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A Worn Path
A Worn Path
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Introduction
Phoenix Jackson is a black old woman, and the protagonist of this story of a worn path. The story is about Jackson’s journey to the town of Natchez through the wilderness of Mississippi to find medicine for her grandson child. Phoenix faces the journey to town out of love for her grandchild, and the story” A worn Path” is a story of unending love and affection that brings the tale towards a goal. She has travelled in this worn path several times, and this journey has many hardships and challenges. The obstacles and the story are symbols of how the African society undergoes and overcomes the trials.
She encounters a dog that leads her falling to into a ditch. She is unable to come out, and she falls asleep. She dreams severally during her journey for instance she sees a boy holding a cake offering it to her, and when she is in the ditch she dreams again. Her dream is a symbolic of the whites and the blacks trying to get along. While she tries to reach for the cake, she stretches her hand symbolically impling that the racial harmony dream is not yet achieved, and the blacks are trying to reach for it. Later a white hunter passes by and pulls her out, but before getting her out of the ditch he spurns her and tells her to go home since Africans love going to town to see Santa Claus.
She is very old and talks to herself as well as with anything she encounters on her way, and she is short of memory since on arriving in towns she forgets her purpose of her journey. When she arrives in the hospital, the nurse calls her Auntie Phoenix and tells the attendant that Phoenix has a grandson, and she comes to pick medicine for him. The grandchild had accidentally swallowed lye some few years back and had died of suffocation. It seems she has hallucinations since, she believes the grandchild is still alive, and she tells the nurse that the lye had caused injuries to the child’s throat and that it will swell and block. The nurse understands her condition, and in the process she also gets treated for her hallucinations.
Work Cited
Welty, Eudora. A Worn Path. Mississippi: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1998. 170. Print.
Breaking my silence by Min Jin Lee
Breaking my silence by Min Jin Lee
Public speaking has always remained one diplomatic skill that one may possess. People might be good orators yet lack the assertiveness in their arguments or might be factual in their findings and still lack persuasiveness in speech. The essay entitled ‘Breaking my silence’ is one such illustration penned down by Min Jin Lee. She begins her scripture, stating how convenient is it to draft down your thoughts instead of orating them in the public domain. Writing, she asserts a presumable canvas. It allows you to hesitate while you pen your thoughts and permits you to rewrite without being judged or discouraged for the rest of your life.
New York proclaims to be a land of diversity and distinction, yet it does not comply with what it claims to stand up for. For example, a young girl from Seoul moves to New York, believing that this was the place of her dreams. However, she faces rejection and bullying from classmates. Moreover, despite being promised to be taken care of financially, her parents are overworked for six days a week. Here, discrimination against immigrants is seen as they are not entirely accepted in the city. The American perspective of racism is evident until today despite the government’s passing of several anti-racism laws.
The Korean culture is one seen to be judgemental towards ladies. For a lady to be regarded as victorious, she had to kneel before and sacrifice her family’s aspirations. It is incorporated within the culture and makes it difficult for the young girl to achieve her dreams of knowing how to speak well in public. In America, ladies were given freedom of expression and seen worthy if they rose against all odds to combat themselves despite being vulnerable. Despite America’s rigid social structures, they recognized an individual’s handwork as wisdom. A favorable environment is created for Lee to achieve her goals. Nowadays, ladies are fighting towards equal treatment opportunities. For example, the one-third gender rule ensures they are given positions in institutions and not judged due to their feminism.
Lee expresses the character of self-doubt while in school. Despite her being optimistic and believing that she would become a better orator, she sees herself as inferior to students who could debate like professionals and ease. A tone of distress is expressed as peer pressure and social coercion overtakes her, losing focus on her goal. She becomes a corporate lawyer deviating from her dream objectives. In many schools, students give up their dreams due to a lack of trust and believing in themselves. Hence, this encourages one to have self-motivation to become successful.
Despite the segregated racial attitude of the American natives that incorporates a distressing use of words that create an illusion of misery and gloom in a foreign land, Lee becomes a professional writer. She can express herself and thanks to the teachers for the tremendous support in making her learn the art of public debates. Here, a theme of handwork is also expressed as Lee achieves all these despite the challenges. A tone of believing in oneself is also depicted as she works towards attaining her goal.
The reading shows that I need to be motivated and work hard towards my goals as an individual despite the challenges I may face. Lee acts as an example as she faces a lot of rejection but still works towards perfecting her writing. She denotes that it is the words that one chooses to express himself that matter. I am currently facing difficulties in my academic writing, such as formatting my work and correctly using the best style. From this context, I believe that with time, I will be perfect in it, as Lee becomes a good writer through her perseverance.
