Steve Wiegenstein: A Literary Analysis

Literature is not only important to society, but is very important for each individual to read and understand. Literature can provide a way for people to learn more about what happened in the past and can even be a way for people to reduce stress in their lives. There are many different types of literature and each of them can be used for different reasons. You can use books to study specific topics, to relive the past, and to express yourself through writing. Literature can be written about the past, the future and even about present day society. Even if the book or novel is fiction, it still has some sort of theme that resembles a real world experience or problem. We need literature in our lives to help us develop and improve, not only as individuals, but as a society and to learn about the past.

Elijah’s daughter, Luvenia, struggles to get a job and into college in Chicago while her brother Richard travels back to South Carolina. Abby’s grandson, Tommy works with civil rights and protests, and tries to get into college for basketball. The story ends with Malcolm, Richard’s grandson, getting his his cousin Shep, who is struggling with drugs, to the family reunion. In reading this story one could wonder how the transition from slavery to segregation in the United States really occurred. The timeline can be split into three distinct sections, Emancipation, forming segregation, and life post-Civil War, pre-civil rights.

With it the U.S government finally defended African Americans legal and societal rights:blacks could eat in reastursnts, use public bathrooms, vote, and drive without fear of legal discrimination.(Jackson 1). The author makes it clear in this story that black people's challenges didn't end in 1964. This book is read through the eyes of a teenage white girl named lily who sees it as “African Americans being victims of an endless series of tragedies( Jackson 1). The result ends with lily seeing both sides of racism and accepting African Americans for just people and not what many try to discriminate them as. Just like in the time period of the 1960s racism would always happen and be a thing but it only takes one such as Martin luther king to make people realize it doesn't have to be a

Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi, depicts the various stages of her life from childhood, to high school, then to college, and ends with her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. In the novel, Anne tells the reader her story through events, conversations, and emotional struggles. The reader can interpret various elements of cultural knowledge that Anne Moody learned from her family and community as a child. Her understanding of the culture and race relations of the time period was shaped by many forces. Anne Moody’s family, community, education, interactions with various races, and her experiences outside of her hometown, shaped her into a devout activist for equal rights. As a child, the most important

Chapter 11 delves into the racial injustices of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when reconstruction was underway in the South. During this time we still see the white race dominating the popular opinion, and remaining unchallenged as the South fights the North. The South held onto the idea that the black man should remain a slave, and the North fought for the black man’s citizenship. This task proved one of the most challenging the country had ever faced. The south did everything they could to undermine the workings of the North and keep the black man’s status as low as possible. The black codes were enforced which limited the rights of the newly freed slave. They were to have the rights of liberty and property, but not the right to vote, hold office, serve on a jury, testify in a white court, and many other rights that white people possessed. Constant tension existed amount the North and the South. Overall the North’s attempt to reconstruct the South yielded bad and good things. Public education, and women’s rights were gained, but most leaders and promoters were corrupt. Even though it had some shortcomings it still resulted in much needed reforms. During this time the KKK was formed. They were a group of people who went outside the lines of politics to make a change. They quickly turned into an aggressive group known for their aggressiveness against blacks. The struggle to admit the Southern states back into the Union continued until 1890, when the states were

Moody’s life and experiences provide another perspective to the Civil Rights Movement, one that is not of a man, white southerner, or the most commonly seen leader of this movement, Martin Luther King Jr. It is crucial to hear Moody’s story to put ourselves in a time and place we are unfamiliar with to understand the struggle for civil rights in the United States. Coming of Age in Mississippi is worth reading because it provides readers a different perspective on the individual’s discovery of segregation, experiences from living in a tumultuous time in history, insight on what it means to stand up for change, and a segway to relate Moody’s experiences to our own today. There comes a time in all young children’s life when we learn to be self-aware, meaning we realize who we are and what makes us different from the people around us.

Racism is a big part of this book. It shows the absurdity of what people thought back then, which is an important lesson. It is important for us to learn what people’s views used to be, and how important it is not to go back to that mindset.

The high school on the reservation was so helpless that the books were as old as Junior’s parents! There were times when Junior’s breakfast was a gallon of orange flavor drink mix. The only Christmas gift he’d receive was a five dollar bill if he was even lucky. Living like this and to not give up like the rest made him a survivor. Junior’s sister had given up school, but once had a dream of writing romance novels. Along with Junior’s sister, Junior’s father and mother gave up way before she did. Everyone else on the reservation had given up since it was ultimately a death camp. Even the young teenagers had given up in school.

