Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

Ensign “Peewee” Cobb in “Alas, Babylon” comes across as the hotheaded American pilot who sparked a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. When pursuing an unidentified aircraft, Cobb fired a missile and missed, blowing up the Syrian harbor Latakia. Because he was convinced he had to prove himself, Cobb impulsively continued tailing the aircraft instead of retreating back to headquarters. While I have never reached the level of foolishness Cobb exhibited, I do sometimes feel a need to prove myself. Pat Frank seems to use Cobb’s recklessness to illustrate the fact that impetuous actions yield negative effects.

Writers always have a reason or purpose for writing stories. “The Happiest Refugee”, written by Anh Do, is a memoir describing his family’s journey from Vietnam to Australia, heartbreaking struggles in his life, and how he became such a well-known comedian. He uses comedy to lighten serious issues and shows the best of his life living in a dominant white society. He makes readers more aware of Vietnamese refugees, how they are not taking this country for granted, and breaks the dominant stereotypes. He also uses this book to get more public appearance.

In Danielle Allen’s essay, Our Declaration, she argues that all people should understand and recognize that the Declaration gives all people in the United States the undeniable freedom to self-govern. One person has the power to change the government; although this is not specifically stated, the freedom to self-govern implies every voice matters. She guides the reader to this idea by using simple and easy to follow examples to show the reader that they have the power to invoke a change the government. Allen also uses credible sources in order to give her reasoning credibility as well as using arguments that elicit an emotional connection.

“Being Country” just those two words together come with many discussions, but the book brings another discussion. This book “Being Country” by Bobbie Ann Mason honestly had me thinking and wondering if everybody’s perspective about changes in life is the same. The main outlooks I took from this book was; When your surroundings have changed your identity will also, Sometimes a reflection of the past can help your future, and whoever you are going to be will not change.

There was a time when America was segregated; Caucasians and African Americans were forced to attend different restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. However, the era of segregation has been terminated; now America embraces and appreciates the various cultures and ethnicities that create this melting pot several people call home. Likewise, it is this melting pot, or mosaic, of races that multitudes of individuals have identified themselves with. Thus, race and ethnicity does matter for it portrays vital and crucial roles in the contemporary American society. Furthermore, ethnicity and race brings communities together in unity, determines which traditions and ideals individuals may choose to value, and imposes an impediment for it categorizes humans unjustly.

The poem “Mothers and Daughters” is written by Pat Mora. Pat Mora is a contemporary award winning writer, who writes for children, youngsters and adults. She was born in El Paso, TX in the year 1942. She attains a title of a Hispanic writer; however, the most of her poems are in English. In her literary work, one can observe the different aspects of the immigrants’ lives such as language issues, family relationships, immigrants’ experiences and cultural differences (1187).

“[A] recent author and public figure…[Colin Powell, wrote a] book, My American Journey, [that] helped me harmonize my understanding of America’s history and my aspiration to serve her in uniform…Powell gave me another way to think about the American dilemma and, more than that, another way to think about my own life” (Moore 131-2). Author Wes Moore wrote the book The Other Wes Moore, both an autobiography and a biography about a man who shares his name and has a similar backstory, to demonstrate how people’s destinies are primarily influenced by the environment into which they are born. Examining stories including and similar to those of both Wes Moores, as well as reflecting on one’s own personal experience, can provide insight into

Has America ever been great, of the 239 years this influential country has been a country has it ever been truly great and free? As Langston Hughes exclaimed, "America never was America to me”. Learned Hand and Langston Hughes had differences on their thought on the topic of Liberty and whether America is great. Hughes and Hands opinion of Liberty has changed the way the common man reacts to racism and the way we perceive America's greatness.

In the Dramatic autobiography the Happiest Refugee, book the author Anh Do uses a wide range of Scenes to take audience attention throughout the story with different sort of language effects. A specific form of exploring scenes to audiences is the storytelling, Anh utilises this technique in the book and explores his life experiences. The purpose of the storytelling is to increase the motivation or mental stimulation of reader through entertainment. To do this use range of features including, Narrative voice, setting, sentence structures, Paragraph structures, Figurative language, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia and Characterisation. The two scenes that exemplify all these features are the serious scene when Anh’s family face a massive loss from the farm interest rates and the other scène is when Anh’s mother gets a “biggest” Pig they could find and brought it on Anh and Suzie’s engagement to show how wealthy they are, that they can take care of their daughter and keep her happy.

A Land More Kind than Home by Wiley Cash definitely fits the category of “grit lit.” It is a novel about the Hall’s, a family who is wracked with grief, anxiety, and guilt after the ‘mysterious’ death of one of their sons, Christopher or Stump. The story encompasses more than just the story of the family though as it is told from the perspective of Adelaide Lyle, an old wise woman from the town, Jess Hall the youngest son of the family, and Clem Barefield, the sheriff of Marshall who also had heartache of his own that is intertwined with this families story in more ways than one. The novel incorporates most if not all of the features that is “grit lit” including: an element of crime, a focus on the bleakness of life, lyrical language, and a central character who wishes to escape their environment or get peace inside it.

The poem “No Country for Black Boys” by Joy Priest represents the sorrowful incident which happened on February 26, 2012 for Trayvon Martin in Florida. Trayvon Martin was an innocent African-American young boy who bought iced tea and some skittles. On the way back to his father’s home, he got shot by the neighborhood watch and treated as a victim because of his skin color. Guilt was not defined by what Martin did but by what he said, also it determined something deep-rooted in the young age. No weapon was needed to identify him as a victim. He is a young black boy, so he is already guilty enough to be killed. Black people have the same rights as the other people, however in reality, America’s society discriminates against them compared to other nationalities.

In his essay “The Country Just over the Fence,” Paul Theroux describes his trip to Nogales, Mexico. He begins his essay by illustrating the physical appearance of the wall separating Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. He calls it “an unintentional masterpiece”. Theroux feels the wall is somewhat informal. He discovers that crossing the border into Mexico is not too difficult itself. He marvels over the appearance of the wall and also the underlying call to action it places on a person, “Do you go through, or stay home?” Theroux decided he needed to see for himself. After deciding to cross the border, he met many different people. They told him about the celebrations that used to be held between the two neighboring towns which are now divided by the wall. Theroux also met people who had attempted to cross the border illegally into America only to get sent back to Mexico. On his adventure, Theroux also learned about all the medical tourists who travel to the country for cheaper treatments, specifically dentistry. I am interested in discussing Theroux’s presentation of the his decision to cross the border, the people he met, and the medical tourism Nogales, Mexico draws in.

The Trail of Tears was a huge turning point seen by Amy Sturgis, as clearly shown in her chapter, “The Trail of Tears as a Turning Point”. Sturgis have separated how the Trail of Tears has affected history into three categories: the world, the US, and for the Cherokee Nation. All three categories intermingle, affecting one another with either a positive or a negative feedback.

Queer Theory is the best approach by which to examine Angels in America because using Queer Theory allows us to see/ illuminates the difference between socially constructed gender and sexual acts based on sexual identity. Queer theory argues that gender is a cultural construct, that the social norms of men being masculine and women being feminine were manipulated as a culture to be seen as normal. In Angel in America, Roy Cohn is an attorney with power in his work place; he expresses a strong masculine character with “clout”, strong political power. He mentions that he is a powerful man and how with only a few phone calls he is able to get a hold of the president. These are expectations of how a masculine male is supposed to act, with power, confidence, and without fear. Being a man of politics, Roy lives up to the expectations of what society believes a strong man is supposed to be and how he is supposed to behave. When he goes to see his doctor and he is told that he has AIDS, Roy refuses to admit that he has AIDS and Homosexual. Roy tells his doctor, Henry, “You Think these are names that tell you who someone sleeps with, but they don’t tell you that.” (Pg. 51) He argues that his identity is not homosexual because they do not have “clout”; that he is a man of clout and has a lot of it. Roy states, “Homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows. Who have zero clout.”(Pg. 51) An example of Queer Theory, Roy tells his doctor that labels like Homosexual, Gay,

In the beginning, Ndotsheni is described as a small village and that the people within the village do not want to live there anymore. Kumalo (priest) goes to Johannesburg, where the people in the village moved to. Kumalo sees the streets of the town and is, “... Shocked by its shabbiness and dirtiness, and the closeness of the houses, and the filth on the streets.” (59) Kumalo sees for the first time the black people of the city, where the neglected children play in the poverty and filth. It is also his first confrontation with a degrading type of life. (transition) Kumalo thinks, “The streets have beautiful names but they are filthy.” Kumalo is not used to seeing a place that is full of filth. He thinks that the streets should live up to their