January 2003

As a whole, I do not believe that this was my best speech, but there were parts of this speech that I believe that I did better on than the last speech. Like B.B. King I love to learn and hope that in my next speech I will notice new areas of growth in my speaking ability. My reflection begins with eye contact and body movement, moving on to the use of voice, and ending with the organization of the speech. Opening with delivery, the thing that stuck out the most was that my eye contact was poor…

As Lorrie Moore said in Why we read (and write) short stories, “we tell stories to find out what we believe”. Lorrie Moore’s People Like That are the Only People Here has an interesting analysis of the hospital setting. I find it particularly interesting how she uses the symbol of machines to talk about the people in the hospital and the process of being a parent of a child in the Peed Onk ward. Moore gives us the image of the hospital and the Mother’s experience in the hospital as a…

Generations are like advancing technology. They continuously evolve and build upon themselves. As generations rise and fall, their history follows and unfolds for the next generation. This then gives birth to character, the synthesis of human genetics and growth of unique personality through life experiences. Generations and character are both prominent themes in the novel, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. The four mothers in the novel represent the older, Chinese traditional generation and their…

First act The story starts when a boy named Michael gets asked out his by his classmate Julia at the end of their senior year in highschool. They know nothing really about each other except the basics like what 's your name, how old are you, and other smaller things. Michael accepts seeing as shes cute and other than that why not. As the weeks progress at first they are still very reserved and distant from each other but they slowly begin to steadily get closer to one another. Now their past…

“My Papa’s Waltz Tone” “My Papa’s Waltz” is a poem that can be both interpreted as “bitter” and as “sweet”. Depending upon how one views it, there are both parts that represent “bitter” and also parts that represent “sweet”. The parts that are seen as “sweet” visually describe the boys affection to his father and also the bonding between the father and son. The parts that are seen as “bitter” visually describes the fathers appearance and his actions. The quote “Life is about change.…

“That I believe is what true redemption is, when guilt leads to good.” Redemption is often seen as freeing one’s self from error or sin but in Khalid Hosseini’s novel, The Kite Runner, it proves that true redemption is when good is brought out through guilt by helping both yourself as well as other’s. Amir has a past of “unatoned sins” and although he destroys the lives of many, he has several opportunities to redeem himself of his guilt; he works to not be the selfish little boy he once was.…

Often people can change their behavior based on an event that has impacted them or their life, either in a good way, or bad way. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Amir was always too scared to stand up to anyone and would even lie to protect his dignity, that was until he discovered that Hassan had a son. Amir transformed from a helpless boy who was easily influenced by his role in society, but he realized that he needed to be his own person and do what he thought was right so he became a…

In An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, the theme of self discovery is presented through the character Sir Robert Chiltern. As the play progresses Sir Robert begins to walk the road of regret, change, and hope as he begins to think about the life he could have lived or could live in the future and how it has been affected by the choices he has made. Not only does Sir Robert Chiltern go on a journey of discovery but while Robert struggled to come to terms with his past, Oscar Wilde was also…

The poems ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp’ and ‘Prayer Before Birth’ emphasizes the themes of loss of innocence and growing up. Through the impact of tragedy and manmade horrors. At the start of ‘Mother in a Refugee camp’ the first words being “No Madonna" Achebe immediately creates a religious image in the reader’s mind of a mother carrying her child, this is representing Jesus and his mother. Achebe makes the poem seem as innocent as possible before getting the reader to feel sadness & sorrowful.…

The book Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini describes life in Afghanistan. Hosseini Talks about how he grew up in Kabul. This book gives a complete background of the Afghani culture and History. There are two different setting in this book, one in Kabul and the other in US, and narrates the Kite runner through his voice. The author expresses a lot of his emotions in the book like fear, jealousy, lies, betrayal and loyalty. His writing is very simple which makes it a valuable and easy to read book.…