Our world is filled with a diverse group of people who each have their own culture, perspective, and experiences. Although our differences may be vast, our similarities tie us all into the web of human experiences. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, is a novel demonstrating the struggles of William Kamkwamba, who experiences first hand famine, political corruption, and poverty. I, on the other hand am privileged enough to have access to electricity, education, and basic needs. From the surface it may seem like William and I are completely different individuals, looking closer we share quite a few experiences and attributes like a passion for education, a similar parental support, and worries about the future.
Education is valued around the world but not everyone has access to a good education. William’s family is unable to pay for his school fees so William expresses his passion about learning through tinkering. While I personally had access to education, I too expressed my interests outside of school. While William is passionate about electricity and technology, I am more interested in aspects of science dealing with biology. William spent his childhood tinkering with radio’s to figure out how they work and even started a business to fix them. In comparison I spent my time experimenting with different
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Our shared attributes like our commitment to learning, parental support, and worries and the future, allow me to further empathize with William and what he has gone through. When I first read his novel for the first time, I was unfazed by the hardship William had endured. I partially blame that on the society we live in; we have become desensitized to others struggles and strifes because that is all the media shows. However, by contemplating the similar struggles humans have, I am now able to truly sympathize with William and others who face adversities and conflict in this
Maria Boyd’s novel “Will” clearly demonstrates and showcases multiple existing values, beliefs and ideologies. One such theme which we constantly see is that of depression. Throughout the novel, this theme is challenged and developed on. One such example Will, the protagonist, and his one sided conversations with his deceased father. This constant reminiscence of his father are only present in the latter half of the book when the theme of depression is much more prevalent.
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. Saul’s life is made up of devastation, quickly making the story a miserable one. Introducing with Saul 's siblings being taken away, his home soon following, his childhood. The first tremendous sacrifice the reader experiences on a more empirical level was Saul’s grandma giving up her life so he could survive.
Wes Moore’s Journey in Life The superficial similarities of two kids have an identical name, Wes Moore, grown up in the same neighborhood at the same time with fatherless families. Both kids had beaten into troubles with the police. However, their paths in adulthood diverged due to their personal choices, decisions, and values, forming two different experiences in career and life.
Strength develops in someone through their experiences which have the ability to make them an emotionally stronger person. A quote by Ernest Hemingway presents that “the world breaks everyone, then some become strong at the broken places.” Even those who suffer the most will have the ability to bounce back at a stronger state. This theme reveals its relevance in A Separate Peace by John Knowles as we analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters, Finny and Gene. Although some may insist that Finny’s emotional state fits the mold of a weak character, I have confidence that Finny has the most inner strength out of the two boys given his description and actions throughout the novel.
How is it that two men that come from identical backgrounds end up being completely opposites? Wes Moore takes us back to his childhood growing up, and also introduces us to a character sharing the same name as him, and similarly, the same lifestyle. Both of the young men shared the absence of a father figure, living in poor neighborhoods, bad influences, and lack of education. While reading, we question “how?” and “why?”
He pointed out Mr. Cathey consistent bombardments of challenges and how he handle each situation. Every good point in his life such as becoming a father was met with a bad point in which he couldn’t go to school because he became a father. The author allowed us to feel happy for the situations that seemed any reasonable person would feel good about and upset about the unforeseen variables that tend to find Mr. Cathey. The author makes sure you feel the joy and pain of a young man who could have made it to a higher level but came up short because of his bad decision
In the story, the protagonist Winifred explains about her past experiences with her elder brother Zachary from her early years of admiration to her later years facing the similar circumstances of her brother with her youngest daughter Stephanie. During her younger years, Winifred admired her eldest brother and appeared as an obedient slave to him. Later on, however, she then faces with the disillusionment as her brother’s habits are warped to extreme measures such as smoking and drinking which later accumulates to the sorrow that she and her family faced from losing their youngest daughter Lizzie to leukemia. The death also strikes a permanent blow on Zachary, who later leaves the family due to his strained relationship with his
PLOT SUMMARY AND THEME OF THE NOVEL: Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan is the story of how Magnus Chase, a son of the Norse God Frey, meets his untimely demise at the hands of the fire giant Surt after learning of his heritage. After being revived in the Norse afterlife, Valhalla, Magnus is taken back to the world of the living to fulfil his destiny as being the harbinger of the Wolf. Along the way Magnus meets many mythical creatures including: a talking goat, a deaf elf, and a tall dwarf. In the end Magnus and his new found friends rebind the Wolf Fenris and defeat the fire giant Surt. The Theme of Magnus Chase and The Sword of Summer is that when things are at their worst it can always get better.
It is very important that writers are able to send a message to their reader with their book. Authors best do this by bringing about empathy. In order to send this message, authors often develop strong characters that go through various problems and struggles. The book, To Kill a Mockingbird, shows this very well with its characters Scout Finch and Tom Robinson. This book helps the readers learn from the character’s reactions to their problems.
The Secret Lives of People The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, is an interesting story that connects human lives to bees. The story takes place in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement and fourteen year-old Lily Owens leaves her abusive father and her home in Sylvan, South Carolina to go to Tiburon with hopes to find information on her mother. Throughout the story, Lily struggles with many internal conflicts and also meets several mother figures along the way.
With many problems stemming from each other, the book keeps readers interested in how the ordeal will work out. For instance, the conflict between Reuven, his professor, and the Gordons keeps people reading eagerly and with trepidation– will Reuven follow his professor’s warning that he should “not set foot in that school,” or will Reuven continue to see the Gordons? Also, Potok makes the reader contemplate religious questions. From questions like “[d]o you believe the world was created in six days” to less obvious questions about how a person should treat others with different beliefs, The Promise causes the reader to view his or her life and beliefs through the book’s questions. Undeniably, Potok draws the reader in through the many problems and the questions that stem from
Before she met her, Adichie’s roommate, felt enormous pity for her and did not believe the two of them could be similar in any way simply because she was African. Adichie questions how things would have been different on their first encounter had her roommate heard of all the positive influential people making a difference in Nigeria. The undeniable truth is, a single story has the power to both deprive and empower people. In “The Danger of a Single Story”, Adichie captivates her audience and convinces them that many stories matter.
In the poem, “A Hymn to Childhood,” Li-Young Lee talks about having fragmented individuality from childhood due to war. He is lost in perception of a traumatic childhood caused by war and a normal naïve childhood. Lee depicts the two diverged childhoods from his memory through the use of antithesis to emphasize the world perceived by a self fragmented individual. Throughout the poem, he consistently presents two opposing ideas to show what it feels like to grow up with emotional trauma.
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Essay “I try it, and I made it” (Kamkwamba, Mealer 266). This is how William Kamkwamba answered a question about making his windmill, on his first TED Talk, at the age of nineteen. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer is the incredible true story of William Kamkwamba and his brilliant invention.