The Role of An Individual As It Comes From Toni Morrison Essay Example for Free

The Role of An Individual As It Comes From Toni Morrison Essay â€Å"If there’s a book you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it. † (Morrison). In reading Toni Morrison’s short story â€Å"Recitatif,† there are several things that Morrison does for her readers that allow us to relate and make the story our own. Morrison is a prime example of how language and translation play a role in the reader’s experience and what the reader takes away from the story. In â€Å"Recitatif† Morrison also helps the reader understand how much the past affects one’s future. â€Å"The past is never dead, it’s not even past. † (William Faulkner, Requiem for a Nun). The way in which Toni Morrison begins â€Å"Recitatif† is crucial to understand the entire story. It is just as Faulkner has said in the aforementioned quote; the past is never dead. Twyla and Roberta have both been dramatically affected by their past and the stereotypes others have planted. Before Twyla and Roberta even got to talk more than a few words, Twyla had assumptions about Roberta, ideas constructed by her past. This is ever true for each of us. Based on the experiences and circumstances we previously endured, we mold our future. Our individuality is mainly based  on others in that because of what others inflict on us or walk with us through, we build our future. We are but the summation of our past. Thurmond 2 Both girls may have had already formed ideas about each other. However the reader cannot do the same. Morrison does not allow the reader to know which character is white and which is black. She does this to portray the difference between necessary characteristics and accidental characteristics. By not know which girl is which race, we cannot make automatic assumptions, this is known as accidental characteristics. Accidental characteristics are not  provided in a story but assumed, and dramatically affect perception. A necessary characteristic is purposely revealed in hopes that we as readers would mold our ideas of the story more closely with what the author intended. Virginia Woolf believed that the problem with 1920s authors was that they focused on the physical, not the mental, but Toni Morrison removes the physical so readers can more accurately assess the story. Morrison is very straight to the point. She says what she needs to say and does not say what she does not need to say. She is honest and blunt, and this helps readers to dig deeper than the text. Her language is very easy to understand, she eliminates any questions of confusion readers may have regarding the story. Also, by her putting the story into easy-to-understand language, it allows the reader to relate to her on a new level. Simple language and easy translation helps the audience take the story and make it their own, thus giving them a connection to the work. When a reader says a story â€Å"speaks† to them, perhaps this is what they mean. If a reader can easily understand the story, they can easily dig deeper and re-tell the story in a way that only they can. My version of â€Å"Recitatif† would be considerably different that  someone else’s because it means something different to me than to them. There are many things to be said about Toni Morrison and her story â€Å"Recitatif†. As it relates to language and translation, I do not think anyone would complain about her style. She has a way with words that allows the reader to, instead of evaluating the story, evaluate Thurmond 3 themselves through her story. Is this not what it is all about? As individuals, Morrison encourages us to be ourselves, because that is all we can be. We can shape our lives and tell our story in a way that no one else could; so be you, no one else can do that.

Quest for The Dream in Black Girl Lost and Makes Me Wanna Holler :: Comparison Compare Contrast Essays

Quest for "The Dream" in Black Girl Lost and Makes Me Wanna Holler      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Donald Goines Black Girl Lost (1973) and Nathan McCall's Makes Me Wanna Holler (1994) are two works written by male authors who have first hand knowledge about the African American experience. A difference between the two works is that McCalls story is an autobiography of his life growing up in the streets/ghetto and Goines is a fictional story about growing up in the streets/ghetto, but from a young black female perspective. Although Goines Black Girl Lost is not an autobiography, he and McCall share similar struggles and hardships in their backgrounds that give them the motivation to write about the black experience. Both authors have been praised for the "realism" in their writing (Lamb 1997,OCAAL 1997). Goines has been specifically recognized by critic Greg Goode, for his "ghetto realism" w/o glamorization (OCAAL 1997).    Black Girl Lost (Goines 1973) and Makes Me Wanna Holler (McCall 1994), both give a voice to the African American minority. The African American and minority themes: "The Dream" and "Choice / Self Determination" are very significant in the two texts. The right choices have to be made and one must continue to have self- determination in order to reach "The Dream". In the two texts, both characters make plenty of good and bad choices and continuously try to have self- determination in order to achieve "The Dream", but their choices and determination led the characters to very different places. There are three variables that may not cause, but can contribute to the African American not being able to achieve "The Dream" by causing conflict in their choices and self- determination. The three variables are: family and friend environments, individual needs and anxieties, and low motivation among minority members. Some of the variables are causes and consequences of prejudice & discrimination (Marger 1997).    The environment that people are surrounded by can have an enormous effect on their actions or circumstances that they are in. Therefore, the first variable to compare and contrast in the two texts is the Family and Friends Environment. In Black Girl Lost (1973), Goines has his main character, Sandra, being the only child of a single parent home were her mother is constantly drinking, entertaining different men, partying and never taking the responsibility for herself or her daughter. They hardly ever eat or have any money.

