Analysis Of Edward Said's 'States'

Could you imagine having to live weeks not knowing if your own mother was even alive? This is the crazy life that Michael Vey and the Electroclan have to wake up to everyday. In the novel Michael Vey Storm of Lightning by Richard Paul Evans, Michael and the rest of his electric friends, the Electroclan look to kill Dr. Hatch and the Elgen for good. While trying to stay alive themselves. The group journeys all around the world to attempt to wash the Elgen off the face of the earth, but everywhere they go there’s always just one unanswered question. Will they make it back alive?

Narrative point of view can express a different perspective to the reader by presenting experience, voice, and setting. Perspective is a particular way or attitude of considering events, by whatever character’s point of view the narrator takes. A character’s background and experiences in their life is a key to help the reader relate to the character. Culture may provide more insight about the circumstances, and can change a reader’s perspective, as well as the voice of the narrator - sophisticated or naive.

In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” internal and external expectations shaped Junior’s life by giving him the strength to grow and give him a reason to live. Growing up in a discriminated Indian reservation, external expectations told Junior to never leave the reservation for something better. “Reservations were supposed to move onto reservations and die. We were supposed to disappear” (216). Everyone around Junior created this picture that Indians were expected to never stray from the reservation. Another external expectation was the reservation expecting Junior to be horrible at basketball which affected Junior’s confidence. “I mean, I’d always been the lowest Indian on the reservation totem pole -- I wasn’t expected to be good so I wasn’t” (180). Since not many

Perspective is the way in which we see the world, it is how we perceive the issues of our world based on the moments we have experienced throughout our lives. It is these experiences that have shaped what we think and how we feel, it forms the beliefs people have. In the Novel “To Kill a Mockingbird”, Harper Lee demonstrates the significance that one’s perspective plays on affecting personal beliefs. She demonstrates this by exploring the lives and points of view of The Ewells, The children, and the common people of Maycomb.

The novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian is not simply written. The author Sherman Alexie, uses several words like articulate, hormonal, and decrepit which displays that the novel could be read by people of all ages. This novel is wonderfully written so that people of every socioeconomic status can relate to real-world problems like poverty, racism, death and substance abuse. Alexie uses simple language to convey the thoughts that are actually inside people’s minds. For instance, in the first chapter of the book, the author introduces Arnold to the world (Alexie, 2007). In the very first sentence the author states that Arnold was born with water inside his brain. Furthermore, the author discusses that “cerebral spinal fluid

Banned Books Week is an annual event starting on September 23 and ending on September 29 celebrating the freedom to read books freely no matter what topics are present throughout the book. The purpose of Banned Books Week is to bring the community together and express and seek ideas in books even if they are considered unorthodox. Throughout this celebratory week publishers, librarians, booksellers, journalists, teachers and more all celebrate the freedom to read and access information that they desire to explore. The outstanding novels by the names of Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie are both banned books in many middle school and high

In life, humans have many different traits that describes themself. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass shows life a slave in the nineteenth century. In the story, Douglass brings us back in time to show his experiences of the hypocrisy of human nature. Disputes with Douglass and his masters are seen throughout the story showing both the good and bad traits of human nature. American literature of the nineteenth century reveals that human nature embodies contrasting traits such as love and cruelty through the uses of literary devices.

Since the beginning of the written language, the reader's perception of a literary work has been based on their interpretation of how the story was portrayed. Differing points of view within the story generate diverse interpretations among readers. From Shakespeare to Faulkner, the aspect of differing viewpoints allows each story to convey contrasting feelings to the reader. In Eudora Welty’s Why I Live at the P.O., she uses a first-person view to reinforce this idea. The attitude of the narrator, sister, is biased in many respects to further her agenda. The slanted viewpoint of sister contributes to the story through her need for personal attention, the empathy the reader has for sister, and the inaccurate representation of the entire story.

Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth are women who face adversity categorized in an invisible sub-group, making it difficult for black women to compete in the world. This sub-group is known as intersectionality. Black women struggle with the perception being inferior placing them at the bottom of the social class. Jacobs and Truth, however, share their experiences to other men and women allowing them to be aware of this invisible group. They willingly chose to speak out against this discrimination. In doing so, they deal with scolding looks of men as well as dealing with the harsh critics’ opinions of their narratives. Jacobs’ narrative and Truths speech allows other slave women to not be discouraged by the mere fact that their skin was of color. With that said, they strive to build the confidence to fight for the equality of all women. Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth reflects the phenomenon of intersectionality through their confidence and willingness to fight for

Blue is essentially a story of searching for identity and creating your own family. Written by Patricia Leavy the story follows three college roommates, as they each piece together who they are in their life after college. Following each characters involvement in relationships and inner dialogue, the book addresses the challenge young adults face coming out of college with finding their identity. Through her story life, Leavy has weaved together sociological themes that relate to identity seeking. Leavy’s book is a story that demonstrates how individuals form identity because it highlights themes of sociological theories, dramaturgy, and socialization.

Traditions have been sought after and passed on for generations; with no questions asked, whether humane or not, traditions are hard to break and diminish as they are often what a culture or community stands for.

“Perspective gives us the ability to accurately contrast the large with the small, and the important with the less important. Without it we are lost in a world where all ideas, news, and information look the same. We cannot differentiate, we cannot prioritize, and we cannot make good choices…” This is a quote recited by John Sununu. In books, we must be able to compare and contrast the difference between one sequence from the other; from one context to the next. Character, plot, and the perspective of the reader gives each book that uniqueness and strive. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, each are a special book, and each give off their own uniqueness with varied similarities.

In his book the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie portrays a teenage boy, Arnold Spirit (junior) living in white man’s world, and he must struggle to overcome racism and stereotypes if he must achieve his dreams. In the book, Junior faces a myriad of misfortunes at his former school in ‘the rez’ (reservation), which occurs as he struggles to escape from racial and stereotypical expectations about Indians. For Junior he must weigh between accepting what is expected of him as an Indian or fight against those forces and proof his peers and teachers wrong. Therefore, from the time Junior is in school at reservation up to the time he decides to attend a neighboring school in Rearden, we see a teenager who is facing tough consequences for attempting to go against the racial stereotypes. The decision to attend a white school is a tough one and Junior understands that for him to survive and to ensure that his background does not stop him from attaining his dreams; he must battle the stereotypes regardless of the consequences. In this light, race and stereotypes only makes junior stronger in the end as evident on how he struggles to override the race and stereotypical expectations from his time at the reservation to his time at Rearden.

Overcoming a challenge, not giving up, and not being afraid of change are a few themes demonstrated in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Perhaps the most prominent theme derived from the novel is defying the odds, or in other words rising above the expectations of others. Junior Spirit exemplifies this theme throughout the entirety of the book. As Junior is an Indian, he almost expects that he will never leave the reservation, become an alcoholic, and live in poverty like the other Indians on the reservation—only if he sits around and does not endeavor to change his fate. When Junior shares the backstory of his parents, he says that his mother and father came from “poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people, all the way back to the very first poor people” (11). He knows that if his parents were not born into poverty, his mother would have gone to college, and his father would have become a musician. Additionally, on page eleven Junior says that his parents “dreamed about being something other than poor, but they never got the chance to be anything because nobody paid attention to their dreams.” Junior believes that he is trapped in this “circle” of poverty, and his dreams will be ignored just as his parents’ dreams had been. However, after Junior launches an old geometry book across a classroom, and it hits his teacher, Mr. P, in the face, Mr. P realizes something substantial about Junior: He has fought since his birth, beginning with the

Across the universe, nearly each person living on Earth will experience suffering at least at a particular moment in his or her lifetime. Suffering involves the pain people feel due to disruptions in an individual’s life, health misconduct or injury. Arthur Schopenhauer, the German Philosopher, suggested that life is packed with suffering, and this suffering is solid as a result of the individual’s will (Berger, 2004). This paper will discuss this argument and attempt to clarify why Schopenhauer perceives that life is filled with suffering and the way he considers that the suffering can be overwhelmed. Moreover, the paper will try to depict the perspective of