Bean Trees: Book Review The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver, tells the tale of a simple country girl. A book of realistic fiction, the author builds a story full of bewilderment, travel, heart-wrenching moments and nature. Throughout the novel, Kingsolver repeatedly incorporates nature into her writing, using her knowledge as a biologist. Additionally, the story deals with darker, real-world issues such as prejudice and discrimination.…
In Elijah Anderson’s The Cosmopolitan Canopy, he delves into the diverse city of Philadelphia and observes how people of different ethnicities and backgrounds experience and interact with each other, as well as the city itself. Many areas of the city are segregated, whether it be by socioeconomic status, race, or background. However, within the city, there are many areas of harmony. Elijah Anderson calls these pockets, “cosmopolitan canopies”. A cosmopolitan canopy is viewed as public space in every sense of the word, a place that is free from individual claim and a hub for civility and inclusion.…
There is tension in the air until the violence finally commences and the peacefulness of the setting shatters. The descriptions of the “dense” and “paper-bag” bushes nearby illustrate a harsher environment. They signify a struggle in non-desirable circumstances, which greatly contrasts with the past desert scene. When the snake dies, however, its death does not restore the previous setting. The man begins to deal with guilt, and out of respect, he moves the snake into the “close green guardian-ship” of the bushes.…
The Silent Voices of People from the Endangered Redwood Forests According to Woody Harrelson’s letter to the editor of the San Francisco Examiner, there was a protest on September 14, 1997, of people cutting down many redwood trees that occurred in Northern California. Thousands of people came together during this time to stop the horrible destruction. Charles Hurwitz was the main person who was involved in the logging of the trees and he was the chief executive in charge at the Pacific Lumber Company (PLC) (“Letters to the Editor”). This occurrence did not affect him at all.…
(AGG) The main point of the book, Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples, is to show the effect that loss can have on an average person, like you and me. (BS-1) When Nusrat had lost her beloved sister, she felt lost, and like she did not belong. (BS-2) Since her sister tragically died, helping children in need has helped Nusrat cope as she has been on a constraint search for the “why” that she felt she so needed to find. (BS-3) Her husband’s death has showed Nusrat her real self and that she must honor her husband and make amends for her mistakes in the past.…
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan is a heartwarming and inspiring novel about a young girl who lost her parents and learns about life on her journey of recovering from her loss. Willow Chance is a girl who was adopted by her parents and has been living with them in Bakersfield, California. Since she is exceedingly knowledgeable, nearly everything intrigues her. She is especially fascinated by plants and medical conditions, though, and also is obsessed with the number 7. However, despite her extraordinary brilliance, she is always an outcast at her school because of her unique personality.…
“If you have a dream, don’t just sit there. Gather courage to believe that you can succeed and leave no stone unturned to make it a reality”-Roopleen. This quote relates to both Ben Carson and Taylor Greene from The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver during their journey on accomplishing their goals. Gifted hands by Ben Carson is an aspiring story of how he started from Detroit and made his way to be an astounding pediatric neurosurgeon at John Hopkins by the age of thirty-three and never seemed to forget about his faith or family . The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver is a fresh coming of age story about Taylor Greene, who decides to leave her home in Kentucky before she ends up just like everyone else and as she venture across the states, she…
Conformity is an issue many teens face today. It takes over the average teenager's mind, so they choose to conform to the popular trends and fashion; therefore, they lose sight of what should mean the most, being themselves. How can we be our self without being called weird, stupid, freak and etc. When it comes to the topic of conformity most of us will readily agree that we want to be different instead of being who isn’t you. Many of us would give up our uniqueness, extraordinary distinctiveness, just to fit in a group.…
As this book was interesting to read it can be viewed by the readers as mean or informative based on the individual person. For a person who is studying to become a teacher, this book gives mixed messaged for our day and age. Given that Monro Leaf is an amazing author and the “Can Be Fun…” books are very informative and helpful for young children. This book “Being an American Can Be Fun” can be viewed as offensive in the time we live in now. Leaf had covered many topics in his book ranging from democracy to values of an American to how to act as an American.…
Leopard Man In his article, “The Sociology of Leopard Man,” Logan Feys believes that people that do not conform to society are freaks. Feys supports his belief through the use of pathos. Feys purpose is to satirize people who do not conform, in order to convince the audience that non-conformist are “freaks,” Fey uses pessimism with his intended audience. While I generally agree with Logan Fey’s statement about individuality, I found some of his positions to be quite extreme.…
The one who is wins is the the one who sinks its teeth into the victim. In most cases, the predator wins in the wild nature around us. In the book, The Jungle the same concept applies to our human race. The Jungle is a story of the life of an immigrant worker, Jurgis and his family. Jurgis is a strong man, strong built and ready to work to support his growing family.…
This second half of the book left me more emotionally numb that the first half attempted to. The opening about Memo and Lucho offered some comedic relief, but then the third part of the book brought to mind the ultimate price of crossing the desert – death. The first scene describing the students finding a migrant’s body in the desert was rather captivating. The idea of finding a body lying in the desert, sends the ultimate message – the United States is not the place for you. The picture of her body added to this idea, as we see her face down in the sand.…
Humans are constantly changing the world to facilitate our growing need of comfort. The burning of fossil fuels adding acidity to oceans and myriad carbon to the atmospheric layer to result in global warming. Elizabeth Kolbert interprets the idea of destruction through global warming in her article “The Forest and the Trees”. “Global warming is mostly seen as a threat to cold-loving species, and there are good reasons for this” (Kolbert 150). Mostly, global warming results in increased temperature which will cause the North and South Pole to melt.…
The unexpected insight of the lion becoming warm in comparison to the beginning of the book where he is cold shows the positive…
The author of “On Natural Death” by Lewis Thomas begins his essay by being lighthearted about death and progressively gets more into depth with the aspects of death for different living things and whether or not they detect pain. This is to objectify the fact that death is destined for all living things and that it shouldn’t be planned or feared but instead, it should be accepted. The first strategy Lewis Thompson uses is denouncing books about death. Lewis emphasizes that death is becoming planned with there being “so many new books about dying” placed next to “the health diet and home repair paperbacks”. Lewis insinuates that the topic of planned death is considered ordinary to where it’s placed next to everyday topics and accepted by society who doesn’t think twice about it.…