Letters To My 16-Year-Old Self By George Watsky

Night and Boys in the Boat books that are completely different but they both share a common lesson on pushing through difficult times in life. Night took place during World War Two, at German concentration camps, Nazis were capturing Jewish people and sent them to concentration camps along with Elie Wiesel. Boys in the boat is about a boy named Joe Rantz who had to provide for himself at a young age. Joe joined the crew team for college, he found trust in his crew members and became friends with them. Boys in the Boat and Night are both books that are great examples of people never giving up and being resilient.

Crying is something that everyone here does; it is a normal part of everybody’s life. However, many cultures believed that when a male cries, his tears were a sign of manliness. In the article “How boys become a men” Jon Katz gives some examples to explain why many man pressured to be tough, to act strong, and they would not allow to show their emotions, pain and fear. This article focuses on the lesson that boys learn from their young ages which effects their lives.

In the autobiography of Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates explains how the education system shackled him, instead of empowering him to liberate his soul and mind. It wasn’t until he was enrolled in Howard University, where he found comfort in an educational system. Before attending Howard University, Coates was blinded by society’s view of the “black body”, and what it was capable of accomplishing. The limitations and lack of support on their side, bounded African Americans and made them feel insecure. The discrimination African Americans faced in their daily lives was no different in an educational environment.

The world breaks and spins and shakes. I’m screaming but they are muffled screams. I can’t breathe in. I feel like I’m underwater. Deaf and drowning”. Silvey’s use of hyperbole allows us to draw attention to what happens when adolescence’ bear the weight of society on their backs, igniting an emotional change. We see Charlie’s attitude towards the Vietnam War and his perception of the world when Charlie is informed of the death of Jeffrey Lu’s family members, “What kind of lousy world is this? Has it always been this way, or has the bottom fallen out of it in the past couple of days? Has it always been so unfair? What is it that tips the scales? I don’t understand it.” This reinforces Charlie’s determination for order which is represented in the use of rhetorical questions. This further demonstrates that our knowledge of the world can affect our attitudes and perspectives.

John Summers lives a nice life. He has two kids that have grown up, graduated college and moved out of the house and are very successful. John’s wife, Jenny, had recently been diagnosed with cancer and passed away just a few months ago. John was very much in love with his wife, but just before she died, John noticed she would never be happy with him. He started to think she was upset and wanted something against John. One night, a few months after Jenny passed, John couldn’t sleep like usual. He got up, walked to get a glass of water, but he tripped. John gets up very confused, and turns on the light. He tripped on the rug. John knows for a fact that there was something under the rug that tripped him, but when he turned the light on, there

For this essay, I will be examining the article “Absurd Self-Fulfillment,” written by Joel Feinberg. I will be pinpointing the central conclusion of this article, as well as the argument’s premises and the article’s central argument. I will also explain how the article relates to the film Being John Malkovich, and finally the school of philosophy, which we call “existentialism” and three of its central tenets.

‘’I felt so lonesome, all of the sudden. I almost wished I was dead,’’ a quote from the classic novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger which relates to how some teens felt at one point in their life.The novel was published to attract adult readers and has become popular for its themes, motifs, and connections an individual has with the main character, Holden Caulfield.We tend to feel a connection to the struggles of Holden Caulfield as we put ourselves in his shoes and see life through his perspective. The book is still pertinent due to Holden facing challenges such as loneliness and the inability to make a connection to make with a purpose thus the readers see themselves in Holden. Furthermore, the book also relates to teens with the

Some fancy that it is easiest to believe that things mean precisely what they appear to on the surface. However, to understand the world and thoughts of others in a more profound way, it is necessary to accept the fact that things may not always be just as they seem. It is imperative that one adopt this same attitude when reading poetry. One poem in particular that exemplifies this is John Updike’s “Telephone Poles”. Within the work, telephone poles are compared to trees by way of extended metaphor. “Telephone Poles” conveys the message that when nature is destroyed to make way for technology is harmful to nature itself and humankind as well by using an extended metaphor; this is enhanced and made clear by Updike’s usage of supporting metaphors, similes, verbal irony, and imagery.

