Lessons Learned By Earl Sewell: Character Analysis

In the novel, A Lesson Before Dying written by Ernest J.Gaines takes place in a small town located in Louisiana in the 1940s. The most important lesson learned in the novel is to fight for yourself and what you believe and also to never give up . In the novel lesson before dying lesson is proved through this characters; Grant, Jefferson, and Emma.

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.

Where we’re from, who we know, and how our mental makeup is, is very important in our lives. It can be the deciding factor between life in prison and a life dedicated to giving back to others. In The Other Wes Moore, The lives of two young men are examined through three distinct lenses, how the role our environment, social capital (How we get ahead by helping each other) and how our mindset can dictate who we become later on in life.

Edward Britton by Gary Crew and Philip Nielsen tells the story of young British boy, Edward Britton. Who he believes was wrongfully sent to Port Arthur. It illustrates the hardships and struggles of being transported to Port Arthur and living a convict life as a young boy. He was not afraid to tell people what he thought, and was very brave. He is very well educated, and is clearly far more smarter and talented than other convict boys. Despite his savageness, he makes good relationships with other convicts and overseers. (Represented from chapters 1-13)

A man reads a newspaper article, in which somebody sharing his name is convicted of a serious crime and is sentenced to life in prison. The convict shares the name, is close in age, and grew up in the same town as the, now very curious, reader. The reader, a man named Wes Moore, is struck by this story, and couldn’t quite shake it off after a few years. He decides to write a book. In Wes Moore’s The Other Wes Moore, the convict Wes hadn’t had many good influences in his life; his father wanted nothing to do with him, his brother was a drug dealer, and only one of his friends would graduate from high school; he lived a life unfortunately all too common. His mother and brother tried to lead him away from “that life”, at least for a while, but Wes became involved with drug dealing, teen pregnancy, and eventually dropped out of school. But before being arrested he seemed to start to take hold of his life, he completed his GED near the top of his class, and started to build a house for his daughter. He was not

In Peg Kehret’s book Stolen Children the story starts when Amy forgets to walk and feed the neighbor’s dog and it has an accident. The neighbor asked Amy’s father if she had remembered come over. Amy’s father decided to talk to Amy but the talk soon turned into a fight, causing Amy’s dad to be late for work. That was the last time Amy saw her dad because he died in a car crash on his way. Amy felt like it was her fault and wanted to prove to her dad that she could be responsible and started taking a babysitting class.

The symbols present in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, depict the economic and social injustices faced by specific members of society, specifically the children in the story. The characters in the story are being mentored by Miss Moore, a woman from their block who has taken up the role of taking them out on weekly outings. The story touches on the situation of the children that are stuck in living in almost poverty. “The Lesson” focuses on the socioeconomic disparities between the different racial groups and how. Bambara uses several techniques such as irony, othering, and second person point of view to make the story meaningful and demonstrate the characteristics of the characters.

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

In John Updike’s “A&P” and Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson” the two authors illustrate difficult initiations teenagers face while they realize the harshness of society around them. Updike’s “A&P” explores the inner thoughts of a teenage boy, Sammy, who makes the tough decision to quit his job at the local A&P and realizes the bitterness of the world. Similarly, Bambara’s “The Lesson” explores the inner thoughts of a teenage girl, Sylvia, who realizes the value of money and clash of social classes through a field trip to a toy store. Although the protagonists are a part of different societies, they share similarities in character development through parallel epiphanies.

The upbringing of a child contains many factors, many of which correlate to where a child grows up. The people, culture, and experiences of someone’s childhood are the greatest determining factor for what kind of person they will become. So how does the nature and nurture of one’s upbringing impact the decisions that they make, and their life in general? Author Wes Moore explores this question in his memoir, The Other Wes Moore, as it relates to two lives in particular. Moore main purpose in this book is to explore the overarching impact that a collection of expectations and decisions, not always one’s own, can have on someone’s life.

Parenting is never perfect. Every parents questions whether they are raising their child correctly, and no parent ever feels like they are doing the right thing. With no clear distinction between good and bad parenting, it is usually left to personal preferences and judgements to decide which parents have adequately raised their children and which have failed. When a parent so call “fails,” often it is the children with their strong will and determination to survive that collectively raise themselves. In Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing, Leonie, one of the narrators and the mother of another narrator, Jojo, is not the most caring, hands-on mother, but is loving of her children nevertheless. Leonie is not just the failed mother most make her out to be because her thoughts are in the right place, trying the best she can given her own circumstances, but her past and her own childhood haunts her too

Throughout history, we have seen many people thinking they can take over on their own, and rule and conquer the world. We have seen it in people, leaders, and much more. You have guys like Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, Stalin, Paul Castellano, John Gotti with many more. They tried to manipulate and conquer but failed because they haven't realized that to rule you need someone else, like Jordan and Pippen, Brady has Belichick and Jay Z had Beyonce. This is also why, you see those people got killed or killed themselves in an attempt to escape reality. In the novel by Julia Alvarez “Before We Were Free” it is a story based on the author's real life events, but we just see it in a fictional character's perspective. This girl named Anita, the main character

The most influential novel that I read this year is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Walls’s memoir had moving themes of strength, perseverance and forgiveness. It also caused me to have passionate reactions. Finally, The Glass Castle impacted me the most because it forced me to reconsider my opinion of homeless people. This novel was a beneficial reading experience.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, born on September 24, 1825, was a leading African American poet, author, teacher and political activist. Although she was born to “free” parents in Baltimore, Maryland, she still experienced her share of hardships. She lost her mother at the tender age of three, was raised by her aunt and uncle, and fully employed by thirteen. Though all odds seemed against her, she triumphed over her obstacles, publishing her first book of poetry at the of age twenty and her first novel at the age of sixty-seven. Outside of writing books, she was a civil rights leader and a public speaker in the Anti-Slavery Society. She became widely recognized for her speech, “Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race”, participated in the underground railroad (helping slaves escape to Canada), and fought African American’s and women’s rights. Harper is a cofounder/ vice president of the National Association of Colored Women is known as the, “Mother of African American Journalism” and. Decades after her passing (February 22,1911),

In Harper Lee’s How to Kill a Mockingbird, Burris Ewell, a first grader in Scout’s class, is to be characterized as an undisciplined and neglected young boy. With regard to Burris being undisciplined, Burris yells at Miss Caroline, the first grade teacher, because he is not going to go home by her command and he wants to make her cry. Burris screams at Miss Caroline saying, ‘“Ain’t no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c’n make me do nothing” (Lee 37). Subsequently, Burris has not grown up with positive role models. Burris does not know his correct manner in addressing certain situations. Harper Lee shows Burriss’ character through his speech. She knows that calling a teacher a ‘snot-nosed slut’ will characterize him as a rude boy that is not punished for his actions. In addition, Burris is