English 145 Blog

Kenzaburo Kenzaburo was born in 1935 on a rural area on Shikoku, the smallest of the four main Japanese islands. Was a student in primary during Japan's wars with Asia and the Pacific. Kenzaburo had to pledge to be willing to go to war in the emperor appointed him to do so. In 1954, Kenzaburo entered the University of Tokyo. Majored in French Literature. The second Japanese writer to receive the Nobel Prize. He received this award in 1994. Considered to be one of the most important Japanese writers. "The Clever Rain Tree" draws the tradition of autobiographical fiction in Japan. The setting of "The Clever Tree" is a seminar of East-West understanding that takes place during the mid 1970's.  "The quest for human understanding that the seminar pursues, and the readers glimpse behind it of minds in isolation, might be said to represent opposing poles of the narrative." (1116) "It's influence can be found in the meditative narrativ...

Toni Morrison - Recitatif Toni Morrison combines realistic depictions of African American experience with a strong sense of the past's hold on the present. (1172) Morrison was born in Chloe Ardelia Wofford in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. Morrison studied English at Howard University where she was active in Student theater. She started working on her first novel in 1970, it was called "The Bluest Eye" She won the Pulitzer price for her fifth novel, "Beloved" in 1987. This was arguably her best novel. She was rewarded the Nobel Price for Literature in 1993 and she retired in 2006. Recitatif This is Morrison's only published short story. The story shows the friendship between two girls that are different races. Twyla met Roberto at an Orphanage in New York. The two girls did not get off to a good start. Twyla was nervous to have to share a room with a girl of a different race. Despite was Twyla's mother told her about Roberto's race the girls bonded ...

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Closed Reading James Kincaid Girl I chose "Girl" By James Kincaid because it is one of my favorite pieces. Starting off with the time period, "Girl" was written in 1978. I believe the time period has a big impact on the piece because the way mothers raise their daughters now is different. Instead of teaching daughters to specifically be able to iron, cook, and clean they teach them to go out and work, or go to school and get a career. Of course girls should learn to cook and clean, etc. But in 1978, only girls had to do those things, whereas in 2018 both genders could be learning it. Throughout this piece the mother is constantly reminding her daughter to be cautious about her clothes, and how she dresses so she doesn't become a slut. Was the mother scared that her daughter was going to become one? That's what I kept thinking. I figured that if she had to constantly say "Like the slut your so bent on becoming" She must have thought her dau...

Jamaica Kincaid Kincaid was born in Antigua, a small island on the Caribbean. She grew up in the island's capital city of St. Johns. Kincaid rose from humble beginnings to become a successful contemporary writer, well known for her books and magazine articles about the immigrant experience. Kincaid's mother was a homemaker nad her stepfather worked a carpenter. Kincaid and her brothers were raised as Methodists, her mother and grandmother practiced obeah, West Indian voodoo. Girl In the story "Girl" it talks about a mother who is giving instructions to her daughter on the rules and rites of women hood. The mother uses very harsh words with her daughter. For example, throughout this reading she constantly reminds her daughter to "not become the slut I know your so bent on becoming" We also see the mother trying to tell her daughter how to take care of a man and how to be a good wife. The ending was surprising but funny to me. After everything her moth...

Seamus Heaney Born in Northern Island in 1939. Heaney was born to a Catholic family on a farm in Country Derry. Heaney was the oldest of nine children. In 1966, Heaney became a professor at Queen's University as an English instructor. The same year he released, Death of a Naturalist , his first real major volume of poems. In 1972, Heaney moved to Dublin where he taught for several more years, as he became more popular as a poet he began to teach at Harvard University. Heaney has also taught at Oxford University. Heaney received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Digging "Announces his poetic vocation by comparing the poet's pen to the shovels wielded by Heaney's father and grandfather, both farmers, and also to a gun." (977) Anahorish "A place he (Heaney) attended elementary school. The poem suggests those clear water and the wells of Anahorish as sources of inspiration; it also hints at a darker landscape of barrows and dunghills-creativity a...

Choose a reading.  In your project, consider the following:  What does this work reflect about its historical, social, political and/or economic context? You may focus on race, class, power, cultural values and beliefs, historical events, the author’s biography, gender, psychology, etc. - I enjoy looking at different aspects of the readings and seeing how they are truly related to things like, power, class, race, history etc. so I think this would be a good topic to explore. I can also go into more depth to see how the time period could be affecting ones views/point of view on certain situation and events. By this I mean, I want to figure out what the author really means in whatever reading I decide to choose. I want to see if the Authors views or beliefs have an impact on the reading itself. If I don't use this prompt now I would like to use it for the next project.  The readings I've decide to discuss Virginia Woolfs: "A room of ones own" ...