California Literature

I choose this acronym LIFE: Luminous, Independent, Fair, and Esteemed. I think these are the essence of having and living a wonderful life.

            In the poem written by Rigoberto Gonzales, its main character is a house in which it discusses its thoughts about the things that occurred inside of it. The poem is about the idea of the house who do not care about what happened to the people living in it and it is not capable of expressing itself, because it is only a house. I think the idea of this poem is to commemorate all the things that a person did inside a house. The things that they have said, the things that they have prayed, the reason why they cried and the reason for their laughs. If a true could really think these are the thoughts that it would be thinking.             I think this poem does not have an exact theme but it is simply an expression of what a person might think a house would think if it is capable to do so. If this story will be compared to a person, it is possible that there would be someone who will think the same, there are people who just don’t care about their surrounding or anyone, they

Tracy K. Smith Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes? A poem which I think for someone who died name Bowie, the poem is hard to understand for it uses numerous words which describe a situation or a person. The poem has shown the feeling of love and regrets and in my own understanding, the author did not know who Bowie really is for it was said that she never saw him. I think has something to do with the death of David Bowie which I think is an avid reader of this author, this is why Smith wrote a poem in order to commemorate Bowie.

Rigoberto Gonzalez Casa A poem which depicts the idea of a house who has its own thought, the poem could be considered as a fable because the main character of the poem is a house. An object which does not have the capability to talk or think. The idea of this poem is that the house could be someone or something that a person could talk to but do not have the capability to answer back. I think the poem shows the emotion of the author with regards to a home in which there are numerous occasions, events, either sad or happy occurred inside it. It shows that the house, holds numerous memories.

Fred Moten Born in 1962 and raised in Las Vegas Focuses on black studies, poetry, and critical theory The Salve Trade The poem of Fred Moten is hard to understand, the reader should look at it in a different way. This poem is about the idea of the slave trade and Fred Moten just rearrange the letters and come up with slave trade. The poem also uses the technique it which it jumps from thoughts to thoughts which makes it interesting to read because it does not really show what the real issue it discusses. There are also a lot of things that occur in the poem which makes it really hard to understand the poem. It mostly shows the idea of black people which was not directly quoted but   Moten uses the phrase “I started reading my paper and ash flew from their big ol’” which describe the skin color of the black people.

            The story of Daniel Orozco “Orientation” is a short story which focuses on the idea of the orientation of a person on his first day at work. Orozco does not introduce the narrator of the story, also, as the story continues it shows the life of the employees and how they interact became the important part of the story. The story is told in the first person voice. The narrator is talking to one particular person; He refers to this character in the second person voice. “This is your phone.” The narrator is talking directly to the new employee, the main character. The main character never speaks. It is implied that dialogue exists. “That was a good question. Feel free to ask questions.” The narrator has acknowledged that the listener has asked a question. The reader never actually sees the question that the listener asks, though. Instead, the narrator rephrases the listener’s question and repeats it back to him. By having the narrator do this, Orozco makes the listener le

            Eldridge Cleaver was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas in 1935, at the age of 22 he was imprisoned due to assault. During his time inside the prison cell, he began to study the works of Karl Marx and Richard Wright, the work of Cleaver became influential even after he died in 1998. Cleaver also became a part of the Black Panther Party which aims to merge black nationalism and socialism. However, in 1960 racism and prejudice is common in California which mostly affects the black people. Cleaver was then again taken into custody by the police and revoked his parole due because there has been an attacked to the Black Panther Party in which the police targeted this group. During his stay in the prison, he wrote the Eldridge Cleaver: Post-Prison Writings and Speeches which includes Affidavit #2: Shoot-Out in Oakland.             Affidavit #2: Shoot-Out in Oakland is a story in which it shows the racism and prejudice that a black-American experience during that time. This story is

Eldridge Cleaver Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas in 1935 Was imprisoned at the age of 22 Affidavit #2: Shoot-Out in Oakland A story in which the author shows the dark side of the police department in which the black are considered criminals. This story was written inside the prison by Cleaver, the story shows how black was treated back then when the police use their power to restrict the movement of people with dark skin. In addition to this, this story shows the idea of racism and how it affects each person most especially the black-American. The story clearly shows what black American experience back then when racism and harassment were common.

I’ve been fond of the work of Toshio Mori, because of the style of his works and how it could affect the readers. The work of Mori is consist of small conversation and most of the time it was the taught of the narrator. In addition to this, Mori uses his culture of being a Japanese and put a touch of Japanese in his story. One example of Mori’s story is “ The Woman Who Makes Swell Doughnuts ”, this story gets my attention due to the idea of how the author focuses on the idea of silence, there are little conversations and most of the time it was the narrators thought that we are reading. Furthermore, the story gives the reader the idea of the importance of silence, indeed the story was simple but yet the lesson and the meaning it obtains was really wonderful. The thought of knowing that silence was indeed the greatest symphony really emphasizes the idea of us, people, should know how to be part of a silent world in order to obtain peace and happy life. We should know how to separate o

Motto: Silence is the greatest symphony. This motto is important for me and I think for everyone else. We as a person tends to forget the idea of relaxation, the idea of resting and separating ourselves to the big noise of the outside world. For me, silence is the greatest symphony because it allows us to become a part of nothingness, the idea of being away for some times in order to become who we really are. Silence allows us to become someone in a place where noise is none.

Samuel McDuffie English 205 Professor Joellen Hiltbrand To Kill a Mockingbird             The story ‘To Kill a Mockingbird” which is written by Harper Lee was published in 1960. This book has been known because it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and has been translated into almost 40 different languages across the globe (Foca, and Fine). Harper Lee or also known as Nelle Harper Lee was born in 1926 at Monroeville, Alabama. Lee attended the University of Alabama and took law as her course, however, Lee moved to New York without finishing her degree. She first works as an airline reservationist but later in life, her friends give Lee financial support in order to write full-time, this is the time when Harper Lee transformed the short stories she wrote into To Kill a Mockingbird (Fine).             The setting of the story occurred during the Great Depression in which there is a great economic downturn from 1929 to 1939 (Romer, and Pells). This story has a sense of the coming-of