Cultural/Historical Analysis-Civil Peace, Chinua Achebe

I think this story has great potential to be the subject of an historical and cultural analysis. The story is based on the Civil War in Nigeria. This fact provides lots of insight into this story. Facts about how people lived during this time and what happened can be very beneficial in learning the themes of this story. I think one of the themes is be thankful for what you have been given, which can be seen in the line that was repeated over and over. The line is "Nothing puzzles God." It would be interesting to find out how much religion played into the lives of those who lived in Nigeria during this time. Culture also plays a big role in this story. Family seems to be a big part of it and a belief in God also prevails. As far as clues in the story, it is very easy to see that a war has gone on, that people are not in good financial standing, the country is a mess, and many people have lost family members and belongings. All of these clues are important because they give you even more insight into the characters lives and allows you to read into the story more and understand the themes. I think one of the first things that should be researched are the war in Nigeria and the author. Just knowing information about the author helps alot. I have read another piece by Achebe and I know that he is Nigerian. Knowing this gives him even more credibility when reading this piece. I think it would also be interesting to research relations between people living in the country because we see that gangs of thieves were hurting their fellow Nigerians. As in any story, culture is of utmost importance. It would be good to research African culture and how the Europeans affected this culture and how it changed after the war during the "Civil Peace."

Jean Toomer “Becky” Theme/Setting

I think the theme of this story is similar to that of "No Name Woman." I think it has a lot to do with finding your place in society. This story was set in the 1920s, in which there was a lot of tension between whites and African Americans. This made if even harder for biracial people. The point of view is taken from a person who lives in the same city as Becky and her two sons. She is an outsider looking in and doesn't always have a clear view concerning Becky and her sons.

Maxine Hong Kingston “No Name Woman” Theme/Setting

I think some of the themes of "No Name Woman" are the difficulties of being apart of two completely different cultures and the place of women in different cultures. The setting and point of view definitely affect the theme of the story. The setting, which is in China and America, helps illustrate the great differences between the cultures and how hard it is to find a median between the two. The narrator has a hard time finding this balance and it can be seen by how she narrates the story and explains her feelings about different situations. She doesn't know whether to feel sorry for her aunt or feel disgraced by her. Setting also affects the place of women in society. When the narrators aunt was pregnant, she was seen as an outcast because women were supposed to be faithful to their husbands. If not, the consequences were severe. However, in America if a woman is unfaithful to her husband, usually she is not shunned and made an outcast.

Ralph Waldo Ellison “Battle Royal”

The chapter given of this book was almost unlike anything I have ever read before. The narrator is thrown in a boxing ring before he can give his speech. This seems really degrading, but at the end of the chapter he does not feel ashamed at all. I find it interesting that he dreams about the grandfather that night because before going to be he doesn't feel ashamed anymore.

Claude McKay “America” and “If We Must Die”

"America" is an interesting poem. I always find it interesting that most countries,etc. are personified as a woman. The narrator is this poem is saying that even though he is having a hard time in America he can't help but love it.

McKay is stating in "If we Must Die" that he wants all of his fellow African Americans to die nobly for fighting for a cause that is well worth it. The many adjectives he uses are very effective in describing the enemies.

Jean Toomer “Becky”

The overall mood of this story is mysterious. I found it interesting how both the white and African American people shunned Becky. The setting of this story is also very important. Now interracial relationships are more common than they were when this story takes place. Because Becky was shunned, her sons obviously feel as if they have no place in society. It would have been interesting to know about her lover and what he is doing throughout the story.

Maxine Hong Kingston “No Name Woman”

This story was very interesting. The aunt, or 'No name woman,' was treated badly because she had a forced or consensual relationship outside of her marriage. I think it is interesting to look at this story from the time frame it is set in and compare it to now. Nowadays most people in American culture do not feel the need to commit suicide because of an affair. The setting of this story is very important.

Junot Díaz “How to Date a Browngirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie”

When I first saw the title of this piece it was easy for me to guess what it would be about. However, the perspective it is taken from is diffrent than I would have thought. The narrator is Dominican and lives in a neighborhood with lower socioeconomic people. He talks about the government cheese, which hints at his family's economic status. The way he described the girls was very stereotypical. I found it very interesting how he described how to act towards the girl's parents and to the girls themselves.

Freewrite II

Looking up the words "ball turret" does help me better understand the poem because I know more about what it is describing. Getting this background information makes this seem even more real and it makes me feel even more sympathy towards him. The line that states "six miles from earth" means being in the airplane really high in the sky. I did not get this before because I didn't know what the ball turret was.

