Premium Essay

Soul Black Descriptive Writing

Submitted By
Words 2177
Pages 9
Soul Black as Tar
The next morning I awake early and walked outside and sat down on the porch and stared off at the sun as it slowly rose above numerous distant misty mountains. I watched the soft yellow rays of its light filtered through the thin leaves of a far-off Paper Birch tree. Suddenly I shivered in the morning chill and decided that I ought to occupy myself by setting out to explore. So I embarked crunching noisily down the gravel driveway and slogging through the muddy front yard. There I rounded an enormous ancient oak tree that had a double roped swing hanging from one of its branches. My sneakers were sopping by the time I reached the swing and climbed on. I pushed off and looked up at the sky and watched a flock of white dove's …show more content…
As he swam away the wild waves broke apart our tiny vessel and the pieces floated everywhere. I managed to swim over and grab onto a fragment of boat that was drifting by and desperately clung onto it as the waves continued to crash around me. Finally as the waves began to subside, I was able to peer about and saw that the Captain had been flung from the wreckage and swept away by the winds. I paddled over and snatched him and ordered him to grab onto the wreckage. Then I heard a loud squawk from above and glanced up and saw the parrot frantically fluttering about and pointing at something in the water. I swam towards where the bird had indicated, and discovered that the Kidd was out cold and bobbing on his back. I yanked hard on the Kidd's arm rousing him. Gradually we paddled back over to where the Captain was still hanging onto the wreckage. We drifted for a long while until the parrot who was standing on The Kidd's head shouted, "Over there. Land ho!" We all intently gazed off in the direction that the bird had indicated and through the mist we could see what appeared to be the tip of a

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Compare and Contrast the Ideas and Positions of Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and W.E.B. Dubois. Critically Evaluate the Strength and Weaknesses of Each

...Washington, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and W.E.B. DuBois. Critically evaluate the strength and weaknesses of each.” Black History 140B Professor Katungi 3-12-03 Booker Taliaferro Washington was born a slave on a plantation in Franklin Country, Virginia in 1856. One of our nations most powerful black educators; he illustrated his belief in the dignity of work. He was very skilled in politics and influential for both black and white communities. “There was no period of my life that was devoted to play.” He expressed his concept of hard work was the cornerstone of his social philosophy. Booker T. became a principle and guiding force behind Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institution in Hampton, Alabama during 1881. He felt that industrial education was a way out from the horrible sharecropping and debt. His plan also wanted to achieve self-employment, land ownership and small businesses. “Yet one has the hand in all things essential to mutual progress”, being a personal quote from Booker T. at the Atlanta Compromise address in 1895. His major role was to influence the area of race relations and black leadership. He attacked racism and secretly founder of many anti-segregationist activities. Booker T. wanted to help black Americans rise up from the economic slavery, that had held them down long after they were legally free citizens. As being a dominant figure in black public affairs from 1895 until his death, he spoke heavily against lynching and worked towards making “separate”...

Words: 1202 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

The Correlation Between Reoccurring Themes in African American Literature

...African American literature is surprising, captivating, and spirited. Once you start reading a story it is easy to get caught up in the tale being told. The descriptive nature of the works makes it easy to relate to them. Throughout my readings thus far in the class I have noticed some common themes that reoccur in many of the stories and poems. Of course slavery was a very common topic but there were others such as inequality between the races and sexes, injustice and resentment, the black identity, and a strong faith and religion. Even though the words can be separated in the end they all come back together. There were many narratives written by fugitive slaves before the Civil War and by former slaves in the postbellum era. These narratives document slave life from the perspective of first-hand experience. The stories they tell are dark and ugly. The authors like Douglas and Jacobs reveal the struggles, sorrows, aspirations, and triumphs of slaves in absorbingly personal story-telling. Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was the first autobiography by a formerly enslaved African American woman. In it she describes her experience of the sexual exploitation that made slavery especially oppressive for black women. She also recounts her life in slavery in the context of family relationships with her escape and her struggle to free her children. Fredrick Douglas who wrote Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglas, an American Slave, Written by Himself...

Words: 1263 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

What Is Edgar Allan Poe's Death

...of death in a positive nature about the meeting of a soul in a graveyard rather than showcasing it in a negative light. Up to this time of Poe’s life he had faced many losses in his life, but it appeared he had not arrived at the turning point in which his work follows his descent into...

