Family in African-American Literature Essay Example for Free

Family in African-American Literature Essay In literary pieces such as Alice Walker’s story â€Å"Everyday Use†, Langston Hughes’ â€Å"My People†, and Robert Hayden’s poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, the theme of family relationships is significantly evident. In â€Å"Everyday Use†, Walker presents one stage and aspect of a family life when one adult child chooses to live on her own while the other one stays with the family. Hughes’ poem portrays his love for his people which he considers to be a family as a whole. Meanwhile, Hayden’s â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, talks about the narration and description of a boy about his father whom he is not well acquainted with. As the first piece speaks of a story about a family in relation to their heritage, the latter speaks of a boy’s reminiscence of a father who was never able to show his love directly to his children. These two aspects of family relationships reveal several angles to look upon.   Such family situations are influenced by authors’ own race and heritage. Alice Walker portrays the story of a fully grown-up daughter, Dee, who goes back to home to her home to visit her mother, Mrs. Johnson and her younger sister, Maggie. She arrives accompanied by an African American Muslim man who is currently dating her. She comes home to collect some family possessions which she intends to turn into artistic pieces to be exhibited in a museum. Meanwhile, her sister Maggie grimaces as her sister takes some of their personal belongings including a quilt that her mother has promised to give her as a wedding present. Dee tells her mother that Maggie would only ruin the quilt by using it everyday which puzzles Mrs. Johnson as she could not think of any way to use the quilt than to spread them. When Mrs. Johnson sees the sadness in her younger daughter’s eyes upon Dee taking the quilt, she snatches it away and gives it to Maggie. Dee walks away after claiming that their problem is they do not understand their own heritage (Walker). In this story, Walker portrays a family whose eldest daughter has become estranged from them. In the first part of the story, Mrs. Johnson recounts how Dee had hated living in their house and even almost set it on fire when she was young. The concept of a dysfunctional family is quite present here; however, it focuses more on the mother-child relationship rather than every member of the family. It is important to note that Walker made use of the damaged relationship of Dee to her mother and sister to show and illustrate the different types of African American people. On the other hand, Langston Hughes shows his love and appreciation for his people in his poem â€Å"My People†. He does not speak of family but his tone and use of words make it seem as if he is speaking of his beloved family. â€Å"The night is beautiful, / So the faces of my people† (lines 1-2). The possessive pronoun â€Å"my† indicates a certain intimacy between him and â€Å"his† people which is usually used for referring to a small group of people who shares something intimate and common such as â€Å"my family†. In this regard, Hughes speaks highly of his race as if he is talking about a family he loves most. â€Å"The stars are beautiful, /  So the eyes of my people† (3-4). The comparison of his people to the heavens indicates the depth of his love and care for them as he would to his family. â€Å"Beautiful, also, is the sun. / Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people† (5-6). In the poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†, it can be assumed that Robert Hayden personally speaks through the voice of the speaker in his poem â€Å"Those Winter Sundays†. His distant relationship with his father is evident. In this melancholic poem, he narrates about the concealed appreciation of a son for his father’s acts of love by means of writing it in a prose. The narrator tells about the labors of his father even on a cold winter Sunday. However, in the poem, the speaker emphasizes that his father’s great efforts are usually ignored. The title of the poem itself already suggests a background for the readers. The speaker is obviously focused only on the â€Å"winter Sundays† and why it means too much work for the father. In the first stanza of the poem, the detailed description of the speaker’s father is very noticeable. He illustrated him by means of mentioning his physical condition as he works on cold Sundays. He could have described it in a clearer way by going straight to the point.   Nevertheless, he expressed his father’s poor countenance in a way that the reader can visualize the father’s hands cracked hands and the busy Sundays. The first two lines of the poem somewhat develops a thesis that would cover the whole idea in the poem. â€Å"Sundays too my father got up early / And put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,† (1-2). Sundays should be a day of rest but the speaker stresses that his father still wakes up even before the sun rose to go to work. He further highlights the weary countenance of his father as he describes his father’s â€Å"cracked hands that ached / from labor in the weekday weather made / Banked fires blaze† (3-5). The poem further shows how heartbreaking the father’s situation must be by writing the last line of the first stanza with, â€Å"No one ever thanked him† (5). With the last line, it is reasonable to consider that the speaker is one of those people who failed to thank him. In this regard, it can be assumed that the speaker is already in his old or middle age when he remembers how his father has shown him love in his own way. Clearly, these renowned African-American writers have frequently used the theme of family relationships to further address the problems of their society. The issues of racism, nationalism, and love are the implicit ideas which are present in the three literary pieces discussed. These authors portrays different types of African-American families which serves as the representation of the current society that they are in. since the family is the basic unit of society, it is the primary target of societal effects such as racism and other social issues. Every problem of the society can become the problem of the family which is why the most meaningful literary works of art somewhat involves the theme of family relationships. Works Cited Hayden, Robert. â€Å"Those Winter Sundays.† The Oxford Anthology of African-American Poetry. Ed. Arnold Rampersad, Hilary Herbold. United States of America: Oxford University Press US, 2006. 261. Hughes, Langston. â€Å"My People.† Poem Hunter. 19 April 2009. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-people/ Walker, Alice. Everyday Use. Ed. Barbara Christian. United States of America: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 :: essays research papers

