Debra Marquart's The Horizontal World

Marquart uses satires in the passage to inform the reader about the Midwest, as well as gain the reader’s attention through being comical. As stated in the writing, “This is the way I recently heard a comedian describe the column of states that holds down the center of the country, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, a region that spawns both tornadoes and Republicans” (Marquart 2). This sentence implies the use of a satire because Marquart is making a statement that is sarcastically funny, so that she can gain the attention of the reader. Marquart states that she once had a comedian describe several Midwest states to be the spawn of tornadoes and Republicans, which to anyone that has some sense of humor, this statement is overly humorous (Marquart 2). The knowledge of several tornadoes taking place in the Midwest and Republicans coming from the Midwest, then stating that the Midwest is the spawn of the two, is simply a comical statement addressing some information on the Midwest. Later in the passage, it states, “Being blond, fresh-faced, and midwestern makes their descent into ruthless behavior in places like Los Angeles and New York all the more tragic” (Marquart 3). This is another sentence that

“Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was written by Jane Desmond. In her dance career, she was a modern dancer and choreographer. Desmond is now a Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Anthropology at the University of Illinois. “Dancing Out the Difference: Cultural Imperialism and Ruth St. Denis’s Radha of 1906” was published in 2001 as a part of Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader.

As the future approaches, automation and technology are quickly evolving and diminishing the amount of jobs available for Americans. American work-life has evolved drastically over the years. Certain jobs are being replaced by drones and robots, leaving many Americans unemployed. It has caused a slight shift in how we work. However, the continuation of work is still alive. In the article “A World Without Work,” (2015) the author Derek Thompson expresses how people are losing their jobs. Nevertheless, they’re using their hobbies and talents to generate money. Someone might sell their poetry and written work when they have lost their job generating income while also fostering creativity. President Nixon’s “Address to The Nation on Labor

Every part of the country has their own stereotype the west coast has people in bikini and partying non-stop, east coast is where all the famous movie stars hang out and Arizona is where “cowboys” are. The middle states, on the other hand, get look down because they aren’t as incredible and exciting as the east or west coast. The Midwest really doesn't get mentioned during besides begin tornado territory. In “The Horizontal World” by Marquart she explains how the Midwest gets looked down for its dull appearances while using visuals, allusion, and anecdote to give the reader the sense of the Midwest.

With her West Virginia upbringing and living in a coal town, she was inspired to write about “rednecks” in a more positive way. The main way of her doing so was to bring to light the characters of the novel and their loyalty to family, the land and values. The characters are very relatable, the characters manage to wiggle their way into the reader’s heart. It is easy for the reader to become attached characters and to the issues arising in the book. It is in fact a part of our history, native to Appalachia or

The multidimensional expression “hillbilly” carries different cultural significances throughout the book Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. First, Vance utilizes the term “hillbilly” to refer to the working class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree (3). Second, Vance uses the term hillbilly to refer to a group of people from a specific geographic area, namely the area of the Appalachian Mountains. According to Vance, the area stretches from Alabama to Georgia in the South to Ohio to parts of New York in the north (4). Third, hillbilly indicates the way of life, behavior, or identity of the people of Greater Appalachia.

I choose these poems because they all in one way or another are similar to each other. I felt my favorite poem about the irony of love was Parable of the four poster by Erica Jong. For instance Parable of four poster by Erica Jong is about a man and woman who are in love with each other but do not have the guts to say or do anything about it. For this reason they both think the other wants nothing to do with them so they move on to the next person which is who they end up marrying. This was the “four-way mistake” (Jong 16). Not expressing your love can love yourself and that individual but also those individuals around. All this time they thought the other one wanted nothing to do with them but they lay with their spouses thinking of the other.

