Christian Cacace 5/6/14 Prof. Drucker English 102 Appreciation “Those Winter Sundays” is a poem by Robert Hayden about a hard working foster father who is not appreciated by anyone. Having come from a poor family and loving a foster father who loved the door next to his parent’s place it made him write a poem about his foster father. The poem is about a man who has to wake up all the days of the week to work and support his family. Since he has to do hard chores during the week, his hands ache on Sundays but he can’t rest because he has to make the fire and do his daily work. The son cannot wake up until he feels that the room is warm from the fire lit by his father.
The second essay is made up of three parts talking about the Christianity from his own personal perspective and the religion from the black culture. One thing that caught my attention was the first essay “My Dungeon Shook”, written to the author’s nephew there are mixed emotions. The letter begins with the author telling his nephew how much he cares for him and home much he sees the other loved members of his family inside of him. He then goes on with the task at hand and tells his nephew to not get defeated by the world around him. He explains to his nephew to not let what destroyed the others in his family destroy him.
'Those Winter Sundays' by Robert Hayden The voice of this poem is an adult looking back to when they were a child. The title itself sounds cold and dark and the Sundays seem to be significant themselves. We do not know whether or not the child is a boy or a girl. The poem was written by Robert Hayden in 1966. The poem is written with the voice of the poem looking back to the way his father would rise early to make sure that the house was warm when the child woke up.
The Importance of Father- Son Bonds The memoir, Night, written by Elie Wiesel tells a young man’s account of the brutal and cruelest event in history, the Holocaust. He explains his struggle with his faith during his time in the concentration camp. Losing his father, experiencing death of others, he begins to lose faith in God, only remaining the faith he has for his father; that eventually leads to his survival. At the beginning of the novel, Elie’s and God's relationship was inseparable, he was very religious. Elie wanted nothing more to learn the Cabbala, and was very serious with his studies.
For example, on page 237 in the textbook, it says: “It had always been hard for them to talk for more than a minute or two before his father got offended at something Luis said, or at his sarcastic tone. He was always doing something wrong.” Eventually, though, he realizes that his father does care a lot about his dead wife, and that he never got over her death. What helps Luis realize this was his falling in love with Naomi. A sentence from the story supports Luis’ realization: “Luis worked and worked, beginning to understand a little why his father kept busy all the time.” The main theme for this story is simple: love can change people. In the second story, “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” the main character, the narrator, is in love with a girl, who isn’t at all like him.
Fatelessness- Irme Kertesz Chapter 1 Tone/Atmosphere: Normal kid, calm tone, almost as if the story could take place today. Chapter starts off with him missing school to see his father sent to a labor camp. After his father gets deported, he hopes that the rest of the day will be normal. Symbols/Ideas: The idea of Judaism. Uncle Lajos (tries to) force Georg into praying for his father, telling him that he’s part of a Jewish fabric, and how we are now appeasing G-d for past sins.
Uncle Andy made Arnold feel abandoned and hurt when he stated “Not a tear in his eye”, this statement proves to show that his uncle did not care for him at the time and did not help comfort him. The community within this story also intertwines with this theme. It is shown when a member of the area, Sullivan, expresses his feeling through the following “He don’t give a hoot, is that how it goes?” Each word that comes from his mouth pierces Arnold’s heart and has him left in the dust. Finally the abandonment of his mother was what hurt him the most. People argue that the perspective that your family has on you, is what matters to a person the most.
H/W 25/2/13 How does John Betjeman create a sense of identity in “On a portrait of a deaf man” and one other poem John Betjeman creates a sense of identity in various ways. The poem is a tribute to his deceased father and the stark realization he believes in as he is very direct about death. Betjeman often writes about loneliness and death as he was passionate about the English way of life, which he believed to be dying out. The poem creates a fond memory of Betjeman’s father as it recalls many of his inconsequential actions and behavior. Betjeman does not use any euphemisms when talking about death to show that he has accepted it.
A Gift of Laughter Have you ever gotten mad at someone for disrupting you, and then realized they were only trying to help? That same thing happened to Robbie and his father in the story A Gift of Laughter by Allan Sherman. When Robbie interrupts his parents’ conversation to show his dad a picture, his dad gets frustrated and upsets Robbie. Throughout the story his father remembers his own childhood days, which in the end changes his attitude towards his son, and reveals the theme. It began when Robbie’s father was having an important conversation with his wife.
The Clerk: One man was known for his philosophy but despite his attempts his efforts to help the young men went to feathers. The Parson: The next lad to come along seemed very sad. For something laden his heart and that was the thought of the spiritual disappearance within the young men. So as this churchman spoke and poured out his words of wisdom, the young men sat back and didn’t even try to listen. The Ploughman: Now this was not the last time that the men maintained a visit, for only a few days later the churchman’s brother came to visit and leaving with the same results he soon gave up but not without rebuking their crude insults.