What Have You Lost By Naomi Shihab Nye

Stephanie Coontz is a teacher, historian, author and a scholar activist. She has also very indulged in the world of public debate on families, this mostly due possible because of her extensive skills to study modern families as well as historical patterns. In her book The Way We Never Were, Coontz presents a historical look at the family and how it has changed over time. Her interest in the subject comes for her need to understand how families functioned in the past and present, and what lead to notion and definition of family nowadays.

In Robert Cormier’s novel, We All Fall Down, is a young-adult thriller that explores the evil side of humanity through a number of corrupt characters. Cormier, to a large extent, accurately depicts manipulative and dishonest behaviour whilst also showing the evil lurking within the prominent characters of Harry Flowers, Buddy Walker and Mickey Stallings who showcase the dark side of humanity. Cormier explores this through Harry Flower’s manipulative actions that result in the suffering of others. Additionally, the constant dishonest behaviour is shown predominantly through the main protagonist of Buddy Walker, who deceives the one he loves. Cormier continues to depict the evil lurking in society through the theme of appearance

Just dive in. You can swim. It will clear all the burden you have ensued throughout your life. It will be a fresh start. Trust yourself. The novel Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng, examines how failure stems from the fear to fail and are caused by sexism and racism, thus placing a burden on victims of this discrimination. Unfortunately, racism and sexism are constant forms of discrimination that have been holding individuals back from reaching their full potential for centuries. Discrimination is due to the tragic reality that people are fearful of the ones that are different from them. They fear that this different race or gender may upstage them in the competition of life. The Lee family unfortunately has to bear the burden of discrimination in their everyday life due to racism and sexism. This burden carries the Lee family down like an anchor billowing to the bottom on the sea in hopes to find peace once it hits the ground.

“Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body”(Coates 5). The phrase “lose my body” is reiterated numerous times in Between The World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The topic/theme of this piece of literature may be discernable as innocence as Ta-Nehisi profusely speaks of how his upbringing changed and affected his perspective on life. Coates uses a multitude of examples to portray this from how he witnessed another boy almost being shot at a young age to him learning and understanding the laws and “culture of the streets”(Coates 24) as who and even more who not to mess with(Coates 23). Coates effectively uses these examples as perfect representations of living in an American ghetto as well as how since birth blacks do not “own” their body and are susceptible to lose it.

Weeks later, sorrow spread throughout all branches of the family. Grandmama passed on and the family gathered once again for the funeral. Several relatives flew in from Mexico and those from northern California returned. The funeral was filled with tears, but there was also joy at seeing relatives whom my mother, aunts, and grandmothers had not seen in many years. Although the reason for assembly was heartbreaking, my family, young and old, came together to celebrate the life of

Not everyone’s life is filled with happiness. Granny Weatherall, in “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,” by Katherine Anne Porter, and Addie Bundren, in “from As I Lay Dying ‘Darl’,” by William Faulkner, are two dying poor women who recall their lives in their minds when they are laying in beds. Their tough and harsh lives are similar in several ways. Granny Weatherall and Addie Bundren both had two men in their life. Granny loves her husband, John, and George.

In “The Victims” by Sharon Olds it describes a divorce through the eyes of the parents’ children. The first section is shown through past tense as the speaker is a child and the last section is shown in present tense with the speaker already being an adult trying to make sense of past events. The word “it” in the first two lines carries a tremendous weight, hinting at the ever so present abuse and mistreatment, but remaining non-specific. The first part generates a negative tone toward the father who is referred to as malicious by the mother who “took it” from him “in silence” until she eventually “kicked him out.” Through the entirety of the poem the children are taught to hate their father. Who taught them? Their mother showed them that their father was a villain and were taught to have no sympathy for him but “to hate you and take it” and so they did so. Although the poem never directly states what the father did to receive the family’s hated, the speaker gives examples as to why he is hated.

When I was a child my parents pushed me toward physical activities such as football and other sports, while on the other hand my sister was pushed toward things like music and arts. Whenever I would hurt myself my parents would laugh it off, but they were quick to aid my sister in the event she was hurt. As most people know, women and men are treated differently in how they should act. Men cannot show their emptions, while women are expected to be emotional. Society has strict guidelines on what it means to be a man and a woman, and these guidelines can have negative effects on both genders.

