Ms. Johnson had to think outside of the box in order to connect with her students better. Ms. Johnson did a little research on the background of her students. She realized that she had to come and live in the same neighborhood as with her students for her to know what the reality they are experiencing is. If she herself will still think that there is still a choice or a slightest hope for them. Ms. Johnson realized that she had to break the standardized curriculum of the school.
Saroun Neang English 97 Professor Miklos 02/24/2014 Home Is Where the Heart Is The House on Mango Street, a novel written by Sandra Cisneros, is based on a young Chicana (Mexican-American girl) named Esperanza who is probably in her young adolescents years when the story begins. Within the year, she has moved around with her family to various neighborhoods and finally ends up on Mango Street. The house is not what Esperanza has dreamed of because it is shabby, broken down and crowded. She struggles with her feelings of loneliness and her shame at being poor. Like many young adolescents, she is embarrassed and wants to fit in.
Shortly after this she gets the idea of writing the book “The Help”. “The help” is a book that has all the different stories that the maids have told Skeeter. Skeeter is very different from her friends. They dropped out of school to get married and have children – she stayed and got a degree. She treats the maids and other African-American people with respect, unlike some of her friends that treat them poorly.
Emma Yeatts English 2-1 Mrs. Anderson 10 April 2012 Gertrude VS. Absalom’s Girlfriend Have you ever judged a book by its cover? People in Johannesburg are judged every day, but some of them actually are looking for help and family. In Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country, both Gertrude and Absalom’s girlfriend are lost and broken people because of Johannesburg; however, Absalom’s girlfriend is willing and ready for a serious change in her life. Gertrude is a single mom struggling in the wicked city of Johannesburg; Likewise Absalom’s girlfriend is living in the same area trying to escape her horrible lifestyle. In the book it dialogs about what Johannesburg can do to a person’s life.
It also focuses on the points of guilt and regret in her life as a mother and how she feels that there is guiltiness within her because of the absence she has made within her daughters’ life. “Everyday Use” is written in the same point of view as “ I Stand Here Ironing”. Its’ themes include dealing with what to accept as her true heritage because she chooses to go on her own and change things as though she feels they should be and also her education and how it is creating a separation between her and her family. Both themes are based of a motherhood relationship, and showing how there are many obstacles with growing up. In “I Stand Here Ironing” the story starts out stating, “ I stand here ironing, and what you asked me moves tormented back and forth with the iron” (607).
In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian’s mother is a bigot. She prefers to live in the past, just like Mrs. Turpin in “Revelation.” Each lady thinks that times were better before desegregation. The reason that Mrs. Turpin thought this way was because now she has to be nice to the black people; all she had to do before was give them an order and her orders would be followed exactly. In “Everything That Rises Must Converge,” Julian’s mother was scared to ride the bus alone because she thought that a black person might harass her in some way. In each of these stories, the leading ladies— Mrs. Turpin and Julian’s mother— were prejudice in some way towards anyone they thought should be in a lower class.
She comes to find truth, after her dad comes to visit her and molest her again, because she decides to finally tell her mother what her father has been doing, because the girl is in love with her boyfriend and wants it to end. She finally feels like she is conquering her life in truth, until she has to tell her boyfriend, and he ends up separating from her for what her father did to her. This could have triggered her to steal or do something else, because she is being punished for being truthful. As a matter of fact, the story ends when she gets her own letter in the mail, unknown from whom, and throws it away. She probably feels awkward, having something normal and feels like she should not have normalcy, even though, she wants it, because she has never wanted it before.
And she’s lookin very closely at me like maybe she plannin to do my portrait from memory. I’m mad but I won’t give in to her that satisfaction” (73). Ms Moore is a static character, who is a college educated black woman, new to the neighborhood and to tries to educated the children of that community.”She’d been to college and said it was only right that she should take responsibility for the young ones’ education, and she not event related by marriage or blood”(69). The external conflict in the story is with Sylvia. She is rude and speaks with bad language when describing Ms. Moore.
When her mother didn't pick up on the clues, Dana decided the only answer was to leave. Fortunately, Brent and Ashley, experienced street kids, were there to pick up the pieces. Brent has issues that forced him to leave home hoping to find some answers, and Ashley's mother, a stripper, represented more like a sister than a mother. Together these three beg and squeegee car windows, hoping to earn enough money to eat and sometime sleep somewhere with shower facilities. Things begin to be good when Dana stumbles across a place called Sketches.
When Barbara tells the people of Poverty Gully of her story, they too start wondering if a better world is possible, somewhere around the corner. The dreams and goals of the characters Barbara, Gully Jack and Big Jim were all different and they all had different ways of achieving them. Barbara dreamt of a better world where a caring family would be there to love her. Her mother was a drug addict and didn’t provide Barbara with a safe home that she desperately needed. So Barbara fled into the streets only to be caught up in a wild demonstration, feeling more frightened than she had ever been before.