Kwanzaa Book Review

With authenticity, insight, and compassion, Mitali Perkins delivers another culturally rich coming-of-age novel, The Bamboo People. Chiko and Tu Reh are dynamic narrators whose adolescent angst and perspectives permeate the trauma of their daily lives. This novel takes place against the political and military backdrop of modern-day Burma. Narrated by two teenagers on opposing sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma, The Bamboo People explores the nature of violence, power, and prejudice. Perkins gives readers a glimpse into what it means to be a hero. Readers will not return from this book without a new sense of the geopolitics of modern day Burma (Myanmar). War and

Colors are apart of our everyday lives. They help us on dreaming, creating and increasing youthfulness. The author used colors to illustrate an importance behind objects, emotions, and characters. The various colors symbolize location, character traits and appearances.

As we all know, color is the voice for the artist 's sentiment. It makes up the appearance of a picture. Color is the decisive factor in depths of the two-dimensional plane of the artwork, making the viewer feel physically and mentally attracted, or the context of things - the phenomenon the author wants to present. Colors have been around for a long time, but there is not a common definition for colors. And perhaps humans are one of the luckiest creatures that can identify colors. Often, the recipient 's eye knows a myriad of colors and colors that always change based on the relationship between light and perspective. In art, color creates a sense of

This short story is about a young Indian woman named Sumita, her impending arranged marriage and subsequent trip to America, which is symbolized by the color and type of her clothes. The author utilizes color symbolism to express the emotional changes that Sumita is going through and how she uses colors to keep her grounded with her Indian beliefs during her transition from girl to bride-to-be to an Indian-American to widow. There are many examples of colors that represent established Indian beliefs and religion are mentioned throughout the story.

Different types of symbolism are used to add significance to point out uniqueness in connotations that a writer uses when writing literature. An author’s literary works may include multiple symbols to give perception to his or her readers. When a writer uses a symbol, it is intended to heighten the sense a reader’s communication of literary works. The three key symbols in the short story in “Everyday Use” is that of quilts stored away in a trunk, the house, and hands. The quilts represented the African American’s women talent of creativity from those that were made from by other individuals from other people. It is noted that the quilts depicted that a guiding principle during the time of slavery for which they were used to send a form of communication to other slaves (Kirszner and Mandell, 2012). As stated by Kirszner and Mandell (2012), “One design, the Log Cabin, was hung outside to mark a house of refuge for fugitive slaves. Other quilts mapped escape routes out of a plantation or county, often by marking the stars that would act as a guide to freedom for those escaping at night” (page. 345). When slavery came to an end, the quilts created during this period of time were remembered for their significance of ethnicity and legendary importance by the African Americans. Dee was the daughter of the momma who thought it would be better to change her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo as she did not want to carry the heritage name as it seem to trouble her. Dee looks around for items that she can back home with rather than spend valuable time with her mama and Maggie. Suddenly takes notice a truck that is sitting at the end of her mama’s bed, and she pulls out two quilts that were made by her very own ancestors. Dee requests to take the quilts home with her; however, the mama informs her that she had plans to give them to Maggie upon her marriage. Dee was selfish as she wanted them for herself only to display them on a wall, and requested the ones that were completely sewn by hand. The mother suddenly reminisces how the different pieces had a story behind them about herself and her heritage. Why, the quilts were made to be put on a bed. Dee had an opportunity to take a quilt with her when she went off to college

The “Who am I? Who are my people” by Kirk and Okazawa-Rey was very insightful and I agree with most of the arguments the authors made about how subordinate groups have to adapt when there are amongst dominant groups. I’ve dealt with this issue a lot growing up. My family originates from Nigeria. I was born and raised in Maryland. Although I have never been to Nigeria, growing up in a Nigerian household under Yoruba culture had a huge impacted on my identity. It influenced the way how I think, how I form relationships with people, my morality and my religion. However going to school in my neighborhood was challenge for me and my other siblings because of the cultural differences between us and the other students. Most of students and my friends that I went to school with were mostly African-American, but they had no understanding of we view things in Yoruba culture.

