In the late 1980’s, the African country of Sudan was involved in a brutal civil war that left over 20,000 children orphaned with no families to protect them or homes to live in. Many of these young children walked over a thousand miles through jungle and dessert terrain searching for refuge from the war. Many did not survive. Thousands of these children wondered for years in search of safety, eventually finding refuge in a camp in Kenya miles from their homes. They became known as the lost boys and the lost girls.…
In Life as We Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Miranda’s dad and step-mother head South. On her way to the post office Miranda finds men with guns looting stores. Then, when school begins the kids choose between two schools or learning at home. At first Miranda decides to go to the elementary with her younger brother; She chooses this school because then they do not have to go through town. When she meets all the high school kids, Miranda realizes how many people left town.…
A clean slate, a blank canvas, a fresh start: these are what define a new beginning. In the memoir This Boy’s Life, many characters struggle to begin anew, and will sacrifice parts of themselves to attain the fresh start they desire. Through the retelling of key moments in his childhood, Tobias Wolff develops the theme of new beginnings through the use of symbols, motifs, and anecdotes. The symbol of the dying salmon that is presented in the section “Uncool” is used to evolve the theme of new beginnings, and signify Tobias and Rosemary’s new life that awaits them in Chinook.…
The second book that I read this summer was Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The book is an open letter to his adolescent son explaining some of the experiences his son will have to go because he exist in two worlds, and Coates also shares some of the experience he went through being an African American in America. In the book, Coates shares his childhood experience of living in South-side Chicago and his battle between surviving the streets and trying to survive school. However, Coates is able to escape from his circumstances by going to the Mecca, also known as Howard University. Coates uses the Mecca to begin to educate himself and attempt to find a way between the worlds with the help of literature about Malcom X, Chancellor…
Survival Essay I could survive like Salva with my motivation, positive attitude,and adaptability. And Salva found about 1,000 people dead on his voyage. I could survive by using my adaptability. Salva had to adapt to his environment so he didn’t die. I would have to adapt to my environment by killing a animal and make a fur coat…
My thoughts swung wildly. I was either fixed on practical details of immediate survival or transfixed by pain, weeping silently, my mouth open and my hands at my head.” (Martel 111) Pi has kept his emotions bottled up within himself and he is truly feeling suffering here. He lost is entire family and everything he has…
The Commencement of a Life Time David Foster Wallace addressed the graduating class of Kenyon College in 2005. He stated that “It is the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awakened of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all of the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over “This is water, this is water” (They say, I say 209). He spoke mainly over thought, what to think about and how people always have the choice. Another one of his main points was that a person’s “default settings” are completely self centered…
Ksandra Earle 10G In 2014 John Pilger released a documentary called Utopia. Utopia is about the treatment of Aboriginal people in remote communities; it compares the wealth of white Australia to the living conditions of the original landowners. The main purpose of the documentary is to get viewers to feel empathy for the Aboriginal people, shame for being a white Australian who ignores their issues, and anger towards the Australian government for not providing the assistance needed. Pilger uses a wide range of persuasive techniques to evoke a reaction from the viewers, including the use of emotive language, images, tone and bias.…
In the story of the Life of Pi, Piscine Patel is explaining to a secular author who was convinced that this man could make him believe in God. Thus, Piscine (Pi) tells an adventure from long ago. Pi explains that he was a young religious man born in India from zookeepers and is suddenly that he will move to Canada, as his father has job opportunities there, perhaps even better than in India. However, caos falls onto the boat to Canada and Pi is stranded on a raft with a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a tiger; although, the only left alive is him and the tiger. The story is all about how he and his survival instincts pull through and survive the rigorous challenges of the Atlantic Ocean.…
The following is from Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, Winnemucca wrote her book Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims in 1882. Winnemucca wrote this book to help highlight stories of her people and the interactions they had with white European and American settlers. Winnemucca hoped her writings would have the desired outcome of forcing change and getting public opinion and government officials on the sides of Native American tribes. Winnemucca portrayed cross-cultural interaction as inevitable. Nevertheless early interactions with white settlers and pioneers set the tone for all the following years of Winnemucca’s life.…
The book Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates, was written in letter form to his son about his life of being a black American. Coates throughout the book gives his personal views about different topics that negatively affect the black American race. The book’s purpose was to explain to his son about the troubles that Coates himself had to go through before his son was born and during his life. It is meant to be served as a warning about what is to come to his son’s life. Three main themes that are discussed in the book by Coates is the topic of racism, white privilege, and police brutality.…
One of the most fundamental aspects of humanity, is the need for community. The process of socialization is crucial for survival. In Yann Martel 's Life of Pi and the movie Cast Away, the severe effects of social isolation are depicted. Pi Patel is a young Indian boy in search of faith and Chuck Noland is a grown man whose identity revolves around the concept of time. Between the two narratives lies a similar message regarding man 's will to live.…
Key to Survive To be able to survive in these extreme environments both characters must be mentally and physically strong. In both stories of, ”The story of Keesh” and “The life of Pi” both character’s use intelligence and bravery to survive in these hard environments. The story of Keesh is based on a 13 year-old boy who hunts for food not only for him and his mother but also for the whole village. Keesh stands up for his mother and himself during a council meeting, and when he does he quickly goes out to hunt to prove the men in the village wrong, “Those who saw him go noted that he carried his bow, with a goodly supply of bone-barbed arrows, and that across his shoulder was his father’s big hunting spear” (London 61).…
Is it possible to be 16 years old, stranded at sea for 227 days on the same boat as a tiger and come out alive? The answer to this question will most likely be "that's impossible". But Yann Martel wrote a book giving similar instructions on how to do just that. In Yann Martel's novel, Life of Pi, readers follow Pi, a 16-year-old boy, throughout his journey of being stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a tiger for 227 days. Throughout the book, the most definitive theme is survival.…
The story takes a greater turn once Pi accepts death, “I would rate the day I went blind as the day my extreme suffering began… I resolved to die” (Martel 90). After all he’s been through he finally accepts defeat. He has had low moods before but this time he expresses a sense of peace because he will be reunited with his family. Previously in the novel the reward of taming Richard Parker the tiger has been achieved. In the end, his blindness wares off and once again he is motivated to live.…