Analysis Of David Small's Stitches: A Memoir

David witnessed the toll his own mother took after his sister’s passing and attempted to spare his wife those feelings. David remembered the patience involved with his sister and attempted to spare his family those hardships. David experienced being second string to his sister’s needs and attempted to spare his son that neglect. Unfortunately, he could not break free from the inevitability of recreating the life he tried to erase.

John Jeremiah Sullivan’s essay, “Feet in Smoke” is a poignant glimpse at life, the human experience, and its frailty. “Feet in Smoke” focuses on an experience that John Jeremiah Sullivan’s brother, Worth, endured. Touching death. The essay utilizes imagery through vivid descriptions and “Feet in Smoke” has a particularly powerful paragraph that uses robotic imagery foremost. This paragraph, and the paragraphs that follow shortly afterwards are the crux of “Feet in Smoke”. The human condition, and the fleeting nature of vitality is highlighted through these paragraphs. Rhetorical devices such as phonetic intensive are used frequently, some loaded diction is also utilized, and allusion is sprinkled throughout the essay and employed more heavily in the last few paragraphs. Most of all, imagery channelled through these devices is what makes “Feet in Smoke” the impactful essay that it

C.S Lewis said, “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become”. Literature is an appreciable and significant thing in society. However, some literature works happen to have some similarities or parallels in themes or characters with others. Two pieces of literature that do just that are Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and “The Wound Dresser” by Walt Whitman. These two pieces of text are about two different soldiers memories and experiences while at war. The parallels between Louie and The Wound Dresser are they both have people interested about their war stories, took care of people during the war, and did their best to stay positive during the war.

A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer is a story about a child named David, who is a victim of abuse from his mother and tells his story of how he struggles to stay alive, search for food and the problems he has in school. David lives with his mother, father and brothers, but at the end of the book, he feels a strong hatred for his family and a strong hate for the people who knew about the abuse, David also regrets being born and questions if God exists. There are many health issues that happen when abuse happens to a child specifically and these include, “suicidal thoughts, eating disorder, PTSD can develop from a childhood of abuse.” (Rehman, Kazmi, Perveen, 2016). David towards the end of his story began to think that death was the only way he could escape the abuse. David’s story is the story of many other children around the world who suffer from physical, emotional and mental abuse, these children are in search of a light in the darkness for many years and David’s light in the darkness was his father in the beginning of the book but that drastically changed further on.

After years of Janet Reimer thinking that she couldn’t have twin children. On august 22, 1965, Janet gave birth (nature) to twin boys (nature). After 7 months of their birth, Bruce and Brian went to be circumcised (nurture). Bruce went first and the doctors had an accident (nurture). Due to a laser malfunction, they mistakenly burned his penis off. Bruce grew up without a penis (nurture). After the incident with Bruce they decided to not let Brian get circumcised. Mainly because they was scared (nurture). A couple of months later Janet saw Dr. Money on television. He believed that nurture could out rule nature. The meet up with dr. money to see if he could help Bruce in any type of way. He started to do research on both of the twins and he

The way an author crafts a story strongly impacts the mood of the story. Within the novel, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie, the main character - Steven - is a funny, sarcastic 13-year-old, When Jeffrey, his younger brother is diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (A.L.L), his life takes a turn for the worst. However, instead of making the novel gloomy and depressing, Jordan Sonnenblick (the author) incorporated jokes and sarcastic comments into the tale. Steven lightened the mood of the novel by being funny and relatable with his jokes.

Witnessing my father chasing down my mother because of a pointless argument of my parents not caring about my siblings and I where abouts would be devastating to say the least. In The Glass Castle Jeannette and her siblings chose to appreciate the small things as they got older because they were not given materialistic items or a hot meal when they could afford it. Their mother made poor financial decisions and hardly ever put the kids first. For example, the mom chose to rent a piano over buying Brian a pair of male jeans. He had to suffer wearing girl clothes that did not even fit. Just from reading this much, the parenting style in this book is ridiculous and the kids made the right choices as they got older to be successful.