Words: 2155 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Morocco

...with long-faced men in robes sipping black coffee, smoking dark tobacco. . In that moment, day became night. The sitters drew deep on their cigarettes, coughed, and stared out at the street. Some were worrying, others dreaming, or just sitting in silence” (Shah 1). This opening passage from Tahir Shah’s In the Caliph’s House is a memorable one for me. It is the first line I read from many readings to come in my eager preparation for Morocco last summer. I remember my professor reading this line aloud during our first class meeting months later, and my anticipation at the trip to come. And now, over two months after returning from my trip to Morocco, I can instantly picture the scene, so familiar, and I am transported back to the streets of Fes outside our hotel. Travel writers like Shah, as well as anthropologists, use the power of writing to weave words into deep meaning. Before the classes and trip, I had little knowledge or experience in the fields of anthropology or travel writing. In becoming acquainted with these disciplines fall quarter, they seemed like completely different fields to me. Anthropology is a social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings. Travel writing, on the other hand, seemed a broad category of writing that encompassed basically any traveler writing about a different country or culture for practically any purpose. The main differences between anthropology and travel writing are the audience and purpose, the level...

Words: 1508 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird Film Comparison

... | | |Tom Lavender, English Essay | | |“Despite the efforts of governments, groups and individuals, humankind still finds it difficult to trust based on the soul of a person; | |we are more comfortable making judgements based on skin colour.” | Prejudice, courage and unity… TEXT COMPARISON Are we always champions of tolerance, courage and receptiveness to others? By the very definition of humanity, we must be. Humanity: benevolence, understanding and kindness towards other people. It is, arguably, our very human nature to feel compassion, courage, understanding, unity and empathy towards our fellow man. Unfortunately, prejudice and judgement also cling to the human condition like tumorous stains – traits which society still finds hard to surmount. Despite the efforts of governments, groups and individuals, humankind still finds it difficult to trust based on the soul of a person; we are more comfortable making judgements based on skin colour. Nelle Harper Lee through her 1960 novel, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ and Boaz Yakin through his 2000 film, ‘Remember the Titans,’ are text composers who tackle the ill-defined paradigms of ‘prejudice, courage and unity’ by painting a picture of the confronting face of racism...

Words: 3544 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Darkling Thrush Analysis

...Relevant Background * The poet Thomas Hardy was born near Dorchester in England. * He is also famous for writing novels. * Hardy gained a love of music from his father. Music is a prominent feature of ‘The Darkling Thrush’. * Hardy gained his interest in literature from his mother. * At the age of 22 Hardy moved to London and started to write poems. These early poems praised country life. Yet Hardy didn’t publish his poems until he was 58. He was 60 when he wrote this poem. * Hardy wrote over 900 poems in his lifetime. * Hardy’s poems are straight to the point and sometimes gloomy in outlook. In this poem he finds a source of hope when a thrush suddenly starts to sing. * Hardy’s most common theme is about the way people struggle against fate. * Hardy's themes also include rural life and nature, love, change, time, loss and death. * Hardy’s tone is usually ironic; that is he sees the unexpected twists and surprises of life. The twist in this poem is that when the poet was in a sad mood due to winter a weak old thrush caused him to feel hope. * Most of Hardy’s poetry is relatively simple and yet skilful. However, some of his poetic writing can be difficult due to old-fashioned words and phrases. * Hardy loves to think in surprising images that appeal to the reader’s intelligence. * Hardy’s poems tend to be descriptive, lyrical, and regular in form. He is a poet who likes even lines and a set rhyme scheme. We see this in ‘The Darkling...

Words: 2234 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Mother to Son Analysis

...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...

Words: 2457 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Deciphering Achebe’s Essay Regarding Heart of Darkness

...that “western psychoanalysts must regard the kind of racism displayed by Conrad as absolutely normal” (Achebe 11). I did not want that to be my initial reaction, but why should I argue my side of it if Achebe only believes that I see things this way because of where I was born? According to Chinua Achebe, before I even picked up “An Image Of Africa,” we were never going to see eye to eye on any level of his dissection of the novella Heart of Darkness. My first thought was to not even touch what Achebe had spoke about. To leave it as it was, an unchangeable belief that I would never be able to argue because of his demeanor. A demeanor that shouts, “I’ve felt this way for some time now, and I am finally getting this off my chest.” Someone writing with such conviction is quite hard to argue against. Anyone with a history in debate would know this. I felt as if my conviction was not as high as his over this topic matter, and the only way to argue with someone such as himself is to match his demeanor. Although I felt he was dead wrong with every topic he brought up, I decided to stray away from the status quo. I did not feel strongly enough to argue the ideas brought up in his essay. Besides, what is the point of reading twenty essays arguing the same topic? It becomes trivial, and loses its meaning. I figured it would be another essay lost in a pile of paper of its counterparts. While deciding upon what to write about I had brainstormed...

