Dumas Free Time Essay

“Night’ shows that even in the most brutalising conditions, people still behave humanely. To what extent do you agree?”

Passions drive people, and the townspeople in “The Lottery” and Paul in “The Rocking-Horse Winner” are no different. Each of the members of the unnamed town has a strong passion for tradition. The original black box used for the lottery is described as being, “lost long ago, and the black box now resting on the stool had been put into use even before Old Man Warner, the oldest man in town, was born” (Jackson 251). This sentence gives the reader an understanding that the lottery is an ancient tradition that has become an integral part of the town’s lifestyle. Such a tradition can only be carried on for this length of time if the people are passionate about preserving the tradition. Paul had a passion to be wealthy as a way to prove to his mother that he was lucky. From a young age, he saw that his family always wanted more money to support a better lifestyle, yet

At first, people would talk about Mrs. Duvitch and say rude things about her. Mrs. Duvitch could never really feel accepted when people were constantly talking about her and making assumptions about her which is why she too never really had contact with anyone, “But this gave rise to the rumor that she was the victim of an obscure skin disease and that every morning she shook scales out of the bed sheet” (3). When someone gives you reassurance that what you’re doing is okay and become engaged and interested in what you’re saying that allows you to open up and feel accepted which is what happened with Mrs. Duvitch when Andy’s family went over for dinner, “Saying very little, he managed to make us feel a great deal and he constantly sought his wife’s eyes with glances of delight over the wonder of what was happening” (14). Mrs. Duvitch is finally accepted into her community when others see that she has much more to offer them then they had thought. Her special nursing skills became very important to her community, “The community presently had reason to be grateful for Mrs. Duvitch’s presence. It turned out that she had a great gift for nursing, and no fear of death, no fear of disease, contagious or otherwise.” (16). Her acceptance into the community shows that this story is about freedom.

Racism had tainted her life from the very beginning. During her childhood she attended a one-room school for blacks only. She was only allowed to attend school for a short time due to the ailing health of

Dumas spends the entire excerpt, and probably a great deal of her book, simply building her ethos to her readers. She builds up her ethos by talking about all of her childhood stories about how her name was mispronounced or how she had to change her name to get anywhere in life. Within every single one of these stories, she uses subtle humor to get the reader to identify with her story just a little bit more. Humor creates a more personable view of the author for the readers and gives them more to identify with, thus pushing the author's ethos and respect higher. For good measure, she uses a situation that nearly everyone has had to face; having to respond to your name that has been horribly mispronounced in a public setting. An author that can use humor has a very powerful tool at their disposal. All of her stories come across in a light and conversational tone. The entire excerpt could easily be the transcript of a coffee house conversation. This conversational tone goes

“After almost two years in Whittier, my father’s assignment was complete and we had to return home. The last month of our stay, I attended one slumber party after another, all thrown in my honor” (Dumas 92). The stay for the Dumas family was very hard. They had to explain to many people where they were from and where that was on the map. They were from Iran. They had no idea where that was. They were always questioned on random things that they did in their country. When it all came to an end The Dumas Family was disappointed that they had to go and it would be hard.

Despite the fact that Antonio is only a newborn, the two sides of the family have already predetermined his path in life. His mother, Maria, wants Antonio to become a priest while his father, Gabriel, would rather him be free and follow in his example. Both parents want to instill their own aspirations upon him and partake in a mentalgame of tug of war with Antonio, the youngest and last son of the family, the final chance to make one of his parent’s dreams a reality. At a young age, Antonio is forced to come to a consensus of which parent will he please and which one will he forsake. This fact lingers over him and often resurfaces within his dreams. Though he doesn’t yet have to reach a decision, this dream acts as a cautionary reminder that he will have to soon in the future as it slowly approaches.

The Odyssey is an epic composed by Homer, an early Greek storyteller. This epic was the basis for Greek and Roman education. Epics are long poems marked by adventure. The main character in an epic is an epic hero.

The story is full of conflict between Isis and her adversary Grandma Potts. Grandma represents tradition, instilling her principles at every turn, “[b]eing the only girl in the family, of course she must wash the dishes” (Hurston 11). Grandma believes that the girl’s place is at home, “within the community because [she] will never be appreciated by the dominant culture” (Williams 129). “You’se too ‘oomanish jumpin’ up in everybody’s face that pass” (Hurston 9). Isis is an oppressed female in the every sense of the word. She is forced to do chores while her male siblings are excused. She takes beatings for things while her brothers get away unharmed. Isis rebels for her own sense of power, goofing off, doing cart wheels, and day dreaming as soon as Grandma Potts has her back turned.

Dumas and her family experienced a much different transition than what her relatives. Her relatives faced Americans who were limited in the sense that they were only being fed bad news about the middle East, causing them to act negatively towards Middle Eastern Immigrants. For example, “We remember the kindness more than ever, knowing that our relatives who immigrated to this country after the Iranian revolution did not encounter the same America.”(36). By this, dumas is referring to how when she and her family moved out here they were astonished by how everyone was so nice to them. Dumas is shown kindness on her first day of school when her mom came along with her. After school they had to find their way back home on their own. Not remembering where they lived, a kind stranger led

Art Spiegelman’s Maus, is a unique way of looking at history. Through the use of comics, Spiegelman allows the reader to draw their own conclusions within the parameters of the panes of the comic. Unlike reading a textbook in which the author describes every detail about the subject matter, comics allow for the reader to draw their own conclusions from the information given to them. Also by reading a serious comic such as Maus, we are able to break away from

When Dumas and her family first moved to America, Dumas was bombarded with questions from her peers at school who have not heard

In “The Story of an Hour” (1894), Kate Chopin presents a woman in the last hour of her life and the emotional and psychological changes that occur upon hearing of her husbands’ death. Chopin sends the protagonist, Mrs. Mallard, on a roller coaster of emotional up’s and down’s, and self-actualizing psychological hairpin turns, which is all set in motion by the news of her husband’s death. This extreme “joy ride” comes to an abrupt and ultimately final halt for Mrs. Mallard when she sees her husband walk through the door unscathed. Chopin ends her short story ambiguously with the death of Mrs. Mallard, imploring her reader to determine the true cause of her death.

When thinking of the Hip-Hop industry, one of the first names that comes to mind is Tupac Shakur. Shakur was born in the Bronx on June 16, 1971. He was reared by his mother Afeni Shakur who was an active member of the Black Panthers. Tupac's family later relocated to Oakland, California, where he spent much of his time on the street. As a kid, he was always getting himself into trouble, and he was very lonely. He started writing songs to keep himself out of trouble. An article from VIBE magazine "Troubled Times for Tupac Shakur" quotes Tupac. "'I was lonely, I didn't have no big brothers, no big cousins until later. I could remember writing songs.... I remember writing poetry.' " 1 Tupac was talented in the areas of

Alexandre Dumas’s novels and in particular The Three Musketeers are so great for his ability to mix fact with fiction. As a historical novel, The Three Musketeers bases its story around some major characters and events of 17th century, French history. Cardinal Richelieu, Anne of Austria, and other important characters really lived and acted the way they do in the novel. In fact, the historical basis of Dumas's story extends all the way to his initial idea for the novel, even to the Musketeers and d’Artagnan themselves.(history 1)