A walk of nature experience
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A walk of nature experience
Taking walks gives us a whole lot of experiences! It is interesting to take walks, taking pictures of interesting and beautiful sceneries. Nature is worth exploring after a long day at work as one gets to take a break from the noisy and congested part of town, and for a moment forgetting everything else and focusing on the what nature has to offer. Typically, most people fail to understand the beauty that nature holds, as they do not take time for exploration but rather spend long days at work only to get home in the evening. My experiences after taking a walk were exciting, and my interest in taking walks for often heightened. This paper focuses on the walk I made, and my experiences, spelling out my attitude before, during and after the walk. Also, the paper presents a comparison between my walk and the walks of Thoreau.
I take my walk in a park around San Antonio. The walk was in Government Canyon Natural Area whose address is 12861 Galm Rd. The walk gave me a fascinating experience. The park is open from Friday to Monday and is closed from Tuesday to Thursday. The Government Canyon Natural Area is the best park to go for hikes in San Antonio. I took a walk after dusk, and the view was worth watching. The paths were narrow, and one could barely see a long distance, but it was possible to see a considerable distance. There were a number of bushes which covered a more substantial part of the park giving it beautiful scenery which was attractive to be in and take pictures. The bushes also covered the paths reducing the effect of the sun on the explorers which can help attract more individuals to walk during the day. From this point, I could see the magical view of San Antonio, presented by the lights. It was beautiful to be in the place at this time when darkness was lurking.
The rocks also completed the beauty of the park as it gave the bushes a breaking atmosphere. The rocks were also an excellent place to rest on after waking for a long time. Grass also added to the beauty of nature at the park, and also presented an excellent place to sit and rest after taking long walks. Additionally, there was a cool breeze and fresh air which I believe is brought about by the trees. Unlike in San Antonio, the place was not congested and was therefore quiet too, presenting an adequate place to relax after work.
My attitude changed significantly from the moment I began the walk, the period of the walk and after taking a walk. Before I started taking the walk, I had a negative attitude towards the walk, as I figured it would take much time, yet I had no interest in taking walks in parks. I had plans to take a maximum of one hour in the park. Walking to me did not have much to present but bushes and darkness now that the walk was to take place at dusk. During the walk, I began to realize that it is more entertaining than I expected.
My attitude had begun to change towards taking walks since I could now see what other people like myself miss out. The park, especially at this time is more than a bushy area with rocks and trees. It now appeared to be more of beautiful scenery, with a cool breeze, quiet and an excellent place to come to when one wants to take a break from the San Antonio noisy streets. After the walk, I knew that this would not be the last time I come here for a walk, and I knew that I would explore more parks and experience the beauty of nature. Walking through the park was worth the time and spending more time on parks would still be worth it. My attitude towards nature had taken a complete turn, and I now understood why Thoreau felt that taking walks was essential. People cannot discover the beauty of nature unless they take their time and walk to places, spotting what interests them.
My walk and the walk taken by Thoreau have notable similarities and differences. In both cases, the walks are taken outside the home environment and in the outcasts where there are trees and bushes. My walk took place in a park with bushes, trees and rocks where there were a few people and the atmosphere was just overwhelming. Thoreau is much attracted to nature as he states, ‘While a majority of men feel attracted to society, a few are attracted to nature.” (Thoreau 11). His experiences in the forest are evident in his statement, ‘..reminds me of the cries emitted by world beasts in their native forests.’ (Thoreau 9).
Additionally, there are instances of darkness in both walks. My walk is in the evening, when the sun is no longer visible, which helps me to have a clear view of San Antonio which is enabled by electric light. Similarly, it is evident that Thoreau also tool walks at night. He states that ‘Genius is the light which makes the darkness visible, like the lightning flash…’ (Thoreau 15)His statement is an experience that he has had in the darkness during one of his walks. There are also differences between my walk and the walks taken by Thoreau. For instance, he takes his walks, not only in the wild but also in places such as homesteads with domestic animals. This is evident when he makes a comparison between the wild and domesticated animals, ‘I assert even domestic animals when they reassert their native rights.’ He also talks about his neighbour’s cow that breaks out of her pasture trying to bring out a similarity in all animals. On the contrary, my walk is precisely in a park, and there are no animals visible, except for the hummingbirds in their nests.
In selecting the photographs, I choose the pictures which had much to view and had a clear view of the scenery. Walking helps us to explore and understand how beautiful nature around us is. It is on a few occasions that people understand the environment surrounding them as they do not take time to explore and learn. Nonetheless, the few people who make the decision to take walks to understand the true meaning of nature, like Thoreau states. A majority of people are pre-occupied in their day-to-day activities and chores, preventing them from creating time for nature. People, however, should learn the importance of understanding the natural environment surrounding them. Nature is beauty!
Work Cited
Thoreau, Henry David. Walking. Lulu. com, 1862. Pg. 3-24