Imagine being captured and trapped in a camp, in North Vietnam, for six years filled with days of brutal torture and agonizing boredom. In Leo Thorsness’s novel, Surviving Hell, Thorsness and his fellow soldiers found a way to not only survive, but to thrive. Through numerous events and experiences, the soldiers survived by utilizing any means possible, both mentally and physically. It was their hope and optimism that kept them going. This can be seen when Thorsness plots his walk home.
The two most vital characters in the novel “Three Day Road” by Joseph Boyden is the Xavier Bird and Elijah Weesageechack and they have several major differences and these differences has been told and tested throughout the whole novel that how Xavier was reserved and visceral while Elijah was self-assured and talkative. Xavier was nurtured by his Aunt Niska for the long span of his childhood, opposed to how Elijah was raised in Moose Factory by nuns at a residential school. This came up as the three key differences between them that are paramount to the story and the themes of the novel are; firstly, their respect for their Oji-Cree culture, secondly their respect and love for human life, and lastly their personalities.
Imagine being involved in a bloody massacre and watching your community dissipate into the dusk. Picture dodging the piercing bullets as they whisk past innocent ears. Envision your home turning into a battle ground, breaking up into military bases—flipping the world upside down. (nice capture tactic) This was peoples’ lives for many years, beginning in the 1960’s, during the Civil War in Sierra Leone. (need a transition---how does Beah relate to civil war aforementioned—I think I follow and understand but you did not explicitly state, which is always necessary when essay writing) A Long Way Gone is a memoir written and lived by Ishmael Beah. He writes with an intense tone and strong demeanor with his diction,
In this essay “Living in Two Worlds” written by Marcus Mabry, I will analyse his split life by examining how his new life is affect poverty, finding a balance and self reliance. The harsh reality is many of his family members were struggling to make ends meet while he was living a modest life because of the scholarship he had received in ninth grade. This affects him from truly enjoying this experiencing considering that during the day his life was satisfying but when he got home this completely changed when he was forced with his reality of living with poverty. As a result of this “Most students who travel between the universe of poverty and affluence during breaks experience similar conditions, as well as the guilt, the helplessness and, sometimes, the embarrassment associated with them. ”(Mabry 100) The previous quote highlights why it
War lights the barrel keg within everyone reveling their true identity, by abandoning their past beliefs. Joseph Boyden illustrates the importance of cultural identity, throughout the novel Three Day Road. Xavier shows devotion towards his culture, by constantly trying to hold onto whatever reminded himself of it. Another character, Niska, betrays herself by abandoning her culture as a result of losing her identity. Elijah also completely strips of his cultural identity when he turns windgo. Elijah was heavily influenced by war, to stray along the wrong path. The characters change throughout the story, however many of them remain true to their cultural identity. Boyden shows that being true to one’s identity allows one to have self-discipline, and therefore they should treasure it.
Everyone has to overcome adversity in their life. In Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game” the main character, Rainsford, fell of his boat at night time On the Island, Rainsford finds a home where General Zaroff lives. The problem is that the only way he can leave the island is if he survives a “game”. Where General Zaroff is hunting him. So Rainsford has to survive for three days. After a while Rainsford ambushes Zaroff, it his house, Then Zaroff is killed by Rainsford and fed to his own hounds. Then Rainsford says that he has never slept in a better bed. In “The Sniper” by Liam O’Flaherty the main character is a sniper and is in a civil war in his country right now. At the end of the story he was being shot at and he laid down next
In the book “Night,” insanity is a major theme because the book tells us about the life of torture the jews were going through. Jews had it awful they were separated from their families, and they were beaten up. The book states, “we were wipped, all we had for food was bread and soup.”
Adversity can take us by surprise, but everyone at some point in life experiences it. The way our personal identity can be shaped is through our phases of adversity.The experiences of dealing with difficulties can shape the way we view life and the actions that will show our persona. When we persevere adversity and obstacles it shows our reputation and our true type of identity.In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare, illustrates the way Hamlet, as well as other characters, deal with adversity through the types of motives they are seeking. we see prince Hamlet feeling far from cheerful due to his father 's death and his unstable family. He shows his hardships and loss of identity throughout the story, but we see it in-depth during his mourning phase when he can 't seem to deal with anyone.He goes to the people that he feels close to, the ones he can trust, and his perspective on life and maturity grow throughout the story. Adversity can at first leave us feeling a strong sense of emotion, people gradually take more control and act rationally and more stable.
A myriad of common themes exist in literature, employed by authors for an infinite number of effects: among these are the basic human experiences such as life, death, joy, and adversity. As defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, adversity is “a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.” A subject commonly explicated upon, adversity is present in literature’s earliest works, all the way through modern compositions. The role of adversity in literature can vary: if a character triumphs over or falls to adversity can paint the work in a positive or negative light, and be the difference between a tragedy and a triumph.
Unless you have been in war or have read The Things They Carried, you can't fully
At some point in our lives we experience troubling times, whether it 's a minor problem or a major one. Some of us have experienced things we cannot even begin to imagine. Two people who have experienced troubling times are Elie Wiesel, in Night, and Jeanne Wakatsuki, in Farewell to Manzanar. Both of them have gone through terrible, unimaginable journeys but lived in different conditions.
Authors like Joseph Boyden teach readers about aboriginal culture, tradition and discrimination thorough a native perspective; this is shown through the book Three Day Road. Three Day Road is an award winning novel which shows the struggles many solders faced during WW1. This is exactly portrayed by the two main characters, Elijah and Xavier. Xavier is deeply rooted in his native culture and tradition. Whereas Elijah is more outgoing and likes taking risks as he begins to identify with the “white” culture. All of the challenges and ordeals they face lead them to alter their cultural identity so they would be seen as better solders, in order to overcome their obstacles they turn to addiction and under all the pressure they fall into a competition which affects their friendship and puts their lives at risk.
In Tim O’Brien’s novel, “The Things They Carried,” about the Vietnam war, courage is described as a necessity for all soldiers. He uses both him and his comrade’s circumstances to describe this. Throughout the novel the motif of courage evolves as characters serve in the Vietnam War.
Many people can respond to adversity in a similar way to overcome the obstacles. For example, how people can adapt to their environment, and learn the positivity from family and friends can help them surpass the adversity. In There are No Children Here, Alex Kotlowitz has showed the life of Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers living through the violent projects of "Henry Honer Projects" and how the boys dealt with all the crime activities that occur there. In Along Way Gone, Ishmael describe the tragedies he had went through in the Sierra Leone War, and explained different ways how he overcomes the different obstacles that he had to deal with. For example, war like environment, loss of his friends and family, and rehabilitation center. Both Lafayette Rivers and Ishmael overcomes adversity by
This is demonstrated through the illusive sniper Peggy, and Frenchmen warn Elijah “avoid what happens to Peggy […] collect evidence of your kills” (204) because Peggy is not credited with his kills. There is an inherent disrespect in the army, and many Indigenous soldiers when they returned from the war did not receive the compensation or increased freedoms promised. This was a common theme in both society and the army, where Indigenous peoples were considered less because of their language and culture. Despite the negative views that the Cree language create for Xavier, he maintains his connection to his culture throughout the war. Contrastingly, Elijah choses to reinvent himself through language at the onset of the war. Since Elijah “had a gift for the wemistikoshiw language” (59) he is easily able to transition into an English gentleman. Elijah even employs a British accent, that starts as a joke but slowly consumes him. Later in the novel, Elijah admits “he couldn’t speak in his old voice even if he wanted to now. It’s gone somewhere far away” (138). As he