Suffering In When Rain Clouds Gather By Bessie Head

Because of human nature, every person alive will experience suffering. Suffering is unavoidable, undeniable, and a part of every person’s life. Suffering is often an idea explored in literature, and in the short story Sonny’s Blues, by James Baldwin, the narrator is faced with the darkness and suffering he has dealt with throughout his life, along with the struggles of dealing with his brother, Sonny. The narrator, in denial about the suffering he has become accustomed to in Harlem, can deny it no longer after the literal and metaphorical death of his daughter Grace, and only find salvation after listening to, and comprehending his brother Sonny's music. The darkness of Harlem has always brought suffering to it’s residents, and it is often

In Chapter 5 of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, Cassie’s innocence causes her to find herself in frightening situations. Cassie, the black female protagonist of the story, lives in 1933, in Mississippi, where instances of racism happen daily. However, Cassie, because she is 9 years old and her family wants to protect her from the injustices of the world for as long as possible, doesn’t have a clear understanding of why the white people in her life are doing bad things to her or knowledge as to why her actions create disruption within the white community. In fact, “a lack of understanding and knowledge” is a definition of the word innocent (Dictionary.com), which describes Cassie perfectly in Chapter 5, although she may appear mischievous to others.

In Robert Cormier’s novel, We All Fall Down, is a young-adult thriller that explores the evil side of humanity through a number of corrupt characters. Cormier, to a large extent, accurately depicts manipulative and dishonest behaviour whilst also showing the evil lurking within the prominent characters of Harry Flowers, Buddy Walker and Mickey Stallings who showcase the dark side of humanity. Cormier explores this through Harry Flower’s manipulative actions that result in the suffering of others. Additionally, the constant dishonest behaviour is shown predominantly through the main protagonist of Buddy Walker, who deceives the one he loves. Cormier continues to depict the evil lurking in society through the theme of appearance

A theme is the prime element of literature, which contains the central idea of the story. It helps reflect on the characteristics that a story might have and reflects on observations interpreted from our view of the author. The theme, a main idea or underlying meaning of literary work may be stated directly or indirectly, but it is ultimately our job to figure it out. Throughout any story, short story or poem you can see the constant change of imagery that will play a big part in the development of the characters ability’s to demonstrate the theme. In “The Storm” by Kate Chopin, the theme illustrates many sexual desires, adultery, and happiness as well as shows a theme of conflict. Chopin uses a storm to represent sexual passionate tension that builds throughout the story between the two main characters Alcee and Calixta.

The poem I chose to do a close reading essay on was, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep” by Mary Elizabeth Frye. “Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004) is an American poet who remains known today for a single poem-a sonnet of just twelve lines-but it may be the most popular poem in the English language. “Do not stand at my grave and weep” is a consoling Holocaust poem and elegy with an interesting genesis, since it was written by a Baltimore housewife who lacked a formal education and had quite never written poetry before, and certainly none of note” (The HyperTexts). The tone of this poem is comforting and helps people find comfort with the view of death. This poem uses a lot of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism. Frye’s, “Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep,” is enlightening people how to handle a death of a loved one while using important parts of the theme such as tone, vocabulary, and overall meaning.

Ultimately we all find ourselves in that moment when our last breath is released from our body, dieing is our final destination, but what truly determines the worth of our life is the fight and the will power each individual endures in order to continue living. In the story “Sonny’s Blues” written by Jamis Baldwin, Baldwin writes about the suffering we all face in life and how difficult it is to make it through the darkness when one can not see the light. It is the acknowledgement that one did not give up on his or herself that makes life worth living. Sonny and the Narrator's life chronicle emulates the raw uncensored reality of life. Although Sonny made horrible deleterious life decisions, it is important to acknowledge that these decisions

In “The Victims” by Sharon Olds it describes a divorce through the eyes of the parents’ children. The first section is shown through past tense as the speaker is a child and the last section is shown in present tense with the speaker already being an adult trying to make sense of past events. The word “it” in the first two lines carries a tremendous weight, hinting at the ever so present abuse and mistreatment, but remaining non-specific. The first part generates a negative tone toward the father who is referred to as malicious by the mother who “took it” from him “in silence” until she eventually “kicked him out.” Through the entirety of the poem the children are taught to hate their father. Who taught them? Their mother showed them that their father was a villain and were taught to have no sympathy for him but “to hate you and take it” and so they did so. Although the poem never directly states what the father did to receive the family’s hated, the speaker gives examples as to why he is hated.

