David Mamet's The Rake: A Few Scenes From My Child

In the short story,“The Sanctuary of School,” by Lyndd Barry, the author uses characterization, the building of one’s personality and feelings, to create a central idea. The central idea that is supported in this short story is that home is not a place, it’s a feeling of love and safety. The writer of the story,“The Sanctuary of School,” proves the central idea that home is not a physical place but a feeling hope and protection, through characterization.

In the book Schooled written by Gordon Korman, we follow the story of a 14 teen year old named Cap who has lived on a farm his entire life with his grandmother hippie, who is forced to leave his farm because his grandmother got injured. Because of this he is forced to go into our society and go to a normal middle school and live with his guidance counselor. And because he is very different, he is a target in middle school and because of a tradition at that middle school, which elects the weirdest person to be school president, he becomes school president. In the book there are many craft moves that the author does, including symbolism, first person perspectives and multiple viewpoints, to achieve goals such as supporting the theme, setting

The house in the story was passed through the family for generations, “We liked the house because apart from being old and spacious, it kept the memories of our great grandparents, our paternal grandfather, our parents, and the whole of childhood,” (Cortazar 37), this shows how truly appreciated this house is to Irene and the Narrator, this then comes too soon show representation of the future scares throughout the story, “How to not remember the layout of that house. The dining room,

The Ramsey Summer House remains abandoned during those ten years, decaying slowly, groaning and weeping as it remembers the tenants it once possessed and the movements they made “how once hands were busy with hooks and buttons; how once the looking-glass had held a face; had held a world hollowed out in which a figure turned, a hand flashed, the door opened, in came children rushing and tumbling; and went out again” (Woolf 1927, 339). The house bore witness to every breath and every argument; it absorbed fluttering eyelashes, clapped hands, and footsteps; drowned in laughter and in tears; the house was enraptured by the Ramsey’s and remembers them fondly as their images haunt its halls (Wisker 2011, 6).

On page 268, she shows a drawing of her younger self holding the school saying "I'm home!" This supports a form of pathos that she uses, it makes the reader see how she felt about the school. On the next page, she continues her essay with more generosity the teachers showed her. She also gives a point of view from her older self saying "It's only thinking about it now, 28 years later, that I realize I was crying for relief." She then continues, by defining one teacher (Mrs.LeSane) above the

The author starts by describing old memories as a child she has of the table itself. Lyon tells us of the countless family games nights and discussions that have taken place there. George Ella speaks of the family recipes and hard work both of her parents did at the kitchen table. Lyon tells us about her mom's time working for the chamber and making calls for the march of dimes. Lyon brings the poem full circle by talking about her adult memories she has at the kitchen table. George Ella talks about the time where she first had to tell her mother that she need help and couldn’t live on her own. Her mom responds by telling Lyon she is babying her. This part of the book is very personal to me. My grandmother has just recently gone through this exact hardship. It is incredibly hard to see your parent move out of your childhood home and realizing they are no longer able to live on their own. Although I haven’t had to experience it for myself, I am sure it will be hard when it happens. Lyon also speaks of stories she has heard about the kitchen table. In the past her mother mixed her formula at the same table where she later told her she needed to move back in. It is interesting to see how the role of caregiver has switched from her mom to her over time. This role reversal, although unfortunate, is necessary. The kitchen table has stood steadfast through

Do our actions and behaviors reflect the nature of ourselves or rather the character of those who's household we lived under? This question is central to the story and childhood of accomplished American playwright David Mamet. Mamet reflects and displays his time growing up through his personal essay called "The Rake." Using vivid language and imagery, Mamet establishes a core theme of how we are influenced by those around us to take actions we otherwise would never consider doing. When living in an environment that is persistently abusive and watching as your sister is victimized by those you are meant to love, it's not hard to have your actions, thoughts and feelings be similar to the only world you know. Mamet even alludes to this theme at the conclusion of his essay where he states, “I remember the walks home from school in the frigid winter, along the cornfield that was, for all its proximity to the city, part of the prairie. The winters were viciously cold. From the remove of years, I can see how the area might and may have been beautiful.” (Mamet, Para-37) Even though Mamet may have preferred to not follow in the footsteps of his family, there are sometimes realities you can never escape.

