Bespoke Languages By Michael Fenkl
Bespoke Languages
Language or spirituality cannot express one’s identity if they are used in the way which has been learned by only imitating others and thus cannot be used as a tool of self-actualization. People want to express their identities in many ways. It is easy to see how different styles to dress express different identities. Language can also be used to express one’s identity as effectively as clothing but it is difficult to use any language that well, therefore language is many times used only as a tool of communication and not as a tool of expressing identities. English language works as lingua franca – generally used language for communication - between people of different native languages and backgrounds. The biggest religion
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As a child of Korean mother and German-American father, Insu is in the middle of two different languages. The narrator has two voices: one is the child who experiences the everyday life and another expresses the complex, spiritual experiences. The latter is the voice of grown-up Insu. At the beginning of the book, Insu wants to imitate his father as he wants to become a GI (Fenkl 19). Young Insu is creating his identity by imitation. Insu’s identity grows up throughout the book. At the end of the book he realizes that his father’s religion is not his own (Fenkl 241). Rejection of his father’s religion shows that Insu’s identity has become unique in a way that his experiences cannot be transmitted through the spiritual lingua franca, Christianity which is his father’s religion. He understands that the religion would not be his own because he would have learned it only by imitating his father. “My father’s religion wallowed in stories and pictures of tragedy and suffering, but it could not heal what happened every day outside the gates of the U.S. Army post.” (Fenkl 241) The Bible tells stories as tragic as the stories from Insu’s life. The spiritual language of Christianity can work as a tool to communicate the sorrow in lives even in Korea. However, it cannot “heal” Insu’s sorrow. Insu finds his own unusual spiritual language through ghost stories to discuss about his uncommon experiences. This is Insu’s “new English” that he can use to deal with his tragic experiences. Using this language makes him able to accept even the worst things that has happened to
Kingdom Keepers Language Analysis
1067 Words | 5 PagesThere are many language examples within the novel, Kingdom Keepers: Disney after Dark by Ridley Pearson. Kingdom Keepers: Disney after Dark is a novel that depicts the story of five children who become Disney Host Interactives and have to save the Disney Amusement Park from the Overtakers, a group of evil characters. In addition to their standard lives at school, the five teenagers need to constantly be aware of the situations at Disney. One example of a language example is its title, which is used to introduce the book. This language example correlates to the theme of, “Good and evil coexist.”
Silas Merritt Robertson Character Analysis
599 Words | 3 PagesAs well in this novel the author, Si, helps the reader to realize the power of laughter and faith in times of struggles as well as many other important life lessons.
Nickel And Dimed Language Analysis
481 Words | 2 PagesSimile: “True, I don’t look so good by the end of the day ... but it’s the brilliant green-and-yellow uniform that gives me away, like prison clothes on a fugitive.” (Ehrenreich 100) In comparing the obviousness of Ehrenreich’s maid outfit, to that of a Prisoner’s, a simile is utilized. This is a smooth and effective way of comparing the two, and adds to somewhat ornate language in Nickel and Dimed.
Identity In Night By Elie Wiesel
970 Words | 4 PagesA person’s entire personality and life revolve around their identity, because your identity is composed of all your life experiences and how you handle new situations. Religion usually takes up a large portion of many people's identities and for many of them, being without the faith they would become empty and alone. Elie Wiesel is a great example of someone’s identity being changed in his memoir “Night”. Elie as a young boy was consumed by his faith in God and wanted nothing more than to learn Zohar, the secrets of Jewish mysticism. As he and his father travel through concentration camps, Elie starts to show bits of rebellion towards his beloved God.
