In the face of adversity, what causes some individuals to fail while others prevail? Many people face difficulties. Depending on the person’s strength some will get through tough times, but some will fail to overcome them. I have chosen two books: Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Book Thief. These two stories deal with people overcoming the difficulties they face throughout their life. Some difficulties include racism, religious discrimination, and dealing with others’ cruelness or kindness.
The characters in the book, The Unspoken, by Thomas Fahy, are all very important to the book. Without each of the characters, the book wouldn 't be as good as it is. Some of the people in the book that were important were Jacob, one of the antagonists. Allison, the main character and protagonist, and The Doctor, a hidden man gone bad.
In this novel, “The Round House” one of the main characters, Joe Coutts is a young thirteen year old boy who is forced to grow up sooner than he thought. His mother, Geraldine, is raped and beaten near the Round House and refuses to talk about what happened and tell who attacked her. Being that Geraldine was a tribal enrollment specialist, which could be considered something like a social worker in today’s time, it was very difficult and perplexing to narrow down who might have did such a thing to Geraldine. She knew everyone’s business or “everyone’s secret” as Joe would say, throughout the tribe. Whatever went on, she knew. Nothing ever got past her. Being such a young boy, Joe was saddened by what had happened to his mother, especially being that she was not herself at all. Joe was determined to find out who had attacked his mother and to get justice.
While Thula was tired of hardships of life, eventually she gave vent to her pent-up feelings against her stepson and asked Harry to live apart from ten-year-old Joe. In fact, Thula regarded Joe as an eyesore because she became unable to make a living. Since Harry didn't want to lose his second wife, Harry submitted it and requested Joe to move out of the house.
When Janie leaves Logan to go with Joe, she thinks Joe is her love of her life. But, when he becomes the mayor of Eatonville he changes. He now is very protective and controlling of Janie. He makes Janie wear a head rag to cover her hair. Joe says, “Her hair was NOT going to show in the store” (55). Joe is worried that the other men might touch Janie’s hair and he does not want that because he is really jealous. It is not right for Joe to tell Janie how to have her hair only because he his very jealous. Joe is also not a good husband because he just uses her as a trophy wife. The book says, “She was there in the store for him to look at, not those others” (55). He is just using Janie to look at in the store for his entertainment and nothing else. He also doesn’t respect her because he only has her as a “trophy wife” and to brag about her being his wife. Those are some examples of why Joe Starks is not a good husband for
Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak is an interesting children’s picture book. The main character is a little boy named Max, who has a wild imagination. He uses all five senses as well as thought and his actions to express his personality as well as how he reacts and interacts with his surroundings. Max’s id, ego and super-ego are greatly shown in this book through the way that the author has portrayed him. Not only is this book a children’s story, but it can also be perceived as a life lesson. Many people go through times in their lives when they make drastic decisions right away, such as leaving home. One may enjoy it for the rest of their lives or only for a little while, just like Max who felt lonely after having fun with the monsters. In this case, people end up going home to be with their family where they are not lonely, and can have more time before making a final decision of what should happen next in their life. Id, ego and super- ego is greatly portrayed in this
Life is very difficult, and certain people respond to trouble differently. An example of this takes place in the book Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt. In Trouble both Henry and Chay are in difficult situations. Henry’s brother has died and Henry and his family are in a difficult time. Chay is Cambodian and he starts to date an American girl. His father disowns him and forces Chay to leave home. Henry and Chay have their own responses to Trouble. Each person has some acceptable responses and some poor responses. Overall, Chay has better responses to Trouble than Henry.
Ambition is a strong desire to do or to achieve something, typically requiring determination and hard work. Ambition often leads to great rewards but often times too much ambition can lead to misfortune. The Character of Joe Starks in Their Eyes Are Watching God has a very prominent amount of Ambition. Stark’s bullied and manipulated people in order to satisfy his own Ambitions. Through the use of indirect characterization, Zora Neely Hurston exhibits how Joe Stark’s ambition destroyed the relationships he had with other people in Their Eyes Are Watching God.
Tim Riggins is your prototypical bad boy football player. He is a womanizer drunk who doesn’t really care about anything so he is perceived as kind of a big time jerk. Deep down there is more to him than what you see on the surface like there is with everyone else. Tim is a big-hearted caring guy who is very loyal to the ones he loves. He sat by his friend Street’s side throughout the whole process of him being paralyzed. There aren’t a lot of friends that would sit through an experience like that it goes to show how amazing of a friend he really is. He is one of the most loyal friends out there. For instance, when Julie was completely drunk and about to get taken advantage of he stepped in out of no where and almost destroyed the kid. Most
“Being a hero doesn’t mean you're invincible, it just means that you're brave enough to stand up and do what's needed, “says a sagacious man named Rick Riordan . Often times you see heroes on television who have super strength of flying powers, but heroes come in many different forms of people. Irena Sendler for example, was a great hero. Not many people know the name of Irena Sendler, she had done something big that impacted and saved the lives of many jews. Some heroes may be fictional as well. Take Kevin, who had a disease, from the book Freak the Mighty, he opened up the world to a boy named Maxwell Kane, he was his brains. These people, both fictional and true, are life changing heroes.
Henrietta Lacks cells are immortal, they have been used to develop the polio vaccine, cloning, and gene mapping (Skloot). Henrietta’s cells originated from a cancerous tumor. When she died the tumor was removed without her family’s knowledge. Henrietta had a total of five children. The father of these five children was her cousin David Lacks. Joe Zakariyya Lacks was her youngest child and was born right before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
In the book “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan, it’s about a little girl who is pressured by her mother to become something she doesn’t want to be. Jing- mei , the daughter, is forced to become a prodigy(child actress), by her mother, and she doesn’t want to be one. In the story, Jing- meis’ mother uses allusions such as Shirley Temple to push her into becoming a prodigy. Although at first Jing- mei is excited to become a prodigy, she later realizes its something she just doesn’t enjoy doing. Consequently, the uses of allusion in the story help Jing- mei discover to not be a prodigy and that what her mother wants for her is not always important. However, some of the things her mother showed and did got her excited to become this.
Motivation is key to being successful in the world. Mark Stroman has a young age was demotivated because of his parent's negative attitude on their kids. In the book Mark Stroman was not connected to his parents, he did not have the motivation to help them after all the hardship that Mark had to go through. From my perspective as an immigrant, I was looked after at a very young age that I would be right on track and motivated to learn new subjects and knowledge. The parents of immigrants want the best for children just like Rias’ mom wanted Rias to join a “prestigious military boarding school.”(Giridharadas 9) Rais is determined to achieve his goal to please his mother and get into the military school. Rais dreams of reaching bigger and better
Long before I saw Justin Streichman and George Lamen as Vanya and Spike respectively in the appropriately named comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” I understood the dynamic between these characters and the rest of the cast as it was heavily alluded to in the posters shown across campus. In these posters, Streichman stands in the corner of the scene, holding a tea cup and staring away in embarrassment as the people next to him are admiring and enjoying the silly and outrageous behavior of the practically naked Lamen. This one image perfectly captures who these characters are meant to be and how the actors portray them in the play. Vanya is meant to be the more mature, introverted character which contrasts the characteristics of Spike
Please consider my unpublished manuscript “Thimble of Luck,” a 3,995-word story for publication. In brief, the central conflict of the story involves an unorthodox birthday gift, intertwined with decent, and what occurs after the recipient reluctantly agrees to accept it.