The Road By Gitta Sereny: An Analysis

Life on the road is an idealistic way to escape from societal problems. There is no denying that it grants individuals satisfaction by allowing them to fulfill their goals, as well as providing immense freedom and control over one’s life; however, it is a fundamentally illogical path to take due to nature’s malevolence. In Into The Wild, Krakauer writes a biography about a young man named Chris McCandless, in which he illustrates the similarities between himself and McCandless’s overly ambitious journey to accomplish feats in the wilderness. Coinciding with their similarities, they also faced an oppressive father figure at home, which lead the both of them to believe that their journey will provide them an answer to their problems at home. McCandless planned to survive in Alaska by living off the land while Krakauer wanted to be the first one to climb the Devil’s Thumb. What happened instead was that McCandless died at an early age, whilst Krakauer barely made it to tell the tale; proving nothing of value came from their journeys. While life on the road can offer solace to individuals who have struggled in their lives, it is unfathomable to think that the wilderness will offer them any embrace to their ambitions; therefore it should not be pursued as it leads to family issues and ignorant behavior.

This passage from Dalton Trumbo’s novel Johnny Got His Gun shows a relationship between a father and son through a seemingly small and insignificant series of events. The short story depicts a father and his son on their annual fishing trip. The son decides that he wants to go fishing with his friend instead of his father for a change however, is very hesitant to ask. The author’s use of techniques such as point of view, selection of detail, and syntax in this passage helps to better characterize the relationship between the father and his son in a deeper and more thorough way.

The poem “A Story” by Li-Young Lee depicts the complex relationship between a boy and his father when the boy asks his father for a story and he can’t come up with one. When you’re a parent your main focus is to make your child happy and to meet all the expectations your child meets. When you come to realize a certain expectation can’t satisfy the person you love your reaction should automatically be to question what would happen if you never end up satisfying them. When the father does this he realizes the outcome isn’t what he’d hope for. He then finally realizes that he still has time to meet that expectation and he isn’t being rushed. Through shifting points of view, a purposeful structure, and settle choices in diction the author adds

Children from as young as the age of 6 began working in factories, the beginning of their exploitation, to meet demands of items and financial need for families. In Florence Kelley’s speech before the National American Woman Suffrage Association in Philadelphia 1905, Kelley addresses the overwhelming problem of child labor in the United States. The imagery, appeal to logic, and the diction Kelley uses in her speech emphasizes the exploitation of children in the child labor crisis in twentieth century America.

Dalton Trumbo’s novel, “Johnny Got His Gun” tells all about a father and son relationship that many people may envy for. Trumbo characterizes their relationship with a respectful tone, yet Trumbo also makes the love and trust the father and son share very apparent throughout the novel. Trumbo is able utilize literary devices such as third person point of view and a lack of formal punctuation, using syntax to help the reader have a better perspective on the relationship the father and son partake in.

McCarthy, Cormac. The Road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Print. The Road is set in a grim atmosphere. It is after apocalypse world where all signs of life are extinct. People and animals are starving, and predatory groups of savages wander around with pieces of human bodies stuck in their teeth. It is both oppressive and disheartening. McCarthy sets an atmosphere like one mediately after the world wars. It is not far-fetched to imagine the possibility of such a sad environment today. The novel tells a story of an unnamed man and his son in who struggle to survive in this horrific environment. I feel that the language in the novel is verbose. McCarthy is blunt in his descriptions. He uses repeated struggles and similar scenes forcing the reader to share the tough experience of the characters. I agree with the author that The Road is the picture of a post-apocalyptic world. I also agree with the opinion that suffering might never end, like the novel indicates through imagery at the very end. The author manages to combine happy moments with sad ones even though the sad ones takes the larger share. In addition, he accomplished his aim of having an audience that is glued to the book all along sine it is both engaging and informative. The author has a perception that the world is composed of more bad things than the good ones. This novel will be important to me as I explore the themes of post-apocalyptic fears and human struggles. However, I do feel that he leans too heavily on sadness

All books that young adults read have power. Their power results in their ability to sway and to change the reader in so many ways, not the least of these is morally. These books can create a moral sense in the young by demonstrating what is morally right and what is morally wrong. They can raise and resolve ethical issues. The reader may not agree with each resolution, but is certainly forced to think about issues he or she may never have thought about before (Smith 63).