Words: 3087 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Brand Management

...Brand guide Version 1.0 This book presents a new brand strategy for Samsung: — who we serve, — what we stand for, and — how we communicate our value. It begins by painting a clearer picture of our core consumer, then defines a new brand platform that will help us build a more powerful emotional connection with this target. Finally, it provides the visual and verbal elements we need to bring our brand story to life. Think of this book as a user’s manual for our brand. It will help all of us make Samsung a more powerful global icon. This document is intended for Samsung internal purposes only. The information contained herein is proprietary and confidential. Any use, copying, retention or disclosure by any person other than the intended recipient or the intended recipient’s designees is strictly prohibited. © 2008, Samsung Electronics Co. Table of contents 1 New brand platform 19 Bringing the brand to life 93 Applications 121 Appendix New brand platform 2 Global brand objective 3 Brand target 4 Target profiles 10 Brand equity pyramid 12 Brand equity 14 Interpretation of brand personalities Global brand objective The Samsung brand has come a long way in a short time. Our first focus was to build brand awareness worldwide. We succeeded by making Samsung one of the best known brands in any category. In the following years, our task was to build our premium quality, to help drive preference against competing...

Words: 16177 - Pages: 65

Premium Essay

Explore the Presentation of the Troubled Mind in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and the Poetry of John Keats, with Illuminating Reference to Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

...explained, Thompson says, because the only people who ‘really know where it is’ are the ones who ‘have gone over’ it, those who have died or else never returned to ‘reality’ and ‘sanity’. Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the poetry of John Keats, and Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest all describe, in differing ways, states of mind on ‘the Edge’. When they were first published, the contemporary reception to Keats’s poems and to Wuthering Heights was remarkably similar. Keats was described as writing ‘the most incongruous ideas in the most uncouth language’ , while Bronte’s novel (published under the male pseudonym Ellis Bell) was called ‘too coarse and disagreeable to be attractive’, and described as ‘wild, confused, disjointed, and improbable’ with characters who are ‘savages ruder than those who lived before the days of Homer.’ These accusations of ‘uncouth’, ‘coarse’ and ‘disjointed’ writing suggest that both authors had already crossed one edge with their writing: the edge of what was considered acceptable or respectable literature. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, wrote Time magazine, is ‘A roar of protest against middlebrow society’s Rules and the Rulers who enforce them’, and could therefore be seen to cross a similar edge, represented here by defying the ‘Rules’ of ‘middlebrow society’. Pushing and breaking this boundary edge is a factor that unites these...

Words: 3252 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Discriptive Sbi

...society and lead a successful life. Speaking and writing correct and required English is one of them. Here we bring a book that will give a basic structure to all the aspirants to attempt descriptive English properly. We give a complete framework covering each and every topic of descriptive English paper. The book comprises techniques to attempt précis and essays, contains types of letters, sample letters & even model tests for your practice. This will provide the aspirants with basic knowledge of general rules of attempting English language descriptive paper, guiding them in learning English to an extent to which they attempt confident use of English. The book is aimed to provide you the content, sufficient enough, to attempt the descriptive English paper efficiently and may lead you to success in your examination. For this purpose all the current topics are being covered here. This book also intends to provide the competitors a conceptual base through the explanations of the questions asked. Any modification or error shall be entertained and we will try to incorporate it in our next issue. DESCRIPTIVE ENGLISH DESCRIPTIVE ENGLISH 4 Mahendra Publication Pvt. Ltd. www.mahendrapublication.org TOPICS CONTENTS Pg. No. 6 8 16 21 31 31 32 33 34 35 35 37 39 41 41 42 43 44 45 47 48 49 50 51 55 56 57 58 59 60 62 62 64 65 67 67 69 69 71 71 72 What is Descriptive English Precis Writing Letter Writing Essay Writing & Sample Essays ECONOMY Brain Drain CSR Rise...

