The Accidental Tourist By Anne Tyler

1. “It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.” In this quote the author is referring to the rose bush by the prison as being a symbol of the sweet moral lesson offered by Anne Hutchinson, a woman who preached to the Puritans without the male-dominated permission of the Puritan church. Like Hester Prynne, Anne was punished. She was sent to the prison. No matter how small an action is, the culture of a society can respond in rage, loathing disgust, even fear. It is behavior that is learned and passed on through religion and community. In colonial Puritan society people were socialized to be very strict and religious and to punish anyone who behaved in a way that was considered improper. Any kind of sin had an exaggerated evil in the Puritan’s eyes, especially ones regarding marriage and sex. Hester Prynne and Anne Hutchinson are both character representations of women who stood up for the rights of women to live their own lives in a strict society.

“Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro is a story involving two girls and their short lasting friendship. In their sixth grade class, Myra does not socialize. She spends most of her time taking care and watching her little brother Jimmy. For the first time in years one of her classmates, Helen, feels slightly bad for her and makes an effort to connect with her. Right after their meeting, Myra is sick with leukemia and she becomes the most talked about person among her peers. They visit her in the hospital bringing gifts and kind words. Helen also brings a gift for her but feels that everything her classmates have given Myra are “guilt-tinged offerings”. They have similarities and differences. Myra and Helen are both are poor and

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid presents the hypothetical story of a tourist visiting Antigua, the author’s hometown. Kincaid places the reader in the shoes of the tourist, and tells the tourist what he/she would see through his/her travels on the island. She paints a picturesque scene of the tourist’s view of Antigua, but stains the image with details of issues that most tourists overlook: the bad roads, the origin of the so-called native food, the inefficiency of the plumbing systems in resorts, and the glitches in the health care system. Kincaid was an established writer for The New Yorker when she wrote this book, and it can be safely assumed that majority of her readers had, at some point in their lives, been tourists. I have been a

“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha. The greatest adventure in life is discovering your inner self and finding the purpose of it, It is the roots of everything that we do and where we base our actions on. The book “The Uninvited” written by Tim Wynne- Jones, is a story set in the modern time in a remote and distant little town in Ontario, Canada. It is set in three different points of view of the characters Mimi Shapiro, Jackson Page, and Cramer Lee. Mimi Shapiro is a quirky and bold student from New York, she comes from a wealthy divorced family and is using this opportunity to escape from a weird relationship with her professor. When she arrives at the cottage where she accidentally discovers her half brother Jackson Page who is a musician and songwriter. They spend the summer together along with Iris Wu, Jackson’s girlfriend and discover awful secrets about the little town. Cramer Lee is an awkward boy who often breaks into Mimi and Jackson’s cottage and steals a few valuable items. Cramer also follows around and stalks Mimi every so often but he sincerely cares about Mimi and wants to love and cherish her. During Mimi’s visit, they become mature over the experiences and occurrence while looking for the answers along with Jackson and Cramer in “The Uninvited”. By using the examples of the setting of the story, the narrative point of view and the character development it contributes to the story’s development

In the book Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayer, World War II events are described through the experiences of two people during this time. Excerpts from both character’s own memoirs are included to get the perspective from their lives. Some events that took place throughout the book include the severe reality of the Holocaust and the effect of the Hitler Youth on young Germans. Parallel Journeys specifically portrays these events through the eyes of Helen Waterford, who was a Jewish girl, and Alfons Heck, a Hitler Youth member mesmerized by the power of Adolf Hitler.

Have you ever thought that three completely different stories might have something in common? It might seem unlikely, but now you can change what you previously thought! The short stories Contents of a Dead Man’s Pockets by Jack Finney, The Leap by Louise Erdrich, and The Trip by Laila Lalami, all have their similarities and differences on several aspects. This can be demonstrated through the topics of setting, conflict, characters, and theme. These topics help make up the plot of each story. No story is the same, but they can have similar messages or themes meant for the audience. Some can argue that these three short stories are completely different, but other individuals differ. These main elements from each story can be both, depending on one’s point of view.

Strangers in the Land of Paradise by Lillian S. Williams explores the settlement of African Americans in Buffalo in the time of the Great Migration. In this book, Williams discusses the process in which migrants from the South made their own black communities in Buffalo while bringing their beliefs and traditions with them, and having those beliefs evolve over time in a new setting. Her work sheds light on the experiences of blacks in Buffalo during a time where many changes were occurring; the Civil War had just ended and the Industrial Revolution was underway. She also speaks on how Buffalo was unique in that it became the final point for those escaping the racism and violence in the South, since it was the last point before crossing into Canada. In her own words, “the book examines the growth and development of Buffalo, the movement of European immigrants and African American migrants into the city, and their ability to secure an economic foothold. It tests the extent to which family and friendship networks for blacks were a significant force in their migration and acculturation. It also describes the establishment of institutions that African Americans created to shape their modern, urban community" (p. xiv).

Everyday is a risk. People never know what effect their actions can cause. The simplest thing can be changed and make a big effect on the rest of the world. People come by risks all the time by what they might wear or what they might say, but life with out some risk is boring and to plain. In the second chapter of “The Unthinkable” by Amanda Ripley, the chapter introduces to a family who lived in New Orleans before the Hurricane Katrina Attack. The chapter introduces to an elderly man who has lived in New Orleans for a while and has become accustom to the surroundings of New Orleans. Now the situation that is happening is that he is not willing to leave to run away from the storm and his family is scared to take the risk of leaving him behind. Yes risk is natural in life, but there are some risks that shouldn’t be taken and then there are risks that can be avoid for the better.

When facing adversaries, there will always be a factor in the story the protagonist personality flaws are either illustrated or torn apart by their own complications. The worse part it that their identity can be easily influenced by the manipulation of people who are looking to take advantage of the individual's guilt and emotions. In Sinclair Ross’s story, “The painted door”, Anna the main character is manipulated to believe that her husband is not going to arrive home when a blizzard is undergoing; which ultimately leads her to her ultimate downfall. But in the end, this all came down to her failure to remain faithful to her husband, wanting more in her life and the failure to keep her habits in line with her marriage. Ann’s failure endure the temptation resulted in her losing her happiness moreover losing her biggest love.

When Frances Cornford wrote “The Watch”, she must have been in an unbelievably dark place; the poem is downright depressing. However, regardless of the macabre nature of the poem, it is executed in supreme fashion, and creates a real sense of dread in the reader. Cornford, a granddaughter of Charles Darwin, was not a particularly popular poet. However, in “The Watch”, she manages to convey a powerful message to the reader, and demonstrates her poetic skill in stride. The theme of this intriguing poem appears to simply be ‘Memento mori’, a reminder to the reader that death is inevitable and inescapable. Cornford conveys this message to the reader using an arsenal of literary devices, most notably the mood, tone, symbolism, and epizeuxis.

Harvey Fierson once said,“never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accepts no one’s definition of your life, but define it yourself.” Throughout life many people struggle to find who they are or the person they want the world to see. One can say this dilemma stems from the human need of belongingness, as demonstrated in Maslow 's hierarchy of needs. “Day of the Butterfly” by Alice Munro depicts this idea through the relationship, that is formed between the main characters Helen and Myra. Helen can be viewed as a dynamic and round character because her personality shifted a lot throughout the story. The reader was also allowed to see her battle with “self” from the beginning to end of the narrative. Myra on the other hand, would be a foil or static character. This is due to the fact that Myra remained constant and she was the reason behind Helen’s actions and thoughts. However for this analysis we will focus solely on Helen and how her character was affected and evolved. She was a very weak-minded, submissive, and scared individual, who later exhibit qualities of bravery. At the end we can see how she began to step into who she was as an individual. Now we will look at how Helen was affected mentally, socially and emotionally.

The autobiography Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl written by Harriet Jacobs illustrates the life of a former slave in the South who was subjected to mental and physical abuse by her slaveowner and details her escape to eventual freedom. After living through a long and tumultuous life of enslavement and abuse at the hands of her master, Jacobs was eventually able to escape to the North and write an autobiography of the horrors and hardships she faced. The institution of slavery was a destructive system in which thousands of African Americans were separated from their families, forced to work hard labor, and abused

Claire Standish or “the princess” portrays the stereotypical popular teenage girl in The Breakfast Club. She is in detention with everyone else because she decided to skip class and go shopping, which also plays into the stereotypical teen girl image. It can also be assumed that she is spoiled and rich since her father tried to get her out of detention but failed, and she mentions to the group that her parents only use her to get back at the other one. She brings a fancy lunch of sushi while the other teens either have nothing or the standard lunch one’s parents might pack for them. There are a couple of times in the movie that she brings up her social standing and could even be considered as looking down on those who are not as popular as her. Even closer towards the end of the movie she informs the others that if they were to say hello to her in the hallway in front of her friends, she would have no choice but to ignore them. By the end of the movie, she has opened up to everyone else about her fears of letting her peers down and has formed a close relationship with Bender.

In “A Small Place” by Jamaica Kincaid, Kincaid criticizes tourists for being heartless and ignorant to the problems that the people of Antigua had and the sacrifices that had to be made to make Antigua a tremendous tourist/vacation spot. While Kincaid makes a strong argument, her argument suggests that she doesn't realize what tourism is for the tourists. In other words, tourism is an escape for those who are going on vacation and the tourists are well within their rights to be “ignorant”, especially because no one is telling them what is wrong with Antigua.

Anne Bradstreet is among the most famous historical American female poets. Her seventeenth century works of writing came at a time when the society was male dominated and the role of women in the society was much more demeaned. Bradstreet is considered a feminist who advanced her feministic ideas through her writings.