Taming A Wild Tongue Language Analysis
1239 Words | 5 PagesThe tongue for every language is that inside the mouth, speaking words, meanings, and sentences. Both articles, being, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” and “The Mother Tongue”, touch on this subject. We see how these articles describe how language varies around the world yet both articles are different in describing this; both taking a deeper approach. Language has become a powerful tool used around the world and peoples interpretation of these various languages can shape that of who we are/how we view the people speaking them, shown throughout both articles. We see a perfect description of language in the first article, being that of, “A language which they can connect their identity to, one capable of communicating the realities and values true
The Skin That We Speak Analysis
1395 Words | 6 PagesLanguage is used to convey a message as well as connect people to a particular culture or ethnicity he or she identifies with. People who share the same language share a bond and pass their history through language. In chapter one of The Skin That We Speak: Thoughts on Language and Culture in the Classroom Joanne Kilgour Dowdy speak about growing up in Trinidad and her mother insisting on her speaking in the colonizer's language rather than her native Trinidadian language. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy felt as if her identity was being pushed to the side when she was forced to speak “Colonized English” when she was at school or around the social elite of her community, and felt ridiculed from her peers for speaking proper as if she was white or of the elite social class. Dowdy major concern was how to have the freedom to go back and forth from home, language to the public language without feeling judged from both sides of her
Characteristics Of The Appalachian Region
348 Words | 2 PagesChristianity is the dominant religion and an enormous
Icarus Girl Analysis
1468 Words | 6 PagesThus, this essay will examine how identity is portrayed in each novel. Firstly, the representation of the Other in The Icarus Girl is evident as Jessamy struggles to associate with one identity because of her mixed cultural ethnicity. It must be acknowledged that the fear of her identity from arises from the impact of post-colonialism, as the text illustrates how Jessamy is “haunted by the colonial experience and its aftermaths” (Mafe 23). The possibility of associating with her Nigerian heritage makes her uncomfortable because she is unfamiliar with everything that her heritage represents: “It was Nigeria.
Effects Of The Hmong Language In The Latehomecomer
888 Words | 4 PagesFor the Hmong in The Latehomecomer, language has both positive and negative effects on the Hmong people. Through Yang’s story, readers can see that verbal stories play a crucial role in the Hmong culture. The Hmong have a high value for stories and storytelling. Yang shows this when she says, “Like so many other children, in other parts of the world, in a time of nothing, we heard stories of what was before.
Identity In Ernest Buckler's The Locket
1724 Words | 7 PagesThroughout literature the constant theme of identity has been explored, with Northrop Frye even suggesting “the story of the loss and regaining of identity is, I think, the framework for all literature.” For characters, true identity isn’t always apparent, it needs to be searched for. Sometimes the inner struggle for identity stems from ones need for belonging. Whether one finds their sense of identity within friends, family, or in a physical “home”. It’s not always a place that defines identity.
Identity In David Hwang's Play 'Trying To Find Chinatown'
536 Words | 3 PagesHwangs play discusses how to define identity from the different perspective that his two protagonists have about what it means to be Asian American. Using the two characters, Ronnie and Benjamin, Hwang expresses his ideas on how identity is defined.
Uncle Tom's Cabin Language Analysis
1153 Words | 5 PagesThe novel Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe depicts the reality of slavery while simultaneously pushing the idea to Christian audiences that they should show compassion and put an end to slavery. Stowe exercises the Christianity of the character Uncle Tom to strengthen the idea that acting as a Christian can abolish the institution of slavery itself. In addition, the destruction of slavery is narrated through the character George Harris who's a runaway slave. In particular, Stowe sets up the scene where Harris walks into a bar under the alias of Henry Butler passing in society with his "Spanish complexion" appearing equivalent to the Caucasian community (Stowe 151). However, Harris expressing to his former boss Mr. Wilson his
To Speak Is To Blunder Analysis
1635 Words | 7 PagesOur identity is a place upon many attributes of a human being. Whether the person is someone who goes on promoting themselves to the world or not, and it shows how people communicate to others around them. Language is one of the main components that unveils the person’s identity in their everyday life, and they are many different ways to approach a person’s language. Relating to the article of Yiyun Li, “To Speak is to Blunder,” she knows two languages that has its positive and negative outcomes in her life. I to relate to her understanding of language, but a different view of what language means to me.
Girl In Translation Jean Kwok Analysis
1402 Words | 6 PagesThe narration beautifully illustrates the struggles of being pushed into a foreign world, where people look different, have other traditions, other norms, and speak an entirely different language. Based on her own childhood experiences as a migrant from Hong Kong, Jean Kwok tells the story of young and exceptionally intelligent Kimberly Chang who finds herself doing the splits between a life in Chinatown, wasting away as a sweatshop worker and living in a run-down apartment, and striving for a successful career at a fancy private school. Kimberly translates herself back and forth between a world where she can barely afford clothes and a world where, in spite of her intelligence, she 's supposed to look the part as she reaches for higher education. It is a tale of survival and beating the odds, but ultimately, it is also a fragile love story in an unforgiving environment. The narration is raw, honest, and authentic, with the Chinese culture being cleverly woven into the storyline.
Essay On Language And Identity
878 Words | 4 PagesLanguage does not necessarily define one's identity and identity does not define language, however it does affect it. Depending on how many languages people know, they are able to decide on what language they want to use in order to communicate with other communities according to their identities. One's identity defines and regulates the use of language and not the contrary.
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