Stasiland is a non-fiction narrative authored by Anna Funder that entails the life, in East Germany, of both victims and members of the Stasi and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It explores the life ‘behind the iron curtain’ through personal anecdotes and interviews. Via Funder’s investigation it becomes apparent that only some of the victims of the Stasi have not fully recovered and that many of their inflictions can be attributed to influences other than the Stasi. Anna’s first interviewee, Miriam Weber, was clearly disadvantaged by the Stasi’s involvement in her life and it is clearly obvious that she still hasn’t fully recovered. Miriam “became an enemy of the state at the age of sixteen” and this led her through a traumatic chain…
In her novel, A Medieval Life, Judith Bennett attempts to showcase the daily life of a peasant woman, Cecilia Penifader, as she lives on the English manor Brigstock in the mid-fourteenth century. During this time period Europe was full of thousands of rural communities including Brigstock. Brigstock was located in a very manorialized part of England which was the English midlands near London. Bennett works to redirect focus from the readers’ fairytale view of the middle ages to a more accurate view of how life really was. “Most medieval people were not knights, kings, churchmen, or merchants.…
James Comer once said, “No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.” This was the situation of a teacher, Mr.Wayman and his class in the poem, “Students,” composed by Tom Wayman, and of an assistant professor, Katie and her students in an excerpt from the novel, “Crow Lake,” penned by Mary Lawson. Despite the remarking resemblance in the relationship shared by the instructors’ and their respective students there are numerous differences between the two pieces of literature because of the manner in which the teachers react when their teaching skills are challenged. In Students and in Crow Lake, both of the instructors’ fail to fathom their students; and the students’ fail to fathom their respective instructors’.…
Although the New England and Chesapeake regions were settled by basically English, each region was clearly different than the other. This could have happened for many reasons, but difference in how the families were structured and the effect of religion on each region were probably two very big influences on the different developments of the societies. In New England, people who immigrated there came mostly in the form of families. In 1635, "Ship's List of Emigrants bound for New England," showed that the majority of emigrants were part of a family or a servant coming with a family (document B). There was a fairly low death rate and a reasonably balanced sex ratio very early in colonization in New England.…
The cover for ‘Poor little Dead Girls’ by Lizzie Friend does not accurately show the major theme that sometimes you need to let people help you to be able to do things better. The theme isn't represented on the original cover because the words are the design of the most important parts book than what it's about. In the novel we see the theme communicated on page 216 “We happen to know a little about what's it like to not have complete control over your life, but we know a lot more how to handle it.” This shows my theme of sometimes you need to let people help to be able to do things better because since her friend has experienced this situation before it will be better planned than if she had done it herself. The idea of this theme isn't communicated well on the cover because the only thing that could possibly show is the design of the girls school uniform that shows friendship, you wouldn't understand until after reading the book.…
Mark Twain once said, “Names are not always what they seem.” Whether you share a name with tons of people or virtually no one in the world there’s always some type of history behind it all. I was given the name Hermino which is a Spanish derivative of the ancient Roman name Herminius. Like many people I am the namesake of elder relatives (my grandfather and great-grandfather). In spite of being the namesake of my elders there is not exactly any tradition behind the names only parents who felt that it was right to name their kids after old Hermino.…
Author Thesis Paper: Women in Revolution Mary Beth Norton goes in to great detail in her piece of literature she wrote in 1980, Liberty’s Daughters: The Revolutionary Experience of American Women about American women from 1750 to the 1800s. She goes into detail how woman had few if any rights and were degenerated by others before the war. After the Revolutionary War, women were more active in the political world and had more value than before. Women’s role started to change during this time, impacting them in both negative and positively. During the women faced abandonment, abuse, and in the end were more respected because of the war and other things going on at the time (Norton 72).…
Slavery is something that effected hundreds of thousands of people. Rather if you were a abolitionist at the time slavery was going on ( a white person who was free but gave slaves help and freedom) or a slave it made a huge impact on your life. But slaves definatly had it far worse. Slaves had to go through things such as getting separated from your family, including mothers loosing children and sisters and brothers being split apart. This usually always happens and it is very rare that you will see your loved one again.…
In the 1800s, many workers (including men, women and children) had risen above their bosses and supervisors, in the form of petitions, strikes and marches that had took power against the horrid working conditions of that era. Lyddie, a novel written by Katherine Paterson is a memoir of a fictional character named Lyddie who works in a factory to repay her family's debt which takes place in the industrial revolution. Lyddie is 13-15 in the circumstances of the book, and she is hinted throughout the book to be the only provider for her family at the time. Lyddie is then thrown into situations where she is constantly bombarded with choices. An underlying tone that is presented in the novel is the danger that is presented during her time in the…
Helen Maria Williams, Charlotte Smith and the French Revolution Women of the 18th century were writing novels, lyric poetry and conduct books, but after the fall of the Bastille in 1789, political concerns appeared in their writing. They entered male dominating territory as historical writing was traditionally a male preserve (Walker, 2011, p. 145). In the 1790s a ‘Women’s War’ developed as women writers explored new genres in which they expressed their opinions on events in France, which their male contemporaries already were doing (ibid.). Helen Maria Williams and Charlotte Smith were two of the most important women writers of the period. They saw the French Revolution through women’s eyes and put their understanding of it in writing.…
In James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” the narrator gets to redeem himself for the neglect of his younger brother. His younger brother, Sonny, found himself battling an addiction to heroin. The short story occurs in the 1950’s in Harlem. Due to the realness of the setting, the reader can apply historical context to the short story. Although “Sonny’s Blues” is not a religious story, the author, James Baldwin, uses Christian symbolism to represent the fall and redemption which the narrator withstands.…
Where do you live and what do you do for living? Do you like your job? These all questions might sound interesting for those who live at their own apartment or house and work somewhere he/she gets minimum of $20-$30 an hour. But the questions I presented above might be a little bit of annoying or frustrating to the farmers in California whom I met in the article, “In the Strawberry Fields” by Eric Schlosser.…
The Shang and Zhou Dynasties were considered two of the greatest time periods in all of China. This was the period in time were China started to become a more civilized and technologically advanced culture and people as a whole. This period in Chinese history came to be known as the Bronze Age of China due to the archaeological find that the people of the Shang and Zhou Dynasty began to learn how to work bronze and create art and fashion tools and other useful items from it such as weapons and tea kettles or sculptures. The Shang Dynasty is considered to be the time when China and it’s civilization first started to take full shape of its society and people as a civilized country and government.…
In The Flowers by Alice Walker, Myop’s innocence is emphasized by many literary devices, such as, symbolism, metaphor, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, tone, and imagery. Walker named the main character, Myop on purpose as it is short for myopia, which is the scientific term for, nearsightedness. This is an example of symbolism because in most parts of the story, Myop is a very innocent and pure girl, and is not able to see farther than the idealistic beauty of her childhood. To Myop, the harvesting of crops “[makes] each day a golden surprise” (Walker, 1).…
The Little Prisoner by Jane Elliott This book was a powerful if not over powering story of a child whose step father abused her on every level of abuse; physical, mental, sexual, and emotional. The author of this book Jane, a pseudonym for the actual child, made the book come full circle. It started in the court room and was brought back to that pivotal moment when she is forced to face her attacker as an adult. It shows the reader the reaction of someone who clearly has no understanding the effects the child abuse Jane endured because the officer treated her like she was overreacting.…