He would offer the starving, poor boys bread in exchange for a lesson in reading. This manner in learning became highly effective for Douglass. Fredrick Douglass, by the age of twelve, obtained the book, “The Columbian Orator.” Whenever given the chance, he would read from the book. The book contained dialogue between a runaway slave and his master. Within the book, there was also a speech from Sheridan.
The two readings that I will be comparing and contrasting is Learning to Read and Write by Frederick Douglas and The Lonely, Good Company of Books by Richard Rodriguez. Both of the readings deal with two young men whom both had a passion to read and write. In Frederick Douglas’ essay, he explains all the difficulties he was faced with when he learned to read and write in the 1830s. In that era it was rare for African-Americans to read and write, nonetheless having the urge to learn that Douglas had. Most importantly Frederick Douglas was a slave which meant that it was against the law to have reading and writing privileges.
After reading " And then I Went to School," and "College Pressures", its evident that the word education is viewed differently depending on the "students" background. In the short story " And then I Went to School," the purpose of education to ____ was a lot different then those of the white people. Joseph Suina found that the purpose of education in the white men village was to fit in with them and learn their ways and traditions of life. Although this is not what Joesph wanted he was forced this new education upon him. Joseph believed that his education came for his grandmother, learning how to cook, clean, and take care of his family.
Wiesel tells his story in the first person, which allows the audience to understand his thoughts and emotions greater, as we experience the novel through him. This is evident when Wiesel “felt guilty” for thinking that he “ought to be having two rations of bread, two rations of soup,” instead of just one when his father is dying of dysentery. In Maus, however, such emotions would not be evident unless explicitly stated by Vladek in the story (Wiesel 105). Vladek recalls himself irritating a cut in an attempt to go the the infirmary, where the conditions were significantly better than in the work camp, and claims he “got afraid for [his] hand and let it heal” (Spiegelman 252). If it were not for this direct statement, it would be difficult for the audience to understand what Vladek is thinking.
“But it is a part of the buisness of the writer-as I see it- to examine attitudes, to go beneath the surface, to tap the source. From this point of view the Negro problem is nearly inaccessible. It is not only written about so widely; it is written about so badly” (447) With this qoute James Baldwin is saying that there must be solid backround information on everything you write; They must examine every point and emotion and capture it for the writing. He feels that not only are the struggles African Americans went thru widely written about but also is poorly written. 3.
Porfiry in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment has such an intellectual way of investigating Raskolnikov and his motives. Dostoyevsky creates a character with a small role, yet such an outstanding impact that he can be thought of as the antagonist of this novel. His methods can be defined as different and leave a permanent stain on Raskolnikov as a character. Although psychology was in effect long before Porfiry steps foot onto the scene. Raskolnikov wonders why so many crimes are committed so poorly.
Mrs. Wilson quickly notices Boyd’s (negro) appearance, and starts acting strange due to this, asking him questions about his family’s labor and level of poverty, and generally insinuates that because of his black heritage, that he must be poor or in some manner socially challenged. She also tries to donate some of the Wilson family’s own clothing to “their cause”, but ends up getting rejected by a confused Boyd, who has plenty. Bitter, Mrs. Wilson grabs the rest of the gingerbread from the table just as Boyd is about to grab another piece, and loudly tells him that she is not angry, just “disappointed by his attitude”. The boys go out to play again, both Johnny and Boyd oblivious to Mrs. Wilson’s ulterior motives, although both are wondering about it and feeling a little bit uncomfortable. It does though, in no way, stop them from continuing their playful schemes.
Speaking and Caring Richard Rodriguez throughout his entire essay “The Achievement of Desire” states very clearly his opinions and feelings about his parents, teachers, his schooling, and his books. Rodriguez has many opinions that I support, it may be the fact we both come from a working-class family and some of the things that he described about his parents matched up with my parents. We also had somewhat similar experiences but there was also a good deal of things that I didn’t relate to him. Rodriguez wrote “The Achievement of Desire” to explain the experiences that he had during his life that shaped his opinions towards his parents and his overall life lessons from his education. He found himself becoming polar opposite to his parents and even resenting them because of the fact that they were not college educated people.
Disappointed as I was I realized its not always the subject as much as it is your form and process that gets the grade I learned to pay more attention to my technique and process. When writing an essay or paper I tend to get nervous, scared and even intimidated. I often question if I’m using correct grammar, punctuations and form. Inexperience usually gets the best of me and I freeze. I remember when writing was fun, but it feels more like a chore to me now then
What kind of narrator is Stevens? Use textual examples from The Remains of the Day to support your response. This essay will argue that Stevens epitomises what it is to be an unreliable narrator. The transparency of his first person testimony to an assumed reader and the very restriction of his limited perspective will be discussed as being crucial to the understanding of Stevens as this unreliable narrator. The evasive, deceptive and revisionist characteristics of his narrative will in turn be considered, as factors that motivate yet control Stevens as a narrator throughout the book.