Ishmael

To anyone who would like to analyze or read about black literature, primarily he/she should start his /her investigation with a great literary critic Henry Louis Gates, Jr., with his major and influential book of African-American literature A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism: the Signifying Monkey. In the introduction, Gates illustrates that this book is an attempt “to identify the theory of the criticism, which is inscribed within the black vernacular tradition and that in turn…

Joyful Death & Futile Faith "Being alive is a crock of shit" (Vonnegut). This seven word statement by Vonnegut's recurring character Kilgore Trout perfectly summarizes the message carried throughout Vonnegut's work. The upbringing of Vonnegut himself contributes to this lackluster view: he grew up amid the Depression. He watched his dad work himself to death as his mother courted suicide. He saw the massacre of innocents amid the firebombing of Dresden and became a prisoner of the Germans…

Firstly, Lord ordered Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Abraham Narrative). This is known by the Israelites as the covenant between Abram and the Lord. Abram obeyed Lord and…

Ishmael Beah’s memoir A Long Way Gone is appropriate for the Sterling high school English IV curriculum because Beah makes use of the complexity of ideas and creates connections to the real world. Markedly, the use of the complexity of ideas makes the memoir well rounded, and better reading material than many other pieces. Accordingly, after Beah and his friends leave the first village after seeing it destroyed, they run into one problem: food. They begin to starve and Beah’s simile represents…

Lives would be totally changed, without this intense feeling of affection we instinctively feel. Love is binding, love is kind, love is selfless, love is everything that is needed to survive in this heartless world. In the books A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Bael and Night by Elie Wiesel the main characters had to use love to get through their trials and hardships in one piece mentally and physically. The feeling of love can join people together no matter what is going on around…

climate makes it very difficult to survive. For the longest time the family was surviving on Raccoons and Squirrels because it was the only thing they could find. Tobias does his absolute best to live off the land. But it isn’t until Tobias gets Ishmael that life becomes easier. After this Tobias and his family become herders of several cows, who they then decide to make trade with. This in turn, allows them to live less off the land and more dependent upon trade. As Tobias ages, his son Zech…

East has been a tinderbox almost since the beginning of time due to original sin. I do agree that the animosity between Israel and Palestine is political; however, there is animosity contributed to Muslims (Islam) contending that the descendants of Ishmael rightly own the land; whereas, Israel (Judaism) was promised the land, since God’s covenant was with Isaac (Genesis 17:19). I wrote about resilient…

The ritual event that I have chosen is Jewish Circumcision known as brit milah. In Hebrew the word brit means covenant and in Yiddish form it is known as bris. I will go over the origins, laws and details of the ritual along with the person who performs the ceremony. I will also go over the location and the time in which the ritual takes place as well for the reasons this ritual is performed and what the significance of the ritual is. The brit milah is a life-cycle event that takes place right…

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is vastly significant today, but it also has a important rooted history and origin. Many historians start with discussing the late 19th century, however there are many origins long before that play a role in the conflict. Author, David Schafer, describes the theological causes that are rooted in the people. The idea of Zionism is another primary cause that is discussed. Ideas of both nationalism in the region and colonialism abroad…

In this landmark work of emerging African American Womanist theology, Delores William- Women’s Voices is found in the biblical figure of Hagar -- mother of Ishmael, cast into the desert by Abraham and Sarah, but protected by God -- a prototype of the struggle of African-American women. It is a picture of African slaves, homeless exile, surrogate mother, and Hagar’s story provides an image of survival and defiance…