The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver

The speaker is thinking in a childish manner, caught dwelling on how her “wool winter suit scratched.” (Shore 2) and the idiosyncrasies of her mother. Her attention is consistently darting from object to object, unable to relax her thoughts. Further into the text, feelings of doubt and skepticism emerge. When thinking that she is the chosen one, she questions God’s intentions. “Why would God choose me. . .” (Shore 57) she asks herself. The speaker wonders how could someone so seemingly insignificant and feeble lead a congregation to victory? Then, once feeling empowered by the possibility of her being able to defend her people, a tone of acceptance arises. She gains self-pride and confidence knowing that she is capable of interpreting what is occurring around her. As a Jew, she is aware of what her faith requires of her yet is unsure of how to approach them. During her visit at the synagogue, she began pondering about these responsibilities and how she should fulfill them, thus resulting in the chain of events that led to the acceptance of her obligations to her religion.

Adah, the middle Price child, was born with hemiplegia, an illness that caused her to limp and be weak on one side. However it didn't affect her brain , as she can analyze and is the smartest member of her family, which suggests her greatness and capabilities. When she goes to medical school, Adah finds out she can walk normally and that her hemiplegia was "a misunderstanding between [her] body and [her] brain" (5.7.2)—or, perhaps, the effect of a crazy family dynamic . Although she is a very adjustable person she worries, "Will I lose myself entirely if I lose my limp?"(Kingsolver ). However, she doesn't have to limp to differentiate herself once she's away from her family and thus she becomes an more open and free.

In the book, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler, it presents a perfect example of a Survival of the fittest lifestyle. Only the best, the smarter, and the stronger ones, is able to survive, while the weaker individuals will be killed or dead. Lauren Olamina, the main character and her group travels towards the north by finding freedom. Many people did not have the mindset to be as strong as Lauren to survive, but she was extremely careful. She has always looked out for potential enemies wanting to harm or kill, but she was also creating allies to build her Earthseed community.

The Great Awakening was a revival of religion in the early American colonies. Some will say that the awakening had negative effects on the colonies, maybe, but overall I believe the Great Awakening had a positive effect and opened the eyes of the colonist, showing them truths of living in the New World and of things that could come for its future. These effects that the Great Awakening had on the early colonies is greatly studied and looked at, because it was what set the ground work for the religious views we have today in our country. Three sources, given to me, telling of the effects that the revival of religion had on early America was quite interesting to me. I found them to be a great insight to the basis of how the revival effected

In the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston a young girl named Janie begins her life unknown to herself. She searches for the horizon as it illustrates the distance one must travel in order to distinguish between illusion and reality, dream and truth, role and self? (Hemenway 75). She is unaware of life?s two most precious gifts: love and the truth. Janie is raised by her suppressive grandmother who diminishes her view of life. Janie?s quest for true identity emerges from her paths in life and ultimatly ends when her mind is freed from mistaken reality.

Miriam Toews’ novel, A Complicated Kindness, explores the aspects of one’s interpretation of faith, their reintegration into society and self-improvement. These elements are explored through Natasha Nickel’s formulation of her newfound faith, a step in which she soaks knowledge, questions what has been learned, and then incorporates the changes into her lifestyle. Through this critical thinking process, Tash becomes the most logical follower of faith in the community.

In the story The House of the Scorpion, written by Nancy Farmer, the main character is Matt, who is a clone of El Patron. The main setting of the story is in the Mexican area in the future. In the beginning of the story, Matt only knows one other person and only one person knows about him, that person is Celia. The main problem in the story is that when Matt finally gets exposed to other people, he finds out he’s a clone and also finds out that most people despise of clones. The solution is that during El Patron’s funeral, everyone with some sort of power dies with the wine that El Patron demanded they’d drink when he dies. At the end of the story, Matt is technically not a clone anymore, because El Patron is dead.

New England became a new start for the people of Europe who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Opportunities blossomed everywhere one looked; whether it was new items of trade or the entire land itself, waiting to be discovered. However, as people began to settle into their new home, one thing was certain: the social orders of Europe had traveled with them. Women were meant to stay home and men were meant to work. Women had little involvement in the choices made for their well being, and were required to follow all orders from the dominant male population. Just as people began to migrate to America, witchcraft was still a major fear amongst the people of England, and women were a primary target for these accusations. It was simply the way life was for these New Englanders, and nobody found the inspiration to end this awful oppression. As the colonies began to break away from Britain, however, few key women stepped up and took matters into their own hands. Authors Alfred Young and Carol Karlsen dive readers into the early and later times of New England. Karlsen allows us to understand the dynamics of witchcraft in the mid-to-late 1600’s and how women were so easily accused of such acts. During this time period, women were very much under the radar and any wrongdoings could be detrimental for their reputation and ultimately their lives. Young, on the other hand, takes the reader forward in time to the revolution and how a particular woman fought for her people in battle. By

