Caden McCloughan
English 1B
Escamilla
2 February 2018
Essay Through examinations of ZZ Packer’s short stories, the “Ant of the Self” as well as “Speaking in Tongues,”, internalized oppression along with its detrimental effects, proves to be relevant in the lives of both Spurgeon and Tia. When comparing Tia’s and Spurgeon’s support system and personalities, there are many similarities, as well as differences in regards to the support systems they have, and how they handle internalized oppression. Both characters lack a strong community at home which then pushes Tia to travel to Atlanta searching for her real mother, while Spurgeon travels to the Indiana area to bail his alcoholic father out of jail and take him home. In “Speaking in Tongues,” …show more content…
Tia’s great naivety of the world causes her to be more helpless when it comes to internalizing oppression. Spurgeon is a young man who is a bit more aware of the world he lives in, and decides to takes his mother’s car and uses prize money that he had won from a debate contest to bail his father out of jail. Spurgeon and his father do not have a healthy relationship whatsoever. Yet, Spurgeon continuously supports his father throughout the story and gets no recognition back. For example, In the beginning of the story after Spurgeon bails his father out, rather than thanking him his father says, “opportunities, you’ve got to invest your money if you want opportunities” (72). Despite the fact that Spurgeon and Tia both struggle from the negative effects of poor parenting and a lack support, Tia's naivety of the world she lives in enables her to be …show more content…
Tia is a young country, very naive girl who is apart of a highly religious community, however it doesn’t provide much of a sense of community for Tia and how she lives. As a shielded church goer, Tia is stifled by everyone around her who are gratified with having the capacity to speak in tongues, which Tia is unable to do, and who brutally judge her as well as misjudge her. Tia has a very close friend named Marcelle, who similarly can’t speak in tongues, was often found to be a safe place for Tia due to there correspondence in religion. When the author first introduces Marcelle, I believe the overall goal was to convey the character personality differences and similarities between the two, and to show just how naive Tia is, but also how she has some slight inner independence which would she later be forced to heavily rely on as the story progresses and she has to become more independent than ever before. Tia is determined to go meet her real mother who lives in Atlanta, so she rallies money together and takes off. As soon as Tia arrives to Atlanta, she begins to realize she is so longer in a church community, and experiences the harder parts of the
English 1B
Escamilla
2 February 2018
Essay Through examinations of ZZ Packer’s short stories, the “Ant of the Self” as well as “Speaking in Tongues,”, internalized oppression along with its detrimental effects, proves to be relevant in the lives of both Spurgeon and Tia. When comparing Tia’s and Spurgeon’s support system and personalities, there are many similarities, as well as differences in regards to the support systems they have, and how they handle internalized oppression. Both characters lack a strong community at home which then pushes Tia to travel to Atlanta searching for her real mother, while Spurgeon travels to the Indiana area to bail his alcoholic father out of jail and take him home. In “Speaking in Tongues,” …show more content…
Tia’s great naivety of the world causes her to be more helpless when it comes to internalizing oppression. Spurgeon is a young man who is a bit more aware of the world he lives in, and decides to takes his mother’s car and uses prize money that he had won from a debate contest to bail his father out of jail. Spurgeon and his father do not have a healthy relationship whatsoever. Yet, Spurgeon continuously supports his father throughout the story and gets no recognition back. For example, In the beginning of the story after Spurgeon bails his father out, rather than thanking him his father says, “opportunities, you’ve got to invest your money if you want opportunities” (72). Despite the fact that Spurgeon and Tia both struggle from the negative effects of poor parenting and a lack support, Tia's naivety of the world she lives in enables her to be …show more content…
Tia is a young country, very naive girl who is apart of a highly religious community, however it doesn’t provide much of a sense of community for Tia and how she lives. As a shielded church goer, Tia is stifled by everyone around her who are gratified with having the capacity to speak in tongues, which Tia is unable to do, and who brutally judge her as well as misjudge her. Tia has a very close friend named Marcelle, who similarly can’t speak in tongues, was often found to be a safe place for Tia due to there correspondence in religion. When the author first introduces Marcelle, I believe the overall goal was to convey the character personality differences and similarities between the two, and to show just how naive Tia is, but also how she has some slight inner independence which would she later be forced to heavily rely on as the story progresses and she has to become more independent than ever before. Tia is determined to go meet her real mother who lives in Atlanta, so she rallies money together and takes off. As soon as Tia arrives to Atlanta, she begins to realize she is so longer in a church community, and experiences the harder parts of the