Purple Hibiscus Essay

The basic mission of high school American history courses is to prepare students to do their jobs as Americans, but that mission has always been overshadowed by its “nationalistic genesis” (xvii) as a part of a “nationalist flag-waving campaign”(xvii). This causes history to be taught in a way to comfort European descendants so that whites are presented in the best light even if that means leaving out information or telling lies and “we cannot afford another generation of white Americans raised on complacent celebratory Eurocentric history”

Perhaps it is in this controversial statement that the weakness of the enforced multiculturalistic history suggested comes to light. A single unified nation or people will always have more influence, more power, and more ambition; in a world driven by these means that may well be all that matters. Loewen argues that history ought be rewritten to suit factual information rather than be trimmed to the victor’s standard, but this would do nothing except encourage passiveness and submissive behavior. America, the whole nation, has gone through many struggles with others, but also within our own borders. Our struggles have led to us becoming the world's largest military power enhanced by our national rights to strive to be the very best.

John Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”, is a story about a woman struggling with strong inner feelings of loneliness and isolation. Elisa Allen is initially portrayed as a woman who overcompensates and whose tasks are far exceeded by her abilities. She appears content with her life and adores tending to her garden. However, a tinker briefly enters her life and through his power of persuasion and manipulation provides Elisa with hopes of change and excitement. He gives her the much needed attention she is so desperately looking for. As the story continues we learn that these hopes are crushed as we unravel the betrayal the tinker has bestowed upon Elisa. He exploits her and takes advantage of her hunger for company, aspirations, and

Humanity has had a long and rich history, where much of history is written from only a few perspectives throughout the ages. Whichever perspectives were most clearly and widely distributed are the perspectives contained in the majority of the history books, no matter how limited or biased. Most of these perspectives are born from European backgrounds, where the dominant European backgrounds are the result of victories in war and expansion of not only territories but also beliefs. The country that was dominant in battle, in most cases, was the dominant perspective in that time, and that was the dominant stance that was written into History. On the other hand, the cultures that were not victorious in their endeavors are usually misrepresented

Adichie is able to use her own life experiences, her personal knowledge, and her undeniable farcical character to create another side to the single story. Adichie’s inspirational words are nothing short of being honest, palpable, and sufficient enough to cause all people to reconsider their views. The end to Adichie’s speech is inspired by a thought, “That when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise” (Adichie). Concluding with the thought that we ourselves achieve a serenity whilst remaining open minded to the goodness of the people around

It is very important to have such literature like Andrei Markovits’ Uncouth Nation: Why Europe Dislikes America because, there is anti-Americanism in Europe and Markovits is dealing with a real phenomenon that is affecting America. A number of people argue that there is no anti-Americanism in Europe and there are only disagreements with specific American policies yet this is a real issue that was carefully covered by Markovits. This book reveals the resentment and antipathy towards and against America and how it has been there since time immemorial even before America became a super power and Europe’s rival. This ambivalence was there following the end of the cold war and after the September 11th attacks, this ambivalence has given out way to absolute unequivocal hostility.

White Oleander, a dramatic fiction by Janet Fitch, was published by Little, Brown and Company in Boston. The story is about a mother and daughter, Ingred and Astrid have a very unusual relationship. Ingred loves her daughter but never asks her what she thinks so therefore doesn't know her daughter too well. Such as she does not know of her daughter's yearning for a father.

It’s a complicated task to find a general consensus among Americans. We are a melting pot of different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds, so controversy and disagreement are inherent. American history is no exception to this concept. People are taught about history differently while growing up, and the manner in which they are taught, along with their personal beliefs, shape the way they define historic events. For instance, after thorough interviews, I found that many people explain why the Europeans were able to conquer and colonize North America differently. However, there were two generalized themes which I observed the most.

John Steinbeck’s, The Chrysanthemums, was published in 1938 in a book of short stories, entitled The Long Valley. The Chrysanthemums has been a rather powerful draw for scholars because of its wide gap for interpretations and analysis of its main protagonist character, Elisa Allen and also the unique descriptions used to portray the deeper meaning behind the setting of the story. Themes of sexuality, oppression of women, as well as other numerous types of conflict portrayed in this rather somber short story have made it a popular study among scholars and students alike. Steinbeck also uses literary elements including a dramatic tone, rich symbolism, and personification which increase the stories feeling and value exponentially. Steinbeck

In Adichie’s TED talk, she tells how the “single story” is very dangerous thing. Adichie gets this across by telling her experiences receiving a “single story” by her mother. Adichie’s Mother had told her over many years that there was this boy that was coming to live with them. This little boy was part of a very poor family, Adichie’s mother had said to her, “ Eat the rest of your food, you know there are some people in this world just like the little boy that don’t have this food and are starving.” Now Adichie had always looked at this little boy being poor, when she had met this little boy he was able to make many things and seemed very happy and content with where he was in life. Now if this little boy looked at his own life the way that

Day to day, people attempt to live unconstrained by convention or circumstance. Often the people around us hold us back from thinking and feeling the way we truly do; However, there will come a time when we will need to say what we truly believe. In this story, “The Glass Roses”, the main character, Stephen, is faced with the issue regarding his father, “a real man”. When faced with his father telling him how to live and what to believe.

TOPIC 2: Analyse the development of Kambili in Purple Hibiscus as she moves from strict, fearful obedience to tentative defiance of her father. In your response account for her initial subservience and explain what factors contribute to her increasing maturity and independence.

In the text “ the danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is talk about some negative effect of a single story. For instance, in adichie’s single story, she thought the house boy fide’s family is just poverty before she knew Fide’s family have the talent of make handicrafts, when she went to university in America, her roommates felt dity for her because her America roommate’s single story of Africa is full of disaster, Firstly, Adichie’s single story….. In the text” and when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say,”Finish your food; Don’t you know? people like Fide’s family have nothing,” so I felt enormous pity for fide’s family” This sentence represent and state Adichie’s thought of fide’s family in the beginning and

4c) Religion is explored through setting, Adichie uses Aunty Ifeoma’s home to teach Kambili things about religion different that she had been taught be her father. It was in Aunty Ifeoma’s house that Kambili understood her grandfather’s traditionalist religion and was able to make a link between Catholicism and Traditionalist.

In the speech, the Danger of a Single Story the writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells us the dangers of believing just one thing about a stereo type. In the speech Adichie repeats the phrase ‘single story’ as I think it is very important to her and by saying it repetitively she gets it to stick in peoples minds. I think the main point of the speech is to tell people the dangers of believing just one story about a country, a person or a religion etc. and to see past the stereotype we can be tricked into believing and instead see past it to see for example the person for who they are, for example, she as an eight year old girl believed a single story about their houseboy, Fide she says, ‘The only thing my mother told us about him was that his family was very poor... when I didn’t finish my dinner, my mother would say, “Finish your food! Don’t you know? People like Fide’s family have nothing.” So I felt enormous pity for Fide’s family. Then one Saturday we went to his village to visit, and his mother showed us a beautifully patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made. It had not occurred to me that anybody in his family could actually make something. All I had heard about them was how poor they were, so that it had become impossible for me to see them as anything else but poor.’ This was her single story of Fide’s family, because all her mother had told her was that they were poor she did not see past that and had no idea that anyone poor was capable of creating something so beautiful.