eventually standing up for herself and being confident. Many of the experiences and characters of “The Color Purple” are based on history of that time and a bit of the author’s personal experiences. Her use of epistolary allows the reader to learn everything in the point of view of Celie. Alice Walker's influences for writing this novel range from her childhood experiences to the white society in her hometown of Eatonville, Georgia. Even during these times, it still shows that women
Imagine being an outcast or an alien from a different galaxy that had to settle on Earth. It’s unbearable having the constant feeling of not belonging in this world because you are different; however, having no other choice but to be strong and overcome it is an even more difficult thing to do. The unsettling feeling of not being accepted for who you are, and the strength needed to overcome it is represented in the essays, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, by Gloria Anzaldúa, and “How It Feels to Be The Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston. Though they are not based on aliens from another galaxy, these two texts are based on two strong women who were alienated from society because of their backgrounds. Though they give
These constant beatings in Maggie Johnson’s home, furniture thrown from parent to parent, and every aspect of her family life as being negative, her family situation is not an extremly healthy one. But, despite her hardships, Maggie grows up to become a beautiful young lady whose romantic hopes for a more desirable life remain untarnished.
The other story is of a nurse named Caroline, who was given the infant and has to make a decision on what to do with the baby and the consequences that follow. The many characters in this book will leave any reader with a connection to one or another. These complex characters influence one another’s life and decisions. Kim Edwards writes the characters with problems that will engage readers. David makes a life changing, unimaginable decision at the birth of his daughter based on his fear that his family will go through the same situation that he went through as a child with his own sister June, who was born with heart problems. As the book continues, these characters grow more with time and wisdom and will keep readers interested with their ongoing struggles. Decisions have consequences and those consequences made a major impact on the life of Norah. As Norah grows older, she realizes how her life has altered because of David’s decision subconsciously. Norah’s actions throughout the book all tie back to David and his
Throughout the essay, the use of vernacular speech can be observed when looking at the dialogue between characters. For example, “Good day, Mrs. Henderson. Momma responded with “How you, Sister Flowers?”. In the dialogue between Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Flowers, it can be seen that Flowers speaks respectively with sophistication while Mrs. Henderson speaks carelessly using an older southern tone. This results in a clear comparison between the characters in the essay which represent the importance of education and vocabulary. The constant use of the wrong verb by “Momma” bothers the author, giving us a better idea of language’s role in her life. In addition, the author foreshadows part of the lifeline, so we gain a better understanding of the story when the lifeline is presented later on.
In the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Color Purple, there is one constant occurrence throughout this fictional masterpiece: abuse. The protagonist, Celie, endures chronic physical, emotional, mental, verbal, and sexual abuse almost her entire life. Celie's constant endurance of multiple types of abuse displays the damaging physical and psychological effects of the average African-American woman in the early 1900s. Alice Walker tells the miraculous story of a young African-American woman's survival in addition to the narrator's journey to discover her individuality through romantic and platonic relationships during a time of racial segregation and female oppression.
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is an epistolary novel about a young African-American girl named Celie. Through her letters, Celie narrates the horrific situations and daily struggles that she endures as a young black woman living in the South during the racial unrest of the 1930s. Stuck between being a woman and being black, Celie overcomes her situations and eventually finds her place in society. The first thing that Celie had to accomplish this goal was to find her identity. Walker illustrates how Celie’s relationships with men, sex, women, and God help shape her identity.