Words: 101965 - Pages: 408

Free Essay

Cxc Notes by the Jamaican Gleaner

...Acids, bases and salts yl:chemistry FRANCINE TAYLOR-CAMPBELL Contributor YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO: f Define acid, acid anhydride, base, alkali, salt, acidic, basic, amphoteric and neutral oxides f Relate acidity and alkalinity to the pH scale f Discuss the strengths of acids and alkalis on the basis of their completeness of ionisation f Investigate the reactions of non-oxidising acids with metals, carbonates, hydrogen carbonates, bases f Investigate the reaction of bases with ammonium salts f Identify an appropriate method of salt preparation based on the solubility of the salt f Distinguish between acid salts and normal salts POINTS TO NOTE f Non-metals form acidic oxides, while metals form basic oxides. f Amphoteric oxides show both basic and acidic properties, while neutral oxides show neither. f Non-metallic oxides dissolve in water to form acids. f Metallic oxides are basic oxides and dissolve in water to form alkalis. f Acids combine with bases to form salt and water only. f Salts can be formed from the reaction of acids with carbonates, hydrogen-carbonates, alkalis and metals. f The pH of a substance indicates how acidic or basic (alkaline) its aqueous solution is. The pH scale goes from 0 - 14 with a pH less than 7 described as acidic and a pH greater than 7 described as basic or alkaline. One can use pH paper (litmus) or indicator solutions, such as methyl orange and phenolphthalein, to determine whether substances are alkaline...

Words: 10190 - Pages: 41

Free Essay

A Critical Survey of Contemporary South African Poetry

...A CRITICAL SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN POETRY A CRITICAL SURVEY OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN POETRY: THE LANGUAGE OF CONFLICT AND COMMITMENT By Laura Holland, B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts McMaster University September 1987 MASTER OF Arts (1987) (English) McMASTER UNIVERSITY Hamilton, Ontario TITLE: A Critical Survey of Contemporary South African Poetry: The Language of Conflict and Commitment AUTHOR: Laura Linda Holland, B.A. (University of Alberta) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Alan Bishop NUMBER OF PAGES: v, 134 ii ABSTRACT The thes is concentrates on South African poetry from 1960 to the present. It closely examines a selection of poems by Breyten Breytenbach, Dennis Brutus, Pascal Gwala, Wopko Jensma, Oswald Mtshali, Arthur Nortje, Cosmo Pieterse, Sipho Sepamla, and Wally Serote, among others. The body of the thesis discusses these poets' contributions to poetry about prison, exile, and township life. The thesis focuses on the struggle between various polical, racial, and cultural groups for hegemony over South Africa's poetic development. Such issues as language, ideology, and censorship are explored insofar as they in! .luence t:ne content and structure of the poetry. This body of poems, sadly, is little studied in North America. The thesis presents an introduction to and a survey of the major tendencies in South African poetry and, in part...

Words: 33218 - Pages: 133

Free Essay

Kite Runner

...the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years… One day last summer, my friend Rahim Khan called from Pakistan. He asked me to come see him. Standing in the kitchen with the receiver to my ear, I knew it wasn’t juts Rahim Khan on the line. It was my past of unatoned sins.” (p. 1) | The introduction paragraph gives the reader an insight of the narrator’s haunting past. The narrator uses descriptive words (crumbing mud wall) and is evidently a gifted story teller. The structure of his writing easily grasps the attention of the audience. The tone of the story seems to be frightening and melancholy due to the author’s diction, syntax, and level of formality. The first page mostly consists of flashbacks more so by recalling them rather than reliving them. If flashbacks continue to recur, the past may symbolize an important theme throughout the story. | | Personification | | 1 | “Because the past claws its way out.” (p. 1) | | | Personification/simile | | 1 | “Then I glanced up and saw a pair of kites, red with long blue tails, soaring in the sky. They danced high above the trees on the west end of the park, over the windmills, floating side by side like a pair of eyes looking...

Words: 3498 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Culinary

...ancient Greece. Thales was the first of the Greek natural philosophers and founder of the Ionian school of ancient Greek thinkers. Works/Writings/Philosophy:  His is said to have measured the Egyptian pyramids and to have calculated the distance from shore of ships at sea using his knowledge of geometry.  He also predicted an eclipse of the sun. In geometry Thales has been credited with the discovery of five theorems like the one that a triangle inscribed in a semicircle has a right angle. He tried to discover the substance from which everything in nature is made off and suggested water.  Thales is important in bridging the worlds of myth and reason. He initiated the revolutionary notion that to understand the world one needed to know its nature and that there was an explanation for all phenomena in natural terms. That was a giant step from the assumptions of the old world that supernatural forces determined almost everything.  While considering the effects of magnetism and static electricity, he concluded that the power to move other things without the mover itself changing was a characteristic of "life", so that a magnet and amber must therefore be alive in some way (in that they have animation or the power to act). If so, he argued, there is no difference between the living and the dead. If all things were alive, they must also have souls or divinities (a natural belief of his time), and the end result of this argument was an almost total removal of mind from substance, opening...

Words: 17879 - Pages: 72