Essay about Sassouma Berete and Sogolon Kedjou in The Epic of Sundiata

William Saroyan uses numerous literary devices such as symbolism and characterization throughout his short story, “Gaston”. He uses them to convey that parents have an influence on their children, who look up to them. He includes several details in each instance of the literary devices, to expand on the theme he is trying to convey.

Mothers make a variety of sacrifices in their lives. The risks taken by mothers can come in many different forms; they can be physical, emotional and spiritual. The majority of those sacrifices revolve around taking care of, providing for and protecting their children. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Laila makes sacrifices for Aziza and Zalmai, Nana risks things in her life for Mariam, and Mariam sacrifices things for Laila and her children. In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini explores the aspect of sacrifice taken by mothers. Women will go to extreme lengths of sacrifice in order to ensure the safety of their children.

The simplistic plot of the novel and the overall theme of love allows the author to span the lives of the main characters. The reader sees the span of the life of two of the main characters, Sidda and her mother Vivi, as

The religion detailed and examined throughout Don Talayesva’s “Sun Chief” can be difficult to understand and near impossible to appreciate. At first glance to the casual reader it can appear shallow and ridiculous; a religion created around the wants and needs of the Hopi but not based on any empirical or even supposed sacred evidence. When coupled with The Sacred Canopy however, the reader begins to understand the simplistic beauty of their religion providing necessary guidance and support to the Hopi tribe. The reader also is able to relate to Don’s religion in terms of the love one has for his or her own dogma and the importance it plays in an individual’s life.

Few relationships are as deep as those between child and parent. While circumstance and biology can shape the exact nature of the bond, a child’s caretaker is the first to introduce them to the world. And as they grow and begin to branch out, children look to their parents as a model for how to interact with the various new situations. Through allusion, potent imagery, and nostalgic diction, Natasha Trethewey constructs an idolized image of a father guiding their child through life’s challenges only to convey the speaker’s despair when they are faced with their father’s mortality in “Mythmaker.”

Though the females in the Parham family are also very strong individuals, we are looked down upon. It seems as though females in the Parham family should be seen and not heard as our opinions are not valued or considered equal to the male opinion. However, the Parham women are strong and nurturing individuals; and though our opinions may not

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.

Athena also spoke of father and sons as. “Few sons are like their fathers: most are worse, a few excel their parents.” As shown the role of fatherhood is significant, just as the quest of the son is to learn from his father

In the ancient world, views of women were often derogatory, yet some viewed women as intelligent and powerful. The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata both display the complex opinions towards women of the time. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the characters Shamhat and Ishtar provide the audience with a biased view towards women, but this work also provides a more positive opinion of women through Siduri, Utnapishtim's wife, and Aruru. As paralleled in Aristophanes’s Lysistrata, Calonice and Peace represent negative perspectives of women, but this play also portrays women positively with Lysistrata and Myrrhine. The ancient texts of The Epic of Gilgamesh and Lysistrata simultaneously depict women as inferior, equal to, and superior to men to represent the complex views of women that were present during ancient times.

In Harry Mark Petrakis's short story "Song of Rodanthe" and Amanda Michalopoulou's short story "The Firefly Hunt" the themes revolve around how parent's decisions affect their children. In "Song of Rodanthe" the main character is not allowed to choose the man she wants to marry unless her father approves. In "The Firefly Hunt" the main character attempts to reconnect with his children after divorcing their mother. The subject of male figures that attempt to control the women around them is common in Greek culture and writing. In Petrakis and Michalopoulou's stories the reader is shown how daughters are influenced by the choices their fathers make.

Another important role in this epic was the importance of long distance trade. After the exile of Sundiata it gives him a chance to learn about the trade routes and people of his region. An example of this long distance trade was in the chapter of The Baobab Leaves. Sundiata's sister, Kolonkan, now of a marriageable age took on the role in society as a woman. “She was at the market she noticed a woman who was offering for sale nofiola, and gnougou, condiments unknown to the people of Mema” (Sundiata, 43).

The next topic covered by the two books was the role of emotional self-control in African leadership. Traditionally leaders were to show very little if any emotion. That is how Sundiata mainly appears throughout the book. For instance, when he went into battle, he showed no emotion, i.e. whether he was afraid or not. However, he did display some emotion when it was necessary. This was evident in the beginning of the book when Sundiata’s mother was being ridiculed because her son was not able to walk. Hearing this made Sundiata angry. However, instead of flying off the handle, he focused his anger inward and used it successfully to raise himself to his feet and eventually to walk. Sundiata’s anger also shows when the queen mother takes his griot away from him. This time his mother calms him some but not before he has a few words with King Touman. Sundiata also showed his sensitive side when his sister, Nana Triban and his griot escaped from Soumaoro. When his sister told him of Niani’s destruction and the captivity of its people, Sundiata was very sympathetic to the situation reinforcing his desire to recapture the land that was rightfully his.

The epic of Sundiata pertains to the ancient kingdom of Mali in Africa. The king there has two sons and multiple wives. Sundiata was set to have taken the throne being the first born son but suffered from an severely impairing illness that would prevent him to walk yet rule a kingdom. When their father, the king, died his second son took over the kingdom as king. He turned out to be an awful leader and treated his people and Sundiata terribly. Sundiata struggled immensely but was able to eventually beat his illness which was preventing him to walk. When the current king observed this, he felt very threatened and in retaliation stated that Sundiata and his mother were to be banished from the kingdom. Shortly after leaving they were accepted

To begin, women are assigned the role as a nurturer because of the culture’s perspective on the power of women. As the role of the nurturer is viewed as not important, it acquires a massive impact on the hero’s journey. In the myth of “Theseus and the Minotaur”, Theseus’s mother plays a big role in the development of the hero when “[she] took him outside the city, to a place where a great boulder la[id]” (O’Rahilly 1). In this case, Theseus’s mother is given the small role of the nurturer, taking care of the hero. Thus proving the irrelevance of the role. However, this small role has a massive impact on the hero himself. Without the mother looking over Theseus, he would not have known about the boulder which lead to his destiny. In addition,

Throughout Canto 2 a great amount of symbolism is used to allude to the development of Sir Gawain as a Solar Hero. Canto 2 begins nearly a year after Gawain first accepted his quest from the Green Knight as he is arming himself and preparing to leave. The cycling of the year from spring to winter embodies part of the Solar Hero imagery and acts as an allegory for the stages of life from childhood through adolescence and adulthood into seniority. As Gawain left the “from out the stones the sparks they flew away” (Weston 24), which demonstrated Gawain’s bravery and willingness to set out on this dangerous journey. This characteristic of bravery is part of Gawain’s development as a Solar Hero and this idea is further seen by how the imagery of