It is quite evident that tyrannical governments often deprive its citizens of their inviolable rights as humans. While some struggle to grasp the gravity of this suppression, Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies provides a way of better comprehending the corruption behind the denial of these entitlements such as freedom of expression, liberty, and no discrimination. In this story, Alvarez intertwines the real life tragedy of the Mirabal sisters with fictional writing to fully connect the reader to the evilness of dictatorships. Her use of characterization and admiring descriptions of the Mirabals lead to her readers being emotionally connected to each sister, prompting a better response to her message. Stressing the immorality behind the oppression of human rights, Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies displays a reverent tone as the heroic actions of the Mirabal sisters against a totalitarian government are described, showing Alvarez’s desire to possess the same courage.
After reading "The Death of a Moth" by Annie Dillard I can conclude that this essay has a second meaning to it. I can see that Dillard wrote this essay with a lot of details so readers could understand what she was saying or to make readers imagine what she experienced. This essay that Dillard wrote talks about how she watched a moth burn for over two hours. Dillard implied that the moth still meant something even after it was burned. This is why I think that this essay that Dillard wrote has a second meaning to it.
For the past five years, I have watched my amiable grandmother unconditionally care for my ailing grandfather. My grandfather was diagnosed with alzheimer's and dementia. At the earlier stages of his sickness, I remember visiting for Easter when I was much younger. My parents told my brothers and I that grandpa probably will not remember our names but to be patient with him. I did not think too much of it since, at that time, my grandpa seemed to be his normal self. What I did not know was that my grandma was helping my grandpa practice putting names to our faces in pictures, all night long. The next time I visited I could barely recognize my grandfather, he seemed so fragile and frail. Even though he could not walk or communicate, I could still notice his quirky personality.
“The butterfly is nature’s way of reminding us that there is hope in grief when a caterpillar is no more and the butterfly exists in ultimate freedom and beauty.” These words of Tanya Lord perfectly describe the allusion of butterflies that caught my attention while reading the book O Pioneers! By Whila Cather. There are two main setting in which butterflies appear throughout the novel, after doing research I found many interesting facts of butterflies, and was able to better understand why Cather used this allusion.
She utilises a diptych structure which portrays the contrast of a child’s naive image of death to the more mature understanding they obtain as they transition into adulthood. This highlighted in ‘I Barn Owl’ where the use of emotive language, “I watched, afraid/ …, a lonely child who believed death clean/ and final, not this obscene”, emphasises the confronting nature of death for a child which is further accentuated through the use of enjambment which conveys the narrator’s distress. In contrast, ‘II Nightfall’, the symbolism of life as a “marvellous journey” that comes to an end when “night and day are one” reflects the narrator’s more refined and mature understanding of mortality. Furthermore the reference to the “child once quick/to mischief, grown to learn/what sorrows,…/no words, no tears can mend” reaffirms the change in the narrator’s perspective on death through the contrast of a quality associated with innocence, “mischief”, with more negative emotions associated with adulthood, “sorrows”. The narrator’s changing understanding of the inevitability of death across the two sections of the poem illustrates the dynamic and contrasting nature of the human
According to Rafael Trujillo, “He who does not know how to deceive does not know how to rule(azquotes)”. This explains the mindset of the dictator of the Dominican Republic shown in the book The Time Of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. In this historical fiction book it explain the story of the Mirabal sister in there fight to stop the oppression of Trujillo. It goes though there life story and gives insight to what the conditions were. Trujillo and the Dominican Republic government oppressed the citizens by arresting if you resist them, Machiavellian control and the deplorable conditions these people lived in.
The poem, “The Death of a Toad” by Richard Wilbur, ponders the appearance and reverie that a toad may have towards the end of its life. Wilbur uses careful structure, imagery and diction to gradually show that to the speaker, the death of the toad starts as just a simple cease of breathing; but it transforms into a mystical journey.
