The greatest men have overcome some of the most prominent situations in history but they have also been defeated by some. They could not be named the greatest without the trials they faced. Nelson Mandela overcame apartheid, Alexander the Great conquered the most belligerent fighters in war, and Martin Cooper made a wireless phone. Obstacles make a person stronger and provide them with the wisdom they need to triumph. In ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’, Huck Finn is a motherless child and is trying to escape his drunk and abusive father, Hester Prynne in ‘The Scarlet Letter’ commits a sin so seemingly horrifying that she can now only live a life of public shame and loneliness, and Anthem’s Equality 7-2521 has a burning curiosity to know more than what is given to him which almost gets him killed.…
He was put under circumstances that would cause any person to do what he did. To escape the harsh reality of war and to start a new beginning, he decided to hop the border. His intention had been to come to the country legally, but he knew that the legalization process would take too long and he couldn’t afford to live in the darkness and the fear that was lurking in his hometown of El Salvador. No matter who a person is or what their residency status might be, it is important to realize that they are people too and they deserve to be able to have a place where they can feel…
The dynamics of any family can be complicated. A family that is in a strange country will have even more stress than the average family, especially if that family does not speak the language of the land, and is unfamiliar with the customs. This is the situation for Richard Rodriguez 's family as explained in his autobiography Hungar of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. In his memoir, Rodriguez explains the transfermation he makes during his education.…
In “Hunger Of Memory”, Rodriguez wrote an admirable prologue in which he introduced himself. An introduction, not only built by his past but also by the common misconceptions from his surroundings. In the prologue, I noticed how Rodriguez exposed numerous signs of rejection from such categorisations. To provide an example; the author stated that “There are those in White America who would anoint me to play out for them some drama of ancestral reconciliation” (3).…
I agree to a great extent that Ondaatje’s ‘In the Skin of a Lion’ has a continuing appeal because of the unheard voices presented in the novel. Ondaatje allows his audience to have individualised responses to the unheard voices by rejecting the role of a typical omnipresent narrator, who would tell the story from one point of view. By doing this, Ondaatje allows his audience to take control over the way they interpret the text, allowing them to have unique opinions regarding the issues raised throughout the novel. Ondaatje’s purpose was to awaken his responders to the injustices of history. Ondaatje used his authorial intervention to make use of his fragmented plot, shifting perspectives and intertwining stories to challenge his audience…
Another immigrant that went through a lot of hardships was Jose Marti. Jose Marti was born in Havana, Cuba on January 28th, 1853 and was the eldest of 8 children. His father served in an artillery unit of the Spanish army and even though the family had lived in Spain for part of its life, Marti and the family were loyal to Cuba and ended up moving back there after originally moving from Cuba to Spain after Marti was born. There was a real struggle for freedom between Spain and Cuba at this time period, and this sparked Marti into joining the Cuban revolt for freedom from Spain early on in his life. Independence for Cuba is the main driving force all throughout Marti’s life and it is what shapes the way in which he writes.…
Cuban Literature At first glance, Cuban literature may seem edgy or even quirky with its selection of settings and objects, but upon analyzing deeper, it is clear that Cuban poetry and literature is depressing and distressing, Themes of oppression and immigration surge through the literature of the region, developed by other literary devices, but why? Cuba, under the rule of Fidel Castro, is a downcast nation. The influence of the dictatorship is clear in Cuban poetry through theme, diction, symbolism, and personification.…
Life is a constant battle, a battle in which one characteristic can be the cause of a victorious ending or an ongoing defeat. Sometimes in life, a person's trait can be their greatest help and hindrance. In “Born Worker” by Gary Soto, main character Jose is a victim of this situation. Jose is a low-class boy of Hispanic descent which causes people to stereotype him. Jose has a cousin Arnie who is a middle-class boy.…
Failure is a blessing The world consists of those with the aspiration for greatness; however, there are few that actually are. Authors use their power of having a large audience to convey messages that he or she feels is important. In his Nobel Prize for Literature Acceptance Speech, John Steinbeck, the author of literary treasures, spoke of what an author’s responsibility is as a creator. Writers are delegated to present the good side of humanity like love and triumph but also dark sides like failure and greed.…
The ideals that are revealed through literature have impacted society in many ways, authors are able to express their ideas through their works. The literary canons exclusion of diversity has made the public view the canon as an unrealistic approach to Northern American history. Many works by women, gays, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and non-Europeans had made their way into college literature courses, however those novels have not made it on the literary canon. These works have not been a constant in college literature courses but have made their way up there. Therefore the works done by this amount of diverse people of different ethnic backgrounds should not be excluded from the literary canon.…
orge Luis Borges is a notable Argentine writer born in Buenos Aires and has written many short fictions that connects to our life and their goals. He has also written renowned essays and poems one of them being iconoclastic. One of his oldest fictions he has written was “The South” and “The Shape of the Sword” which was written in 1944. Later on in his life, Borges wrote the “The Captive”, “The Inferno” and “Dream Tigers” in 1960 with “Blue Tigers” written later in his carer in 1983. In 1935, Borges wrote his first book on fiction, “Historia universal de la infamy” (Balderston 654).…
The writing style of a story conveys the author’s purpose of the text. Alvarez uses her unique writing to express her themes of escaping. In “My First Free Summer” and “Exile”, Alvarez describes the need to escape in the perspective of a little girl. Alvarez is originally from the Dominican Republic; as a little girl she must flee the dangers of her country from a harsh dictatorship. Alvarez demonstrates her experiences by using sensory images and figurative language.…
When an individual’s assumptions are challenged by significant discoveries, their lives are often transformed. This perspective is represented throughout Ernesto Che Guevara’s eclectic memoir, The Motorcycle Diaries, which details his arguably metamorphic journey through Latin America in the early 1950s and the diverse discoveries he makes, which are personal and political in their nature. Guevara’s varied and confronting encounters throughout his travels challenge his preconceived views of society and himself, leading to a significant alteration of his personal and political life. This notion is also portrayed in my related text, Florian Henckel von Donnersmark’s The lives of Others, a 2006 film which depicts a Stasi captain during the cold…
Carlos Eire beautifully constructs his memoir in his work Waiting for Snow in Havana. Eire talks about his childhood and how he was raised in Cuba and in the United States and how Castro’s rule affected his and his family’s life. The two major themes woven throughout this work is one of loss and longing; both about a past-life taken and a future life stolen. Eire speaks of what his life might have been like and writes about the life he found instead. “The world changed while I slept, and much to my surprise, no one had consulted me.”…
Richard Rodriguez’s “The Achievement of Desire” is a retrospective style essay, where he explains the extraordinary educational experiences he endures and the cultural conflicts he undergoes. Richard tackles a psychological battle that makes him choose between education and family: growing up with poorly educated, immigrant parents, who had to make many sacrifices to achieve their greatly improved, yet relatively low economic status, which they are very happy with; while at the same time being surrounded by peers in his school, with the American mentality of improving from generation to generation. Richard’s ambition to learn, and to be like his teachers, separated him from his cultural background. Almost immediately, at a very young age, Richard…