Study Notes on Out of the Blue by Simon Armitage

In the essay written by Joey Franklin, the author exposes his own internal conflict, as well as the existing prejudice against fast food restaurant workers. The work is well developed, with the use of witty diction and tone, in addition to the appeals to rhetorical devices.

Without falling into jingoism or being over-sentimental, Robert Pinsky's poem "9/11" generates a commendable ode to the spirit that drives this country, in addition to revealing the American culture for what it truly is – enthusiastic and frivolous, courageous and fallible, petty and resilient. For most Americans, September 10th is Before, and everything since is After.

Arturo Madrid in his essay entitled, “Missing People and Others” in the book, Race, Class and Gender, speaks about his form of otherness that he experienced in schools. Madrid has a Latino ethnicity and is a citizen of the United States as are his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. However, he learned about othering before he knew of the concept. Though his school tried to erase otherness through denial, it only amplified the issue. He viewed his educational experience as a socialization process where you learned to become “American” (Race, Class and Gender, 2010, p. 18). Instead of viewing his educational experience as an academic journey, due to othering it become more of a social journey. Madrid realized early on that otherness was built into the American system by the society around in every facet. Therefore, he saw this systemic rationale of othering permeate into the school system. The denial almost seemed like a dismissal of the person’s culture and ethnicity. The implicit denial existed in many facets such as economic, political, cultural and social through the absences of the “others” (Race, Class and Gender, 2010, p. 18). However, schools is where it was felt the most severely.

Out of itself, it "launch[es] filament, filament, filament" (4). Similarly, in the second stanza, Whitman's soul stands "surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space" (7), musing how to build a bridge that would connect them to himself. Like the spider, the poet's soul wants to send out a "gossamer thread" that would "catch somewhere" (10). Whitman uses nature as an appropriate metaphor to express the concept of a man's lonely and seeking soul.

John “Crash” Coogan is the typical jock; he lives in Pennsylvania and is starting his second year of middle school as a 7th grader. I thought the main theme of the book is don’t judge a book by its cover. At least what most of us have in mind as a jock? Crash had always picked on his neighbor Penn Webb because of his choices and his lifestyle until later he realized something about Penn that he was his meant- to- be best friend. Crash has a wonderful life, until life deals him a hand that he could not have expected. When Crash 's grandfather unexpectedly has a stroke, Crash instinctively steps back and re-evaluates his life without even realizing he 's doing it. Suddenly, his cool friend, Mike doesn’t seem so cool anymore. Things that

The book “With No Direction Home: Homeless Youth on the Road and in the Streets” written by Marni Finkelstein refers to the homeless youth. This book describes the lifestyle of the teenagers with no home and explains with detail about what consist in their everyday lives in the streets of New York City. The purpose of this book is to explain to people who these kids are and to see life in their point of view. It explains the difference between street kids and the kids that live on the street. We need to understand that the kids that live on the streets have their own culture and their own way of surviving. Learning their point of view would be a great eye opening experience for everyone and to also understand their struggle. This book explains a study that was done to 50 street kids and life on the streets.

In Jan Arminio’s article, “Waking Up White,” (2010) she discusses her journey of self-discovery. She claims discovery of identity didn’t happen until after the birth of her children. In high school, college, and adulthood she acknowledges being naively racist although not directly demonstrated. She asserts that her behavior was due to her need to reassert her dominate role and each race has a role to play. After going back to school for her doctoral degree and the birth of Jan’s children she went through an identity shift. She analyzed the history of whites plus blacks and discovered white people created the term to serve their own personal agendas. Supporting this idea through the findings of race being a social construction that holds back society. In must order to better understand her own race Jan

The author uses imagery in the poem to enable the reader to see what the speaker sees. For example, in lines 4-11 the speaker describes to us the

The Time in Between by David Bergen tries to show a different kind of cultural understand than is usually shown within the Vietnam war narrative. Bergen tries to highlight the cultural similarities instead of the cultural differences, where there is a sense of cultural appreciation. During the Vietnam war there has often been a stigmatization towards the Vietnamese that associates them as the enemy, they are seen as the opposing other. There is often an Eurocentric view of the Vietnam war that tells the story of the white male American solider and very rarely has another perspective been represented through media and literature. The attempt to acknowledge the war from the other perspective through the Vietnamese solider is used in The Time in Between. The trauma that is often associated with the Vietnam war is seen through the lens of the white male solider, often forgetting the the symptoms of trauma were experienced by both sides. The trauma from the war becomes a bridge between the two cultures and subverts the stereotypes of the Vietnamese as being the cultural “others”.

The concept of the malign nature of the tenement is developed throughout the first stanza with Crichton Smith exploring his own role in his mother 's confinement. He tells the reader that whilst he drove away, his mother would 'wave from the window. ' Again the poet successfully employs alliterative words to draw our attention - this time to the image of his frail mother still lovingly 'waving ' from her prison 'window '. This notion is supported by Crichton Smith comparing himself to

Eric Tang’s Unsettled is an ethnographic account of Cambodian refugees in the Bronx, New York that evokes a nuanced understanding of the refugee experience. Unlike many other ethnographies, Tang’s work centers around one individual named Ra Pronh, a fifty year old woman who survived the Cambodian genocide and has lived as a refugee for most of her life. The bulk of his work draws upon two main sources: Tang’s notes that are gathered from his work as a community organizer in refugee neighborhoods and his interviews with Ra Pronh over a three year time period. Throughout his interviews with Ra, Tang often encountered a language barrier with her. There were times where Ra’s children would translate her words from Khmer to English for Tang to

Hello, I see that you are here to view my stand point on the book Black Hearts, the book has a ton of action and excitement throughout. There are many stand points and gut wrenching moments that could only put you on the edge of your chairs, and keep you glued to the book, wondering what the next thing that could possibly happen. The enjoyment throughout not only keeps you interested but it also give you’re the different ways people think and act. And that’s what brings us here today, the assignment was to write about a picked character, that you thought had some leadership failures that lead up to an incident. Well the character that I choose to write about would be none other than LTC Tom Kunk, the book told a story so outrageous that I

In these few lines, the speaker abruptly switches the tone from bitter to sympathetic. The poem becomes urgent, with a need to know. “The peculiar screeching of strings” characterizes the man’s thoughts, and “the luxurious fiddling with emotion” directly refers to the man’s emotional state.

Americans citizens are entitled three inalienable rights: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The United States Constitution states that these three rights are god given and humans are born with them. From the outside looking in you can say America is an ideal place where a person can be whomever they want. Many people believe that Americans have the right to strive for greatness and are given ample opportunity to do so. Of course there are barriers, but all people are given equal opportunity to make it regardless of the obstacles. So why isn’t everyone successful? Some believe that success is only a matter of will and only you can decide if you want to become successful or not. This is not true; In Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely

This image represents the fusing of color and sound by the dying person’s diminishing senses. The uncertainty of the fly’s darting motions parallels her state of mind. Flying between the light and her, it seems to both signal the moment of death and represent the world that she is leaving.” The last two lines show the speakers confusion of her eyes. She is both distancing fear and revealing her detachment from life, “And then the Windows failed – and then/I could not see to see “. Which ends the poem, with her