It’s Always Good To Tell The Truth Essay

Life is full of deception in assorted forms, ranging from the magic shows for recreational purpose to strategic consideration in wars of ancient times.As a result, some people may take telling a lie as granted due to its commonity. However, i vote for the confession as the most significant trait when it comes to handle people since keeping the truth bridges a good relationship within them by creating more senses of integrity and honesty which are core values and foundation in the relationship development. First, always showing the genuine side towards your family members can help us to build a healthy and merry family, especially given the children adoption. In the family, if the children are lied and cheated by parents-the closet people in their world, even for some minor staffs, they are more likely to feel distrust and unloved by their parents afterwards. In the long term, they may refuse to listen to the parents any more,even worse, they may hate and imitate parents to lie as well which create an intense relationship within the family. According to the statistic, most of the adolescent problems such as drug and smoke abuse, young crime commitment like steal and robbery are the results of such bad family relationship. Thereby, always acknowledging the truth amounts to the display of love and respect towards family members which correspondingly contributes to a happy ending. Secondly, always behaving honesty instead of being too adulated and sophisticated towards friends and colleges also brings us advantages more than we realized. Whether we’re in the universities and working in the companies, being frank surely help us build a trustworthy image in the public that in turn benefits in varieties ways: we’re likely to make more new friends due to the integrity we show, we’re likely to get more recognision from boss and advance our career because of our fair -mind towards all the faked and unjustified work, we’re likely to empowered more confidence and courage handling difficulties as we will become more upfront and loyal towards ourselves to respect the truth. These are the wealth beyond our realization brought by truth if we pursue and stick to. Admittedly, lying might avoid people from getting hurt or embarrassed in some  degree. For example, we might say the girl is still pretty even she’s fat to protect her pride. However, humans are not weak, in fact the protection we regard works nothing to the girl except the lies, she may continue to get fatty since no one reminds or suggests her take exercises to lose weight. Lies even with good intention safeguard nothing but the continuity of tragedy. To summarize, no legacy is so rich as honesty and truth, which worth our whole life to pursue and defend whatever relationship we’re engaged in between people.

