The Black Walnut Tree By Mary Oliver

The Past, an ever growing pool of time, is always biting at the heels of a person. It reminds him of what they have done wrong, done right, or when he did nothing. For most people, recalling the past leads to loose ends and blanks where memories should be. No matter how much a person may want to return to the past, it is not possible. It is lost forever. These forgotten moment lead to uncertainties and confusion in the present, and chaos in the future. Forgetting the past leads to spirals, spinning downwards as people look to what they have lost. They retrace their steps hoping to find a sliver of who they are and what may become of them. In the poem, Itinerary, Eamon Grennan shows how an individual searches through his past, but can never return to it. Through the poem and with a personal experience I will explain how individuals deal with uncertainties in their pasts.

Kingsolver’s book is written in journal format, except for her husband and her daughter’s short stories. The seasons change, the foods she talks about change, but her distinct way of writing stays the same. Kingsolver’s use of figurative language adds balance to her changing journal entries. On page 263, paragraph 3 she says, “My loved ones have eaten my successes and failures since my very first rice pudding…” Her use of “successes and failures” rather than specific dishes makes Kingsolver ambiguous and relatable. Those words are abstract which allow each reader to think about their own successes and failures. Everyone succeeds and everyone fails, however we all have loved ones who will support us regardless. Kingsolver employs metonymy, a figurative rhetorical device on page 302 paragraph 2, “Now we could sit back and rest on our basils.” This use of figurative language is used to describe the positive outcome she had from growing her own basil. This is very persuasive because she makes certain aspects of farming very appealing. Although growing your own food can be money, time, and energy consuming for many Americans, having something to show for it is very

In “The Author to Her Book,” Bradstreet is inundated in indecision and internal struggles over the virtues and shortfalls of her abilities and the book that she produced. As human beings we associate and sympathize with each other through similar experiences. It is difficult to sympathize with someone when you don’t know where they are coming from and don’t know what they are dealing with. Similar experiences and common bonds are what allow us to extend our sincere appreciation and understanding for another human being’s situation. In this poem an elaborate struggle between pride and shame manifests itself through an extended metaphor in which she equates her book to her own child.

The poet addresses issues of the child observing an unhealthy and abusive relationship between his/her father and mother in the third stanza. The eighth line states, “Do we forgive our Fathers for marrying or not marrying our Mothers?” These words insinuate that the father treated the child’s mother badly or was abusive to her and that she deserved better. This is so considering the only reason to forgive someone for marrying another implies they treated that person improperly. Likewise, having to forgive someone for not marrying another simply displays how the other person never received what he or she

I was particularly interested in Camille Dungy’s “Tales from a Black Girl on Fire, or Why I Hate to Walk Outside and See Things Burning” which we read from the book Colors of Nature Culture, Identity, and the Natural World. I thought that our discussion in class of her poem was quite good, and realized it was something I wouldn't mind thinking a little bit more about. As I reread the poem, I found a few sentences that I still didn't quite understand what she meant by. In light of this, I have decided to write on what I believe to be her meaning. I wasn't sure why the fear of walking outside didn’t hit her until she moved to an old plantation sate. Why would it take up until then if she had been hearing her families history her entire life?

"The Black Walnut Tree" by Mary Oliver is a poem that represents the conflict between doing what is best for the family and the sentimental value of something. Although the walnut tree gives the family a way to rid themselves of financial burden and protect themselves from the potential dangers of the tree, it is the emotional value that keeps them from making that decision. The poem portrays the walnut tree as a symbol of their family history and hard work of their father, but also casts a "black" shadow over the family. If these women were to cut down the tree, it would dishonor and betray their father's work to the family.

In Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Blackberries,” a youthful speaker seems to be living past the boundaries of city life and exhibits qualities of rural living. The poem tells of the speaker’s adventure of picking blackberries from a thicket and encountering the duality of urban society. Readers of “Blackberries” might at first be puzzled by the speaker’s youthful memory of picking berries, but a closer analysis of the poem allows readers to recognize that the speaker’s internal conflict originates from strict societal boundaries and the loss of his childhood innocence.

A daughter who uses her mother's gifts in contrast to a daughter who preserves them, is far more valuable just like in “Everyday use” by Alice Walker because heritage values can be preserved. From here on, Walker utilizes a prideful tone which later shifts into an authoritative tone by illustrating a proud mother who becomes defensive because of her modern daughter’s opposing views.