Alice Mead published Year of No Rain on May 8, 2003.She wrote a book about three friends; Stephen,Wol, and Jairo, She made wrote about them going through hunger and thirst in their village and they can’t attend school because the village’s school due to the civil war between the northern soldiers and the southern soldiers,when the bombs exploded Stephen's Mother told him and his two other friends to run away so they won't be captured by the enemy soldiers.They’re on a journey and they all have to help each other survive. Sometimes you need teamwork to get over an obstacle.“Your mother should have let Naomi come with us.They kidnap girls, I heard.”He thinks She might’ve gotten kidnapped by the soldiers and it would've been better if She came

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman, is the story of two very different cultures lacking understanding for one another leading to a tragedy due to cultural incompetence. Today in America there are very many different cultures. Health care providers need to be aware of cultural diversity and sensitivity when caring for patients. If a health care provider is not sensitive towards a patient’s culture it can cause a relationship of mistrust to form, lead to barriers in the plan of care, and increase health care cost. The current guidelines to promote cultural competence in the clinical setting include completing a cultural diversity self-assessment, identify the need of the population served, evaluate barriers in the community and practice, educate staff to cultural diversities, schedule longer appointments, clarify limitations, and identify alternatives offered (Cash & Glass, 2014).

This applied theory paper will analyze both the macro and micro analysis of the Novel, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman (Fadiman, 1997). In the book “The Spirit Catches You and Falls Down”, the character Lia illness resulted in a cultural divide between the Hmong culture and the American culture. Throughout this paper both the conflict theory and the family systems theory will be used to examine themes of behaviors among the characters in the text. The family and medical team use the applications of a number of different social work theories to navigate through her illness implementing a number of different strategies to nurse her to health. The author Fadiman explores the Lee’s family

In Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell, Tidwell explores how the Cajuns in Southern Louisiana have been impacted by climate change. Tidwell brings to attention that Louisiana has 40% of the United States’ wetlands, but people do not realize all of the economic benefits and ecosystem services that these wetlands provide. Sadly, these wetlands are being submerged and destroyed at the rate of over a football field an hour. The main causes of Louisiana’s wetlands disappearing are the levees that prevent the Mississippi from dropping rich sediment at the mouth of the river to create barrier islands, and the careless actions of oil and gas companies (creating pipelines everywhere and frequent oil spills).

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.

In the text, “Sonny’s Blues”, by James Baldwin, the narrator and his brother, Sonny, struggle through life and are constantly facing some sort of suffering. The narrator suffers through witnessing the downward spiral of his brother into drug addiction and the loss of his daughter while Sonny suffers through drug addiction, the battle that ensues afterward in his attempt to get back on his feet, and the discord in the relationship with his brother. Baldwin uses strong diction in order to show suffering as an inevitable part of being human. Baldwin wields careful diction to demonstrate how suffering is an inescapable piece of possessing humanity.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick provides insight into the lives of North Korean defectors while in North Korea. Their accounts give inside information about the North Korean regime which makes it possible to analyze to what extent society was an egalitarian utopia. The interview reveals that people were discriminated by social class as evident by those who were richer, and thus in a higher social strata, having more opportunities for success. There was also economic inequity which was apparent by people having different degrees of struggle. However, the problems North Koreans faced was similar, which showed there was some equality from their struggles. Overall, the interviewees give accounts which contradict the idea that the North Korean regime was promoting egalitarianism through their accounts which give counterexamples regarding social class and economic status, so their claim of egalitarianism is mostly false.

Life is full of loss and you cannot avoid experiencing it and well as sorrow. As people grow up they come to realize that the world is not as it seemed to be when they were younger. They get more independent and their perspective of life changes. They will have to realize that they are not going to live forever. In the short story The Hurt Man, written by Wendell Berry and published in 2003, we meet Mat who learns all of this.