Do Not Go Gentle Analysis

Dennis Covington writes about a unique method of worship—snake handling, in his memoir, Salvation on Sand Mountain. He begins as a journalist, looking in on this foreign way of life; however, as time progresses he increasing starts to feel a part of this lifestyle. As a result loses his journalistic approach, resulting in his memoir, detailing his own spiritual journey. Upon the conclusion of his stay in this world, Covington realizes the significance of this journey, and argues in his memoir that we cannot entirely know ourselves until we step outside of our comfort zone and separate ourselves from our norm.

Many are rich many are poor many have money many don’t. Have you ever had a moment where you did something selfish for desperation of money and karma hit you right back with a right hook?. And felt regret towards yourself. In the short story “Why, You Reckon” the author uses irony and dialogue, to show the audience that money can't buy happiness.

The story Fearless by Eric Blehm takes readers deep into SEAL Team SIX, straight to the story of one of its greatest operators, Adam Brown. Adam is a man who has a lot of rough patches in his life. Somehow he manages to power through until the end and even manages to get into the Navy SEALs. Adam Brown achieves his own American Dream by overcoming his hardships and having his family and friends surround and support him.

Flight is a novel about a teenage Native American boy, named Zits because of his face, gets moved around from foster home to foster home, “crashing” through each one, and has closed his mind to the idea that some foster parents are trying to help him. Then, later in the book, after he shoots thirty or so people in a bank, is transported through time and different bodies, and learns how to turn his life around with the knowledge he acquires from what he sees and does in these different bodies. In one especially striking scene, Zits has traveled into the body of a young Indian boy at war. He wakes up in the middle of a large Indian camp. He then realizes that

Flight, written by Sherman Alexie, is about a 15 year-old orphan named Zits. Because of his past, Zits has become full of pain, and he has an tendency to respond with violence. Zits has a history of being a delinquent. When arrested, Zits is put in a jail cell with a 17 year old boy named Justice who, later on in the story, convinces Zits to fire in a bank overflowing with people of all ages, colors, and size. After being shot in the head, Zits is then transported back in time to several periods of American violence where he embodies a person in each of these scenes, each of which cause him to look back on his past and face head on, all of his problems with himself concerning his feelings of apprehension, shame, identity, and loneliness.

Many were forced to evacuate to other regions within the country and endure the infamous Trail of Tears. While Native Americans are not forcibly removed from their homes anymore, this story shows a modern-day example of mistreatment or borders that Native Americans deal with. While the mother faced many different conflicts, externally and internally, she readily accepts the challenge and is not willing to step down. She displays the pride of the Blackfoot Indians and is not willing to let the government tell her who she is and let them define her. She sets an example for Native Americans, standing up against a government that has held them down for so long. That they should always have pride in who they are, and where they came

As a child, I have always been intrigued about the vast traditions and the colorful histories of various Indian Tribes. I choose Dee Browns “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” in order to be further educated about the Native American nations. I was familiar with the piece long before I even knew it was a book by watching and love the HBO special on “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee”.

Flight is a novel by Sherman Alexie that tell the story of a distressed Native American teenage boy, who has sadly stretched his breaking point after years of ill-treatment at the hands of adults, named Michael but prefers to be called Zits, “Call me Zits. Everybody calls me Zits. That is not my real name, of course. My real name is not important.” (Zits, p.1). Zits was left to his own devices at the age of six when his mother died of breast cancer and his father did not stick around much after he was born and left him. “I get into arguments and fistfights with everybody. I get so angry that I go blind and deaf and mute” (Zits, p.8)Zits is a violent person and takes out his anger on anyone because he has been in and out of the foster care system, none of which felt like family, with foster parents who only cared about the government cheque. He feels left out from the rest of the society mostly because of his half-Indian heritage and his abuse. Because of this, he is easily persuaded into committing crimes.

Racism is something that is surrounding William yet he frowns upon it. This is very contradictory because, although he is so quick to clarify that he is Native American brown, not dangerous brown. William is self conscious about himself and does not want his color to define him, yet at the same time he claims he takes pride is his color. In “flight patterns” the story is told in the narrator’s point of view. This is important

Tim O’Brien writes in his story, What You Pawn I Will Redeem about a homeless Salish Indian named Jackson Jackson. O’Brien takes readers on Jackson’s journey to acquire enough money to purchase back his grandmothers stolen powwow regalia. Throughout the story, Jackson’s relationships with other charters ultimately define his own character. The major character flaw of Jackson is his kindness, which ultimately becomes his greatest asset.

     Throughout Ceremony, the author, Leslie Silko, displays the internal struggle that the American Indians faced at that time in history. She displays this struggle between good and evil in several parts of the book. One is the myth explaining the origin of the white man.

Sherman Alexie writes in his story, What You Pawn I Will Redeem about a homeless Salish Indian named Jackson Jackson. Alexie takes readers on Jackson’s journey to acquire enough money to purchase back his grandmother’s stolen powwow regalia. Throughout the story, Jackson’s relationships with other charters ultimately define his own character. Alexie, a well know Native American author tells an all too common tale of poverty and substance abuse in the Native American community through his character Jackson. The major character flaw of Jackson is his kindness, which ultimately becomes his greatest asset when fate allows him to purchase back his grandmother’s powwow regalia from a pawn broker for only five dollars.

The movie Flight was based on facing the truth and allowing the higher power to be in control of the next events. The major character in this film shows the everyday struggles of closeted drug and alcohol abuses in a professional setting. The charter I will be focused on is Whip Whitaker. Whip Whitaker is an airline pilot and known for being an arrogant flight veteran.

Sherman Alexie’s "What you Pawn, I Will Redeem" appears on the surface to be a simply written story of a homeless, alcoholic Indian in Seattle who is trying to earn enough money to reclaim his grandmothers Pow Wow regalia from a local pawn shop. But upon looking closely, there are many symbolic passages that my lead a person to much deeper conclusions. Throughout the story there are many clues that hint at the fact that this quest may not have been real, but a more "spiritual" experience for him. It could be argued that Jackson Jackson was on a modern day vision quest.

“Every time you visit a town you think that the place is nice but really there is a bad outcome”. My society “Always be Chillen no Killen will promise you the very best experience here I guarantee. No violence equals smiles on peoples face because everywhere you look you can see the wonders of our society. You will never see the misfortune ever because all you will ever see smiles and happiness. However if you do not believe us then trust me everything I am about to say will change your mind.