This is because the historical fiction does not contain as much detail, the detail it does have may be twisted for the sake of plot, and emotion is not mutually exclusive to fiction. Truth is an elusive thing, and it is far more advisable to search for it in a nonfiction then a

In the 1960s, social dynamics and cliques of teenage life were just as important as they are today. “The Outsiders” portrays a gang of Greasers struggling to understand others, their emotions, and how to overcome the obstacles that are a part of life. The novel describes in great and accurate detail their lifestyle, including the way they dressed and spoke, but glosses over much of the heavier aspects of life during the 1960s, such as the Antiwar Movement and the Civil Rights Movement. Though these aspects would have impacted the characters heavily, they are never mentioned by the characters. Thus, “The Outsiders” presents an idealized version of life which does not acknowledge the important movements and events of the 1960s, including

Why should high schoolers be forced to read a book that isn’t interesting to them? Often times they either do not apply to real life situations or even teach anything that a teenager would understand. So, the high schooler skims through the book and does not pay attention to any detail. High school classrooms need better books that can teach history in a fun way, and add some interesting things to which students can reflect and think on. A book read in high school, should allow the students to think critically about the text they are reading, should include some references to history, and incorporate themes that are understandable and relatable to a high school student’s life. This makes a book want to be read as well as enjoyable. The

Even Joan, coming from Chinese descent is unaware of such violent acts towards her ancestors; yet, when Sam addresses American-African as “Negro” Lee instantly comes up with the right way of referring to them. “Even in the United States, some people so hate the American Negro for his differences that they keep him enslaved, . . .” “Negro?” Lee said. “Do you mean African-American?” (Buzbee 78-79). Lee’s quick observation was clear evidence that the state’s history standards greatly emphasize on the importance of slavery being taught to middle schoolers. Yet, they fail to address that other races were also the targets of racism, discrimination, and constant humiliation. Students are very well aware of the great suffrage the African-American went through and how they were discriminated against. They learn how the Africans were captured and forced to leave their country, how they worked endless hours, and the severe punishments they underwent if a certain amount of work wasn’t meet. Buzbee in his novel, addresses historical issues that are sadly, not prioritized according to school academic

The council of Nicaea occurred in the year 325 AD, by order of the Roman Emperor Caesar Flavius Constantine. Constantine wanted to convert to Christianity,and felt that a meeting of bishops should be held in order to resolve the controversy of the nature of God;and confusion as to whether God and Jesus are “two separate substance” or “of one substance.” At this time the failing Roman Empire was under his rule, and could not undergo division due to doctrinal differences. Too Constantine this was a threat to Christianity, he urged church officials to put their differences aside and to be “Christlike” agents. The main theological differences that arose were “Who is the Christ?

Friends are a blessing, especially when friends are found within the madness of war. In the novel, the narrator and author, Tim O’Brien, discusses fictionalized war stories from his experiences in Vietnam. All of the stories are very different. Some deal with death, some deal with love, and some don’t actually deal with the war at all, but they are all connected. They all exemplify, in one way or another, a “true” war story. In one of O’Brien’s stories, he discusses the bond between two men on their journey from enemies, to friends, to loss. The story is appropriately titled, “Friends”. The truth that O’Brien discusses in “Friends” deals with the randomness and chaos of war. War is unexpected, yet the unexpectation of war can lead to serenity

We should read classical literature because classical literature has value. The value is important to our culture because it shows how we got to our literature today and shows how far we have come. The story Orpheus and Eurydice is a good example of value and morality because Orpheus tries to get his wife back and fails. The Fates tell Orpheus not to look back at her until they are back home. Orpheus looked back at Eurydice and when he looked back at her he lost her for good. This story is a good example of value because it teaches us value and how we should appreciate what we have and appreciate the second chances we get in life. The history and culture behind classical literature is our history because it helped us get to where we are now and shows how we wrote and told our stories. The history in classical literature can be true or sometimes true. With myths, some of the stories have some truth in them or the story really happened but if that is the case, most of the time the storyteller makes assumptions about the event. In the