...differ from perfect speech are discriminated against in the general community. A phenomenon, which writer Gloria Anzaldúa, who wrote the article “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” calls “Linguistic Terrorism.” According to her, linguistic terrorism negates not only the speaker, but also the experiences and culture behind that person (Anzaldúa). Thesis: Although language can be used as a tool of power, the use of faulty and imprecise language negates the speaker and causes negative consequences. Body 1, Tan: An accent is an example of imprecise English, which causes people to make negative or positive assumptions about the speaker based on the information that accent reveals. Example: In Amy Tan´s essay “Mother Tongue,” she provides an example drawn from experiences her mother had in America as an immigrant with English as her second language. Quote: “I had plenty of empirical evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not even hear her”...
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...Mother to Son Analysis Langston Hughes' moving poem "Mother to Son" empowers not only the son, but also the reader with precious words of wisdom. Through the skillful use of literary devices such as informal language, symbolism, metaphors, repetition, as well as clever use of format, Hughes manages to assemble up the image of a mother lovingly, yet firmly, talking to her son about life. This poem is an advice from a mother to son about life that will be challenging and do not think about giving it up. The advice is simple but pertinent to the poetic theme: in order to overcome the hurdles of life, a person must possess courage and determination. The theme that this poet conveyed in the poem is determination to live without ever thinking giving up although the obstacles are harsh. Besides, it also emphasize regarding the struggle for life that the one will experience but still have the strength to face it day by day. It also shows about affection and as motivation of a mother to son that takes care of his son and gives advice so that the son will somehow be prepared to face the life. Langston Hughes’ poem, “Mother to Son” resemble to the well-known expression “let’s have a father to son chat”. However, in this case, the saying is altered to “mother to son”. Poetic devices such as informal language, symbolisms, metaphors and repetition were used in this poem. This poem is written from the mother’s point of view in the advice form so the audience could feel the warmth and...
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...read works of literature. It's an exploration of the multifaceted world of adolescence. This world is full of confusion, thoughtfulness, intimacy, and action. It's a study in how a young person emerging into adulthood attempts to cope. In Hamlet, Shakespeare allows his hero to dream and to think through his dreams (Williams). Hamlet is a revenge tragedy and by the end, almost every character has died in some tragic or gruesome way. In this play, Shakespeare makes use of imagery, allegory, metaphor, and symbolism. In particular, the symbols of the ghost, the garden, and flowers, along with imagery and metaphors for madness are used to convey specific ideas which provide depth and complexity to this story. The ghost is a pivotal symbol and appears throughout Hamlet. Is the ghost Hamlet's father or is it Hamlet himself? Is the ghost real or is it part of Hamlet's imagination? The ghost claims he is Hamlet's father. He says he was murdered by Claudius, Hamlet's Uncle who is now wed to Hamlet's mother and who is also sitting on the throne. He also says his sins must be wiped clean before he can ascend to heaven. His soul is "doomed" to endure "sulph'rous and tormenting flames" until the "foul crimes done in [his] days of nature / Are burnt and purged away" (1.5.6; 17-18). The ghost requires revenge and this is an odd request given the religious context, yet this is what sets the revenge plot in motion. Father's Ghost. My hour is almost come, When I to sulph'rous and tormenting...
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...Poetry Analysis Introduction Poetry is a form of literature that employs rhythmic and aesthetic qualities of language. It uses a set of elements or instruments to help bring imagination, emotion and meaning to a reader. Some of the elements used include images, diction, figurative language, lines and stanzas, symbols, and syntax. These elements contribute to the poem’s effect. To this end, poets should strive to use either one or a combination of these elements in their poem(s) to appeal to the sense of the reader(s) as well as give them new insights beyond the literal meaning of the words used in the poem. The use of figurative language in the poem “On Being Told I Don’t Speak like a Black Person’, by Allison Joseph One of the most interesting...