In the poem Heritage by Linda Hogan, Hogan uses the tone of the speaker to demonstrate the shame and hatred she has toward her family, but also the desire for her family’s original heritage. The speaker describes each family member and how they represent their heritage. When describing each member, the speaker’s tone changes based on how she feels about them. The reader can identify the tone by Hogan’s word choices and the positive and negative outlooks on each member of the family.

Nonetheless, doing so will not change the perceptions that other individuals who are familiar with them possess. An individual cannot wholly abandon their heritage. Their identity will remain the same in their loved ones eyes, despite the tenacious effort put in towards changing it. This is first demonstrated when the narrator realizes that “[your] uncle [will] still call you Roy Boy”. Regardless of his desire to create a new identity, he understands that those that are familiar with him will never abolish their perceptions. Furthermore, those in his town will act the same way towards him and their lives will not change because he decided to achieve his dreams. The “pheasants sun themselves beside the tracks” whether he returns or not, their lives will not be affected and he will not have an impact on their perception of him. Their attitudes will not change because they were once acquainted with his past identity in which he is so utterly ashamed of, and are unaware of this new one which he is proud of. Additionally, when he realizes that “corn grow so high that if you [stand] in the field you’d disappear”. This elucidates that he understands that his new dreams will not impact anything in any way. Everything will remain the way it was when he leaves. The only aspect that will change is his altered perception of himself. The boy understands the insignificance and normality of his identity that would be created if he decided to pursue his aspirations. Aspects of the past that were once in an individual’s life will not alter, only the individual’s perception of themselves will change. Their newfound identity and goals will not impact those that were once familiar with them. No matter how much effort is put in towards creating a new identity and leaving the past, it can never truly be forgotten because people cannot

Everyone inherits something during life, whether it be money from a recently deceased relative or physical features from parents. Throughout the poem “Heritage” by Linda Hogan, the narrator remembers all the traits and lessons that she has garnered from her kin. A superficial reader of the poem might assume that the narrator is simply reflecting on said traits and lessons, but in reality she is actually attempting to illuminate and reconcile the differences in her life.

Traditions and old teachings are essential to Native American culture; however growing up in the modern west creates a distance and ignorance about one’s identity. In the beginning, the narrator is in the hospital while as his father lies on his death bed, when he than encounters fellow Native Americans. One of these men talks about an elderly Indian Scholar who paradoxically discussed identity, “She had taken nostalgia as her false idol-her thin blanket-and it was murdering her” (6). The nostalgia represents the old Native American ways. The woman can’t seem to let go of the past, which in turn creates confusion for the man to why she can’t let it go because she was lecturing “…separate indigenous literary identity which was ironic considering that she was speaking English in a room full of white professors”(6). The man’s ignorance with the elderly woman’s message creates a further cultural identity struggle. Once more in the hospital, the narrator talks to another Native American man who similarly feels a divide with his culture. “The Indian world is filled with charlatan, men and women who pretend…”

Family traditions/heritage is an aggregate of attitude, ideas, ideals and the environment, which a person inherits from his parents/ancestors. Individual identity entails aspect of one’s life that no one has control over, i.e., race, the color of skin, beliefs, etc. These family traditions and cultural legacies play a detrimental role in influencing one’s self-identity, which can be both negative and positive. A positive legacy consists of the trait that is inherited from consistent, diligent and thoughtful families. On the other hand, negative legacies are the ones that face opposition or rejection and are unwelcome in the family. Latter seem more prevalent in cases of adopting cultural shifts where an individual rejects legacies that were carried on for generations, and adopt a new way of life and be him/herself. Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Seamus Heaney’s “Digging” have a common central theme that is to show us how an individual breaks their family traditions and embrace a new way of life, and the consequences faced after that turnout.

The mother begins to rebel against tradition by taking an active role in educating and freeing herself. Through her radio, telephone and trips out with her sons she develops her own opinions about the world, the war, and the domination and seclusion of woman. She loses her innocence as a result to her new knowledge and experience.

Many individuals were born into a life that their past generations had left for them. Some were born into slavery and forced to work in cotton fields because they had no equal rights as the white individuals. Having gone through the mistreatment, humiliation, and the discrimination done by the white individuals, not many had the opportunity o create the life they desired. This was presented in “The Last Member of the Boela Tribe “ written by Cathy Day in which four generations , Bascomb, Gordon,Verna, and Chicky, were left with a past and present that they could not escape from unable to move forward to create new identities for themselves that is expressed through the use of characterization and symbolism.