George Lamming's in the Castle of My Skin

"Greensleeves" by Alan Spence is a short story describing the life of an elderly lady living alone on the top floor of high rise flats in Glasgow. Spence creates a character readers feel sympathy for through isolation and lonliness, themes that run prominently throughout the story.

The poem Fifteen by William Stafford, describes the ideas of a young teenager and imaginations when he sees a motorcycle at the side of the rail, It tells us of how the main character gets familiar with adulthood and starts getting mature, it gives us changes. The author in his poem describes the ideas and temptations that a fifteen year old would have, and it gives us a message of how when you are blinded of your teenage dreams, at the same time to take and decide the correct paths and decisions.

“Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body”(Coates 5). The phrase “lose my body” is reiterated numerous times in Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The topic/theme of this piece of literature may be discernable as innocence as Ta-Nehisi profusely speaks of how his upbringing changed and affected his perspective on life. Coates uses a multitude of examples to portray this from how he witnessed another boy almost being shot at a young age to him learning and understanding the laws and “culture of the streets”(Coates 24) as who and even more who not to mess with(Coates 23). Coates effectively uses these examples as perfect representations of living in an American ghetto as well as how since birth blacks do not “own” their body and are susceptible to lose it.

This quote shows how a father at that time would wish to have no part of his daughter for committing such acts because he knows of the dishonorable reputation he will receive as a result.

His most perfect love in all the world was on that train. So he’d run to the end of the earth if he had to(Pg. 120). Juan Villasenor, one of the two major characters in Rain of Gold, a nonfiction novel by Victor Villasenor, faces many problems throughout the book that have a significant impact on the skullduggery little boy we knew from the beginning to the scrupulous and surreptitious man at the end. In Rain of Gold, it follows the sides of 2 characters, Juan, Lupe, and their families during the time of the Mexican Revolution, as they travel from Mexico to America, and go through many struggles on this voyage. In these obstacles, Juan faces from beginning to end, he learns many things on this journey and meets new people that change his

Exile is when a person is isolated from his/her native country or home. Sometimes it's considered to be a way of alienating someone but sometimes it could be considered to be enriching. In the book Brave New World by Aldous Huxley John the Savage experiences exile as both alienating and enriching. He was born on the Savage Reservation and his mother Linda was rejected and criticized because of her sexual freedom. Due to his mother’s isolation John did not feel as though he was accepted by other savages in the reservation. As an adolescent he was refused to participate in the Native American ritual, a ritual that would allow him to enter the adult Indian society. He asks, “why wouldn’t they let me be the sacrifice?”(pg.116). He asks this question not understanding why his own people were denying him. After his rejection he goes into the wilderness and tortures himself in order to enter adulthood. This is one of many ways his society kept him from being a normal kid.

One example of this is seen when each of the six girls get jobs (at different times and years) at a local restaurant waitressing. The mother was, “angry that my sisters should even conceive of working in such a place, and more angry when my father made no move to prevent it, and she was worried about herself and about her family and about her life” (113). This passage highlights a couple of things; the anger the mother feels that her daughters are not sharing her views on working, as well as her attitude towards her husband not standing up for her. In traditional families, usually the role of disciplinary falls onto the father, however, the mother’s anger at her husband seems to stem from something deeper.

Mothers are pictured as the care giver of the families and the ones who love their children unconditionally no matter the situation. They’ll do anything to support their family and raise their children right. In “The Queen of Mold” by Ruth Reichl, the mother in the story is pictured as the one who makes a meal almost out of nothing, just to provide and have something on the table for her family. Even though the food she cooks is moldy, this is how she demonstrates her motherly love.. In “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, the mother is portrayed at first as an over excited mother waiting for her over achieving daughter Dee. As the story progresses the excitement for the daughter starts to go away and her motherly love towards Dee becomes complicated because Dee thinks she is greater and much smarter than the rest. Both of the stories depict complex motherhood, in Reichl story her mother’s love becomes complicated when she cooks food for the guest and her daughter tries to save the guest from being killed, while by the end of Walker story she only has love for the one daughter that has always been by her side and that’s Maggie.

Exile is something that most people think is scary. It is seen as something that is a punishment

A choice of not putting the effort and vitality in building a relationship can make a person irresponsible, which impacts a relationship. When he discovered that Johnny doesn’t have a full scout uniform because of lack of money, his first response was “What’s the matter with this family anyway? God knows what the neighbor must think of me.” What others thought was more important to him than his own family. John Purcell's alcoholic habit has moved him far from the association with his child despite the fact that he was attempting to get near to him. "On the evening of the banquet, he was a little late getting home, having stopped in for a few drinks with a customer who was buying an industrial site," he demonstrated an absence of judgment by having a drink before he even returned home from work making him late to the scout meeting, which was a critical meeting for his son. John Purcell never puts the time, exertion and effort to

Since George has moved to Toronto, he has gone through so many changes against his own will, and it has made him depressed and bitter. He is applying for a position at a bank and "he was always uncomfortable and impatient whenever he had to go into one." George has been forced to change his morals and even his personal taste just to get ahead in Canada. He doesn't believe that men and women should cohabit if they are not married and is "not a believer in the North American practice of having boys going to school with girls." He listens to a rock and roll station even though he hates it just so he can find out what time it is. He plans to lie about his educational background at his job interview to impress them; where as his education in Barbados is above average. His entire lifestyle has changed and his fear of failure drove him over the edge.

Willy treated people poorly which in turn his children learnt to do. For instance, Willy was married to Linda but went ahead to have another woman. He had an affair with another woman because he was not satisfied with his marriage. His poor treatment of his wife misled his sons to see it as acceptable to be dishonest. They in turn, viewed women as inferior objects of use.

As the story nears the end the past catches up with the present and it goes on to describe George’s dedicated student lifestyle. He writes: “Every morning I get up and I wonder what I might learn that day. You just never know.” George also reflects on the attitude of people these days: “People worry too much. Life is good, just the way it is.”

Shortly after the civil war the fourteenth amendment was passed which granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in America; this group included slaves both former and current. However, individuals of African American appearance would be treated like aliens in their own country for years to come. In the eighteen eighties Jim Crow Laws were passed that segregated Black individuals and often subjected them to humiliating conditions. These conditions exasperate and trouble all of the characters in the novel Black No More. In this novel by George Schuyler Blacks are degraded and oppressed because of the color of their skin. This oppression is caused by ignorant prejudices that individuals in the novel hold. Schuyler uses satire, elevated language, and imagery to further support the idea that ignorance can be as great a power or greater than the greed caused for money.

The Full Monty, directed by Peter Cattaneo is a 1997 British comedy-drama that brings into question everything that is supposedly known to be true of traditional masculinity. This is done largely through showing the struggle of unemployed men in Sheffield, England. “Going for the Full Monty: Comedy, Gender, and Power,” an essay by Jill Marshall assists in addressing the status quo breaks presented in the film. Marshall discusses the issues associated with masculinity and how director Cattaneo uses his comedic artistry to bring to light these important issues. In order to grasp the entire meaning of this film, reviewing The Full Monty while also looking at Marshalls essay and her take on the film.