Icarus By Christine Hemp

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

“The Flight of Icarus” is about Daedalus and his son, Icarus, trying to escape a labyrinth . Daedalus made wings from feathers and wax to escape. Daedaus told Icarus to no go to high into the sky or too low but then Icarus went to high up and the wax started melting. Icarus didn't pay attention to Daedalus about staying in a moderate flight zone, and then he fell in the ocean and drowned. I would encourage you to not take risks, and if you still won't listen then remember what happened to Icarus.

Dorothy Allison’s essay, Panacea, recalls the fond childhood memories about her favorite dish, gravy. Allison uses vivid imagery to cook up a warm feeling about family meals to those who may be a poor family or a young mother. Appeal to the senses shows this warm feeling, along with a peaceful diction.

“Passing,” by Nella Larsen is a novel all about pretending to be something that you are not. It is about giving everyone the impression that everything is in order when in reality everything is falling apart. Passing in this novel refers to the ability of a person to be classified as one thing, normally a social group, while belonging to a different group. Passing is usually done to gain class or acceptance by groups other than one’s own. The primary focus of the novel is on racial passing which is the ability to look white and belong to a white group when in reality the person is an African-American in order to gain privileges that were unavailable to them. Although racial passing is the main focus, another major theme in this novel is sexual passing and identity.

"Perpetual Motion" by Tony Hoagland discusses the same idea of desiring an escape from reality and it becoming compulsive over time. As a result, it may lead to a permanent separation from reality as the need for separation, rereferred to as, a contagious disease, takes further refuge inside a person's mind. The narrator of the poem initially desires a destination beyond their reality, which, in their case, is Saturn. This need for an escape is beyond their control and has become compulsive in a similar way to how my anxiety dictates my life apart from society. The narrator has no control over it and their separation has now become subsequently linked to a disease that they have contracted.

Even as he suffers, the parallel of his grief to that of the woman’s dissipates for we are privy to the knowledge that Odysseus is likely to have once been a man who cut down the father of another home. Though the language of grief is universal, spreading itself to Odysseus in likeness, the application of it remains ironic because the self-pursuant and capable hero persists in the blindness that his own hands brought about the same pain in many

The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls reveals one look into a dysfunctional family. This personal memoir is full of lessons of redemption and reliance for all. Jeannette and her siblings thrived with parents whose beliefs and stubborn ways of life, changed their children’s’ lives forever. Though their parent’s dreadful actions, the children tried to fend for them. Rex, a very brilliant man, when sober and Rose Mary, an inspirational artist, when not a panhandler risked their own lives daily. Even though Rex and Rose Mary’s lives were unstable at times, they would instill lessons into their children. Their philophies in life I believe relied on one another, which taught their children some

The most interesting book I have read in the past year was “Still Alice,” written by Lisa Genova. This book narrated the life of Alice Howland, a successful Harvard psychology professor who loses herself to Alzheimer’s disease. Alice is an intelligent, ambitious woman with a loving husband, John, and their three children. Initially, Alice starts off forgetting minor details, such as words during her presentations or where she might place some of her belongings. Dismissing it, Alice goes for a run in her town square where she’s run for several years. She suddenly finds herself lost and panics because she could not figure out how to get home. Eventually, she finds out she’s diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s and she is left to deal with her family and work life as well as do as much as she can each day before she loses herself completely.

Christina Baker Kline’s novel Orphan Train follows the the paths of two very similar women who are separated only by age. One of the main characters, Molly Ayer, is a seventeen-year-old high school student who has been assigned to yet another unwanted foster home. After attempting to steal a book from the local library, Molly has to help an elderly woman clean out her attic to avoid having to go to juvenile detention. The elderly woman, Vivian Daly, is the other protagonist in the story and has a past that is very similar to Molly’s. Vivian, known as Niamh Power when she was young, immigrated to America with her family from

Daedalus carefully explains to his son, Icarus, how to use the wings he has invented. Even though Icarus is very mischievous, Daedalus trusts that he will take his warnings into consideration; however, his warning foreshadows Icarus’ downfall. His instructions connect to Icarus’ death since Icarus both melts the wax from the feathers and becomes too heavy to escape the waters. Given Daedalus’ instructions, Icarus was determined to fail since he had to delicately fly in between the waves and the sun, no explicit boundaries are in place. It is ironic that Daedalus fails to predict his son’s behavior, yet he equips Icarus with a such an instrument that requires a high skill to operate; therefore, Daedalus indirectly kills his only son.

In “Invisible Child,” a New York Times article written by Andrea Elliot, we follow a day in the life of a young African American girl, Dasani, growing up in New York City. However, instead of living in an “Empire State of Mind,” Dasani lives in the slums, growing up homeless with her two drug addicted parents and seven siblings. Dasani often finds herself taking care of her siblings, making sure they have enough to eat, tying shoelaces, changing diapers, getting them to the bus stop in time, and the list goes on. An 11 year old girl, essentially taking care of a whole family, as well as taking care of herself by going to school, receiving an education, and partaking in extra-curricular activities. Elliot captures the life and struggles of a family well under the poverty line, giving us an unprecedented look into what Dasani must do each day not just to grow up in New York City, but to survive.

The book Blue by Joyce Mostetter had several things that were historically accurate. Many people in Catawba County got polio. They were very sick. The ironlung was used to help people with polio breathe. There were two types of polio. One type affected their lungs and the other type affected the lower half of their body. In the story, Ann Fay is the main character who tells us about her life when her daddy was sent off to war and her brother contracted polio. Discrimination was also an issue in the story.

The Whale Rider by Niki Caro is a film about a young girl, Paikea’s journey to acceptance from her grandfather. This film explores many themes such as feminism, family and conflict. One of the main conflicts explored throughout this film is the conflict between Nanny Flowers and Koro, Paikea’s grandparents. Conflict is an important issue in this film because it causes rupture among an already fractured family.

With this quote, it shows Icarus’ immaturity, foolish and playfulness when it comes to his father’s inventions and his life. Icarus is a young boy which is evident from the quote above because he is playing with the wax and watching and admiring his dad. If it was an older boy, he’d probably be off by himself or helping his father with his inventions instead of playing with the wax in the wings. Icarus is an innocent boy who doesn’t understand the importance of being responsible. Not being responsible leads him to his death, which could have been avoided if he had paid attention to what his father had told him. Icarus got swept up in the moment when he was flying, and lost all of his thoughts which lead him to the mistake of flying too high.

In the 1950’s the melodrama genre came to age and there is no better example than Douglas Sirk’s All that Heaven Allows. The melodrama followed some basic characteristics which can be identified in the film. First and foremost the narrative of the melodrama focused on the family. All that Heaven Allows follows the narrative of the typical melodrama but at the same time also challenges the social conventions. While Sirk follows many of the key themes he does so in a more detached fashion. The protagonist Cary is bound to her community by her social class. Change was occurring in society and the melodrama displayed people’s restraint to this. In All that Heaven Allows Sirk began his focus on the female and her desires in contrast to the more conservative male focused melodrama. As with the melodrama the legibility of the story, displayed through the plot, is simple and easy to follow. “Our engagement with the story depends on our understanding of the pattern of change and stability, cause and effect, time and space” (Bordwell and Thompson, 2008). The linear time flow of the film allows for it’s simple understanding. This is added to by the expressiveness of the melodrama, where everything is brought into the open and nothing is left unsaid. The expressiveness of the melodrama is also represented in the highly expressive mise-en-scene. Sirks use of colour, the human figure, camera work, lighting and music allow him to portray suppressed meaning and significance.