A poem which explores the feeling of loss is ‘Visiting Hour’ by Norman MacCaig. In this powerful and moving poem, the writer uses techniques such as imagery, symbolism and word choice to effectively grip the reader and keeps them with him throughout the poem.

As we go through life, we experience countless losses. Those losses include loved ones such as family members, friends, or both--pets. Some individuals covet their furry friends as family, and when that family pet dies people exhibit the same feelings of loss as they would for a human. However, some individuals are not as involved with their pets, and do not experience the same emotional response to their passing. Nonetheless, the loss of a pet is a memorable experience for most people. In John Updike’s Dog’s Death and Jane Kenyon’s The Blue Bowl, the speakers have just lost a pet; and although their experiences are similar, their attitudes towards their pets departure do not completely align. This essay will outline the similarities in these poems, as well distinguish their differences.

The poem Mother Who Gave Me Life by Gwen Harwood, is about the speaker’s mother and her life that is near death. This focused universal thematic concern of motherhood is conveyed through a reflective tone, as the speaker is seen to acutely contemplate her mother’s life and the wisdom she has been taught. Gwen Harwood uses a eulogy structure to undertow the reader’s focus to the praise the speaker has for her mother. As well as creatively embedding the use of enjambment, repetition and metaphors, Harwood attempts to convey the emotion of the speaker reconciling her final moments with her mother.

In her essay “Nine Days of Ruth,” Angela Morales eloquently yet humorously narrates the final nine days of her grandmother’s life. Initially, Morales reminisces about the day her grandmother Ruth passed away projecting a gothic, murky and vacant atmosphere. However, Morales shifts from a leaden tone to a more gratifying voice revealing her grandmother’s life trajectory: betrayal, death, and struggles. The author ends with a eulogy expressing to her grandmother that while other will bury with a different image or perspective in mind, she will bury her as a luminary. Make-believe, fantasy, and imagination play an important role in the essay because it conveys the beauty of death.

For centuries now women have been degraded to a lower standard and have not been able to accomplish their aspirations. One of the relevant themes in Celeste Ng’s novel, “Everything I Never Told You”, points out women’s loss of effort to reach their goals after marriage and having kids. The most prominent example of this was portrayed by Lydia’s mother, Marilyn. She goes through ups and downs throughout the story indicating her lifelong struggle to settle into her position as a housewife is not where she thought she would end up. The book documents Marilyn’s stages of acceptance and denial about how she ended up marrying a Chinese, American History professor and becoming a mother of three children, one of whom passed away. During the flashbacks throughout the novel, Marilyn is a college student trying to get an education in order to pursue a career as a doctor. She then falls in love with her professor and gets pregnant, disrupting her from continuing her studies. Moving forward a couple of years, she now has three kids and no job, but when she tries to obtain a job she is mocked for even trying. Women are oppressed and are told that they belong in the house in order to do “women’s work,” and because of the forcefulness of this injustice many women, such as Marilyn, believe that they should just give up and accept the life they have.

Rebecca Walker in to be real, starts her essay by speaking on her “desire to be a good feminist” which I love. Feminism is viewed in our society as a dirty word where in actuality it’s such an inclusive term especially in its’ more modern ideals. However, at the same time not many people are raised to understand the ideas around feminism and have to learn what those are for themselves. It was refreshing to hear Walker talk about her thought process of what feminism means to hear especially her understanding on trying to be a “good feminist” because we’ve all been there. A handful of times have I had to discuss with people, especially women who fear that their love of cooking for a man or doing housework makes them not qualify as a feminist.

The poem that I have selected for this essay is “Talking to Grief” by Denise Levertov. I chose this poem because it talks about grief. It also talks about the place that grief should have in a person’s life. The poem describes grief, and compares it to a “homeless dog.” It also describes how a dog deserves its own place in the house, instead of living under a porch or being homeless. This poem talks about how a person can be aware that grief is present, but that it is not always acknowledged and accepted. We all experience grief in different ways, and for different reasons. Everyone deals with grief in their own personal way. This poem describes a point in a person’s life when they are ready to accept grief as a part of their life