In the essay, “The Death of the Moth”, Virginia Woolf uses metaphor to convey that the relationship between life and death is one that is strange and fragile. Woolf tells the story of the life and death of a moth, one that is petite and insignificant. The moth is full of life, and lives life as if merry days and warm summers are the only things the moth knows. However, as the moth enters it’s last moments, it realizes that death is stronger than any other force. As the moth knew life seconds before, it has now deteriorated into death. The moth which had been so full of life, was now dead, showing that the line between life and death is one that is fragile and easy to cross without intention, or expectance.
In Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot documents the years surrounding her research of Henrietta Lacks, a woman known to most of the world as HeLa. Henrietta lived and died a poor tobacco farmer from the south, living and working on the same farm as her enslaved ancestors. But little did Henrietta know that her cells would change the course of medical research and history forever.
Maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s Maybelline. Or maybe it’s courage! Many people can be born with a perfectly clear face, or the oh so perfect rosy cheeks. Then there is some that have to work a little bit harder than others. Courage is the same way. Some people are born with it, and others might have to work for. Julia Alvarez’s historical fiction novel, ‘In the Time Of The Butterflies’, tells the story of four sisters gaining courage throughout their lives from events they have experienced. Like in every family of sisters, even siblings, each one has their own personality, and this is true with the Mirabal sisters, but they all share the same trait- courage. Courage runs in each sister’s
In the short story, ''The Moths'', by Helena Maria Viramontes uses author style to focus on the ideas that one could be isolated and it takes a severe deed to regain inner peace through the title, informal writing, and theme. The title, ''The Moths'' represents the moths flying out of the Abuelita's mouth after she died at the end of the story. ''I wanted to rest my head on her chest with her stroking my hair, telling me about the moths that lay within the soul and slowly eat the spirit up'', (page 37). The narrator was told by her Abuelita (grandmother) that the moths are filled in one's soul, and they slowly eat the spirit, but the moths are part of one that keeps living after one dies. It shows that the grandmother's legacy kept living
Montag is going through the motions of life. He sees people die but never really understands what that means, the consequences and irreversibility of death. Montag sees people burn and sees them die but he doesn’t process what is happening. As he becomes more aware of what is happening he begins to gain a better understanding of death. Bradbury uses the immolation of characters to demonstrate the evolution of Montag’s understanding of death.
The poem, “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe dramatizes the theme of everlasting love. The use of contrasting diction effectively conveys this message. For example, the speaker states, “That the wind came out of the cloud by night, / Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee” (26-26). Poe uses the wind to represent a disease, such as tuberculosis. In addition, the choice of the words, “chilling” and “killing” and the use of cacophony emphasize Annabel Lee’s death and the effect it had on the speaker. Later, the speaker declares that neither angels nor demons “Can ever dissever my soul from the soul / Of the beautiful Annabel Lee” (32-33). Euphony occurs throughout the entirety of this quote, in phrases such as “my soul from the soul” and “the beautiful
“The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world” was a statement by Edgar Allan Poe. It is a very strong statement, for death, in the non-literary world, is not typically associated with anything poetical. In fact, many would argue that death is the opposite of poetical. If poetical means, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “having an imaginative or sensitive emotional style of expression”, then it can be said that death is unpoetical. Death is the end of one’s emotions, and in non-literal terms, death can be the lack of emotions.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969), written and illustrated by Eric Carle, this story starts with a tiny egg on a leaf. The tiny egg hatches into a small very hungry caterpillar. On Monday, the caterpillar ate through one apple and Tuesday through Friday he ate even more fruit. After eating Monday through Friday, he was still hungry. For Saturday, he ate through chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, a slice of cheese, a slice of salami, a lollipop, a piece of cherry pie, sausage, a cupcake and a piece of watermelon. On Sunday, he ate a green leaf and was finally full. The caterpillar wove himself a cocoon to sleep. Finally, a beautiful butterfly emerges from the cocoon. This story is illustrated with the use of painting and collage to create colorful images of the caterpillar, setting, and the