Spiegelman 's Imaginary Homelands By Salman Rushdie

Moreover, writing about memory which is the groundwork of the traditional autobiographical genre is a problematic endeavor, since it is a project of conflating memory, imagination, and sometimes a conscious misrepresentation of the past. Likewise, it is a way to inscribe the discursive selves that they envision as “true” representations of their selfhoods.

Book are magnificent things. Fiction books are created with such details, they only hold small or no real life facts or events. In contrast, nonfiction books do the complete opposite. Nonfiction books contain facts or events from the past that occurred, they are also incorporated with details to make the story more interesting, to give it more imagery, feel, and a better tone. When an author does so, they manage to make the book have a “timeless quality,” which is incredibly important to a nonfiction book. An author is capable of getting this quality in their books by incorporating the facts or events, alongside rhetorical strategies to give life and meaning to their book. Not every author can manage to do this, although, the author by the name of Erik Larson did so, in his book, The Devil in the White City: Murder,

Many people also by reading, author’s memories are able to relate to what they experienced in a similar fashion. In addition, writer often feel a sense of

Often heralded as the world’s greatest nation, the United States is also considered home to the world’s greatest authors. Reputable authors such as Fitzgerald, Twain, and Steinbeck remain relevant even through the washing waves of time. One such timeless author, Ray Bradbury, ventured the hazardous path of taboo to write of change. Through his novels of innocent youths evolving into children enlightened beyond their years, Bradbury utilizes the motif of time, innocence, and the philosophical movements of existentialism, transcendentalism, and romanticism to describe catastrophic events the American culture could face if existing destitute judgments continue to prevail. Ray Bradbury dared to reveal his voice.

Jared Diamond is a world renowned scientist, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, and currently a geography professor at UCLA. Of his six books published, we will be looking at the last chapter of his fourth book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. In this book Diamond utilizes the comparative method to find resemblance in past societal collapses with our current society. In the chapter entitled, "The World as Polder: What Does it Mean to Us Today," Diamond points out that there are indeed many parallels between past and present societies and that our modern day society is currently on a path of self destruction , through examples such as globalization and the interdependency of each country.

People all over the world have been asking themselves if it is right for their country to let in refugees from Syria. It is a question everybody fears from answering because of the consequences it may take. Several states in America have denied the entry because of security reasons and the over population. Even if there are several countries still refusing Syrians there are a few who are accepting them. Looking at some articles, I’ve seen differential opinions and one must read and understand why Syria refugees need a chance to be rescued from all the chaos and horror they’ve been through.

When’s the last time you ate a peach? Did you know they were first cultivated in China? In Bertrand Russell’s chapter “Useless Knowledge”, he shares that he was fond of peaches and apricots because he knew the background if these two fruits. Russell argued that all knowledge is useful whether or not it is beneficial to the “economical life of the community” or to simply make “fruit taste sweeter”. In the same way, Kurt Vonnegut author of “A man without a Country” wanted to promote the idea that there is more to life than to “fart around”. He emphasized that everyone should value the little things even if it’s knowing whether or not a certain newsstand struck the lottery.

In Chapter three of his book, “A Nation Among Nations,” Thomas Bender investigates the Civil War and draws parallels with American history and modern nation making around the world. Chapter three is focused on the Civil War and what led to political thinkers believing in a strong unified nation as the best protection of individual liberties. Documents that help us understand what led to ideas that would promote the citizens individual liberties are the United States Constitution , The Bill of Rights and Simon Bolivar’s A Constitution for Venezuela . To better understand what the nation was founded on we should first acknowledge the dictionary definition of individual liberty: “the liberty of an individual to exercise freely those rights generally accepted as being outside of governmental control.” We should also make it clear that the government’s duty is to provide individuals with the opportunity to utilize their liberty with protection from the government.

Through critical analysis, historical research, and textual evidence, a study on Kurt Vonnegut’s background will be conducted in order to display the effects that the era in which he lived had on his writing.

Within the past few decades, there has been much controversy and scrutiny surrounding those with great levels of faith in their religions. This has only been escalating in severity as more and more instances of terrorism are associated with radical religious groups. As a result, many tend to share many of the same feelings as those expressed by author Salman Rushdie in his article "Imagine There 's No Heaven." In his article, Rushdie explains to his readers the faults with religion and explains to them how religion itself is holding humankind back from achieving much greater. Authors like Akinfenwa Oluwaseun also share supporting views and provide important evidence that support Rushdie 's argument. In Oluwaseun 's article, "The Role of Religion in Modern Society: Masses Opium or Tool for Development," Oluwaseun examines several case studies involving religion and the development of society in certain areas, including many in Nigeria and its surrounding area. Upon examination, Oluwaseun concludes that Religion is actually harmful to society, and she explains further why. Other authors, like Peter J. Wilkinson and Samuel R. Weber, have different views on the subject. In Weber 's article, "Psychological Distress Among Religion Nonbelievers: A Systematic Review," he explains his findings involving several previously done studies upon the relationship of psychological health and religious belief, and concludes in his analysis of the studies that nonbelievers seem to undergo more

An individual’s identity is reflected in many aspects of their character. On of the aspects which affect a person’s identity is culture; culture plays a major role in the formation of an individual's character. It imposes customs which ultimately manifest through a person’s identity. The clear link between culture and identity suggests that conflict with one’s culture may affect a person’s sense of self. Jhumpa Lahiri explores this type of conflict in the novel The Namesake, in which Gogol Ganguli is stuck between two cultures the Bengali traditions of his parents and the American culture he grows up with. The novel explores Gogol’s conflict with both cultures and how it ultimately impacts the development of his identity.

“Imagine there’s No Heaven” is a letter written by Salman Rushdie who is a British Indian novelist and essayist. He is an atheist and is known for his unflinching criticism of religion. Rushdie contributed this letter to a UN-sponsored anthology, addressed to the six-billionth human child who was expected to be born that year. He attempts to discuss and answer two fundamental questions of life. “How did we get here? And, now that we are here, how shall we live?” However he diverts from his central thesis and most of his text malign and smear all religions while the two questions go almost completely unanswered. His tone is demeaning, scornful and he presents religious beliefs as being ridiculous. He makes absolute statements without any

As Mehta describes the Bombay of his youth, the reader is given a nostalgic view of what the city used to be. As a child, growing up there he is not the outsider that he becomes when his family moves to New York. He describes this experience as a, “central event, that fulcrum of time,” which shaped the rest of his life (6). Subsequently, throughout the rest of his childhood he desires to go back to Bombay and to leave New York, a place

For Ashima, books are carriers of names and records of past connections with friends and family. Later in the novel, Gogol’s wife Moushumi ends up rekindling an old romance with a man named Dimitri in a blatant act of infidelity, after discovering his name on a resume in her colleague’s office and rediscovering his name scrawled inside a book on her shelf at home. Both the resume and book are fraught with meaning as they bear his name and remind her of their previous connection. Literature is central to Lahiri’s depiction of past connections because reading is a method for validating human experience, while teaching empathy for separate human experiences: reading connects people.

I will be writing my essay on innocence and experience to show how it relates to “Araby” by James Joyce. While reading the story, and what I’ve understood is that it’s a very depressing story about a young boy that is between 12 to 17 years of age who had his first experience in feeling loved and perhaps having a life alone. Later on in the story towards the end the experience will be very sad as we talk about it.