Everything We Had By Al Santoli

Not everyone is a criminal just because they have a criminal past. People can change through time and experience. Individuals are capable to recognize this through pieces of writing which shows the characters from the beginning through the end. In We Were Here written by Matt de La Pena in 2009, there were three main characters which are Miguel, Mong, and Rondell. Miguel committed a horrible crime and got sent to a group home for a year and was obligated to write in his journal, so the judge can understand his way of his thinking. Miguel meets Rondell and Mong at the group home. Then Mong decides to come up with a plan to escape the group home, run off to Mexico to be free with Miguel and Rondell. The three boys did not know each other that well, they were basically strangers who eventually became best friends threw their journey of escaping to Mexico. In We Were Here shows a major theme which a theme is the moral of the story. Within that journey ,Matt de La Pena, the author of We Were Here shows symbolism which created the theme even though you might have a bad past everyone has the chance to change.

In the novel The Year We Disappeared, Cylin and John Busby want the readers to understand that no matter what someone is going through, things will become better if they cooperate with what they’re going through. To illustrate, John Busby is in the hospital and he is struggling to live under his current conditions, but he believes he can survive. To show, John says, “I’d lost about thirty pounds or so but was building up strength every day, walking the halls with my IV pole, keeping my mind sharp” (40). This proves how even though John was practically living through Hell everyday, he kept his mind set positive and was determined to get back on his feet and cooperate with what he was going through, so that he could be his normal self again.

In Richard Rodriguez autobiography, Hunger of Memory, Richard himself writes about his educational journey. Rodriguez wrote such book in 1982. The book revolves around the life a young immigrant child, whom has a difficult time understanding how to adapt himself in the given environment. Furthermore, the book navigates the readers though Richards transition form boyhood to adulthood. Not only so, but Richard discusses how the opportunities that were presented to him altered his viewpoints in life as well as education.

The Vietnam War started in 1954. It was between North Vietnam and the Vietcong (South Vietnamese communists) VS South Vietnam and America. More than 3 million people were killed including 58,000 Americans. The Vietnam War is one of the longest wars America has been a part of. It is also

In his book “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free,” Hector Tobar recounts the story of 33 miners who spent 69 days trapped more than 2000 feet underground in the Chile’s San Jose mines following the collapse of the mine in 2010. According to Tobar (2015), the disaster began on a day shift around noon when miners working deep inside the mountain excavating minerals started feeling vibrations. A sudden massive explosion then followed and the passageways of the mines filled with dust clouds. Upon settling of the dust, the men discovered that the source of the explosion was a single stone that had broken off from the rest of the mountain and caused a chain reaction leading to

Linda Riley's "Up Against the Clock" does illustrate the difficulties one can face with time management in college.  Riley thinks that college is just as easy or even easier than high school.  Many people who have a full-time job and have extracurricular activities in college do make scheduling more difficult.  However, Riley does not mention in her essay that she has a full time job aside from taking college classes.  She does, however, tell the reader how one can manage his or her time better with a side job because the essay mentions that her friend has a side job.  She does try to change her schedule after a month of college, but it does not work out for her.  Therefore,  she receives guidance from her friend, Jennifer, in order to correct

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated

The Vietnamese community grew rapidly and has become one of the largest immigrant communities during the past four decades. In 1975, Vietnamese began their first wave of migration to the United States. One important factor is the victory of North Vietnamese in the Vietnam War on April 30th, 1975. The government of South Vietnam lose its battle against the North Vietnam communist forces and more than 125,000 Vietnamese refugees evacuated to the United States. The mass migration occurred because large groups of military personnel, soldiers, government officials were evacuated by the U.S. Navy and air force. Most of the refugees were South Vietnamese

The end of the second war world brought a numerous amount of changes to the World itself, ranging from population shifts in many countries to the rise of varies civil acts movements. One, in particular, lit the fire for the Mexican American community to rise against the discrimination given to them. A soldier from Mexican descent who fought for his country was pushed away from his home town’s cemetery, The Manon Rice Funeral Home because his heritage traced back to Mexican culture. This, of course, outraged the community of Mexican American people since Felix Longoria was a soldier who gave his life for the very kind of people who are pushing him away.

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,

The war begins on November 1, 1955 and end on April 30,1975. Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. Every place called it not the same, people in America called it Vietnam War, but people in Vietnam called it American War. The war starts in the year of 1945 and ended at 1975. Vietnam War started by the ancient china ruled Vietnam. After that French ruled Vietnam in

Think if you were offered money in exchange for your most treasured and favorite memory, would you take it. Memories are what teach us to learn from our mistakes, and teach us right from wrong. Memories also make it possible for us to feel true emotion. Memories are what make us an individual rather than a collective. Examples I will be using come from the “Giver” written by Louis Lowry. Memories are what make you the best person that you could be.

“Just as baptism is the outward sign of beginning a relationship with God, generosity is the outward sign of Jesus continually living within your life. - Anonymous.” During this short story, All You Ever Need, created by Max Lucado, the theme of generosity is evident throughout. Tobias, and Julian, the two main protagonists in the story, both demonstrate that they’re generous by giving clean water to the villagers that lack of it, no matter if they’re kind and generous in return.

For millions of American citizens this nightmare became truth. In 1964 the American president Johnson started sending soldiers to Vietnam. At the end of the war in 1972, it is estimated that, in total, over 2,5 million people on both sides were killed.

Throughout the past couple of centuries the human narrative has been increasingly presented in terms of acceleration in a phenomenon testifying to what can be termed “the ecstasy of speed.” Novels tend to create societal themes and expressions of progress that change and explode within texts. Uses of world and historical acceleration are overarchingly some of the most easily arrived at examples of “the ectasy of speed.” E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime, which has been adapted into a stage production as well, stands as an example of precisely this sort of text. There is the question of the association of the cultural, historical, and fictional characteristics of Ragtime that critic Brian Roberts has called the “central metaphor” of the novel. When put together with the cohesive historical narrative within the novel, the discussion reveals the ways in which Doctorow uses Ragtime to perform a work that mirrors the ups and downs of the classic ragtime style of music. Doctorow does this through the introduction of a distinctive way of reading history which is vitally deconstructive and politically charged.