(Gates) What was surprising or affected you in the book? The most surprising aspect of the book is that it highlights the challenges that are impacting everyone. This is accomplished through showing the brutality and the sense of unconcern about what is happening. For example, in one section Douglass illustrates how female slaves are often victimized by their slave masters or relatives. This is taking place through showing how many are

A poem does not depend on endings as much as a story because stories must wrap themselves up. Readers expect resolutions to the conflicts that arise during the course of a tale. Compelling narratives use literary tools like purposeful digression to create suspense and to introduce the element of surprise. The key to a good narrative is balancing the right amount of digression or tension with the right amount

For Marie, there is a consistent struggle towards upward social mobility. This struggle is a reflection of her desire to be both a good wife at such a tender age and to advance her husband's station. At the same time, her husband, a young and ambitious tradesman is attempting to validate himself through business success. Their struggle within the colonial society is a reflection of the struggle for survival

Slave narratives and abolitionist books share much in common in terms of their descriptions of the institution of slavery, how slavery is entrenched in American society, and how slaves struggle to overcome the psychological humiliation and physical degradation that slavery entails. Frederick Douglass's (1845) Narrative in the Life of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs's (1861) Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl both capture the daily cruelty and overall

Internal Struggle for Identity and Equality in African-American Literature The story of the African-American journey through America's history is one of heartbreaking desperation and victimization, but also one of amazing inspiration and victory. Any story of the journey that fails to include these seemingly diametric components of the African-American journey is incomplete. However, African-American culture reflects both the progress of the African-American community, its external struggle to achieve equality, and

Myths and Narratives My great-grandfather was a school teacher in West Virginia. He taught in rural schools that were one-room school houses in what he called the "boondocks." He rode his horse between schools and parents of his students would put him up for the night. His storytelling, according to my father and grandfather, was so powerful that kids believed his myths even though he told them it was just a