The history of West Africa has its inhabitant traces is almost 6000 years ancient, but the earliest human beings who came here first were almost 12000 BCE. The enhancement in the farming took place after the arrival of a modern ancestor in the fifth millennium. After making connections with other civilizations like Mediterranean ones, the development of iron industry took place in every use of daily life. The common or traditional business of trade for them consisted of cotton, leather, metals, gold against horses, clothes, copper, salt, etc. They were modifying their lifestyles and politics as more as they were coming closer to other communities of the world (Ajayi, 1970).

The first way the author uses symbolism to show the overall theme is with color. Numerous times in the novel Janie is wearing a

At the end of the harvesting season season, the citizens could not even take the minimal amount of food they had manage to save because they had nowhere to put it. The lack of crops that were being harvested and the lack of storage made it harder for civilians to have an ample amount of food that could store for a while. This made it a necessity to hunt for more food. Although Africa did not have ample farming conditions, they did have a surplus of animals that were not seen in the other continents. The people of Africa took advantage of these animals to learn how to hunt and use that whole animals for food.

The colors were black, blue, red, and green. The black and balloon can represent pain. On page 18-21 a quote that demonstrates pain and crying is “I hate it when she cries before I do.” The red can symbolize love. The green represents the prgression of life and living.

Kwanzaa comes at the time of many African harvest feasts, in December, and is a time to be renewed in your community and proud of your joint achievements. The gifts that are given should be handmade or functional such as books, although gifts are not required, nor should they be given if they present an undue hardship. Kwanzaa is not a Christmas substitute but for those who find it more meaningful to them, it presents an option of participation during the holiday season.

The Buddha in the Attic is an emotional novel written by Julie Otsuka in 2011. The novel is unique in the sense that it is written in the first person plural in order to tell the story of many characters simultaneously. There isn’t a set plot except for the chronological stories of multiple picture brides coming to America in the early 1900’s. Each chapter serves as a major section in the women’s lives and assimilation into American culture. The first chapter is titled “Come, Japanese”, which focuses on why the women are coming to America. They describe the decision, sometimes forced, and journey to come to America to meet their new husbands. Many did not necessarily want to come, but they were promised a better life by their husbands, and most of the families of each wife received some sort of endowment money. One of the wives’ said that she was forced to go to support her family, while her older sister was working at the local geisha house just to put food on the table. They described the crowded conditions and long journey of the boat ride, as well as the cliques made and friendships formed on the voyage. All they knew of their husbands at this point was from a letter that was usually not written by the husband, as well as a picture, which was usually of a different person. Each woman’s story was different, and they all had different motives for coming to America, whether to seek a better life or better yet, forget about their previous life in Japan. They all had

What if a whole community had the absence of color, expect for one twelve-year-old child? According to the novel The Giver written by Lois Lowry, Jonas, the twelve-year-old child, lives in a seemingly ideal, but colorless, community of conformity and contentment. Not until he is assigned, and given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory, as he starts to understand the dark, and complicated secrets behind his community. He begins to recognize various ways in which his community needs color to be more free and happy. Within, the novel Lois Lowry, mentioned a lot of themes that were contributed to Jonas’ ability to see color, and the absence of color in his community. One of the themes that was expressed within the novel was, the

In “A Red Dress 1946”, a short story by Alice Munro, uses the significance of color imagery throughout the story. The color red represents nonconformity, standing out or being unique This is because of the narrator’s unwillingness to be a unique girl. However, the color blue represents conformity, being able to blend in with society, and the ability to be like everyone else due to the narrator’s lack of courage to be unique and to be herself. Both of these colors point out different aspects of the narrator's inner self and show how much she desires to hide her unique red self and appear blue. Color imagery is used throughout the short story, “A Red Dress 1946” in order for the author to demonstrate the inner thoughts of the narrator.

Passover and Easter have many hidden representational art and iconography that are reflected in the historical stories behind Judaism and Christianity. For Jewish people, the Exodus story narrated the Israelite’s liberation from slavery in Egypt which