Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure By Dorothy Allison

After contemplating the purpose of a memoir several things came to mind. I believe it can serve to be cathartic for the writer as they can be set free by working through certain events in their life. Furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, I think a memoir can serve as a way to for the writer to tell their story in a vivid way that allows the readers to feel like they are living the experience and perhaps to learn a valuable lesson from their story. Therefore, I chose to analyze two memoirs they were Superman and Me by Sherman Alexie and “Salvation” by Langston Hughes. I concentrated on trying to determine the purpose of each piece in order to indicate what pivotal aspects were employed that either helped or hindered them in achieving that purpose.

In her essay, “Context” (1994), Dorothy Allison states that knowing a person well and deeply depends on and requires personal knowledge of their upbringing and social life. The essay was published as a memoir to reflect on people’s perception about others. Dorothy employs flashbacks and comparison in order to express her opinions on understanding, trusting and judging a person. She uses flashback and comparison to show that context provides a varied angle about a person. She further argues that, when not properly understood, it can easily breed rivalry between people from varied social backgrounds. Dorothy writes her essay to a general audience and expresses her opinions about context, upbringing environment, and a social group having a fundamental role in a person’s character.

The short story presents women as aware but misunderstood by men through use of narrative point of view. In society women are usually seen as inferior to men, and therefore often don’t get the acknowledgement they deserve. “The women held their secrets because when they mentioned it to their husbands or brothers they were laughed at….Instead of sympathy, the husbands and brothers now had a secret weapon”. This shows that women did not share their fears as it gave others ideas to torment them further. Women in the short story are also shown to be fully aware of the boy’s behaviour early on in the story. “The men of his home town said, but how

I believe that the short story clearly presents the stereotypes of rural Black women, and the challenges and struggles that African women faced with regard to heritage, personal fulfillment, and family relations as the past collided with the present realities. The concepts of family and Black women within this short story are highlighted by the fact that the three main characters among who the story revolves are all Black women and members of the same family. The clash of the past and future, personal fulfilment, heritage struggles, and the stereotyping of rural Black women is visible in the clear contrast of attitudes and ambitions of Dee and her boyfriend, who represent the future, and mama and her daughter Maggie, who in this case embody the past.

I Knew a Woman is about a woman who has more than just beauty. Theodore Roethke explains what he sees in this woman and the joy and pain about loving her. Roethke uses a

Allie appears to be a lonely person, although married and with three children of her own. She has no one that she can share her secret of

The Revolution released the potential for America to become very democratic; allowing space for political and social struggles to spread ideas of freedom and challenge the old way of doing things. Ideas of liberty invigorated attacks on both British and domestic American foundations and so did the beliefs of equality in the Declaration of Independence, which caused many in society who were seen as the substandard bunch such as women, slaves and free blacks to question the sanction of their superiors.

Depending on the time period and context, memoirs can have several purposes: to tell a story, to make meaning of an experience, and to reflect or teach. For example, in Engle Margarita’s memoir entitled “Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Win”, the author’s purpose is to tell an interesting story about she is a person who grows up of two different cultures -- Cuba and California. She also makes a meaning of her experience -- how important influence is the two countries had brought to her growth. He/she achieves this purpose by using the following elements: memories & meanings and self-reflection.

Let the Circle be Unbroken portrays an african american family’s hardships against powerful white landowners and family tragedies. All in the perception of the strong-willed Cassie Logan. Let the Circle be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor is an enjoyable book with engaging characters, unpredictable plots, and an amusing genre.

Whenever I saw the flyer and read the options for the essay topics, I knew I needed to share my mother’s story. Like Mildred Loving, my mother is strong, brave, and resourceful. She defied the social norms of her generation and married someone she loved. Although the marriage could not survive the hardships the young couple faced, she gave us a grandson, a son, and a brother whom we all

One must consider a little history on Dorothy Allison in order to see how the directions that she takes the novel add up. When she was 24, Allison lived in a lesbian-feminist collective. The women there gave her the confidence she needed and the ability to see the value in her own writing (Amazon.com). During this time, she also found someone who seemed normal, yet she had experienced the same “incest” (Megan 74). This discovery removed some of her separation that she believed her abuse created between her and the world (Amazon 74).

Diane Arbus was a photographer in the 1950’s and 60’s. Starting out as a fashion photographer, Arbus quickly moved on to photographing more impactful pictures, usually of societal outsiders (“The Cost of Diane,” 2016). With striking images of “freaks,” as she once named her subject, Arbus perfectly depicted feelings of loneliness and struggles with identity. I believe Arbus resonates with me so much because of her uncanny ability to showcase such complex and intense human emotions through photography repeatedly. Each picture tells a different story with different struggles, yet each share emotions so commonly felt. These unalike, yet similar photographs each hold a piece of personal and

Some critics have argued that Richard Wright’s women are “flat, one dimensional stereotypes, portrayed primarily in terms of their relationship to the male character”. (Quote, p540) However, in Uncle Tom’s Children, Wright resents three very distinct types of female characters who did not fit this description. Wright portrays women as an Avenger, a Sufferer and a Mother figure whose actions propel the stories to their final conclusion. In the story “Bright and Morning Star” Wright places the protagonist, Aunt Sue, in a domestic environment. “Her hands followed a lifelong ritual of toil” (pg222) as she cleans and cooks. Interestingly, Aunt Sue is the only heroine in the stories, who shows a different type of bravery than perhaps shown by

Psychologist and best-selling author Clarissa Pinkola Estes, who using stories in therapy says, “Stories act like an antibiotic that finds the source of the infection and concentrates there. The story help makes that part of the psyche clear and strong again.”4 In her book Remember the Time, Eileen Silva Kindig recalls a woman who is very depressed after the death of her husband until a young couple moved in next door whom the woman conversed with and shared stories. The woman’s daughter told Kindig the more she shared her stories and knowledge, the more vital she even

Explaining my feelings towards the photographer is? Looking at the photograph gives me the impression of a lady that is beautiful, out in the middle of nowhere, out of her comfort zone, all dressed up and having the confidence in herself to accomplish the situation of environment she is in as shown in the photograph