It does also help to know Randall Jarrell's background information because we know that he was in the Army Air Corps. He had something to do with the war, but it may have been devastating to him to not be able to fly. He didn't have personal experience but maybe this is what he thought it would feel like.

Freewrite

a) war: disagreement, soldier, horror, emotions, hardship, madness, people, hurt, screaming

gunner: soldier, gun, weapons, lost, through this experience the gunner becomes forever changed

attack: people, innocence, full of pain and emotions, loss

b) I associate WW1 with many casualties, loss of innocent lives, homes being destroyed, and families torn and carrying lots of emotional baggage.

Randall Jarrell’s “The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”

The tone of this poem can be described as melancholy. It tells of a soldier in a war. The third line states he was "loosed from its dream of life" meaning that he will never be able to go back and live the life he once had planned for himself. The last line shows the inhumanity of war because he was "washed out of the turret with a hose."

Reading for 3/18

Rupert Brooke The Soldier

This sonnet does not describe the pain and inhumanity of war as most pieces of literature about war does. The soldier in the poem is naive because he describes England, in the midst of war, as having laughter and peace. The emotions are unrealistic feelings towards war. The feelings are usually not felt by some people who have relatives in war or are involved in it themselves.

Wilfred Owen Anthem for Doomed Youth

This poem is also about war. The first line uses the word "cattle," which in this context stands for young men. These young men have died in battle. Owen uses lots of imagery and descriptive words in this poem. The mood of this poem is very melancholy.

Wilfred Owen Dulce et Decorum Est

This poem describes the negative aspect of war and how it takes a toll on the soldiers. The last lines are very poignant. The soldier tells of the man who wasn't able to get the gas mask on in enough time. I believe he is saying it is better to die for one's country than to be haunted of those images of war.

Siegfried Sassoon Glory of Women

I think Sassoon is saying that the women at home are being naive to the realities of war. They make objects for their loved ones in war to keep hope alive that they are okay. However they aren't, which can be seen in the last lines. Sassoon is stating that while the women are making socks, their sons are getting hurt even more mentally and physically by the war.

Siegfried Sassoon They

I think this poem is very straightfoward. It states that people obviously change once coming back from war because of what they have witnessed. The last line states, ' The ways of God are strange,' which means we cannot understand fully why war happens and we cannot run from what occurs in life.

Concerns for Paper

I am most concerned that my paper will only address one side of the issue and not the other. I think that I dealt mostly with why I bought the purse, and did not focus on the reasons some buy it. Some people buy them so others know that they are wealthy and so they can be treated in a certain manner. Another area of concern is that I did not explain myself completely with details. My last area of concern is some of my sentence structures. Sometimes they do not flow, which is something I need to change for the final draft.

Warm-up/Social Issue

I chose to do my poster on Health Insurance because it is unfortunate that in our country we do not have universal health care. This causes many people not to b able to afford medicine. My poster is simple and to the point. I did this because there is no humorous approach to tackle this problem. It needs to be tackled head on. I do not think I would change much because I think it needs to be simple and to the point.

Topic Proposal #2

I have chosen to analyze a Spring 2008 Coach purse. The object serves to hold women's belongings, but is also a rather stylistic. Upon closer examination this purse may, but not necessarily, indicate wealth in having enough extra money to spend on a rather expensive purse. The purse also shows that the person wearing it is in style and knows about various designers. The features of the object that are crucial to my analysis are the size of the purse, its stitching, the inside pockets, and its overall appearance. The size is not to big or small, so it may be the perfect everyday purse. It looks as if the purse was meticulously crafted because there is not a stitch out of place and it looks like great care was taken in making it. The inside pockets provide a place for a cell phone and two other pockets. This may indicate that most who carry this purse like to be organized. As far as words, the purse was C's all over it, which stands for Coach. There is also a tag that says Coach on it to further indicate the designer. The colors in the purse are gold and a light tan color. These colors fit very well together. The intended audience for this purse are stylish women who do not necessarily have lots of money. I was able to buy this purse for my self over Winter Break through working. This indicates that you do not have to have lots of money to afford this splurge. Basically, this purse indicates that the person carrying it is aware of designers and what is in style. As far as culture, it could indicate that people may carry this purse to give off a certain appearance of wealth. When it comes to values, this shows that nowadays people are okay with spending hundreds of dollars on a single object if it makes them happy.

Thesis Statement:
This paper will argue that a simple object, like a Coach purse, can imply an image of wealth, shows that values in the US are changing, and indicates a competition for consumer allegiance.