Compare and Contrasting Poems

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I am comparing and contrasting the “Inheritance of Waterfalls and Sharks” by: Martin Espada, and the “Address to General William Henry Harrison” by: Shawnee Chief Tecumseh. I chose these two because they both had to do with great cultural pride. We can compare a few similarities that they have with each other. The first similarity would be that they both deal with cultural pride in some sort of way. Everyone must deal with pride at some point in their life. There are a few things that they contrast with as well. First, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh is giving as speech that has to do with selling parts of America. In fact he says, “Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?” In saying this, the Chief is saying that selling the Country would be the same as selling the air; they are for the people’s use and not to be owned. Secondly, Martin Espada states that the Americans are invading Puerto Rico and his family is immigrating into America. He even states, “Another century, and still the warships scavenge Puerto Rico's beaches with wet snouts. For practice, Navy guns hail shells coated with uranium over Vieques like a boy spinning his first curveball; to the fisherman on the shore, the lung is a net and the tumor is a creature with his own face, gasping.” What he is saying is simple; even though he is in a different country Navy ships are firing shells that are actually coated with uranium just for fun. In doing this we Americans are exposing the Puerto Ricans to radiation poisoning. In conclusion, we all have to deal with pride at some point in our lives. It’s what we do after we experience this pride that defines

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