Debra Marquart, in The Horizontal World, takes the reader through her life in North Dakota, travelling all the way back to between the years of 1885 and 1911 when her immigrant, Russian grandparents, first arrived in America. Marquart, from a more modern point of view, feels like her grandparents were deceived by a facade that enveloped the Midwest- claiming that the area is not as exciting as the media made it out to be. She uses intense diction to condemn the state, proves the deceitful tendencies of the North Dakota through juxtaposition, and manipulates the pathos of the reader by triggering sympathy for the incoming settlers.

The first half of Life on the Mississippi was ideally written and reading the extremely detailed and captivating account of Twain's apprenticeship was quite enjoyable. However, the second part of the book was not as fascinating. The short stories were frequently only two pages long and were not very well connected to be a clear read. Though a few of the characters Twain met on his journey were quite interesting, the majority of them merely served as an example of a certain characteristic which he wished to further discuss. This may be due to the fact that Twain was much older by the time he made the trip in the second half of the book, and he had grown aware of the various faults of humanity and thus wrote more analytically and critically than he did in the first half to reflect his change in character and the change of the times he lived in.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the state of Arkansas? Chances are, that as an Arkansan the thoughts are quite different than those of someone not born or raised here. Hillbilly, redneck, barefoot, and trailer are a just few of the common first words invoked in the minds of “foreigners” by the word Arkansas. In the non-fiction work, Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol' Boys Defined a State, author Brooks Blevins provides readers with his idea of how Arkansas's image began, and then perpetuated over time. He provides several examples of the

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.

People in the south often get stereotyped based off their appearances or the way they act. Most southerners have rituals they follow, but some are just living life. The way Flannery O'Connor deals with the traditional social structure in the South in her fiction shows that it was of major concern to her and was the source of much of her power and humor. O'Connor's exposition of a southern society which values a good, moral person yet struggles to identify Three of her short stories deal with the relationship between Christianity and society in the South: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Good Country People," and "Revelation.”

World War II is an important key point in history that addresses to young adolescents. The novel, T4 is based on a true story, in which the author, Ann Clare LeZotte is portraying a novel that is based on the theme of survival. It appears to be that the author’s argument in writing this novel is to simply maintain awareness of the past. Generally speaking, a story about survival is a difficult genre for young readers, “The majority of war stories for children are about World War II and the Holocaust.” (Huck 482) The reason war stories are mainly about World War II and the Holocaust is because it was the most recent, largest, and horrifying war during the twentieth century in Europe. Our textbook also states that these historical novels help children experience the past. Meaning, that it is important for a child to learn about the past including all the wars, conflicts, sufferings, and great happiness that had occurred so they can apply that to the present and to the future.

In the novel, The Street by Ann Petry the main character Lutie Johnson, a black woman is a single mother raising her son Bub in 1944 Harlem. Lutie, separated from her husband Jim faces many challenges including poverty, sexism, and racism. Children, like her son Bub, living in poverty in the 1940’s cared for themselves while single mothers like Lutie were working; the same is still true today. Lutie was trying to earn a living in order to get Bub and herself out of Harlem, and into a neighborhood where Bub would have a better living conditions including school. Bub was afraid to be alone in their apartment so he spent a great deal of time on the street around external influences that were not the ideal. The street educated Bub instead of the school system. In Harlem, in 1944, poor, black children advanced though the school system whether they were able to read and write or not, the same is true for impoverished children today. In Bub’s neighborhood, his schoolteacher was a white woman who was prejudice against Bub and his classmates based on their skin color and their economic situation. Children like Bub, living in impoverished communities, do not have access to good education and miss the opportunity that education brings due to racism and poverty.

One of those values of American mythology is the location. The village is described in the story as remote and high in the Appalachian area, yet “dismembered” from it. This gives the story a sense of mystery as the unique venue is unlike that of an urban area or a more populated location. The exclusive setting sets the story into a mood that leaves the reader isolated alongside the characters, and therefore leaves them more immersed in the narrative. The time period was also orchestrated to be just before the American Revolution, so that the story has an interesting historic event that is tied to the events like the time travel.