"When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision" and "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens"

In the book “The Memory Keeper's Daughter” by Kim Edwards a doctor and his wife have twins and the first child is a healthy boy but then the second child that comes out is a little girl with the signs of down syndrome and he asks his Nurse to take the baby away to an institution while he tells his wife the baby girl died. Through out the entire book it is a struggle for Dr. Henry's wife Norah to have closure with the fact that her baby girl is said to be dead and she never saw her, held her, or cared for her. Kim Edwards shows through the whole book that we are only human, the themes that life is beyond our control and through the connection between suffering and joy.

I’m not the Indian you had in mind; a video that was written and directed by Thomas King challenges the stereotypical image that America has towards Native Americans. King is also the author of a short novel “A seat in the Garden”. This short story also challenges the established perspective that American society has towards the Native Americans. There are various stereotypes and perspectives that a majority of the public has toward a particular group. For example some of the common stereo types that are seen throughout the media are that all Asians are good at math, women are primarily sex objects, All Africans like fried chicken, and all Mexicans are gangsters. These stereo types are not completely true for an entire group, yet they

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

The Graveyard book, written by Neil Gaiman is a stupendously well-crafted book detailing the life of Nobody Owens, or Bod, a boy whose family has been ruthlessly slaughtered. Bod crawls to the graveyard next to his house, where the inhabitant ghosts take him in and adopt him, where he lives until Bod decides that he wants to live with his own kind: the living. While it is true that all books open up worlds of literature, no book does it better than the Graveyard book of leaving you with an utterly unforgettable experience you will never find in any other book. The Graveyard book accomplishes this task thorough it’s exhilarating, hard-to-put-down nature, it’s age appropriate writing style, it’s inspirational plotline, and lastly, it’s extremely creative ideas and various concepts found throughout the book.

James Joyce emerged as a radical new narrative writer in modern times. Joyce conveyed this new writing style through his stylistic devices such as the stream of consciousness, and a complex set of mythic parallels and literary parodies. This mythic parallel is called an epiphany. “The Dead” by Joyce was written as a part of Joyce’s collection called “The Dubliners”. Joyce’s influence behind writing the short story was all around him. The growing nationalist Irish movement around Dublin, Ireland greatly influences Joyce’s inspiration for writing “The Dubliners”. Joyce attempted to create an original portrayal of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The historical

During the height of the feminist movement, Linda Nochlin confronted her audience with a bold question: Why have there been no great women artists? On the surface, it is a tongue-in-cheek arrangement of words, purely facetious, but I do not think Nochlin meant them that way. I think the question was genuine and melancholy. Nochlin is one woman looking at the past with sad eyes, begging to understand why her sisters were denied the opportunity to become great.

The age appropriate for the book is Elementary students of second grade. The words on the pages are minimum words but have some bigger words. The reader should to be higher than first graders because they need to be able to read more than just sight words. The cover draws the reader in to what the story will be about. The front shows myster and draws attention to the reader. The author, Terry and Eric Fan are brothers who lived in Canada. They attended the same college. This book was their first children’s book together. Their passions for writing are different but have the same interests and ideas towards writing these types of books. Inside the book, the first side note welcomes the reader

“The Flowers” by Alice Walker is a short story written in the 1970’s. The story focuses on Myop, a ten year old African American girl who loves to explore the land in which she lives. Carefree and naïve, Myop decides to travel further away from her ‘Sharecropper cabin’ and travels deep inside the woods to unfamiliar land where she discovers the decomposed body of an African American man. It is then Myop quickly grows up and suddenly becomes aware of the world in which she lives. The story relies on setting and symbolism to convey the theme of departing innocence.

“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.” This quote was said by Beyoncé, a famous female singer who embraces the woman she is. Even though gender inequality is present for women in both societies, there are many differences between the expectations of females in the 1930’s to females today.

The Flowers By Alice Walker Written in the 1970's The Flowers is set in the deep south of America and is about Myop, a small 10-year old African American girl who explores the grounds in which she lives. Walker explores how Myop reacts in different situations. She writes from a third person perspective of Myop's exploration. In the first two paragraph Walker clearly emphasises Myop's purity and young innocence.

‘We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves. We have to step up as women and take the lead.’ This quote is said by Beyoncé, a famous female singer who embraces the women she is. Even though gender inequality is present for women in both societies, there are many differences between the expectations of females in the 1930’s to females today.

A situation where I was a minority and that have made an impact in my influence interactions with minority and majority populations is being a Second Generation American woman. As a woman born to Filipino Frist generation immigrants, I lack privilege to relative to men. I would always be corrected by my mother on how to be a woman. Even though I was allowed to go to school, I always felt I was being brought up by my mother to be a “happy homemaker.” When I was finally able to date, I was 18 in college. I never keep secrets from my parents, so when it was time for the “sex talk” it was interesting. My health insurance is under my father’s name so I felt obligated to tell them that I was planning on going on birth control. I didn’t want them finding out that I was sexually active through the Kaiser bill. My mother was not happy. She had never used birth control in her life. Frankly, I believe she was confused about the purpose of it. Because of her religious culture she didn’t believe in birth control. She even told me to keep the baby if I were to ever accidently get pregnant. When I told her about the birth control, she thought I was on it because I was pregnant. She didn’t want me slowing anything that could prevent Gods will for a pregnancy.

One of the defining elements of literature is its universal nature. Shared between all works, whether they be ancient epics or modern novels, is a plethora of literary techniques and themes. One such element, the theme of isolation, and in some contexts, alienation, is quite evident in the unrelated, yet equally masterful novels As I Lay Dying, 1984 and The Awakening. As one will come to see, this theme of isolation, although clearly similar, differs between, and even within, the three works.

The tv show series Castle is an exaggeration and dramatization of an individual's underlying motivations in the workforce. In the first episode of Castle “Flowers For Your Grave”, the protagonist Rick Castle is connected to a murder after a killer mimics techniques from his novel. An accomplished mystery writer, he insists on assisting the detective on the case in order to get a feel for the “story”. In order to do so, he uses his connections with his friend the mayor of New York City.

In my second field experience, I’d decided to go to a Baptist church. However, I did not come from a religious background. Although I am not completely in the dark when it comes to religion I have learn about different religion through friends and books. Therefore, I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally experience a service and put my ignorance aside. Meaning the assumption and expectation I had of church service. Furthermore, it provided me the opportunity to challenge myself and my own biases I have towards going to church. Once I went to church I was surprise to see so many black people, for the first time since I moved too Greensburg, I was actual able to see a room overflowing with individual who looked just like me, my first emotion was excitement and enjoy. Some of my expectation, was something I have learned from my mother. My mother always told me that “black people churches last longer”, with this in mind I was prepare to be there for a long time. However, to my surprise it did not last as long as I’d expected it to. My overall experience, was warming, peaceful and positive.