Theme Of A Fire By Jack Londons - 911 Words

Death is battle everyone fights, and without the right attitude we would not survive. In ‘To Build a Fire’ written by Jack Londons is a cautionary tale about a man with the lack of survival skills. The main character is introduced a in cold environment with no knowledge on how to survive in general. The short story embark on a journey with the idea of represents about the way we think in a dire situation. The opening scene establishes our main character’s inability or lack of care towards his own survival. ‘To Build a Fire’ begins with our main character, a man, hiking the Yukon trail on a bitter cold day. He had no supplies and did not care. â€Å"It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun. This fact did not worry the man.† The last sentence shows his state of mind and the reader what they will get into. ‘This fact†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ the last sentence of the quote begins this way to establish its’ dry and dark humor. â€Å"But all this—the mysterious, far-reaching hair-line trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all—made no impression on the man. It was not because he was long used to it.† The ‘absence’ of the sun is gone, leaving a dar k dreary sky with a foreboding mood attached. Describing the cold as ‘tremendous’ and foreign to the man is a nod to the reader to how this character sees the environment. It seemed as theShow MoreRelatedThe Theme Of A Fire By Jack London794 Words   |  4 Pages The theme â€Å"To Build a Fire† by Jack London, is about pride, which is shown by survival in the wilderness, taking advice, and inevitably death. Pride is a major part of survival, especially in environments such as in Yukon, Alaska. When advice is given to you, it’s meant to help you or to save your life. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way when you don’t listen to advice, such as did the main character in the Alaska extreme cold weather. Formatively, you have to ask yourself; will you liveRead MoreTheme Of A Fire By Jack London1376 Words   |  6 Pages To Build a Fire Jack Thurman Prof Cole Bellamy Week 3 In To Build a Fire by Jack London, the setting plays a significant role throughout the entire short story. Jack London uses certain techniques to establish the atmosphere of the story. By introducing his readers to the setting, prepares them for a tone that is depressed and frightening. Isolated by an environment of frigid weather and doom, the author shows us how the main character of the story is completely unaware of his surroundingsRead MoreMajor Theme in to Build a Fire by Jack London1360 Words   |  6 PagesMajor Themes Determinism The movement of naturalism was greatly influenced by the 19th-century ideas of Social Darwinism, which was in turn influenced by Charles Darwins theories on evolution. Social Darwinism applied to the human environment the evolutionary concept that natural environments alter an organisms biological makeup over time through natural selection. Social Darwinists and naturalists cited this as proof that organisms, including humans, do not have free will, but are shaped, orRead More The Existential Theme of London’s To Build A Fire Essay1311 Words   |  6 PagesThe Existential Theme of London’s â€Å"To Build A Fire  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Jack London’s short story, â€Å"To Build a Fire,† is the tragic tale of a man who decides to travel alone through the hostile environment of the Yukon in sub-freeing temperatures and falls victim to the unrelenting and unforgiving power of nature. During his journey, the man gets his feet wet as he falls through the ice into the water of a hot spring (London 122). Because of the severity of the cold, some â€Å"one hundred and seven degreesRead MoreJack London : An Oyster Pirate1204 Words   |  5 PagesJack London was born in 1876, and died in 1916. He was born in San Francisco, California, and was the son of Flora Wellman Chaney. When he was a child, he would sometimes living with the Prentisses. Mr. and Mrs. Prentisses were African Americans who served as London’s surrogate parents. When Jack turned 15, he sailed the San Francisco Bay as an oyster pirate. During his time on the water, London developed an alcohol problem, which would eventually become alcoholism. In 1894, London was arrested asRead More Jack Londons To Build a Fire Essay example1103 Words   |  5 PagesJack Londons To Build a Fire In his short story entitled To Build a Fire, Jack London portrays a bitter conflict between man and nature. The nature in this story is the harsh environment of the Yukon Trail. London chose to use nature as the antagonist, almost as a force working against the main character in his struggle for survival. London accomplished this personification of nature by giving the environment many human characteristics, by creating numerous thingsRead MoreLife Requires Imagination Essay1289 Words   |  6 Pagestheir deaths, however some end up passing on and are not able to turn their lives around. However, in the short story To Build a Fire by Jack London the man in the story does not survive his dance with death. In the story, the man, whom never gets a name, embarks on a very cold, very long journey to a mining camp. On his journey, he has to stop several times and build a fire in order to keep himself warm and keep himself going throughout his journey to the camp. He has a dog lead him, and then he mustRead MoreJack London Essay1251 Words   |  6 PagesJack London, an American author known for his thrilling adventure stories, showed the world that even an exciting story that takes place in exotic settings can include all the intricacies of great literature. This is seen in many of his stories with the implementation of symbolism, many times a recurring theme in his work. Also, London used many ideas of the day such as Darwinism and Spencerism in his writings in order to better portray his views. However, perhaps one of the most telling signs thatRead MoreConflict In Jack Londons To Build A Fire1143 Words   |  5 Pagesto beat them. In Jack London’s short story called â€Å"To Build a Fire,† the main character conflicts with mother nature, who keeps tearing him down at every possible point. The main character, who is only referred to as the Man, is battling his way alone through the harsh temperatures of the Yukon. On this journey he runs into many obstacles and challenges. The Man does not listen to the advice he is given, leading to his inevitable death at the end. The most notable theme London builds up and controlsRead MoreEssay on Comparing the Two Versions of To Build a Fire1096 Words   |  5 Pages Comparing the Two Versions of To Build a Fire nbsp; I am absolutely confident that beyond the motif itself, there is no similarity of treatment whatever (544). Jack London, writing in December 1908, was responding to an inquiry from the Richard W. Gilder, editor of Century Magazine. Gilder, having just published To Build a Fire in his magazine, was worried when he came across another version published 6 years earlier. Londons explanation was that the first story was for boys and the