What Is The Theme Of Jesse By Joy Boothe

People choose names for a reason, whether it is so that the child takes on a certain personality, based on who they are named after, or so that he or she may carry on the name of a beloved family member. Many names that are popular today are names from the Bible, since most of the biblical characters possess characteristics that parents would want their child to have. Names like Noah, Jacob, David, and Miriam, are names currently in the top 1000 child names in the world, and they are all biblical names. Names from the Bible are also found in many works of literature, like Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, a coming of age story about a young man during the mid twentieth century. The reader is introduced to multiple characters with biblical

“My Name” by Sandra Cisneros is a short excerpt from her book The House on Mango Street (1984). In this excerpt, Cisneros narrator is a girl named Esperanza, who is telling us that her name reminds her of a lot of negatives things, including who she inherited it from. Esperanza is trying to convince us that her name is a terrible name, which is built up of negativity and bad history. She state that she was named after her great-grandmother, who was born in the Chinese year of the horse, which they have in common, and is well known for her wild customs which lead to her feeling sad and lonely all her life. Esperanza specifies that her name sound beautiful among Spanish speakers, but to non-Spanish speakers her name is pronoun funny “as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” she says. She indicated that she would like to baptize herself under a new

What would it be like to grow up with no friends simply because your name was different from everyone else's? Firoozeh Dumas answers this question for all of her readers when she recalls the struggles of her childhood in her story, “The F Word.” Her story is not about the actual cuss word, but rather the struggle she had growing up in America with an Immigrant name. In her memoir, Dumas uses humor to talk about touchy subjects and to make her piece more enjoyable for her readers.

The author uses a lot of figurative language throughout the story. The forceful wind is compared to a dog shaking a rat between its teeth. As Janet tried to calm herself, the idea that a dead woman was in the basement of her house began to beat at her like a flail. The idea that she was frozen with freight was illustrated by her body being like a drawn bow. Examples of more figurative language can be found throughout the text.

It all starts with the setting of the story. As Jackson describes “the morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green”. It seems to introduce a

Dark words and phrases are initially sprinkled throughout the poem giving it a sense of despondence. For example, Oliver uses the phrase, “the dark burred/ faintly belching/ bogs” which describes the swamp as dark and grim (6-8). The imagery of the swamp is very dark because it symbolizes the hardships that people may have during their lifetimes. Crossing the swamp is a very difficult task, and Oliver compares it to the challenges of life. Therefore, she states “My bones/ knock together at the pale/ joints” (13-15). This once again demonstrates the difficulty of crossing the swamp as Oliver faces many physical challenges including the pain of her old bones. The author transitions from these dark and negative images to illustrations of hope and growth in the next few lines. For example, she describes “a poor/ dry stick given/ one more chance by the whims/ of swamp water” to take root and grow (28-30). This demonstrates how people may face tremendously difficult obstacles to overcome in their lifetimes similar to a dry stick having difficulty taking root. However, these challenges allow people to attain success. Without struggle, there would be no achievement in life. It is the hardships in life that truly allow people to appreciate success once it is achieved. Oliver concludes the fabulous piece with more uplifting and positive imagery of a

The setting of the story “August Heat” is very important to the story. The story takes place in England on the 20th of August, and it is extremely hot. Throughout the entire story the narrator speaks about the heat being too hot. “The heat is stifling. It is enough to send a man mad” (line 172-173). This enables the reader because the story isn't just shown but it is also felt. The heat helped direct the character James because if he was not preoccupied with his discomfort toward the heat , he would of have not wandered and not be able to found the stonemason Mr.

His wife’s family dislikes him, and even, “He wouldn’t like a guy like himself” (Casares 97). The guy is a walking failure. Through Jesse’s failings, he creates a machismo persona that entails him to be tough on the outside, but emotionally vulnerable on the inside. Furthermore, Jesse extends his prideful behavior to Little Jesse, so that his son doesn’t become a failure like his father. He wants his son to be tough so society will accept him. However, Jesse believes his son’s physical condition is what’s causing the two of them to be public failures. Jesse gets arrested by police after his brawl at the carnival, which breaks his pride. While Jesse is led out by police (handcuffed), the surrounding crowd publicly humiliates him. He even walks strangely as he lost his shoe during the altercation. Thus, he learns what it must feel like to be in his son’s footsteps. The humility his son must continuously endure because of his disablement. Instead of acting tough or defending himself to the surrounding public he just, “lets them keep laughing.” He embraces the humility so he can learn to, “grow up already and stop acting like he’s eighteen” (Casares 113). Through his own understanding of humiliation, Jesse can learn how to be a better man to his

