Walimai By Isabel Allene: Response

Even with the nightmares happening around her, Rowlandson is able to avoid the horrific fates others undergo by staying focused on her religion and God’s work. She describes an encounter with a fellow captive, saying that one poor woman “came to a sad end, as some of the company told me in my travel: She having much grief upon her Spirit, about her miserable condition, being so near her time, she would be often asking the Indians to let her go home” (77). Ultimately, the Indians, being annoyed by her constant begging and pleas, decide to burn both this woman and her small child alive. However, unlike that unlucky woman, Rowlandson survives because, instead of pleading to her captors, she takes her pleas to God and turns toward her religion, which keeps her mind healthy and positive throughout her tribulations. She is mentally tough due to her focus on positive religious messages, making her able to handle her situation well and ultimately leading to her survival.

“If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? And if a girl was to seek her freedom, how could she do such a fool-headed thing, Especially a girl trapped in New York? (Isabel). In the book Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, the author uses the protagonist’s traits, actions, and dialogue to help the reader understand how the main character, Isabel, changes throughout the story. Isabel’s actions and speech reveal that she goes from feeling scared and hopeless from being sold as a slave to becoming determined to obtain her freedom, finally she becomes brave and gains enough courage to run away from her abusive owners.

n American history, racial inequality has been a prevalent issue for many decades. Slavery is America's original sin. In the 1930s, racial inequality and segregation lived and breathed well. At this point in time, segregation in schools and other public places was still present. For preposterous reasons, white and black people had separate water fountains, restaurants, rest rooms, and areas on the bus. During this time full of racism and racial inequality, Maya Angelou was just a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a town in the South, like many others, had inequalities at the time. In 1938 Maya Angelou was only ten years old. At this age, she worked for a lady named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Maya Angelou wrote briefly about her time spent working for Mrs. Cullinan in her short story “Mary.” Maya Angelou's’ use of vivid, direct characterization and alternating childish voice to mature adult narrative diction filtered through her authentic first person point of view helps to prominently establish the theme of Angelou’s distaste for racial inequality throughout the short story.

When she is at the warehouse she experienced fury, helpless and hope. After weeks of begging and praising the bow family to take her home. She was furiously ran when she could to try and get back home yet it lead her to a place she never knew of, the warehouse. In the brothel or the warehouse she violently attack many people who tried to touch her and she “... shrieked at the full power of her lungs...”to hopefully she would be saved from this miserable place. She felt hopeless after she was taken to the attic with Hannah to stay as she was a threat to other people from her actions. She felt that she would be there forever and thought after thinking everything was terrible, she realised she need her mum and prayed she was here with her. She yelled that Granny or Judah would came and rescue

After an extended period of mourning, her father asked her why she would not remove her veil, for surely "the woman...led you into wickedness. How long will you mourn her, who deserves no mourning?" to which the girl replied, "It is my own...sin that I mourn." From then on she slunk about in rags and with ashes covering her face, forgotten by most everyone, and always sitting by the hearth, refusing to wash up, for she was "glad to be humble before God and men."

The excerpt titled “Champion of the World” is extracted from Maya Angelou’s autobiographical work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. This passage tells the story of Angelou’s community gathering at the local store to watch the match between Joe Louis and Primo Carnera in June of 1935. Angelou describes the spirit of the black community in Stamps, Arkansas as they listen to a match between two heavyweight boxers. Angelou Uses extensive imagery to depict the tension before the match, the excitement during the match and the celebration after the match. The imagery, hyperboles and many other rhetorical devices help to give the reader a great sense of the events depicted in this excerpt.

Boyden: “I wanted her to be a strong woman who was doing this [being a

When she is taken by the slave traders, her home is burned to the ground and her parents are murdered in front of her. Losing your family members is devastating but Aminata’s spirit helped her persevere through her loss and committed to honour them with a goal to eventually come back to Bayo. Aminata’s spirit is tested again when she marries Chekura but he is soon sold off to another plantation and she is left alone pregnant with his child. Aminata eventually loses her children, one killed and the other was taken away for many years. Throughout the book, Hill has Aminata deal with many experiences of death of friends and family. While on the ship to America Sanu, a friend of Aminata, had a baby and named it after Aminata but when violence broke out, Fanta threw the baby overboard. Sanu was so devastated that she committed suicide by jumping into ocean after her baby. Hill continues with her husband Chekura dying while he was on ship that disappeared. Yet with all of these deaths of important people in her life, she still finds ways to survive and thrive even when she has pain inside of the loved ones she is attached to.“ The pain of my losses never really went away. The limbs have been severed, and they would forever be missing but I kept going, somehow I kept going” (394). This quotes relates to Aminata’s missing daughter May, she was sold off and stolen from Aminata when she was an infant. This incident crushed Aminata’s spirit close to breaking point. But in all of this she allowed herself to live because she believed and hope for that one day she would reunite with her daughter someday. In London, Solomon Lindo brought her daughter May to Aminata, and Aminata was beyond happy to see her daughter alive and well. Her hope and relentless spirit helped her through unbearable losses over her lifetime to finally be rewarded by reuniting with her

? . . . it made no difference if they studied medicine or had the right to vote, because they would not have the strength to do it, but she herself [Nivea] was not brave enough to be among the first to give up the fashion.? (6, Ch 1) The women in this society are dependant on the dominant male figure to handle political and economical duties. This point of view is intended to mimic the older generation of women ad present a foundation for the growth of an enlightened generation. Allende uses this excerpt to present a foundation of structure to the novel by beginning with the extremes of opinion, which are followed in the novel through different generations. Alba for example,

Through character development, the story also portrays the theme of escaping the past. Sethe’s actions are influenced heavily by her dead child, Beloved. When the “human” form of Beloved arrives while sleeping

that he only did it to get revenge for what her grandfather did to his

violent things she had endured. She always talks to God asking him to give her

In many novels, relationships shape a character. Throughout Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits dissimilar individuals constantly come together to form relationships that change or develop their disposition. While Allende uses relationships to build upon a character, she also depicts a character's living environment in order to confirm their true soul and lifestyle. Due to the observation of both relationships and environments, a character's true qualities are expressed to a reader. The relationship between two individuals, Ferula and Clara, proves itself a positive product of the union of differing people. Through analysis of Ferula's home and close observation of her bond with Clara,

In the book Isabel Allende experiments with various literary devices. The many different narrative voices used in this book allow the reader to understand the book from dissimilar perspectives. As the story unfolds, one can see the symbolism that occurs in many of the events. The story revolves around the different generations of the Del Valle family. Symbolism is used as a literary device in this book to apply ideas and images to explain something in particular. Symbolism provides meaning to the writing beyond what is actually being described. The plot and action that take place in this story can be thought of as one level, while the symbolism of certain things in the writing of this story act on another level to enhance the story.

     The main character in this story is s young Eskimo woman. Her parents are dead so she is cared for by her grandmother and grandmother?s boyfriend. While she is away at reform school her grandmother dies leaving her in the care of ?the man';. This man was whom her grandmother lived with who the girl was not blood related. The man abuses her sexually and has for a long time. In addition she is taken advantage of by other men in the town. She is constantly evaluating white culture that is always encroaching. She laughs when she thinks of the yellow stuffing that is supposed to keep them warm. The boarding schools take away the young people in the village and cause them to lose traditions and cultural traits. The young men who had been away at school forgot how to hunt the seals. Silko is saying that whites are destroying the Indian culture. Eskimo and Navajo are completely different cultures, which Silko describes and details beautifully.