George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Who is watching us? Who judges us? And most importantly who controls us? In George Orwell’s novel 1984, Big Brother was in charge of all these crucial aspects of everyone’s lives. This book which was written long before 1984 can really take place at anytime and anywhere. The concepts and themes of this book are very real and very frightening. May be telescreens do not exist but V-chips and Pentium III computers are very much alive. Even though we live in modern times how do we know who is insane? The world is flat and the planets revolve around Earth were once sane statements. Finally do we control ourselves in this Democratic country or are we just puppets dancing to the high and powerful affluent members of our society. Or maybe G-d himself is the one who makes us do the things we do.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The thought police seek out and cure the misguided people who simply think too much. They look at you minute by minute to see what you are doing and how u are doing it. I think more interesting than the thought police are the teaching of the morals of the land to the children. They are taught the ways of Ingsoc. They know right from wrong. One of Winston’s peers was taken away because his own daughter told the thought police on him. In this society children are at school more than they are even home. It is very possible to have a closer relationship with a teacher than with a parent. On top of that, Big Brother and the inner party teach that it is only “you and the party';. Meaning the party is very individualized. This allows the party to function very nicely because people do not make relationships with other people only to the party. People in Oceania are never left alone. If you are alone and you are not sleeping this would definitely be looked at by the thought police. To keep people occupied there are hate speeches in order to show your love to Big Brother and Hate to the opposing country that Oceania is at war with. Everyone has a job and they are many organizations to belong to like the junior anti-sex league.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Surveillance is a frightening thing. If you knew that everywhere you turned you were being recorded it could drive you crazy.

Resource Based View of the Firm

Design/methodology,'approach – The paper proposes a link between value theory and accountability using a Resource Value-Resource Risk perspective as an alternative to the Capital Asset Pricing Model. The link operates first from the labor process, where value is created but is imperfectly observable by intra-firm mechanisms of organizational control and outside governance arrangements without Incurring monitoring costs. Second, It operates through contractual arrangements which Impose fixed cost structures on activities with variable revenues.Findings – The paper thereby explains how value originates in risky and difficult to monitor productive processes and is transmitted as rents to organizational and capital market constituents. It then reviews recent contributions to the RUB, arguing that the proposed new approach overcomes gaps inherent in the alternatives, and thus offers a more complete and integrated view of firm behavior. Originality/value – The RUB can become a coherent theory of firm behavior. If It adopts and can Integrate the labor theory of value. Associated measures of risk arising from the labor process and mechanisms of accountability.Keywords Resources, Risk management, Labor, Competitive advantage Paper type Research paper Value, profit and risk 1 . Introduction To what extent is strategy framed in accounting terms and what role do accounting numbers and techniques play in setting strategy? In both cases the answer is probably not enough, In view of the potential contribution on offer from accounting generally, and from critical accounting In particular. In recent years, the resource-based view (RUB) of the firm, has achieved widespread dissemination In academic literature and management practice (Acted et al. , 2006).It explains nominative advantage, or delivery of sustained above-normal returns (Apteral, 1993) or economic profit (Barney, 2001), in terms of firms' bundles of resources (Amity and Shoemaker, 1993; Rumble, 1984), which are valuable, rare, inimitable and non- substitutable (FRI.) (Barney, 2001, emphasis added). A theory linking asset value and abnormal returns Is therefore The author would Like to thank participants at the European critical Accounting studies conference, multiversity AT York, 2 Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, whose financial support helped develop the ideas in this paper.

Walls Placed on Relationships in Mending Wall by Robert Frost

Walls Placed on Relationships in Mending Wall by Robert Frost In the poem Mending Wall, Robert Frost utilizes the literary devices of imagery, meter, and symbolism to demonstrate the rational and irrational boundaries or metaphoric walls humans place on their relationships with others. The precise images, such as the depiction of the mending-time ritual and the dynamic description of his old-stone savage armed neighbor, serve to enhance our enjoyment as well as our understanding of the poem (40). The poem is written in blank verse (iambic pentameter); the form that most closely resembles everyday English. Frost deliberately employs this direct, conversational, and easy to understand style of meter which appears†¦show more content†¦It is a ritual which contains its own paradox; the two neighbors are cooperating together to sustain this barrier which divides them. As they mend, Frost begins to question the reasoning behind the walls existence. His neighbors only response is Good fences make good neighbors (27). The neighbors unintere sted attitude and indifferent response forces Frost to inquire further. He attempts to justify the wall by using a logical argument. There would be a need for walls if they had cows or similar pasture animals, but he and his neighbor have no such animals. Frost not only wants his neighbor to consider what he is walling in but also ponder what he is walling out and why. Deaf to any arguments, the farmer will not go behind his fathers saying and question his strong conviction of good fences making good neighbors (43). The stubborn neighbors blind acceptance and in the dark way of living is paralleled by the image Frost paints of him. In line 40, a simile is used describing him as like an old-stone savage armed as he works toward restoring the wall. This man who is so insistent on maintaining this wall is a product of a long-gone age of thinking. He is like a savage from the time when it was essential to wall yourself off from other savages for safety and protection. Lines 41 and 42 continue: He moves in the darkness as it seems to me, not of woods only and the shade of trees. He is not only in the dimness provided by theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis of Frosts Poem, Mending Wall Essay1003 Words   |  5 PagesPeople keep an emotional distance between one another to prevent others from getting too close to them. Robert Frost in the poem â€Å"Mending Wall† shows the reader an example of two different kinds of people. One kind of person is open to the idea of friendship and is willing to make an effort to try to dissolve any conflict, and try to get along with someone else anyway possible. Then there is the other side which is against the idea of change, someone who is closed to the idea of something new