Even when studying stories that seem to be about good and evil, there are nuances. For example, in Shakespeare's Hamlet, although Hamlet's mother commits a terrible action -- marrying the murderer of her husband -- she seems to do so only half-knowingly. Surely Gertrude has a right to find her own sense of happiness after her husband dies, even though Hamlet only sees her as a mother. Also, Hamlet is far from perfect and treats Ophelia very cruelly.
Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart also contains complex heroes and villains. The central protagonist is a brutal man named Okonkwo who ruthlessly estranges his own son because he seems 'weak.' But this tribal leader is also sympathetic because it is clear his way of life is being destroyed by British colonizers. Not all of the British are portrayed as bad -- some of them seem to mean well and genuinely believe that their faith and civilization are better than that of the native population. But the toxic mix of misunderstanding and miscommunication results in the death of the Igbo's influence and reign in Nigeria.
Approaching Nigerian history from a fictional perspective makes the reader care more about what might otherwise seem like an unfamiliar and closed chapter in the history of the world, the history of colonization. Yet it is essential to learn about this history to understand the anger and resentment that continues to characterize relations between Africa and the developed world today. The reader, through reading...
He uses alliteration and repetition to continue his argument throughout. While doing this his word choice is very intellectual with words containing more than two syllables. He uses this word choice to convey the power of language. He does this because as a Black man, he wants the white world to see different context is possible. In this respect, he establishes his argument by applying a strong tone along
Black Picket Fences Sharlene looked at me with her big, watery brown eyes. "No," she said emphatically, with a definite doleful tone in her voice. "I have never felt like I fit in here." Sharlene, who is 31 years old and has two children, is a black woman that falls into what Mary Patillo-McCoy calls the "black middle class." However, unlike the men, women, and children that Patillo-McCoy interviews for her
African-American Vernacular English can be described as an assortment of American English that is mostly used by urban-working class and mostly bi-dialectical middle-class black Americans. The language is also commonly known as Black Vernacular English or Black English. In some cases, particularly outside the academic community, it is referred to as Ebonics given its distinctive features and similarities with other non-standard English varieties. The similarities with other varieties are evident
Once they arrived, they were brought to a slave market and usually auctioned off to the highest bidder just as cattle and horses were auctioned off. The slaves then spent their lives of servitude helping white farm and plantation owners in their agricultural operations. The slaves weren't typically compensated and lived in deplorable conditions. Slavery helped many white land owners become rich, and the southern colonies, which turned into
Regardless of age, the desire for freedom remained. It is known that older slaves sometimes aided younger slaves to escape. Some of the aged also escaped to freedom. In some instances masters did not pursue older slaves because of their lower economic value. However, this was not always the case, as some older escaped slaves were still valued, and were advertised in the newspapers. Some owners granted their older slaves
A appreciate the fact that this English course also included sections on writing effective narrative papers. I found narrative papers to be fun to write because they involve storytelling and rich descriptive language. I feel more creative writing narrative papers, which is why I prefer writing them, as opposed to research papers. When we write narrative papers, I can draw from personal experience, which makes the writing process easier than
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now