Many believe that Steinbeck describes the weather to foreshadow events. In chapter twenty-five, Steinbeck describes the winter weather as being gray, cold, and wet. Chapter twenty-five is also when Steinbeck informs the reader that the beloved Samuel Hamilton passed away (Steinbeck, 2002, p.309). This is accurate foreshadowing because the gloomy weather is associated with sadness and sorrow which is what everyone felt when Samuel Hamilton died. Another important event that weather foreshadowed was when Abra arrived on the Trask place. Abra was a source of competition for the boys for she was one of the only womanly figures in the Trask boys lives and each boy wanted her all to himself. Just before Abra arrived, a thunderstorm had occurred where the boys were at. The storm represents the conflict Abra caused between the

With the very first words, Jackson begins to establish the environment for her plot. To begin, she tells the reader that the story takes place on an early summer morning. This helps in providing a focus of the typicality of this small town, a normal rural

The main season in the novel is the ’enemy’ of winter. Edith Wharton uses the climate to match the feelings of people in Starkfield, walking with a ’sluggish pulse’.

In Hughes’ poem, “Mother to son,” a mother explains to her son how her life was never easy. She tells her son that even though she has come across many hardships, she kept on pushing. The mother advises her son to never turn back, no matter how hard the obstacle is to overcome because she hasn’t given up in her old age. This poem is a free verse written in the vernacular. “The Little Black Boy” by William Blake is about a black child telling the story of how he began to find himself and know God. He explains how his skin is black and his soul is white as that of an English child. His mother introduces him to God who lives in the East and gives light and life to all creation, and comfort and joy to men. The mother in this poem is a loving character who wants the best for her child. The little black boy passes on

In both stories, heat represents luxury and a life that is much more appealing to the character. Since Lutie seems intrigued by the property, the author is able to show the effect of the setting on the theme. If she lived in the home, she would be inside of it, warm and content, instead of outside in the miserable weather. The setting has a similar effect in McCourt’s writing, as he describes the heated homes as “cozy” (McCourt) and “happy with all that food and light” (McCourt). In both stories, the distinction between a warm and cold setting is made clear in order to stress the theme, particularly the part of it that refers to the hardships in the characters lives. The characters' lives primarily take place in cold, dark settings, but they do catch glimpses of what their lives could be, as they see environments much better than their own that are warm and luxurious. This is the doing of the authors of each piece of writing, as it showcases the theme of overcoming hardship by showing the characters in their actual situations and compares it to what they want to achieve and the better lives that they are striving towards.

At birth everyone is given a name by their parents. Your name is part of your identity and how you are addressed and recognized by the world. The different verities among the population created other names given to different races. These names are offensive, demeaning and are only used to refer to a person in a disrespectful manner. They can also cause a segregation among a nations people, these names are forced upon people weather they are rich or poor, old or young, male or female and are used to describe the same race of people. In the class reading "What 's in a Name? “by Henry Louis Gates he reminisces about a personal experience of his that he had with his father. In the story he describes his father was a hard worker and, because of this he was in high financial standings and, he was well respected and given privileges that at the time was rare for people of his race but he was still black and his name, his individual identity was not important instead he was given a racial identity, this is the only thing he was known as, this type of negative recognition is something many black Americans can relate to. One’s race is a predominant part of our identity and is what causes discrimination.

The story has an all-knowing third person narrative technique with focus on the protagonist and the setting around her. The short story starts by using the first five sentences to present the weather. “Three weeks of windless sun”. This establishes the overall setting for the reader. The setting is basically described as being a hot summer day, which has lasted for three weeks, with no cooling wind, and the suns heat burning on the ground. The cooling and moving water is in contrast to the clouds and the wind. ”Nothing moves except the water”. There is a longer introduction to the water but it continuous from a different perspective. This leads to an introduction of both the water but also the main character. “She sits at her desk in the back room gazing out at the river. Where it rounds the first bend there's an eddy as the current twists out into the middle...”. J.S Butler is using sentences like the one above to set focus on the importance of the protagonist and the setting, and thereby indirectly telling the reader that the woman and the lake are of significance to the story.