Markandaya's Nectar In A Sieve

Freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or

Among other essays I have read in this book, the essay El Camino Doloroso written by David Searcy seems to have won my heart over the other ones. This story is short; in fact, it only has three pages, but the message Mr. Searcy conveys surpass these simple pages. To be honest, I have to read this essay three times to understand what is going on with the character and what is happening in this story. At last, I come up with this: In this essay, David Searcy wants those who believe dreams are flaws and useless to think that dreams and love are those that motivateki people to live.

As the Navajo people chant, “Oh beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I am on the Pollen Path. In the house of life I wander, On the pollen path.” (“Wandering the Navajo Pollen Path” 1). This chant is a Navajo Ritual, that is meant to remind the Navajo people that our journeys will have many starting points, stalling points, opportunities to develop, that people will be there to support us in our journey, until we are ready to emerge into the path and continue our journey. As a Navajo woman, who is Carmelita Graymountain and what is her journey like? Many close relatives and friends would say she has faced many hardships on her path. These hardships taught her to become even stronger and resilient than she was before. Furthermore, these

Imagine losing everything you had, your house, your dad, and all your possessions all of that at the age of 12. Ghastly isn’t it? Well in the story, Esperanza Rising by: Pam Munoz Ryan, Esperanza had to go through all that and shift to America during the Great Depression, and even if you don’t know what that is, you probably know by the looks of it that it is not the most marvelous thing. And you would be right, it’s not. When Esperanza goes to work in America to earn money, there are strikes going on about how people don’t get paid enough for working. Esperanza takes the job because she needs the money to help her mom who is sick and in the hospital and to earn money, so that her grandma can come to America. Esperanza is a brave 12 year-old

Often times, life challenges the strongest people when they are faced with trauma and tests whether they have the ability to find a way to move on. When faced with the traumatic challenges of life, even people who have suffered the most cannot obtain closure as an absolute end to their suffering. Closure does not exist in recovery when it is defined as a sense of resolution or conclusion, but this permanent action of “moving on” is an extremely unrealistic standard. In the book, The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat, most of the characters strive to move on from the trauma caused by the dew breaker who hurt them. The nonfiction sources, “Analysis: Closure, a moment of uncertainty and a beginning of a struggle between what remains and what is

Throughout history, we have had to deal with conflict. How we deal with conflict can be most challenging of all. We all can find our strength to make it through treacherous times. A positive attitude can help a tremendous amount when dealing with conflict. An example of this can be found in The Diary of Anne Frank. Anne’s positive attitude and hope helped her overcome her distressing time in hiding during World War II. Other examples can also be found in the poem “Homesick”, and journal entries written by youngsters living during World War II. Having hope helps overcome obstacles that you may have thought was unfeasible to surpass. Hope can be found in everything. Fear can leave you petrified, but hope is the greatest strength that you can possess and hope will always overpower fear.

“RUTH (sincerely, but also self-righteously): Now that's your money. It ain't got nothing to do with me. We all feel like that— Walter and Bennie and me—even Travis. MAMA (thoughtfully, and suddenly very far away): Ten thousand dollars — RUTH: Sure is wonderful. MAMA: Ten thousand dollars. RUTH: You know what you should do, Miss Lena? You should take yourself a trip somewhere. To Europe or South America or someplace — …” (Act, 1 scene, 1). Ruth Younger a young wife and mother finds herself living the typical life of any other woman in the 50’s. Apart from having to support and help her family she had to work. She is an african american woman who worked as a housemaid for a white woman because she needed and wanted to help her family financially.

It is important for people to overcome the obstacles they are faced with. Obstacles allow us to learn and become successful. In novels a character will often be faced with a problem. Just like a book, everybody has their own story filled with challenges. Recently I have read two novels that deal with sensitive topics and obstacles. Several years ago my grandma had very serious health issues. Each of these examples showcase the fact that it is important for everybody to experience obstacles in their life.

Marianne Williamson, an American author and lecturer, wrote, “Our triumph over sorrow is not that we can avoid it but that we can endure it. And therein lies our hope, that in spirit we might become bigger than the problems we face.” Mattie, the main character in Naomi Shihab Nye’s short story, Shoofly Pie triumphed over sorrow and endured the loss of her mother. Mattie endured a tragic event and found that she must push through the lugubrious times. After Mattie bore the emotional hardship of her mother’s death and learned that you must be strong and not let the sorrow take over. In the story Mattie got a job to distract herself. But as she made friends they taught Mattie that you cannot run from your problems you have to face them.

“The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich and “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin both have the common theme of death; however, in “The Red Convertible”, the death of Henry ends the very close relationship that he has with his brother Lyman while in “Story of an Hour”, the death of Mr. Mallard marks an opportunity of independence and freedom for Mrs. Mallard which shows that the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Mallard was unsatisfactory.

Author Richard Wagamese conveys a message in his novel Indian Horse displaying the idea of sacrifice. Specifically how people must sacrifice belonging for survival. Wagamese uses Saul 's experiences, choices and general story to express this message. Throughout Saul’s life he is forced to make sacrifices for himself and the people around him in order to survive, his isolation is what gets him through. Everyday people see the reproductions of community and how surviving isn 't an easy thing. Personal sacrifice can be nearly impossible, but is a necessity in life. This first began in the novel when Saul loses his family, persisting at the school and surfacing again once Saul 's hockey career gets serious.

My mother is an immigrant. A hardworking, pious woman who moved to a foreign country in order to raise her children and offer them everything she could. After her first three children, my mother grew accustomed to her feeling of loneliness. She was often left alone with three young children, dealing with their constant bickering and nagging. On top of that she had limited communication with others, due to a language barrier, no car and no friends in this new world. She struggled with her decision to stop working and put her schooling on pause. She struggled with injuries from childbearing. She struggled with her marriage, a marriage that took place between two very young lovers blind of reality, and shocked when hit with it. She often engaged

Back long ago before we had books or even computers we socialized with each other, We sat around the dinner table or a fire and told stories from start to finish. We didn't just speak to tell the stories, we also used visuals such as pictures. The pictures were used to engage the audience into the storie. During the book Yellow Raft In Blue Water the author Michael Dorris covers many different topics, he goes over the struggle with racism, the power struggle, the struggle with appearances, and the struggle of an inescapable reality. The author Michael Dorris, who is Native American, writes this book so it focuses around the lives of three Native American women. Each women has there own section that they narrate

According to the American Institute of Stress, it says: “The number one cause of stress, is the individual 's environment.” Many people in the world are facing failure, or going through rough times, because of what is around them. In the novel, Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff, Jolly’s family and LaVaughn transition through many changes based on the environment around them. Because of transitioning through their childhood, apartment, and school, the characters transform their identities from negative to positive.

Poverty empowered me to want more in my life. The struggles of my childhood gave me the determination to succeed. When I was just three years old, my parents split up, leaving my mother to take care of my older sister and me on her own. To put a roof over our heads and food in our bellies, my mother had to work two jobs and have an abusive boyfriend because he said he would take care of us. My mother became addicted to drugs and after three years she made the change in her life to get off of drugs and be a better mother. She then struggled to leave her boyfriend because of fear of him. The struggle I went through as a child has given me the desire to be more. My past has given me the hunger to fight for my future and the focus to succeed.