John D Agata's Formal Experience Of Confusion

Captivity stories have become a popular genre throughout the American culture. The idea has gained popularity because America’s history with captivity has left unforgettable memories for all Americans. Stories like A Narrative of the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano have become very popular because of this. Although there are many differences between these stories, they both are similar in one way or another.

This book is for, and should be read by, as the author’s husband says, “every American”. It shows an important part of history that is to be learned from, and never to be repeated. This is a great story about the war time struggle of an entire race of people held captive by their own

The Slave Ship, by Marcus Rediker was wrote in 2007 about the cruel and brutal actions the slaves endured on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He states, “this has been a painful book to write, if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read.” Marcus Rediker accomplished exactly that. This book was not only compelling but emotional, heartbreaking, and makes a reader think, how could someone be so cruel to another living being. Within the first couple pages, the book brought me to tears. He mainly focused on the 1700’s when Britain controlled most of the slave trade throughout the world. During the book, Rediker informs the reader about the tortured slaves as they were shipped from West Africa to the new world. Marcus Rediker, a professor at the University of Pittsburg, taught history and starting researching the slave trade by

History is what we learn in school about the past, about people’s culture, their way of life, their beliefs, their fight and their dreams. However, history is not an absolute truth. In fact, every story has more than one version. The History of the native American in the United States still one of the most controversial subjects in history, not only because of all the ambiguity filled in the story, but also and more importantly because the it was written by only one side. Indeed, it was written by the winners, the invaders, and the dominants. In the prologue of his book, The Earth Shall Weep, James Wilson tries to inspect and explain the reality of Native American today by analyzing the stereotypes and the prejudice they faced through since the beginning in the United States.

Americans have been intrigued by captivity novels and works for centuries. It could be the sense of danger and unpredictability that makes them so interesting and popular. Or maybe the idea that captivity was quite possible for readers in previous centuries made captivity narratives popular in Colonial Times. Speaking of Colonial Times, two popular captivity narratives that took place in that era that have many similarities and differences are; A Narrative of the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.

This historical document was written by Private John G. Burnett. Burnett’s diary entry was written on December 11, 1890. The years of the diary were during his journey through the Trail of Tears between 1828 and 1839. Burnett was a reserved person who was just fine with being by himself for weeks at a time. As he hunted more and more, he became acquainted with many of the Cherokee Indians who grew to eventually become his friends. Private Burnett wrote this diary entry to show the horror of what was happening between the American Indians and the Americans. The Americans were forcefully taking the Native Americans out of their homes and making them move, saying goodbye to what once was their homes and life. Burnett wanted this horrific removal

The Indian Removal Act was signed in 1830 by President Andrew Jackson to remove the Cherokee Indians from their homes and force them to settle west of the Mississippi River. The act was passed in hopes to gain agrarian land that would replenish the cotton industry which had plummeted after the Panic of 1819. Andrew Jackson believed that effectively forcing the Cherokees to become more civilized and to christianize them would be beneficial to them. Therefore, he thought the journey westward was necessary. In late 1838, the Cherokees were removed from their homes and forced into a brutal journey westward in the bitter cold. The hardships of the sufferable journey can be observed by three separate accounts form a Cherokee woman, a Cherokee slave,

Regret is a powerful emotion that has the ability to scar someone for the rest of their life. Moments of regret can come from relationships, self-made decisions and life changing events. The idea of regret also applies to “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. Although these two literary pieces are very different in many ways, both authors describe the experience of the Vietnam War as a time of regretful decisions that negatively impacted people of both the American side and the Vietnamese side. Both authors tell a story about a character that recalls of flashbacks of the war, where they grieve over the past decisions that have affected them for the rest of their life.

Stories and memories passed on through generations can help to shape an individual. In many instances, storytelling can tell a lesson or push a person’s opinion about something in a certain direction. Memories can sometimes be unreliable, but can also be all that someone can base their life off of. Judith Ortiz Cofer’s memoir Silent Dancing: A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican childhood uses storytelling to share her memories in a life lesson manner. She takes the reader on a journey through her memories and childhood and uses her memory as a main tool. Memory and storytelling is an important aspect of Silent Dancing, because they helped to shape the author, told lessons to the reader, and explained a life tied between Puerto Rican and American.

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

Abina and the Important Men is a graphic history novel written by authors Trevor R. Getz and Liz Clarke. The novel is a winner of the American Historical Association’s James Harvey Robinson prize due to its powerfully illustrated graphic history as it follows the trial of Abina Mansah in 1876. Throughout the novel, the authors argue that several women that have made history have been silenced. Getz and Clarke share this story to give voice to the women that when compared to men, were not seen as important.

In An Ordinary Man, Rusesabagina describes his first-hand account of the mass murdering of the Tutsis. He talks about his experience and what he did to keep over a thousand people safe. First off, his thesis and purpose will be clarified through examining different quotes and passages. Next, his strategies for getting across his points will be scrutinized. Rusesabagina uses many different points to get his purpose across to the readers. He uses not only his personal experiences but recalls history and how it played a part in the matter. Finally, I will give my thoughts on the memoir and how different themes and ideas were explored. Rusesabagina essentially describes the powerful impact of words and how they can be used to not only save lives

The main topic proposal for my research project will focus on Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club events and how they are based on a true story as far as she can recall. Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club deals with rape, alcoholism and a mother that is nervous in East Texas with list of seven husbands. The human mind’s memory is delicate and can change (Simply). A first-hand account such as a memoir gives me a chance to analyze the truth behind the stories. Eyewitness accounts are highly inaccurate and several witnesses in the same place and time can have many different accounts of the same scene (Eyewitnes). Regarding memoir this becomes the concern for some critics. So, what matters and doesn’t matter about truth may all be in the perspective of the author,

In The Gettysburg Gospel, Gabor Boritt elucidates conjectures on Lincoln’s writing methodology concerning the Gettysburg Address “swings between two extremes” (Boritt 14). The themes ambit divine inspiration and transitory work that led to instantaneous corollary to what some scholars, such as Garry Wills, postulate as perpetual revelations and meticulous work that lead to an evolving causatum. Boritt believes that many writers and scholars have perceived predispositions; “It takes a heroic effort for the students of Lincoln to separate themselves from their subjects. Most of us fail to a smaller or larger degree” (Boritt 11). This is judicious for the “Lincoln’s Address was written spontaneously” argument. Take for example the story of the Alabama-born writer Mary Shipman Andrews. As the story goes, one day, her son Paul’s history teacher, Walter Burlingame, evoked a story to his class about hearing Edward Everett tell his father, diplomat Anson Burlingame, that the president “wrote his address on a piece of

Could there be contrasts and likenesses between two accounts composed by two unique individuals? Confronting various types of afflictions? It is conceivable to discover contrasts and likenesses in two stories relating two various types of occasions? Imprisonment accounts were main stream with pursuers in both America and the European continents. Bondage stories of Americans relate the encounters of whites subjugated by Native Americans and Africans oppressed by early American settlers. Such stories were regularly utilized as promulgation or propaganda: accordingly, Europeans frequently stereotyped Native Americans as merciless and whites started to see subjugation of African-Americans as detestable. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the two narratives which are A Narrative of the Captivity and The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equianoa.