Everyone needs friends who they can trust and rely on to always have their back. The House of the Scorpion is a dystopian fiction novel written by Nancy Farmer, is about a clone, named Matt, of the powerful drug lord, El Patron. When he is brought into a world ruled by El Patron, he is hated by everyone in the big house, except for a sweet girl named Maria, who lightens Matt’s day with just her presence, his bodyguard who becomes more like his father, and Celia, the woman who has taken care of Matt since he was made into a clone. He learns what it is like to live in a world full of social hierarchy and in his adventure he goes from the top to the bottom and everywhere in between. He is constantly being judged on who he is and is learning more about his identity, though mostly learns about love and loyalty . In this adventure of The House of the Scorpions, Matt finds that loyalty with friends is one of the most important things to have. Farmer shows many aspects that point to this theme.

The Demon’s Parchment, by Jeri Westerson, follows private investigator Crispin Guest and his apprentice Jack as they investigate a series of mysterious murders in 1350s England. The historical setting of the book references the Medieval Period of Europe, a dark age filled with superstition, disease, and political overturn. Westerson’s setting incorporates elements of religion and politics, offering a view of Medieval England from Guest’s perspective; the narrative also does a thorough job accurately describing the breadth and depth of the Christian-Jewish hostility of the era, as well as portraying the enormous role of the English Church in everyday life.

Though Adah is Leah's identical twin sister, at least as a child she was very much night to Leah's day. Where her sister was a tireless tomboy, Adah was crippled, the whole left side of her body paralyzed from birth. Where Leah was idealistic, Adah was a cynic preferring to view things backward rather than forward; and where Leah threw herself into life, Adah held back, preferring to pretend she was merely a wry observer rather than a participant. She even refused to speak except in emergencies. As Adah ages, however, she loses these characteristics to a certain extent. While struggling to save herself from death one night in the Congo, she realizes that she cares about her life, and so is not a detached observer. A neurologist friend helps

In regards to the concepts of desire and pleasure Laura Esquivel said, “Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us, but we can 't strike them all by ourselves.” Desire for pleasure is hard-wired into human nature, and people will do whatever they can to acquire it. One strong desire of pleasure is that which involves the human body and all the pleasures it has to offer. That desire however, exists on a thin border one that if crossed enters the realm of lust. It is a realm of carnal sin that paves the road to harsh and unrelenting punishment for all who follow it. Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee, demonstrates lust and the punishment that comes with it through several events befalling Byronic protagonist David Lurie. Given the horrifying assault scene of Disgrace, Coetzee is alluding to the second circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno and the punishment for the sin of lust.

Laura has a slight physical defect, a limp, which makes her self-conscious about herself. It ends up affecting her and her personality. Laura is a sensitive, shy person. She is very unhappy with her life, and all she has to look forward to is the possibility of having a future of happiness. She lives life day to day hoping that things will change for the best, her mother wants her to be happy and tries to get her a husband, but that ended up blowing up in everybody’s faces. Her mother, on the other hand, is the complete opposite of her. Amanda, Laura’ mother, exists in a world where she is emotionally stuck with the past (Bluefarb 513). She is more forceful and does not want to believe the realistic world. For example, she refuses to believe that Laura has something wrong with her. As Amanda stated, “Why, you’re not crippled, you just have a little defect – hardly noticeable, even! When people have some slight disadvantage like that, they cultivate other things to make up for it – develop charm – and vivacity – and – charm! That’s all you have to do!" (Laura and Amanda 2.47-2.50). Tom, her son, knows that she is in denial, which frustrates

The world has been worshipping God, Allah, Eloah. Ahura Mazda, and Waheguru. Essentially, these are all different names for one deity. Though the world practices hundreds of different religions, most revolve around this single deity. In A History of God, Karen Armstrong explored who this God really was and how he came to exist within the hearts of man and woman. Armstrong also explained the formation of the three major monotheistic traditions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. She makes the reader realize that humanity’s most complex questions involve faith and the purpose of the human quest. Like so, in his memoir Beautiful Boy, Journalist David Sheff discovered his life’s quest to increase the awareness of drug abuse. Sheff recounted his and his son Nic’s journey with drugs and how his relationship with God suffered. Despite different styles and different rhetorical devices, The History of God and Beautiful Boy both profusely utilized pathos.

The poison tree the author speaks about the containment of emotion.The author is angry at his friend but forgives him so his anger ends.”I was angry with my friend:I told my wrath, my wrath did end.”(Blake)."I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow."(Blake)The author gets angry with his enemy but doesn't tell him so it doesn't end , and grows into a tree.The tree then produces a fruit, “Till it bore an apple bright.”(Blake)The enemy steals the apple, and eats it.The foe who ate the apple lies died under the tree of poison “My foe outstretched beneath the tree.” (Blake) .This poem main theme is the containment of emotions.William Blake uses tone,metaphors,and other literary devices to express the theme of emotions in his poem.