'Clearing Paths To The Past And To Be Of Use'

“I came to a clear conclusion, and it is a universal one: To live, to struggle, to be in love with life--in love with all life holds, joyful or sorrowful--is fulfillment. The fullness of life is open to all of us” (Betty Smith). Betty Smith, born as Elizabeth Lillian Wehner, grew up in Brooklyn, New York as the daughter of poor German immigrants. At the time, child labor was legal and Smith began work at the young age of fourteen to help support her family. Smith’s life in the slums and her experiences during the Great Depression greatly influenced her writing. Most of her novels depict families struggling to survive on a low income. Another idea Smith explores in her novels is what part women should take in the world. In Smith’s lifetime, women were granted the right to vote and other significant rights that many did not agree on. In her books she created strong female leads that defy the bubble women were placed in at the time. Smith’s novels became highly popular with many Americans because she depicted the struggles of life in poverty that many people could relate to. Betty Smith was one of the most influential writers of her time, and her works impacted American culture in several ways.

In the essay “Work Is a Blessing,” by Russel Honore the reader sees a strong argument for why work of any kind is a blessing. Honore begins “My father said “ya know, boy, work is a blessing.” (79) Throughout the story you can see the evolution of Honores belief in his father’s discussion that work is indeed a blessing, in place of a struggle. Living on a farm, Honore consistently helped out working with animals, gardening, etc. He acquired a part time job at a dairy at the age of 12 for the reason that the farm did not carry in enough cash. Honore often complained about having to wake up at the crack of dawn to attend work but his complaining brought lectures from his father and grandfather each time. Succeeding going to college and joining

One major theme authors universally write their stories around concern the power of human relationships. Though writers may take different paths to communicate this, the strength that comes from these unique connections that exist between individuals resonates with everyone. Authors clearly articulate through a myriad of rhetorical devices that maintaining relationships is a fundamental part in personal growth and allows for a stronger sense of self. In finding companionship and comradery. people become capable of evolving and arriving at better understandings of who they are.

In “Clearing Paths to the Past” the author tells stories of the past how it is his duty to clear the sidewalk, just like his grandfather did. The narrator believes that we should hold dear to us the hard work people before us have done. We should keep working hard to help everyone else out and they’ll do the same. In “To be of use” the author surrounds their self with positive, hard working people. They don’t stand back while everyone else is doing something.

In Bell Hooks’ essay, “Seeing and Making Culture: Representing the Poor”, Hooks addresses and clarifies the misinterpretations that people have of the assumptions made of the poor, how poor individuals are viewed in human culture and how the poor are represented on television. She helps the audience understand how these assumptions are wrong.

The poem, Useless Boys,is one that portrays a feeling of indignation, rebellion and finally, understanding by two boys who grew up with bitter views of their fathers’ onerous jobs. The narrator believes that the only reason his father stays at his job is for the money. In his naivety the son does not realize that at times living selfishly is the way things have to be. Sometimes commitments are made in a self-sacrificial and cowardly manner. No matter how “wrecking” his father’s career, he stays in order to provide for his family. When an individual sees that making a commitment can bring about an undesirable outcome, such as the unhappiness and tiredness of the fathers in the poem.]m he may run from making commitments all together. By renouncing

Florence Kelly delivered a speech before the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia on July 22, 1905. She used rhetorical analysis such as pathos, anaphora, and logos to enlist working men to vote for the reform of child labor laws.

“My Papa’s Waltz” and “Those Winter Sundays” describe a character who reflects on their childhood. Although they based on the same theme, the two poems have very different perspectives. “Those Winter Sundays” talks about how the son regrets for not showing his love for his father, when all his actions went unnoticed. “My Papa’s Waltz” reflects on a son 's memory with is father where his danced around the house after the father long day at work. Both poems reflect on how their fathers showed his love for his son, the time spent with their fathers, a maternal conflict, and their relationship with their father.

In Andrew Braaksma’s essay “Lessons from the Assembly Line” (Braaksma, 2005), he recalls his time as a free-spirited college student that moonlights as an automotive assembly plant worker during summer vacation. The essay shifts from his grueling experiences on the line to his easygoing life as a student, highlighting the disparity between the two worlds. Ultimately, he comes to a better understanding of the advantages he has in life while simultaneously recognizing that real-world experience is another useful form of education.

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, the era of the Great Depression in the 1930’s is revealed through a simple story of ranch workers who hope to improve their lives. Migrant workers, George and Lennie, have a friendship that is based on trust and protection. The other workers lack the companionship and bond that these two men have. In the novel, the absence and presence of friendship is the motivation for the characters’ actions.

Throughout the history of American literature, many writers have shed light upon the strong work ethic and determination embodied by Americans. However, the shortcomings of different groups of Americans in trying to achieve success despite expressing these characteristics has been made evident by authors explaining how problems from sexism to working conditions have impeded people from being able to succeed. Authors including President Theodore Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson have praised the traits of hard work and dedication in trying to achieve success as they feel by way of having these traits, it is possible for someone to succeed at what he or she wants to endeavor in. In contrast, writers ranging from Carl Sandburg and Upton Sinclair,

1)The American Dream, the idea that lures in thousands of foreigners into the United States yearly. The hopes of second chances, profound prosperity, success by hard work and new beginnings. In the Grapes of Wrath by John Stainflied and The Jungle by Uptown Sinclair, both families in this book are not exception. Soon, these inspired immigrants learn the disastrous effects of being the “lower class” under the control of the rich, the government and the landowners. Both of the book’s themes___ the idea that the most damage both families in these two novels endured was not a direct *result* by those of authority, but in reality *( direct result by their own inclination,,,,) *the most damage both families suffered was their own inclination to exploit

A theme that was evidently a stable for the working farmers, and also the Protagonists Lennie and George was the theme of brotherhood. Brotherhood contributed to the novel in a sense that it created opportunities amongst men which society would deem impossible at the time. People are definitely reliant on human interaction. This is seen in the novel when an African farmhand named Crook, who was segregated at the time because of the color of his skin, talks with his cohort Lennie about how he never has anyone to talk to, stating, “A guy goes nuts if he ain’t got nobody. DOn’t make no difference who the guy is as long as he’s with you” (Steinbeck 80 1937). Through brotherhood, Crooks was about to articulate his discontent with the world, and

In social reformer Florence Kelley’s speech (1905), she argues that the practice of child labor in the U.S is immoral and unacceptable. Kelley effectively builds her argument by using both pathos and rhetorical questions. Using examples from current states that allow child labor (Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, New Jersey), she illuminates the cruelty of child labor in order to encourage women to “enlist the workingmen on behalf of our enfranchisement just in proportion as we strive with them to free the children” (87-89). Kelley directs this speech to the women with children at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia.