This, therefore, allowed for a more cohesive account which some can say is unbiased. When looking at this book, although the accounts range from the Japanese soldiers to the Chinese refugees, one can say that this account could be a tad biased towards the fact that it is highlighting all of the atrocities that took place during the Nanking invasion. This book allowed for readers to grasp the ideas behind each of the principles that lead to the raping of Nanking and what happened afterwards. The intriguing style of incorporating all three perspectives brought light to the mentality of each individual as it showed their motives behind their actions. Chang’s main purpose of exposing the horrific events that took place during the destruction of Nanking. By expressing the power that one instance had over someone’s life, Chang said “In a single blinding moment I recognized the fragility of not just life but the human experience itself” (p. 10). This showed how this experience has impacted her in more than just one way. Being that her grandparents barely made it out of this incident alive, allowed her to incorporate her passion so that events, such as this, do not happen…
Hiroshima and Night are two novels about one of the world’s most powerful and destructive wars. In Hiroshima, Hersey writes of the events that began on August 6, 1945. Hiroshima is told through the memories of six survivors: Miss Toshiko Sasaki, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Mrs. Hatsuyo Nakamura, Father Wilhelm Kleinsorge, Dr. Terufumi Sasaki, and Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, and Hersey makes sure to never let his readers forget their stories. Every one of those six people experiences their share of death, destruction, and dehumanization. Elie Wiesel contributes similar concepts in Night. But instead of other people putting forth their stories, Elie Wiesel shares his own war story by narrating his…
Adam Pelko is the main character in the story. Other characters are Adam's Mom and young sister Bea, Davi Mori, his best friend, Nancy, Adam's soon-to-be girlfriend, Babe, a school bully who ends up being Adam's friend, and Jerry. These characters are realistic. They could have been people in real-life. The characters do not have supernatural powers or anything of the sort, they are just plain humans in the United States in World War II. My favorite character would have to be the main character, Adam Pelko. He is my favorite because he is a brave, young teenager that almost dies to do something for a friend. He risked traveling to Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp. Adam is also very polite, but sometimes he does not respect his mother because he thinks she will not let him get out of the house because he is too irresponsible and she is scared that because he is part Japanese, the police may catch him and put him in a camp with the others. The author did an excellent job at creating these characters. Harry picked some realistic names that were used in the year and did a perfect job at describing the characters. A Boy No More is based on a historical war in which the Japanese were discriminated against in America and put into internment camps. The author must…
This paper discusses the early life of Name Eemoved. She is a 47 year old woman who is struggling with depression in her life. She is hoping that by writing this paper, she may find some understanding of her life from infancy, childhood, adolescence and finally her adulthood. It will look at Erik Erikson’s work and how it applies to her life into adulthood. It also will look at the motivation in her life by examining Maslow’s theory of need fulfillment and what her life is like as an adult and how the things that happened to her as a child and the way she was raised. What type of parents…
Sookan feels lost in the world, she longs to understand life as she sees it. Sookan acts as one raindrop in the storm of people, she has yet to experience many things, and she doesn't know how to act in the world that seems so big. Sookan doesn't have an identity, or if she does, she doesn't know it yet. Sookan acts as a part of her mother and grandfather, now that they are both gone in a sense, she has to act as herself which brings a new feeling to her. "For the first time, I did not like being a Korean child....I wished that I were Japanese. I thought of the Japanese who went to the special school and lived in pretty houses that Koreans used to own. The Japanese could have anything they wanted in Korea" (Sook Nyul Choi 30). Sookan has no one to guide her into…
In Melina Marchetta's novel, "Looking for Alibrandi", the theme of identity is a process of discovery along a journey for most of the characters. Although John Barton's journey is short by the end, he knew what he wanted and he made sure that no one was hurt more than necessary when he achieved it. Josephine Alibrandi discovers her identity after many developments in her life, many of which include Jacob Coote, John Barton and Katia Alibrandi. Katia Alibrandi, Josie's grandmother, (nonna) has experienced a lot in her time but still needs Josie's help to let go of her past. Jacob Coote went along with what everyone expected of him until he met Josie. She helps him to reopen the door to his journey of identity. Melina Marchetta has provided a text with the identity issues that many face and she has provided her readers with outcomes that prove to be perfect examples of the outcomes of discovery of identity.…
It was May 1948 and outside Alex Steiner’s tailor shop, Liesel saw many people running towards the big streets of Molching. It had been exactly three years since the war in Europe had ended and everyone was gathering to celebrate finally being free of the oppressive feeling that the Nazi party had given them.…
In the memoir Year of Impossible Goodbyes, the main character, Sookan, changes from a scared and hopeless young girl to a brave and fearless one. At first she has no hope when the war is still surging, next she cowers in fear because the sock girls are being taken away and grandfather died, but finally she feels brave when they must escape to the south. Sookan's life at home had been terrible. They tried to throw a surprise party for Haiwon, but the Japanese soldiers interrupted them and ordered more to cut down grandfather’s tree. As she watched, she felt more hopeless than ever before. "But suddenly, I was sorry I was born a Korean child" (Choi 30). Sookan portrayed the characteristics of a hopeless and scared child at the beginning of the…
Recall the consideration from the philosophy of religion involving replacement of the unregenerate person with a “different person altogether” (cite, pp. 139). Does it follow that Jeremias experience a replacement of personal identity with a different person altogether? Epistemically speaking, it would seem that Jeremias did not survive a change, because although he is aware of the idea ‘homosexuality is immoral and therefore not entitled to having a status equal to heterosexuality’, yet rather than believe the idea when he is aware of it, he simply passes judgment of it from a third person point of view. That is to say, if this is right, Jeremias at t2 seems to pass judgment of Jeremias at t1 as if they are separate individuals. Thus, our…
Is an individual made from the roots he or she is from? People’s personal identities and family along with cultural legacies all go together to create an individual person, but an individual person’s identity is made from their own personal experiences in life. How do family traditions and legacies contribute to and/or inhibit an individual’s identity? Or is self-identities created from one’s own self? Self-identity is what a person thinks about one’s self and what his or her place is in the world. A person’s identity is made up of his or her own personal experiences and searching within one’s…
Thomas Clayton Wolfe, a native of Asheville, North Carolina, wrote his most well-known work, Look Homeward, Angel, from an autobiographical standpoint. Though structured as a fiction, it has been widely accepted since its publication that the novel was intended to be a roman à clef that mirrored Wolfe’s own life from birth until he left his home state for graduate school at Harvard University. The two decades portrayed in his seminal novel detail his experiences growing up in Asheville at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the character of Eugene Gant and the setting of Altamont. The manners in which Eugene views the world around him, especially the significant characters in his life, are a direct allegory to Wolfe’s own personal experiences. Using this analogical method of interpreting Look Homeward, Angel, it is possible to gain insight into Wolfe’s own perceptions of and personal experiences with the male and female…
Remaining nameless throughout the book plays into the role of alienation for the narrator. The narrator struggles with connecting to not only other people in his reservation, but with his own family. The narrator has lost both his brother and his father, and it is not until the end of the book that we find out that they may be the only family members he loved. This may play into his struggle to connect with his mother and grandmother. The narrator may not know show a connection or show affection towards his mother and grandmother because he doesn’t know how or because it may be because he is afraid of what will happen when they pass away too. The narrator also feels alienated when various characters try to remember details to events that happened in the past. For example, the narrator is talking with Lame Bull about the flood that had occurred about a decade ago. The narrator and Lame Bull go back and forth about the age of the narrator; the narrator reassuring Lame Bull that he was in his twenties when the flood happened but failing to reassure him because he believes the narrator was a small child at the time. There is also another incident in the book where the narrator has the same problem with his mother in recollecting details of the past. The narrator asks his mother why his father was rarely home when he was younger and she simply tells him that he was home often and that the narrator must be…
Identity can be generally defined as the personal characteristics and traits which differentiate each individual from the other, however in “The myth of Latin woman: I just met a girl named Maria” by Cofer, Judith Ortiz and “The joy of reading and writing: superman and me” by Alexei Sherman, both authors demonstrate the theme identity in a different manner. Judith Cofer portrays how the society often stereotype individuals into groups without a doubt, in this particular essay, the offensive stereotype of Latino women without any particular reason but merely due to their identity. Alexei Sherman in “The joy of reading and writing: superman and me” also describes how society can have an impact on one’s identity; however Alexei was determined to build himself and challenge the society despite of its expectations.…
“ Something strange and miraculous and transforming is taking place in me right now … as I stand before you!”…
To an extent, This Boy’s Life is a pessimistic account as Tobias is consistently split between two contrasting personas when searching for his identity. As Tobias Wolff, he is a boy abandoned by his father who seemingly favours his brother Geoffrey. He is also influenced by his well-meaning mother Rosemary, imitating her ‘caught up in her dream’ with his ‘dreams of transformation’ and even turning down the opportunity for an improved life as he is his ‘mother’s son’. Subsequently, Toby imagines a new identity as Jack Wolff modelling himself after the fantasy of a ‘splendid phantom’ who is an Eagle Scout and a straight-A student. Despite the numerous depressing failures of his search for his identity, there is optimism as Toby ultimately decides…