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...My Mother and her Sister a) Analysis and interpretation of: ”My Mother and her Sister”: “My Mother and her Sister” is a short story which was written in 1996 by Jane Rogers. The story is written with a first person narrator. We’re not told if the narrator is a male or female, but I would guess that it is a female, because she is taken care of her aunt, and she is thinking about food and grandchildren. This says female. Also, a man wouldn’t care so much about serving a good dinner, but she is very absorbed in food and gets sad because she can’t make a proper meal. The story is written in an informal language with direct speech, which gives the readers an opportunity to feel as if they were a part of the story – this makes the story reliable. Lucy and the narrator are the main characters. Dorothy is the mother of the narrator and Lucy’s sister. Lucy stays with the narrator because Dorothy is dead. Lucy is 75 years old, and after 49 years of marriage Lucy has become a widow. She has 5 children and she used to be the perfect mother. She didn’t go to work, she stayed home making jam, knitting cardigans and making home cooked meals for the family. Now Lucy has become elder and she has in someway changed to the opposite of what she used to be. She now has the same routine every day: “she goes to bed at nine, gets up at half past eight, rests in her room from two till four each afternoon” (line 40) she no longer has a interest in talking and she prefers meals made in the microwave...
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...Black by asserting a radical view on metaphor: “Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature.”48 In this discussion of interaction views, there are some insightful notions with respect to metaphor. First, metaphor highlights certain features while hiding others.49 Second, metaphorical coherence between ostensibly inconsistent metaphors serves to share common entailments.50 In other words, each different metaphor interacts together coherently to highlight multiple aspects of the concept. For Richards, Black, Lakoff and Johnson, commonplaces are culturally determined and culturally specific, attention must be given to the associated commonplaces of...
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...Analysis: “Late Wife” by Claudia Emerson “Late Wife” by Claudia Emerson is a book that contains a collection of poems focused on her struggle with being divorced, and starting a new life by herself. The book is separated in three parts: Divorce Epistles, Breaking up the House, and Late Wife, and each section shows Claudia dealing with a new problem. The separation of the poems made it easy to identify the theme patterns found in the collection. For every chapter there was theme to be centered around, it also helped that collection was in chronological order and in narrative writing, for the book starts by retelling the sadness on her mind when she was going through her divorce, then she makes a quick summary of her single life, and ends it with the struggle of being the second wife of a man who recently lost his wife. At the end, she admits that she finds happiness, but that her journey to be happy was rough yet worth it. The first section is “Divorce Epistles” and the theme of it is divorce. This chapter starts by showing the reader some flashbacks of how her marriage was like before the divorce and then it ends by showing what she did right afterwards. The first poem is “Aftermath” (5) and it is her reflection of her divorce she admits that she knew it was going to happen eventually. In these lines, “I confess that last house was the coldest I kept. In it, I became formless as fog, crossing / the walls, formless as your breath as it rose” (8), she was being ignored by her...
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...“Words and Music: Narrative Ambiguity in ‘Sonny’s Blues,” by Keith Byerman is a critical analysis of the narrator’s discourse in “Sonny’s Blue.” Byerman argues that the use of language necessarily proves limitations. Byerman states that a “resolution can be accomplished” 1 when the message is “received or code is decipher in most case the message is withheld in some manner-through deception, innocence, or ignorance until a key moment in the narrative.” He supports this argument by pointing out how inconsistent or even misreading the narrator is, because of his incapability to read the surrounding situation of Sonny. Byerman argues that the narrator is “caught in the prison house of language.” 1 This may come from a philosophical stand point rather than normal human emotions and reactions to the view point of family members, as well as an age difference that can create a communication chaos., As the narrator sits on the train reading the paper and seeing that Sonny is in trouble. It’s harmful to his thoughts, that the narrator references his emotions to ice. While Byerman stats that this is the “narrator’s immediate action is to refract his emotion through this metaphor.” While James Baldwin uses metaphors throughout “Sonny’s Blue’s,” this is not an issue with language or misreading’s on the narrator’s part. The narrator is more afraid that the reality of his brother is addicted to drugs and that it has gotten him into trouble. For this to happen to an immediate family...