Redemption is the act of being saved from acts of evil and sin. The debate of whether human nature is redeemable or not has been one to plaque religious scholars. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, this question continues in the interactions between the characters; the most notable being the Grandmother of a rather horrible family and the Misfit, a murderer. While on a road trip, these two characters’ paths collide and lead to a rather unfortunate end where the Grandmother and her family are killed. While many readers believe the ending creates and overall negative tone of the story, some believe that there is a hope for redemption; the story’s author O’Connor who is a devoted Catholic included. Even though human nature is flawed within Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, there is a chance for redemption near the story’s ending.

As human beings one of the things we feel we never have enough of is time. Well what if there was a way to acquire more time by prolonging your own life? The answer to this question is what author Susan McCarthy discusses in her essay “On Immortality.” McCarthy uses several types of appeals to persuade her audience that prolonging human life poses many different complications and moral questions that have yet to be answered. One of the most effective appeals that she uses in her essay is logical appeals because they are based on things such as human evolution and facts. McCarthy uses these appeals to point out that extending a human being’s life may not be as easy as one two three, and what happens after we accomplish this goal, do we stop

Writing about controversial subjects can often be difficult; however Hughes executed his story, Salvation, in an intriguing manner that is suitable to all audiences and religions. In this story, the writer retells an experience from his childhood describing his journey to Jesus Christ. Discussing the complications, the main character, Hughes, faced while trying to come to Jesus is what makes the story interesting to read. On many occasions, you will read a story or watch a movie that shows the main character coming to Jesus and having an immediate and obvious realization of their Savior. For this reason, I found this story to be unique and relatable in the way that it shows a journey that countless Christians face, but you are not often granted the opportunity to read about this type of experience.

The short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is revolved around many distortions that the author O’Connor creates to build meaning within the story. The novel presents characters that are characterized through many different symbols that result in an uncanny feeling for the reader. O’Connor’s “place” is the distortion in the story that causes conflict, creating the uncanny feeling in the story. O’Connor’s “place” also represents a different variety of symbols, creating the necessary meaning of the psychological realism. O’Connor utilizes distortion to create meaning in the story within her characters who represent the conflicts within the Catholic Church and dramatizes it with a complicated sense of humor.

Two stories “A Good Man is Hard to Find” and “Revelation” by Flannery O' Conner both share a similar theme. The theme most common throughout both stories is religion. The author uses racism and religion in most of her stories and characters all seem to have similar personality traits. A few comparisons between “Revelation” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is that both these stories start off quick and to the point. These two stories contain a strong sense of superiority of their characters. These characters face reality through a painful encounter where they finally realize it is time to “wake up”. I failed to mention that both declare themselves religiously but neither understand religion in their own life.

The Shack, written by WM. Paul Young is an extraordinary novel. I admire what Mr. Young has done with this book. The intense characters he has created, the engaging ideas presented and the description of the events are all so surreal. One of the best parts about this book is the theology. This book that Mr. Young has written is about a man finding his way back to God after his daughter was kidnapped and murdered. Though some people think God to be an old white man with a beard in the sky, that is not at all what Young has portrayed God as. It seems as if he has done a very thorough job of researching God’s character and who he is. Another aspect I really liked was the main character, Mackenzie’s daughter. She was a sweet young girl with a personality and character that could melt any heart. Though there are countless wonders in this book, some areas could still use some work. For instance, right after Mackenzie’s daughter dies, the description goes downhill for a while and the intensity just drops, leaving the reader struggling to continue. After a chapter of this dull writing, Young picks up his description and storytelling once again.

    The short story “A Worn Path,” written by Eudora Welty, depicts the journey of an elderly black woman named Phoenix Jackson who walks from her home to the city of Natchez in need of medicine for her sick grandson. Phoenix experiences many obstacles that do not interrupt her trip, but rather make her a stronger woman for overcoming them. In A Worn Path, Welty illustrates her journey through several key symbols: the name Phoenix, the path, and the windmill.

At that moment, he heard the door. Not the doorbell but a series of soft, polite raps, almost apologetic about the late hour. Every house has a logic, and its laws are more eloquent at night, when things occur without palliative noises. He didn’t look at his watch or jump, or suspect that he was hearing things. He simply got up from his chair and walked toward the door without turning on any lights; when he found himself standing face-to-face with his father. He had not seen his father since his death. And, at that moment, he had the strange realization that he had become used to the idea of never seeing him again.