In his memoir, Stephen King includes a brief autobiography of his life as well as information on how to be a good writer. Throughout the text, King builds a sense of trust with his reader, drawing their interest to the writing. This sense of trust is created through the author’s use of rhetoric. In his memoir, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft Stephen King uses ethical and emotional appeals to gain trust from the reader, in order to convince him or her to use King’s writing tips.

The passage I chose to close read from We The Animals by Justin Torres comes from the first paragraph of Chapter Four, entitled Seven. The author begins the scene like any other day yet the tone of the author’s writing is of worry. Torres’ tone affected my own mood. I tried to imagine how it would feel to be in the position that the narrator was in. Someone had abused his mother; in this case it was most likely her husband. Yet, the trauma of this chapter is portrayed as something that is nonchalant. Paps, the narrator's father, has just presented his wife’s current health status as something the narrator and his brothers should just brush off. As I read, the narrator would state that “[Paps] said [this], [Paps] told us [that], [Paps] had forbidden us to set foot in [Ma’s] bedroom…” (Torres 12). Paps had clear superiority over the whole family. From my close reading, I came to the conclusion that Paps was the one abusing Ma that is why he never allowed the children to be near her. The more she slept, the less she spoke, and the less “true” information was leaked to the

By nature, shorter poems are more densely packed with cues and devices because authors cannot express their intended message over the sweeping length of a poem but rather they must be more concise and creative. A poet may write a shorter poem to juxtapose a simple surface message to a more meaningful deeper message. Thus, complexity and artistic value are unrelated to length, but rather, they are developed through masterful writing. “Good Times” by Lucille Clifton embodies the double-edged sword of complex storytelling within a short poem, as she identifies the speaker 's occasional good memories to develop an image of the speaker’s typical abject life. The short poem is crafted with patterns of repetition, for there are so few lines to fit meaningful insight into. In Lucille Clifton’s short poem, “Good Times” she uses repetition for emphasis and uniformity. In her use of repetition and anaphora, Clifton gives the seventeen line poem a lengthier, list-like feel and emphasizes the emotional impact of memories on the speaker, revealing a deeper, more complex aspect to the short, simple poem.

The concept of future can be imperceptible. It is forged by our present and untouchable past of our life. Relationships can be maintained if built on the foundation of strong undisputed past. Yet, if built upon the uncertainty of past they come crumbling down. Ignorance and selfishness starts to blossom in our veins. However, those relationships can still be resurrected on the shifting sands of uncertainty if we decide to reflect upon our mistake. Past can’t be altered, yet reflecting on it and making a difference in present can heal the uncertainties of past and provide a better future. Today I reflect on the text of Don Bailey called “A Few Notes for Orpheus” which tells the struggle between a father and a son, and how their uncertainties

First and foremost, David is young, but wants to be treated like an adult so that he could have some kind of power in the form of responsibility and control in the form of his family’s relationships. As said in page 125, “My tears, however, were not for Marie, whom I loved, or my uncle, whom I once idolized, or for my parents or grandparents or for my community or my life in it-all, all changed, I knew, by what had happened. But that night I cried myself to sleep because I believed that I

In Sherman Alexie’s short story, “War Dances,” the narrator unravels in thoughts and takes us through events in his life. He picks up by speaking about a cockroach that ends up dying in his Kafka baggage from a trip to Los Angeles. The cockroach still appears many times throughout the story. The narrator spends quality time in the hospital with his father, who is recovering from surgery due to diabetes and alcoholism, all along the way while he, himself, discovers he might have a brain tumor, leading his right ear to talk about his father. Using a style of tragedy and care both incorporate together a symbolic story that would make even a plain reader feel touched, leading to the major occurrence of a theme of the importance of family.

As human beings, we try to eschew from the suffering and adversities that plague human morality. Nonetheless, society remains drawn to the surplus of tragedies in plays, movies, and literary works. Not only do these works provide an escape from our own hardships, but suffering and tragedy is a significant aspect to the development of human society. Personally, I have experienced my own share of sorrow, trauma, and difficulties in life. While they may not be as severe as those faced by the characters in A Doll’s House and Never Let Me Go, a pervasive theme still manifests in the presence of suffering. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, the prevalent motif of suffering illustrates