Literary Analysis Of Dick Gregory's 'Shame'
Truly successful authors have the ability to convey their view of a place without actually saying it, to portray a landscape in a certain light simply by describing it. In the provided excerpt taken from the opening paragraphs of “Shame,” Dick Gregory does just this. Through his use of stylistic elements such as selection of detail, old-fashioned language, repetition of words and simple sentences, Gregory reveals the shame within being poor setting the stage for a periodic ending. Beginning in the first paragraph of the passage, Gregory selects the two most simple sentences introducing the shame saying, “ I never learned hate at home, or shame. I had to go to school for that” (1). This sentence is very understandable and straight forward with its short length. These two sentences are important because the set the main idea about being shameful. Also, with its shortness it is easy for everyone to fully comprehend it. Within the story there are a few words the come up very frequently. For example, “Pregnant people get strange tastes. I was pregnant with poverty. Pregnant with dirt and pregnant with smells that made people turn away. Pregnant with cold and pregnant with …show more content…
In the story it says, “ Leave him alone, Mister Williams. I’ll pay the twenty-six cents.” “ Keep your twenty-six cents. You don’t have to pay for it now. I just finished paying for it” (5). “Why didn’t you pay it before?” “ I was pretty sick about that. I waited too long to help another man”(6). This ending was not expected in the beginning, however there was a little of foreshadowing towards it. One example of it is when the teacher made a rude comment and no one stood up for him just a few tears from his crush. It is a periodic ending because we didn’t really know where he was going with the story, it wasn’t until the end that we fully understood that he was talking about standing up for
Summary Of Fist Stick Knife Gun
1515 Words | 7 PagesOr two, a gift of the realization to the violence that exists with learning the skills to navigate the neighborhood so he may live to be an adult. The story moves to an eight year old Geoff who has his first encounter with being robbed. As he was walking back home from the corner store a boy about his age befriended and then robbed Geoff of his change, sixty-one cents. For most people sixty-one cents would be insignificant. For a single woman on welfare with three boys it is quite significant.
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Similarities Between 'Shame And' The Libido For The Ugly
1056 Words | 5 PagesThe author uses vivid imagery and dialogue to convey his story about how he struggled with feeling ashamed of himself as a child. Being descriptive in the word choices he uses such as, “idiot’s seat” and “nice warm mackinaw” he uses little descriptions that would further your fictional image of the story. He sticks to plain and simple adjectives and only uses one or two to describe the noun preceding them, to stay simple. In comparison, Mencken who writes a descriptive essay, notes his experience in the U.S. and how unsettling the view is to him. He uses many adjectives before the noun compared to Gregory, who stays simple.
Shame In The Crucible
1391 Words | 6 PagesWhat do you think the worst punishment for a crime could be? Death, life in prison, torture, or something else? What about shame? Many people wouldn’t even think of shame as being a punishment. There is an old proverb that says “Shame is worse than death”.
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Summary Of Shame Is Worth A Try By Dan Kahan
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Essay On Scarlet Letter Shaming
434 Words | 2 PagesIn Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, the common punishment for a range of crimes is shame, inflicted by forcing the “criminal” onto the town scaffold and having them face the judging stares of the whole town. Shame is a feeling of self loathing, in a way, and makes one feel like a bad person, when truly, most of the time, they’ve only done a bad deed. This often leaves the shamed feeling hopeless, especially if their actions ruined their reputation. Today, judges are beginning to sentence minor criminals to shame punishments instead of jail time. While some may argue that shame is a cheaper and simpler alternative to jail time, it doesn’t have the intended effects on the criminal, but instead have terrible, unpredicted effects.
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