During the 1950s, teenagers were starting to create their own identity. Compared to how teenagers acted in previous generations, teenagers in these years were different. Teenagers in this time period gained freedom and independent. Teenagers were able to have fun during these years. They also rebelled against being conservative and conforming into what the adult society wants them to act. Their beliefs and attitudes were distinct from what their parents thought. Teenagers had different groups that they belonged to. Hipsters, rockers, beatniks, squares and teeny-boppers were the five diverse groups of fifties teenagers. Also, they did not follow what their parents like. The way they talked, music and fashion evolved and became a part of the youth culture. Rock and roll became a great influence in a teenager’s life. Many parents did not approve of this music as they described it as revolting, vulgar and thought it was influencing their child in a terrible way. This created a generation gap between parents and the teenagers. The teenagers were starting to mark, able to express who they are, which had many

This poem is sometimes referred to as a violent “howl” of human anguish. It attacks the forces of conformity and mechanization that Ginsberg believed destroyed the best minds of his generation. This poem has no real structure or rational connection of ideas, and the rules of grammar are abandoned in order to pack imagery into one line. The poem points the way toward a new and better existence, chronicling the pilgrimage of the “mad generation” toward a reality that is timeless and placeless, holy and eternal.

The perception of the Other in literature can take on several forms and on one line of thought it is considered to be “an individual who is perceived by the group as not belonging; as being different in some fundamental way” (The City University of New York). The group sees itself as the standard and judges those who do not meet that standard. The Other is almost always seen as a lesser or inferior being and is treated accordingly. They are perceived as lacking essential characteristics possessed by the group. For an example, Charlotte Gilman’s short story “The Yellow Wall-Paper” portrays a woman narrator as being the Other. The gender division, an important component of the late nineteenth-century society, is exemplified in “The Yellow Wall-Paper” much more significantly than in the typical “American” literary work. It attempts to shed light on the fierce alter egos and divided selves of the dominant tradition. However, the narrator seems to contradict the traditional feminine roles and becomes hysterical as her way of revolting. Gilman effectively uses the narrator’s intuition, obedience, and secret rebellion to challenge the authority John embodies as a husband and physician. This also engages the basic issue of late nineteenth-century assumptions about men and women. In this aspect, this essay aims to explore in detail the gender otherness present within the story and how this contrasts the central idea of what it is to essentially be “American”.

Figurative language is one the most creative tools in the english language. Salinger models three in particular examples of that stand out the most. He uses these toget his point across. In The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger uses motifs, symbols, and extended metaphors to convey his idea that innocence can not be prevented.

In "The Perks..." there are a variety of personalities portrayed through the book. Charlie being the "wallflower" of the title, was different from most of the other students at his high school. He understood what most didn 't and didn 't judge anyone for who they are or what they were like; on the contrary, he actually thought about and sometimes asked why they decided to be that way, and there was nothing more to it. Through out the book, entirely composed of letters to an unnamed "friend", he explains how he met eccentric people, like Sam and her step-brother Patrick; two kids a few years older than the at the time freshman Charlie. Sam

The essay, "Why I wrote the Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman was written primarily for the purpose of explaining the meaning and reasoning behind her semi-autobiographical short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper". Before stating these reasons, Gilman explains that she had been suffering from a "severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending to melancholia--and beyond" (Gilman, 1913). After three years of this torment, she decided to go see a specialist in nervous diseases. The doctor she went to was named Dr. S. Weir Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell advised Gilman to be put to bed and to apply the rest cure, along with living a domestic life with limited amount of intellectual interaction and to never "touch pen, brush, or pencil again" (Gilman, 1913). As intimidating as this sounded, Gilman took the advise of her doctor, and followed his every suggestion for about three months. She had reached a point of almost complete mental ruin at the end of these three months, that she had to cast aside the specialist's advice. Instead of following his instructions, she began to work again. Ultimately, this is when and where "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written.

Allen Ginsberg’s revolutionary poem, Howl, is a powerful portrayal of life degraded. It represents the harsh life of the beat generation and chronicles the struggles of the repressed. Howl is a poem of destruction. Destruction of mind, body, and soul through the oppression of the individual. Using powerful diction, Allen Ginsberg describes this abolition of life and its implications through our human understanding of abstractions like Time, Eternity, and self. The poem’s jumbled phrasing and drastic emotion seems to correspond with the minds of the people it describes. Ginsberg uses surprisingly precise and purposeful writing to weave the complex