Red Sorghum By Mo Yan

"Greensleeves" by Alan Spence is a short story describing the life of an elderly lady living alone on the top floor of high rise flats in Glasgow. Spence creates a character readers feel sympathy for through isolation and lonliness, themes that run prominently throughout the story.

The Artslink Queensland production of Ruby Moon by Matt Cameron can be described as an example of the Australian Gothic dramatic style. Ruby Moon, set in picture perfect Flaming Tree Grove, is about the tragic dilemma of a couple, Ray and Sylvie, trying to cope with the earlier disappearance of their young daughter, Ruby, while on the way to visit her grandmother at the end of the cul-de-sac (Queensland Education, 2014).

If you ever wanted to get revenge on people who have wronged you, then you may be able to relate to Mr. Chiu, the main character in the short story “Saboteur” by Ha Jin. Mr. Chiu’s revenge is ironic as the conflicts he finds himself in throughout the story.

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.

“Being Country” just those two words together come with many discussions, but the book brings another discussion. This book “Being Country” by Bobbie Ann Mason honestly had me thinking and wondering if everybody’s perspective about changes in life is the same. The main outlooks I took from this book was; When your surroundings have changed your identity will also, Sometimes a reflection of the past can help your future, and whoever you are going to be will not change.

In 1999, American author Bobbie Ann Mason wrote the short story “Being Country” to satirize the notion that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Mason, who was the main character and narrator of her own story, was very unhappy with her life on the farm, as demonstrated through the discontented, critical tone of her narration. She insisted a countrywoman could only have an impact on the world if she took initiative and questioned her womanly duties.

Several years ago, Amy Chua’s book: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has triggered a lively debate about the strict parenting style. In the book, it is mentioned that Chua sets rules and restrictions, such as no sleepovers, practising music instruments every day, etc. As a result, her daughters achieve excellent grades in schools (Goodin ¶2-3). Chua’s parenting style is categorized as authoritarian. In Hong Kong, Chua’s style is popular. Parents put a lot of pressure on their children. Starting from primary level, children are asked to attend extra tutorials. From the parents’ eyes, “Practice makes perfect”. Hence, children will become more competitive. However, westerners oppose her methods. Some believe that giving no freedom to children is not conducive to one’s academic performance.

In the Dramatic autobiography the Happiest Refugee, book the author Anh Do uses a wide range of Scenes to take audience attention throughout the story with different sort of language effects. A specific form of exploring scenes to audiences is the storytelling, Anh utilises this technique in the book and explores his life experiences. The purpose of the storytelling is to increase the motivation or mental stimulation of reader through entertainment. To do this use range of features including, Narrative voice, setting, sentence structures, Paragraph structures, Figurative language, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia and Characterisation. The two scenes that exemplify all these features are the serious scene when Anh’s family face a massive loss from the farm interest rates and the other scène is when Anh’s mother gets a “biggest” Pig they could find and brought it on Anh and Suzie’s engagement to show how wealthy they are, that they can take care of their daughter and keep her happy.

The Canadian novel ‘Crow Lake’ by Mary Lawson, published in 2002, was awarded in Canada as First Novel Award in the same year it was published and won the McKitterick Prize in 2003. The author Mary Lawson was born and brought up in a small farming community in southern Ontario. After graduating from McGill University, she moved to England in 1968. She still lives there with her husband and sons, though she returns to Canada every year. The story took place in a small town called Crow lake in northern Ontario. In this book Kate Morrison, the main character, leads the reader through her journey for healing from past mistakes dealing with her family. At the beginning, Kate who is seven, and her siblings Luke, Matt, and Bo, experienced a tough time surviving after their parents were killed in a car crash, which impacted them for the rest of their lives.

Shared Text Study: Candelo by Georgia Blain and Lantana by Ray Lawrence Compare the ways in which the authors of two texts use symbolism and structural elements to reinforce the central ideas of each text Georgia Blain and Ray Lawrence both use structural elements and symbolism to reinforce central themes in their texts. Blain’s 1999 Australian novel Candelo establishes Ursula as an adult who is forced to come to terms with her past and the effect this has had on her in the present. Blain places this as the central theme of her text and reinforces the concept of long lasting formative experiences. Alternatively, director Ray Lawrence corroborates his central theme of the damage of secrecy in relationships in his 2001 Australian film Lantana

Memories can last a life time, so we tend to only remember the extraordinary ones. Extraordinary like the essay “The Yellow Ribbon” by Pete Hamill, in which he talks about how a person named Vingo, was riding on a, bus recently released from jail, to this oak tree explaining to some passengers that he had told his wife to leave him if she wanted, since he went to jail or to go to this oak tree and tie a yellow ribbon around it to see if she wants him to stick around and he will go and check it out. In the end, he saw hundreds of ribbons tied on to the tree. Not only is this an amazing story, but also very unforgettable one as well, because he finds out that after four years in jail his wife has enough love for him to go to this tree and tie hundreds of ribbons just to show the type of love the women had for Vingo. I have to say that, I believe this story is truly unforgettable, but I also got a story that is very extraordinary, like the time that I got my very first car. Furthermore, I didn’t just get a car, I got the love of two truly loving parents.

Throughout many works of literature, characters are described to go through a rite of passage, developing the plot and solving conflicts. A rite of passage is when a character goes through life changes, realizing his/her flaws and maturing as a person. Walter Lee Younger is a man that goes through many different character changes, which cause conflict amongst the other characters. Once he goes through his rite of passage, he is able to fix his flaws and mature. In Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, characterization is used to portray that one must experience a rite of passage in order to mature.

1. One of the main characters in the book Black and Blue is a woman named Frannie Benedetto. Some of the roles that Frannie had were being a wife, a mother, a Catholic, and a nurse. Her role as a wife was very challenging, due to the fact that she was in an abusive relationship and was married to a New York City Police Officer. Frannie had been married to her husband Bobby Benedetto for almost twenty years. Her entire relationship with her husband has been traumatizing. Numerous times Frannie had been physically assault, raped, and belittled. Bobby physically assaulted Frannie when she was nineteen years old for the first time in their relationship. Frannie recalls many times that Bobby came home drunk and would rape her. Bobby belittled his wife by accusing her of sleeping with the doctors she worked with and by making her feel like she had deserved to get beaten up by him. One of the major reasons that Frannie stayed in the relationship with Bobby was because of their son.

Red Jackets’ “Reply to the Missionary Jacob Cram” and the poems written by Phillis Wheatley both have something in common. Belief in a God/god(s). Red Jacket provides that in his culture there is the belief in the Great Spirit which Jacob Cram wants to change to the almighty God and Phillis Wheatley shows how what she went through as a slave brought her to an un-denying devotion to God. Religion is something that has developed continually over the years, but one thing has remained the same… every individual has their own God or god(s) that they profess their faith in. What does the belief in a Great Spirit or the belief in God reveal about Red Jacket and Phillis Wheatley? It reveals who they are as an individual, how they live their life, their character, and also shows their past and how they have gotten where they are today.

An important aspect within the poem “Horses” by Pablo Neruda is the contrasts between opposites beginning with dark and light. The motifs of these two are apparent throughout the work. An important section to note is the last two lines “I have forgotten that dark Berlin winter. I will not forget the light of the horse's” (Lines 28, 29). These sentences seem to mirror each other in the way they are written and even the same amount of eleven syllables, giving both lines the same pace. The narrator could be is expressing that dark seems to represent their grim past and depressing view upon their own life and the seemingly small world they live in. While the light is their future and new view on life that will stick with them.