This excerpt talks about a man by the name of Jack and his luck with cars and such. At first the author explains how Jack has had an old Mercury since his sophomore year, and is always attempting to fix something that is wrong with it. The author explains that he spent several hours scavenging through junkyards for parts before he finally realized that the engine was within its last few miles. Once he realized this, he sold the old car to a “ignorant graduate student” because the car had so much wear and tear within the main engine components. In the next part, Conroy begins to state that Jack went without a car for quite some time before he was the lucky winner of a new Ford convertible. At first, Jack though it was “fraud” and a prank, and did not believe it. But, in the smallest hope, he went to the location of the car anyway to see if he had truly won. When he arrived, he gave up his winning lottery ticket, and was awarded with the keys and registration to brand new car. Jack spent several moments in shock, not even wanting to touch the car. Finally, he got in, started the new engine, and drove off. The author later explains that Jack never felt that the car was truly his because of the dreams he had of it being revoked. So, until tradeoff, he treated the car badly just in case. It turned out that his luck was actually true. The purpose of this article was to entertain the…
1. Who is the narrator? Where does the story take place? What time period? – How did you guess?…
During the course of Civil War people faced many different hardships and challenges. As the war began secessionist hopes were high and they had control over the unionist. However, as the war progressed this began to change. The men that fought for the Rebels were beginning to come home and the same was true for the men who fought with the Yankees. Since many of all these men lived in the same towns and fought for different sides during the war hostility broke out. Even though there was an enormous amount of hostility between the two sides they still had one thing in common, family. Through the lives of Louis Hughes, Cornelia McDonald, John Robertson, Samuel Agnew, one can see the importance of family through hard times and good times.…
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” - Albert Einstein. For example when Hushpuppy got connected to nature she would hear a heartbeat or her mother talking to her. Another example is when Janie’s husband Tea Cake passed away, she took some seeds with her that reminded her of Tea cake and planted them. The movie “ Beasts of the Southern Wild” released in 2012 directed by Benh Zeitlin and the book , “Their Eyes Were Watching God” written by Zora Hurston published in 1937 are both natural disasters. The film “ Beasts of the Southern Wild” and the novel “Their Eyes Were Watching God” have some critical similarities. These include the characteristic of the protagonists, each protagonist’s relationship…
“A Raisin in the Sun” and “Black Like Me” are the definitely one of the most thought-provoking films I have watched recently. The first movie, starring Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee, being a picture of the young African American man’s struggle to reach for his dreams and to provide his family with an affluent life. Watching the motion picture I sympathized with the main character’s distresses and dilemmas and hoped that everything would work out well for him in the end, however the reality proved to be quite brutal . The other film tells the story of a white American journalist who artificially darkens his skin color and travels throughout the deep south to experience what is it like to be black. The story is based on facts, which is very impressive and courageous considering the period which the story takes place in. John Horton, shows how important it is to put yourself in the shoes of another person, and try to understand them and how they feel, especially in the rough situation of the African Americans at that time. It’s clear that the writer did not mange in the end to understand how is it like to be born with dark skin, mainly because – as one of the characters pointed out to him – he can return to being white, he did not grow up having to deal with the “hate stare”. I believe the same thing can be found in A Raisin in the Sun, the creator of the play it was based on tried to present the story in such a way as to make the audience (white people) feel the pain of the main character to look at his situation from the being-black point of view.…
Usually, when one hears anything about a lottery, it is perceived as being a great fortune brought down upon whoever wins it, even if the person has done nothing to actually deserve it. After all, it is won only by a stroke of luck, an unforeseen and unexpected circumstance. But even so, it is supposed to bring wealth and luxury into the winner’s life. Not one person in today’s society would ever see the lottery as an unfortunate event that winning it would bring serious repercussions such as execution and death. On the contrary, “The Lottery,” written by Shirley Jackson, uses irony to exemplify how people can illogically follow senseless traditions and ultimately demonstrates how society can blindly persecute innocent individuals.…
Imagine sitting in a court room as a black man. You are put on trial for something you never would have even though about doing. You look around at an all-white jury. You have little hope of getting out of this situation being ruled innocent, but you don’t give up. This is exactly what happens with the Scottsboro Boys. The Scottsboro Boys trial of the 1930’s parallels many of the events in Harper Lee’s Novel To Kill a Mockingbird.…
Stephen King’s The Running Man is a wonderful novel about a wise, noble man whose child is sick. A man named Ben is the heart and soul of the story. He is a quick witted man whose only focus is getting money to save his daughter, to relieve his family of this poverty stricken way. He forces himself to play in the “Games” to win money for his family. While the setting of the story is in the near future of the United States, it also has the same issues as the current United States. These issues are: poverty, sickness, and a job ridden society. The culture and history in the novel that he flashes back on in “The Running Man” is most times wrong when compared to actual events, as well as it can be right. He mentions a device that everyone is glued…
Elements of a Southern Atmosphere in O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” and Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily”…
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic story which has an abolitionist tone that can be seen when a white lawyer defends a black man and tries to instill anti-prejudice values in his children. In addition to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain uses his literature to speak out against social injustices. He wrote multiple books that focus on all aspects of everyday life, and one of the most famous of these books is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain uses a subtle abolitionist tone to criticize the injustice of slavery while trying to not directly offend the majority of people who will read his book.…
The short story by Shirley Jackson “The Lottery” serves as a mirror to see our own society and rituals at an extreme. Throughout the story the author normalizes the characters’ inhumane ritual so the reader would be able to understand the underlining meaning of the story. In our society there are rituals that we do not dare to question because they have been embedded into our lives. The character Old Man Warner justifies such rituals by saying, on page 142, “There’s always been a lottery.” he himself not entirely understanding why it is done. Shirley Jackson wants the reader to understand how oblivious society is to itself, and shows how it would be if it were to be looked upon in an outer perspective.…
Throughout the American life, the American Dream has been prevalent to motivate Americans to perform and work towards a goal. The American Dream has put an emphasis on hard work and achieving the best results. By way of illustration, many Americans may dream for material wealth, financial stability, world peace or racial equality. However, discrimination and prejudice has been responsible for thwarting American Dreams and has often discouraged people from continuing to pursue their goals. Because inequalities and discrimination often prevent people from achieving their dreams, the literary works The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, and The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus redefine the American Dream as a goal for the equality of all people despite their economic class, ethnicity or social status.…
“Racism and injustice and violence sweep our world, bringing a tragic harvest of heartache and death,” Billy Graham once said. In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird Atticus is a father and a lawyer, who lives with his children, Jem and Scout, and their cook, Calpurnia, in a town of Maycomb, Alabama. Maycomb is a town populated with black and white people, where racism is apparent. White people feel they are superior than the black people and treat them poorly. Racism is evident when Tom Robinson lost the trial to Bob Ewell, because he was black, even though he is innocent. People were also being judged on appearance, or being treated improperly, like how people see the kind of person Boo Radley is in the beginning of the story. Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill A Mockingbird” is about injustice.…
Prejudice and superstition can lead to injustice. A good example of this is basically the whole story of To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson is prejudiced against because he is black and so even though he didn’t commit the crime he was accused of he was still sentenced for it. Even with the evidence they had supporting that Tom didn’t do it.…
In America racial injustices have been present for many years. Slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and many other cases are examples of racial prejudices. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee effectively shows the American mindset in the 1930’s while Black or White effectively shows the American mindset of today. Even though America has progressed racially, America is still working towards equality.…