Bell hooks’ family made it very clear that they did not agree of her decision to go to a school so far away from her home because they were afraid that she would forget about her family values and ideals. However, hooks explained that her family values and ideas would remain untouched for she knew the importance of keeping close to home. “The most powerful resource any of us can have as we study and teach in a universal setting is full understanding and appreciation of the richness, beauty, and primacy of our family and community backgrounds,” (hooks 427). Hooks speaks on her parents’ fear of her losing sight of family ideals. While reading this, I could not help but think about how my family was the same way with my siblings and I. Coming from a self-made family, my parents have harped on the importance of education and never forgetting that we’re

Bradbury portrays the children as characters who are inconsiderate of others and take advantage of their parent’s affection to obtain anything they want. After living in the technological house for a period of time, Lydia Hadley discovers that her position of being a mother is beginning to disappear since

Kozol doesn’t focus too much on the lifestyle or issues that take place in New York City because he claims that people have a general idea of what New York City consists of. Instead, he immediately discusses issues with the public school system in this city. Kozol visits a Public School 261, which is located next to a funeral home. This school is overpopulated, with the capacity being 900 students and their actual population of students being 1,300. The building itself has no windows, which Kozol claims makes the atmosphere uncomfortable and isolated. There are many issues with the building itself, such as the heating and cooling system. However, there are also issues with faculty being understaffed and students being over-populated. Kozol states that each student only gets 10 minutes a year with the one guidance counselor at this school. This limits student’s opportunities when it comes to furthering their education, finding a career, or even caring about their school. Students aren’t going to care about going to school if they know their school won’t notice if they are

     The plays, The Glass Menagerie and A Raisin in the Sun, deal with the love, honor, and respect of family. In The Glass Menagerie, Amanda, the caring but overbearing and over protective mother, wants to be taken care of, but in A Raisin in the Sun, Mama, as she is known, is the overseer of the family. The prospective of the plays identify that we have family members, like Amanda, as overprotective, or like Mama, as overseers. I am going to give a contrast of the mothers in the plays.

As Chris reads the letter from his brother, Larry, in the falling action in Act 3, it becomes apparent that Joe Keller’s actions have significantly affected his family. Larry cannot “bear to live any more” and cannot seem to “face anybody” because of the choices his father has made. This invokes a heartbroken mood for the ending of the play because the audience can feel how drastically Keller’s choices have impacted his son, as he commits suicide. Unlike Williams’s use of motifs, Miller’s change in mood causes the audience to realize that there is a connection between the individual and society as they can feel the pain that Larry has experienced because of Keller.

Each moment the Ramsey’s spent in the house becomes infinite in its memory as the house has absorbed every second they existed there from all perspective imaginable (Hunter 2004, 32). The House asks “will you fade? Will you perish?” (Woolf 1927, 339) as it deteriorates, questing the memories that resonate and pulsate through its corridors as well as its mortality. Animals and plants brought life to the stagnant house once again,

Tom had a double role in the play as both the narrator and a main character that lived through a recollection of what life was like living with his mother and sister before he abandoned them to seek adventure. Tom’s behavior in the play could lead to question if his memory is truly accurate. SparkNotes comments, “…But at the same time, he demonstrates real and sometimes juvenile emotions as he takes part in the play’s action. This duality can frustrate our understanding of Tom, as it is hard to decide whether he is a character whose assessments should be trusted or one who allows his emotions to affect his judgment” (SparkNotes.com). Through his behavior a person is reminded that memory can be flawed by emotions or time elapsing, this would need to be taken into account when analysis of such a character is done. Tom is full of contradictions as he reads literature, writes poetry, and dreams of an escape; however he also felt bound by duty to his sister and mother. Another contradiction was that while he professed to care about his sister as seen in his ending comments in the play, “…I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be!...” (Williams), Tom never went back to reconnect with his sister. This could be because of the great shame he felt for abandoning his sister or because of another reason. He stated that he had been in several cities over the years but never speaks of going back to St. Louis, making it unclear if he

David Mamet is an American playwright born in 1947, having the additional titles as an essayist, screenwriter, and film director. Mamet has written several plays, including Speed-the-Plow, China Doll, The Shawl, and Faustus, and succeeded in a movie adaptation of his play Glengarry Glen Ross in 1992. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois until he relocated outside the city, living with his parents that later divorced until he moved. His sister—Lynn--admitted their home life was cruel, influencing anger to be present in Mamet’s work (Editors). In relation to his work, other themes of his work include: relationships (deception, loyalty, etc.), success and failure, and speech mannerisms (persuasion and alike). Other attributes of Mamet’s work include intricate dialogue and characters with individualized mannerisms; for example: Mamet believes that people speak what they are influenced by. Mamet was influence most by Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Lanford Wilson, and Bertolt Brecht, beginning his unique use of dramatic language (Whatley 12).