In The Taker by J. M. Steele, Carly Biels is a teenager who has a dream to ace the SAT without help of the Taker. The Taker is an anonymous person who goes from person to person, asking them if they want him to take the SAT for them. All she wants in life is for her family and boyfriend, Brad, to be happy for her. All she needs to do is bomb the high school SAT. However when she gets her scores back from the practice SAT, she realizes she needs to up her game. After she found out her scores, she got a text from the Taker he said he can help her. As a result, her parents, friends, and teachers recommend she should be tutored by the smartest but not popular kid in school, Ronald Gross. In the end, Carly decides to not use the Taker but use Ronald.
The memoir Looking like the Enemy, was written by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald. Set during World War II after the attack upon Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Americans living in Western part of America had a since of betrayal and fear having to evacuate their homes and enter into internment camps. Matsuda’s memoir is based off of her and her family’s experiences in the Japanese-American internment camps. Matsuda reveals what it is like during World War II as a Japanese American, undergoing family life, emotional stress, long term effects of interment, and her patriotism and the sacrifices she had to make being in the internment camps.
Over his twenty- seven year career, Lieutenant Colonel John C. Gurney distinguished himself by exceptionally meritorious
In T. Coraghessan Boyle’s short story “The Hit Man”, underlying psychoanalytical themes are present that display an allusion to struggles in human life. The main themes present in this story are dysfunctional behavior, displacement, and an insecure sense of self. Readers see the main character, The Hit Man, go through his entire life struggling with insecurity and other dysfunctional behavior. During this timeline, his dysfunctional behavior represents common struggles and conflicts that occur in common day-to-day life. Relationships with his parents and classmates and also academic struggles seems to be the main contribution to the way this character is represented.
The eye opening topics of The Twilight Zone reveal societal issues that were relevant in the 60’s when this show was first released. The black and white, 22 minute episodes each told a story while teaching lessons to the audience. This series was a popular science-fiction show during the 5 seasons it ran. Each episode highlighted a different part of society and brought light to the problems it will have if society doesn’t fix them.
Who are we to decide who we are in society, more often than not society chooses who we are and others accept it as truth. Some would say that everybody is like a box and we have a certain place we fit into in the world, but then one question remains. Can we escape from the place society gives us or are we stuck in your place forever? In the short story “Breaking and Entering”, Sherman Alexie creates a sense of tension through his use of stereotypes, to suggest that society has a limited set of expectations and goals for individuals depending on their race.
Affairs affect people in different ways, but no one could imagine an affair destroying their ability to psychologically function. The “killings” by Andre Dubus is a shocking story about a killer named Richard who murders frank the man having an affair with his wife, who is his pride and joy. Riveted with murder and passion the author revels the characteristics of Richard Strout’s in the “killings” as a psychological obsessive and controlling person; these traits effect his emotions and behaviors throughout the story.
“I have a rendezvous with Death”. This poem is written by Alan Seeger. It talks about situation of speaker in war on theme of death. He starts his title “I have a rendezvous with Death” with paradoxical words. The word "rendezvous" is a positive term where people arrange to meet each other with willing. For the word "Death" also known as in negative term means losses that no one wants to meet with him. He also uses ironic diction. There are three stanzas; six, eight, and ten lines. Including to rhyme scheme throughout each stanza.
Throughout history, individuals have deliberated on social issues faced in society through their works of literature. During the 1960’s, the United States consisted of sparks of change that impacted an individual or the society. George Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead, constructed a document of contemporary social changes by addressing social issues, such as women’s right, race, and the media.
As freedom is a life acceptance by everyone, including yourself, it makes life a lot easier. Is freedom really about being accepted? In his short story, “The Strangers That Came to Town” Ambrose Flack is revealing that true freedom is about being accepted. As in the story, Flack shows on how when the Duvitches had moved to town, they were limited in freedom around the community. I believe that true freedom is about being accepted because as the town did not accept the Duvitches at first, it became hard for the family to live and the town thought that they did not have the same value as them.
The Catcher in the Rye is a fictional novel written by S.D Salinger. Sixteen year old Holden Caulfield has flunked out of the prestigious, all-boys Pencey Prep boarding school in Connecticut. But, Holden did not fail every class, except for English, for nothing. Holden wants to leave Pencey. He is tired of feeling rejected by the phonies and the fakes at Pencey, so Holden leaves and goes to New York. In an emotional hast to find where he belongs, Holden encounters multiple characters both negative and positive that guide him in the direction as to “where”, or rather how to find a place, in society. The Catcher in the Rye focuses on identity from both personal and public perspectives. Catcher in the Rye explores Holden’s personal identity through his symbolic red hunting hat.
Escape from Camp 14 is a bibliography about the main character Shin and how he managed to be one of the first civilians to successfully escape from a Political Camp. As Shin was growing up, he had to face terrible living conditions in Camp 14. Food was always hard to come by, so Shin often survived by eating insects and rats.North Korea is known for their many abominations to humanity. The country is also known for their communist political make up that has abused all of the North Korean people since World War 2. Food shortages, media bans, torture, and political camps are some of the major issues that are going on in North Korea today, and their dictatorship is the cause of it all.
Holden Caulfield lives his life as an outsider to his society, because of this any we (as a reader) find normal is a phony to him. Basically, every breathing thing in The Catcher in the Rye is a phony expect a select few, like Jane Gallagher. What is a phony to Holden and why is he obsessed with them? A phony is anyone who Holden feels is that living their authentic life, like D.B. (his older brother). Or simply anyone who fits into society norms, for example, Sally Hayes. Holden’s obsession stems from his fear that he may become a phony one day. So, he spends the book running from adulthood by doing childish things and struggling to keep his life from changing.
Of Mice and Men is one of the most widely assigned modern novels in high schools because of both its form and the issues that it raises. John Steinbeck’s reliance on dialogue, as opposed to contextual description, makes the work accessible to young readers, as does his use of foreshadowing and recurrent images. Equally important is the way in which he intertwines the themes of loneliness and friendship and gives dignity to those characters, especially Lennie and Crooks, who are clearly different from their peers. By focusing on a group of lonely drifters, Steinbeck highlights the perceived isolation and sense of “otherness”
From the outset, I have to say that “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger has been one of the most important and influential pieces of literature I have ever read. At its core, the book is a superb coming of age novel which discusses several extremely powerful themes such as the difficulties of growing up, teenage angst and alienation and the superficiality, hypocrisy and pretension of the adult world. These themes resonated deeply with me and were portrayed excellently through the use of powerful symbolism and the creation of highly relatable and likable characters. One such character is Holden Caulfield whom the story both revolves around and is narrated by.