When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Nigger Synthesis

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When Heaven and Earth Changes Places, written by Le Ly Hayslip, explores themes depicting family bonds, as well as the enemy of war being war itself. Nigger, written by Dick Gregory, discovers themes of societies running on racism and fighting for one’s rights. These two novels display various strategies used by the authors that help in developing the overall plot and authenticity. Hayslip and Gregory work together in dealing with common issues – most evidently not being accepted within a given society. Not only do they speak about their real-life situations in the form of autobiography, but they speak about larger and more complex issues. They involve readers through their particular points of view. Through their texts, they address matters that shock, baffle, amuse, and anger readers all in one. In Nigger, Gregory takes us on a journey of his life during the civil rights movement. He shows us how his interpretation of things makes him behave the way he did. He manages to combine two contrasting elements – humor and real life situations. He turns hardships into comic genius. For example, in chapter five, he walks into a Caucasian only restaurant and asks for an order of fried chicken. The owner of the restaurant comes to him and says “We don’t serve colored here”. Gregory adds comic relief by telling him that he doesn’t eat colored people. The owner giving him the chicken shows that acting as a comedian in serious situations causes relief of tension. He uses rhetoric humor to describe his feelings about important issues. Throughout the text he often paints himself in a dim light, dismissing his heroic deeds as products of the worst side of his nature in what he calls “the monster”. Gregory uses a distinct strategy of drawing readers into the text; he adds comic relief to serious situations, making his work authentic. Le Ly Hayslip takes a different approach in
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