Debra Marguert Debra Marguart Analysis

In “the Patented Gate and the Mean Hamburger,” Robert Penn Warren’s two main characters, Mr. Jeff York and his wife, portray the stereotype of a Midwestern, MidAmerican, less than affluent farmer and his wife during the 1930’s. However, both Mr. and Mrs. York have characteristics that deviate from their main stereotypes.

The book ‘Everyday Life in Early America’ by David Hawke provides a comprehensive account of the history of early settlers in America. It maintains that the geographic concept including the physical environment is a chief factor that influences the behavior of individuals. The author assumes that early settlers came to America in the hope of taking forward their customs and traditions while starting afresh in a foreign land. However, the physical environment brought about certain changes to their traditions and customs. The people slowly began to understand that the only way to survive would be to modify their patterns of living (Hawk, 1989).

The tone of chapter 11 in John Steinbeck's, “The Grapes of Wrath,” is sympathetic, sad and hopeless. His word choice and syntax show how the sad houses were left to decay in the weather. His use of descriptive words paints a picture in the reader's mind. As each paragraph unfolds, new details come to life and adds to the imagery. While it may seem unimportant, this intercalary chapter shows how the effects of the great depression affected common households.

The short story "Hills Like White Elephants," is about a couple that is really young and the is having a issue about abortion. The author uses a lot of rhetorical devices to convey his message but mostly use imagery and symbolism. The way that the story is told by the author the reader can see the story told in their head. The way that the author describe the hills and the town that they was in it shows a lot of imagery. The story also picture the couple waiting for the train that they had been waiting for. The town was described with hills that looked like White Elephants. The author also describe the couple as “The Americans”. Ernest Hemingway also did a good job by describing the situation of the the couple in the 1920’s The couple was

During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be. This caused the formation

The idea of the United States having Puritan origins is still alive today. In Sarah Vowell’s, The Wordy Shipmates, the topic of how a nation affiliates itself with Puritan perspectives is introduced. She encourages one to look beyond the surface information of the first English settlers’ motives in the 1600s, and to investigate what Puritan views truly are. She mentions the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, expressing his freedom to enforce his religious views on to a whole colony of people. The superiors of this religious group decided in the colonies what was appropriate for the society they are creating. She utilizes key characters to compare and contrast the different types of a “puritan” citizen. Furthermore, she allows

In this excerpt of Seraph on the Suwanee, the speaker, Zora Neale Hurston, describes the Floridian town of Sawley and its inhabitants. Hurston utilizes an admirative tone while discussing the beauty of the environment and the uniqueness of it inhabitants. Hurston does this to show the positive aspects of Sawley while discussing the aspects that make it different from other locations. Through the use of devices such as enumeration, regional dialect, imagery, climax, and sentence structuring, Hurston successfully illustrates the true beauty of the town that has been influenced by the people. Ultimately, Hurston does this to show how truly different the city is than that of any other place.

After reading the Journals of both Robert Robe and Mary Stuart Bailey I have a better understanding of daily life, common struggles, and attitudes during the 1850’s while traveling westward. Robert Robe’s journal begins in May of 1851 and continues into June. Mary’s Journal starts April 13, 1852 with the last entry on November 8th. These journals clearly highlight the stresses that were developed during there travels. The traveler’s attitudes changed circumstantially as the uncertainty of their future unfolded, depending on the day they could be admiring god’s beauty, determined on surviving, or mourning the loss of their previous life, family, and home (Text 386, 387).

5. While My Antonia and A Wagner Matinée (written by Willa Cather) are stories that differ greatly in the aspect of narrators and occurrences, both of these pieces have similar themes. They both show an appreciation towards the prairie and how the prairie affected the lives of the people who lived off of them. Both the main characters of these works first saw desolation in the prairie, then came to see the actual beauty in it. In Book I (The Shimerdas) of My Antonia, Jim Burden described Nebraska on page 11 as “There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills, or fields…There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries were made”. While Jim describes the plains as nothingness, the narrator of A Wagner Matinée (Clark) compares his own modern town to the “inconceivable silence of the plains” and how the land he knew was “the flat world of the ancients…more merciless than those of war” (paragraph 12).

Dorothy Schwieder, in her book Iowa the Middle Land, challenges the stereotypical view of Iowans and delves in deeper about Iowa’s history and the transition of how it became the state known to its’ citizens today. Throughout the course of the book, one learns, an in-depth history of Iowa not generally taught in most schools. This book explores the changes in Iowa’s history that have occurred from the time Iowa was a territory, to statehood, and to the present. Not only does this book offer important facts and the history of the state, but also entertaining and interesting facts, for instance, the first governor of Iowa was a stagecoach driver named Ansel Briggs. All of the information in this book and her arguments further explain why she believes Iowa is the middle land.

Written by Steve Inskeep detailing the lives of President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee Chief John Ross during 1812 to 1835. Jacksonland describes President Andrew’s desire to remove five indian tribes from their traditional homeland and move them to the far west.They were the initial targets of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and eventually leading to the Trail of Tears.

In the passage, Marquart uses concrete diction when describing how people such as those who visit view the upper Midwest. For instance she states, “You’ll encounter a road so lonely, treeless, and devoid of rises and curves.” As Marquart uses such word choices, the reader can imply that the upper Midwest is an isolated place where there is not much to view. By describing the roads to be lonely and treeless, one can infer that this area

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

In the book, Everyday Life in early America David Freeman Hawke clearly illustrates the life of the colonists in the 17th century, after the settlers arrived. Hawke explores different and important aspects during this time, and how the American settlers were profligate compared to the European people.