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...“The Chimney Sweeper” Fictional Poetry Analysis Stacy McGee Liberty University Eng 102 October 17, 2013 Thesis: The poem, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake depicts the life of a young boy being sold to sweep chimneys. This paper will give insight into the misery, mood and tones of the poem through the eyes of a young child as a chimney sweeper. Outline: I. Theme A. What is the theme of poem 1. Unkindness 2. Faith II. Setting A. Literal Setting 1. Metaphorical 2. Literal III. Mood A. Elements Contributing 1. Misery 2. Hope and Faith IV. Significance A. Is the title significant to content B. Job/Daily living The Chimney Sweeper deals with life in London in the 18th century. As of today, one would look at the narrator’s story as cruelty, child neglect or even child abuse. As we read the poem, we are going to take a look and dissect certain aspects of poem, such as the theme, setting, mood and significance of the title. To begin with, when reading the poem written in 1789 entitled, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, the theme of the poem circulates around poverty, unkindness and faith. When looking at the poem from the poverty perspective, the narrator’s mother died when he was a young boy and his father sells him to be a chimney sweeper, when he was so young, he...
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...Sylvia’s own experiences with the men in her life comes out in a lot of her writing, and this style of writing is common for her. Her writing seems to be her response to the oppression she felt from men. Sylvia could face her father, and never found closure with the abuse she felt so she used her styling techniques and strong metaphors to feel some sort of relief. Sylvia was also tortured by her husband, and she was victimized by him just like she was by her father. She felt that she was inferior to him, and this showed in her early works, like in “A life “. However, in later works, she overcomes the victimization she felt and uses her experiences as an advantage in her writing. She even metaphorically kills her father in “Daddy.” “Daddy” was written on October 12, 1962. The poem is viewed as to be about Sylvia’s deceased father, Otto Plath. They had a very complicated relationship, and Plath felt victimized by her father. Sylvia creates a figurative image of her father, using many different metaphors to describe her relationship with him. She compares him to a Nazi, which is supposedly based on the idea that her real father was a Nazi sympathizer and her mother very possibly part...
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...critical analysis hanging fire also, the door closed thing is that her mother isn't helping her through the hard time of early adolescence ashy knees are just a metaphor for a unsatisfactory life, stop taking so she's a girl with an unsatisfactory life, with a immature boyfriend, and a unhelpful mother. think this poem is about the hardships of a teenager, about how she feels her skin is deceiving her because it does not show her true colors, or who she really is. her knees are ashy because of all the "falls" she has taken, i see those to be her skcars of her life. learning how to dance before the next party can just be learing how to do anything before the next moment, being a teenager is a time of learning how to be an adult. she has fears of not making it through high school, which is a scary place for everyone, but i think it means she will not be able to do anything in life if she cant grow up. she thiks there is nothing to do or nothing that has to be done, which just means she sees no importance in anything. as always, a teenager thinks that no one cares about them and everything is either right or wrong no matter what she has to say about it. making a team or getting higher grades is an accomplishment to a teenager, she wishes she had an accomplishment but does not see all the little things she has done. she wonders why she is the different one who has braces. and finally she wonders who people are going to see her as tomorrow, her clothes, we all know teenagers...
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...Century investigation of the evolution of black culture (Gantt, 1; Gantt, 2).The play uses symbolism and metaphors that tell the late life story of Troy Maxon and the family that surrounds him. Even from the beginning of the drama there is conflict and foreshadowing that can be attributed to his own belief that he has failed in life, and that the world did not give him what he deserved. He believes that he has to go outside of the family to find refuge and that is how the story begins and ends. Using Formalistic analysis the essay will focus on the recurring themes in each act and scene of the drama to build to the last scene and the conclusion of the play (Chapter 3, 37).The point of view throughout the play is told through the eyes of Troy Maxon as viewed by the audience. He is the lead in the drama, and all plots revolve around his life and his decisions, some good and others not so good. These recurring themes also give the audience an understanding as to the life of the African American, both male and female, in the mid to late 1950s and early 1960s. Life was improving in the sense of gaining citizenship, but this was also before the civil rights movement and shows that citizenship did not mean acceptance or understanding of the assimilated African American culture, or putting into the open the injustice of the past (Burbank, 118). The second focus of this analysis is the combining of each act and scene through unity, relational issues, and actions that keep the drama...
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...Unit A Assignment 1: Poetry The two poems that I have chosen that I feel deserve a detailed analysis are 'The Road Not Taken' by Robert Frost and 'The Soldier' by Rupert Brooke. Robert Lee Frost was quite simply, one of America's leading 20th century poets. It could be because he wrote poems about rural life, drawing a distinct contrast between its innocence and peacefulness , and the depression and corruption of city life. It could also be because he used traditional verse forms that were understood by one and all. It might even be that people sensed his step forward in the direction of modernizing the interplay of rhythm and meter while writing exactly how people spoke. His poetry has been called traditional, experimental, regional, universal and even pastoral. And on the other hand Robert Chawner Brooke was an English poet know for his idealistic war sonnets written during the First World War. He was also known for boyish good looks. He was an established and rising poet with a strong academic reputation, important literary friends and potentially career changing political links. The reason why I have chosen 'The Road Not Taken' is because this poem deals with the choices we must make in life and the consequences of those choices. Frost is making an allegorical statement that basically says "there is no need to follow the steps of others". Often in life we are asked repeatedly to choose from a series of decisions that are based on the decisions that others...
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...THEME AND NARRATIVE ELEMENTS IN THE SHORT STORY BY __________________________ COURSE NAME/# PROFESSOR NAME DATE DUE, 2012 This analysis is a response to my exploration of the short story Little Red Riding Hood as featured in Journey Into Literature by R.W. Clugston, (2010, Ch. 4.1). The story is actually an ancient fable told in the oral tradition (basically French folk lore) that was written nearly 315 years ago by a writer named Charles Perrault in Paris. The identity of the original author is unknown, although it has been re-written and re-interpreted many, many times by others all over the world. The most popular version of the piece appeared in Perrault’s collection of fairy tales penned under the pseudonym, Mother Goose. Later in the mid-twentieth century, Walt Disney created an American re-telling of the famous Mother Goose story, but reworked it by adding the character of the Huntsman who intervenes and kills the wolf, saving the girl from the grip of Death. The reason for its success and worldwide popularity, I believe, lies in the story’s universal themes: a uniquely human expression of the dangerous interaction between good and evil. Culturally, this theme is extremely adaptable, and malleable to suit many peoples’ values. The story’s narration is done by an omniscient third-person whose voice and tone, in my opinion, reflect a sort of cool distance: a disinterested teller of cautionary tales. For example, the matter-of-fact way the murders are introduced...
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...An Analysis of “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost Many of Robert Frost's works have been interpreted as autobiographical, incorporating his love for the natural world in the thoughts and feelings of the speakers of his poetry. The genius of his work however lies in the broad meaning of his words so that they apply to everyone. In his poem "Acquainted with the Night", Frost uses symbolism and rhythm skims to convey through the speaker what many feel are lonesome feelings of isolation from some awful deeds, which the speaker feels ashamed of. Others may view the poem as being full of optimistic, life proclaiming symbolism that reflects the speaker's pride in choosing the road less traveled. His use of symbolic ideas allows for his work to be interpreted in various ways, and every reader can find their own meaning to his words. Robert Frost experienced many losses in his life including his father in 1885, his mother in 1900, his sister in 1929, and four of his six children, two of which died at very early ages. Of course everyone experiences losses in their lives, but one can imagine the profound effect the death of a child would have on one's disposition. The often gloomy and even depressing tones of many of his poems can be seen as a projection of his own depression and feelings of loss. Most people read "Acquainted with the Night" as dealing with the ideas of loneliness, depression, sufferings, and even contemplation of suicide. Everyone can relate to the feelings...
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