The book My Antonia is a historical fiction book written by Willa Cather. The book was first published in 1918 by Houghton Mifflin and is 175 pages long. It is a memoir about the life of the character Jim Burden, and the time he spent with his close friend Antonia. In this report I will first summarize the novel, then focus on the analyzing the way Cather challenges the dominant narratives of American success through the character Tiny Sodderball, a working immigrant girl who later makes a fortune
In my thesis, I analyse Neil Gaiman’s American Gods which highlights that a stable national identity is not possible, and the oppositions imposed by national narratives are limiting for the nation and its people. Yet, fiction can help us become aware of the illusion of the binary oppositions, and their inherent limitations in defining both personal and national identity. In chapter one, I discuss the definition of myth and their function in society as a way to give meaning to life. The myths can
of multiple people. The problem with this is that he proclaims that every immigrant experiences what it is like to lurk “in the shadows of Europe,” (Ahmed, 2015) but only provides Ahmedu’s testimony for the support for that. The unfortunate thing about personal experience is that it can only speak for the individual. Though many people may experience the same situations, it is unlikely that every person who is an immigrant went through the terrible experiences that Ahmedu went though. For instance
is an immigrant living in a new cultural ambiance and society. The author is successful in portraying the difficulties that are faced by an immigrant person who aims to make his transition to a new urban milieu. It becomes very clear that the person in context is in a hostile milieu away from his home, and he is endeavoring to fit into the societal ambiance in some way or the other avoiding the cultural, ethnic and racial barriers. Mistry leaves readers feeling the inner core of the immigrant protagonist
her mother, a Chinese immigrant, to show how her mother would never have the chance to fully integrate herself into the American culture due to her “broken”, otherwise known as “limited”, English (262). Tan’s mother would never be able to have the same freedoms, or treated with the same level of respect that English-speaking and American citizens have. To further persuade the reader of how immigrants are negatively treated in public situations, she uses personal narratives to describe how her mother
Roots formed in Memory and Ethnicity Different social scientists have used various approaches to explain ethnicity when trying to understand the nature of it as a factor in human life and society. Examples of such approaches are: modernism, primordialism, constructivism, essentialism, perennialism, and instrumentalism. Whether you agree or disagree with their proposed theories, one fact remains true: ethnicity is an important substance for human beings, especially in identifying oneself
have a character and has history greater than credited. Debra Marquart illustrated the history of her small town. Throughout the passage described in first person narrative by Debra, herself, explained her story of what she has seen and been told. In “Horizontal World” author Debra Marquart applies vivid imagery, unique diction, and a personal anecdote to convey the importance and uniqueness of small towns. First, Debra Marquart uses vivid imagery to emphasize the small details that make a town unique
United States has experienced influxes of immigrants throughout its history. The great wave of immigrants started at the second half of the nineteenth-century. Among these were Chinese immigrants. From the 1840s to 1882, “more than 100,000 Chinese immigrants immigrated to the American west” (energyofanation.org). First, they started working in the gold mines. Then, they took “agricultural jobs and factory work, especially in the garment industry. Chinese immigrants were particularly instrumental in building
My Ántonia is a novel written by Willa Cather, about the coming of age, using a style of writing that was popular around the late 18th century. Except for the introduction, the entire novel is written from Jim’s perspective as an adult man looking back on his childhood. Nearly the entire story is Jim relating accounts and memories emphasizing the youthful recollection put loosely together as Jim mentioned in the introduction by stating, “I didn’t take time to arrange it; I simply wrote down pretty
American dream and life Writing in the light of Barack Obama’ Writings Life writing as a genre, serves the purpose of bringing to the public eye the lives of eminent personalities. The basic truth of life writing is that it deals with truth which ends up bearing the colour of fiction, with the passage of time and the change in perceptions. Retelling of lives, which forms the crux of Life Writing, is a conscious effort. Life Writing involves various forms-Memoirs, Biographies, Diaries, Autobiographies