Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness Autor: Styron, William Student Name: Yahaira Cabrera Barreto Course: English Foundations EN001-48 102 Instructor: Ms. Joan Zaun Due Date: April 1, 2015 Information about the author William Styron | Author (1925–2006) Novelist William Styron won a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and wrote Sophie’s Choice, the basis of an Academy Award-winning film. William Styron was born on June 11, 1925, in Newport News, Virginia. He published his first novel, Lie Down in Darkness, in 1952. In 1968 he won a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner. In 1979 he published Sophie’s Choice, which was made into a film in 1982 and an opera in 2002.
Gatsby Illusion vs. Reality There are differences between illusion and reality, which in this novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald plays a very large part of this literature. Illusion is something that deceives by producing false or misleading impression of reality. Now, reality is the state where things as they are or appear to be rather than as one might wish them to be. One aspect of a character’s life in this novel that sets a great example of illusion seen as reality involves the character Jay Gatsby.
Our main character in this book is 17 years old Conrad Keith Jarrett. Book begins in the moment, when he wakes up on the first school day after his return home. The main event happened approximately a year before the beginning of the book. Conrad’s older brother Jordan “Buck” Jarrett drowned in lake during sailing with his brother. Later in the book, Con has flashbacks to his dark moments.
Carry Me Like Water by Benjamin Alire Sáenz is a rich and touching novel. I think it is an amazing story. The book is a story of interrelated stories with wonderful characters; the thoughtful and deaf Diego who lives in El Paso and is working on his suicide note as well as making friends with a cholo named Mundo who he finds stabbed in a dumpster, Mary or the Virgin Mary and wise, disrespectful Luz. There is also Jake and Joaquin who is a gay couple struggling with Joaquin’s dying of AIDS, Helen and Eddy is the rich couple in Northern California anticipating their first child and Lizzie is a nurse who one day finds out her AIDS patient was her twin brother and that he has given her his gift of being psychic and that she is really a Mexican named Maria de Lourdes. Each character is a mystery
Sedaris also uses hyperboles to enhance the humor and drama in his writings. One instance of hyperbole is in “Go Carolina,” when he states, “the word therapy suggested a profound failure on my part.” Obviously, he is exaggerating the fact that therapy was a “profound failure,” adding to his intended drama. Also, in “In the Waiting Room,” when he is describing his experience, it is an exaggeration to have the thought of suicide at the moment. But the use of hyperboles in this case works, because the exaggeration of certain things provides comedy for the reader. Sedaris also makes use of rhetorical questioning.
One of his poems in particular, “10 Mary Street”, represents change, as it shows his comparison of his life in Poland and Sydney, and how he and his family adapted to their new change of lifestyle. Peter also shows the feeling of he and his family Belonging there with in “10 Mary Street” tells the story of Peter living there for nineteen years, as it says in the first stanza, For nineteen years we departed, Each morning, shut the house like a well-oiled lock”. This shows the use of repetition. The language techniques that Peter Skryznecki uses in this poem are used to create a connection between him and the audience. Some of these techniques are similes, hyperbole, metaphors and personification.
Flynn Brighton Beach Memoirs is a comical play written by Neil Simon back in 1982. Set in 1932, the play focuses on two main families struggling through the hardships of the “Great Depression” in New York City. Eugene, the main character, writes in his memoir what is going on in his family during these hard times. Being only a little younger than fifteen, Eugene is going through puberty during the play; this cause many humorous parts in which Eugene speaks in monologues to the audience. Aside from Eugene adding in entertaining comments, the players are truly trying to stay afloat during this “Great Depression” flood.
Rebecca Wagner Book Report One English 9 Block 4 9/14/11 Ride Like The Wind True Colors by Kristen Hannah is about a crime that shocks a small town, a terrible mistake made by our legal system, sisters who have lost their way, a boy who doesn’t know how to be a man without his father, and true love. I went on a journey to a corner of Washington State, 1992 where girls look forward to the County Fair and sleep in a dusty stall every once and a while. I loved this book and I could relate to a lot of the characters. It was compelling, passionate, and inspiring. It shows that even through hardships, your family will always be there for you.
The next morning which was Saturday, I had awakened with the worst hangover and was reeking with the smell of wine and vomit. That afternoon our family was going to a wedding reception where there was more wine and champagne. I recall seeing a fountain full of bubbling champagne sitting on a table, as I passed by it the smell made get nauseated all over again and waiting to just puke. I learned my lesson from that day until this day to never over drink again. This learning experience was a very valuable one.
That is the reason for its use as a title. What Jean did is ingenious because at first glance it is meaningless (beyond the fact that the Sargasso Sea is in the vicinity of Jamaica and Martinique). However, having read the novel and analyzed it, one can see the direct relationship between the two. This connection helps broaden the understanding of the novel, and comparing it to a real living ecosystem adds a degree of realism to the novel. For the nature of the novel is like the nature of the Sea; a living, breathing, tough and unforgiving