Summary Of Lally Seetz's 'Neighborhood Watch'

The book that I am nominating for the NCTE Orbis Pictus Book for Outstanding Nonfiction for children is Ghettoside: A true story of Murder in America. I nominated this book based on four key factors accuracy, organization, design, and style. These factors were inspirational in creating a piece of literature that will amaze and inform its reading audience. Ghettoside was published January 15, 2015.

Culture in urban communities, also referred to as inner-cities, are growing increasingly violent. In the article, The Code of the Streets by Elijah Anderson, he begins to take an in-depth look at the root of the evil. He deduces that economic factors, parenting and the troublesome environments largely influence the violent norms within this culture.

Horror is the genre that keeps the reader on their toes for nights upon end. It keeps them thinking. Thinking about how cruel and disturbing someone, or something, could possibly be. Thinking about what in the world happens to a character after the story drops off in a cliffhanger. Thinking about the probability that the events in the narrative could transpire in real life. Thinking about how likely it is for those things to happen to the reader. Refusing to look out their window in fear of seeing the glimpse of a murderous face, and listening to every sound with acute accuracy, praying that the noise is not one of a stranger creeping up the stairs. Scary accounts make the reader live in fear whenever the

Our Town is play written a while ago, but it relates to any time. Showing that routine is a part of everybody’s life. No matter what day and age you live in your going to have a routine. This play shows an example of two families and their daily routines. The whole play relates to routine even the different acts.

Janie Porter Barrett born in 1865 in Athens, Georgia was the daughter of Julia Porter, and her father is unknown but is believed to be Caucasian. Julia worked as a live in housekeeper to the Skinner family who pampered and educated Barrett as a child. The Skinner family taught Barrett in the subjects of literature and mathematics. After her mom decided to move Porter was raised by the Skinners’ who were Caucasian. Janie was sent to Hampton Normal Institute and Agricultural Institute, a vocational training school for freed people. Attending this school allowed Porter to gain love for her race, fellow man, and her country. Later Barrett married a guy that worked on the railway and gave birth to four kids following this marriage. In later years she attributed her desire to serve her fellow African American women and girls.

The flow of this narrative may seem jumpy or disconnected and illogical to some but to others who share a similar perspective the details seem like a flood of memories. Every detail and element is timeless and independent of the others while at the same time holding a deeper connection shared with all of the others. Each detail holds a value that isn’t noticed at first by others just like each of the items she mentions holds a value to her and her family but is lost on her husband who doesn’t share the same sense of home with her.

Ruth’s character reminds us that the process of producing the play within the play is about finding a deeper, more real reality. For characters such as Ruth and Roy, the play is about creating an escape from their reality within the institution, such as characters like Zac whom “can’t stand real things”. For other characters such as Julie, the mental institution surrounds them, but performing the play allows them to break free from reality. Through producing the play, Lewis explores what is ‘real’ and what is ‘normal’, Nowra introduces the concept that the two concepts contrast with each other. Nowra concluded the play with Lewis’ narration. Turning off the lights sets the realisation of the brief tails of their lives given by Lewis, which are powered by reality and not a pristine ending, as life continues to happen.

In the book “Code of the Street” introduction, the author Elijah Anderson gives you an outlook on how a city can go from wealth and poverty in just five miles. Anderson’s ethnographic portrayal of urban life in black America through a journey down Philadelphia’s historic Germantown Ave, which connects the appreciation of newly suburban Chestnut Hill and Philly’s main line with the generally less civil society of Germantown proper and its outlying ghetto’s, where a code of the street old as poverty and oppression itself governs the interactions of both willing and unwilling members. The story starts in Chestnut Hill which is often called "the suburb in the city," and finishes in the Northern Liberties subdivision.

Throughout the article “The Code of the Streets,” Elijah Anderson explains the differences between “decent” and “street” people that can be applied to the approaches of social control, labeling, and social conflict theories when talking about the violence among inner cities due to cultural adaptations.

Through Raymond Carver’s minimalist styled writing, comes “Neighbors,” a story about a seemingly ordinary couple who live dreary and plain lives. In the first few paragraphs we have a detailed description of the type of people, the relationship, and occupations Bill and Arlene Miller have. Later on, the story begins to spark a more dark and mysterious conflict by unraveling the Miller’s strange obsessions. Carver uses third person objective point of view to add onto his technique of simplistic writing & to create a more intense mystery.

In addition to scenery, the props strategically placed around the housed illustrated the family’s cares and values. Throughout the room, the audience could see many picture frames. However, the two that were predominately displayed were a picture of Christ hanging over the front door, and a picture of Lena’s deceased husband that stayed on a table in the living room. These props emphasized importance the Younger’s placed on family and religion, which came up many times throughout the production. The entire family lived under one roof, looking after one another and making ends meet, together as a whole. In addition, the plot centered around a life-insurance check from the death of Lena’s husband. This kept the element of religion present since he was deceased and in the eyes of Lena, watching over the family. Both the design of the apartment and the detail of the props within it gave the audience a greater understanding of the deep-rooted values and conflicts of the family.

Contemporary realism can be defined as a straightforward realistic approach of representation. This play does exactly that. This play takes place during a civil war, and Nottage gives realistic examples of what it was like to live as a female during that time. To understand why the characters act they way they do, you have to see what shaped them into the person they are. In contemporary realism, the characters are all products of their society. The leading female characters in this play are Mama Nadi, Sophie, Salima, and Josephine. Before the war, all four of these women had happy lives filled with content, but in the heat of the war all of them were stripped of something they treasured. For example, Salima’s baby was murdered, and Josephine was taken away from her family who were the head of their tribe. The way these characters acted during the play was completely affected by their past. Another characteristic of realism is the belief that experiences are conditioned by society, and no one is truly free until they understand what is holding them back.

To begin with, in this play the author unfolds family conflicts that involve its characters into a series of events that affected their lives and pushed them to unexpected ways.

Theme – the reason behind why the playwright wrote the play. “Patterns of life”, a slice of reality.

  In the play, descriptive language teaches the audience more about the surroundings than what the characters are actually saying to one another.  "I've not been in this house--it's more than a year" (6), Mrs. Hale tells the county attorney.  It is a very run down house, and the audience discovers there are no signs of anyone really ever being happy.  The kitchen is dirty, and the women begin to feel uneasy about being in a house where there is nothing but darkness and coldness.  The darkness is to signify how alone and empty Mrs. Wright was feeling while living with her husband.  Mrs. Wright did not feel wanted, and she felt like all hope was lost which the audience recognizes with the help of Mrs. Hale's saying, "...he was a hard man, Mrs. Peters.  Just to pass the time of day with him.  Like a raw wind that gets to the bone" (11).  Mrs. Hale conveys these important details to Mrs. Peters, which proves that the environment in the Wright house was dark and dreary.  The audience can imagine living in house where there is nothing but solitude and misery.  The solemn atmosphere makes the readers start to understand how lonely and depressing living in the house actually was.