March 4 Blog

“The Good Soldier”

By Colin Powell

Thesis- “Here at home in America, people sometimes ask what is the significance of my being the first African-American secretary of state. I hope it does have significance, particularly to African-Americans, and I hope the significance is that it happened in America.” (Colin Powell, 2009).

In this short story by Colin Powell he talks about the significance to the African-American community that he is “the secretary of state who is black.” He wants this to give inspiration to other kids growing up in poor communities. He wants this to be a true story to them that you can really can be anything you want to be no matter what your color be. This is true story about conquering a career from the ground up. He started as a soldier, and now represents the United States and the president, in events that happen all around the world. He talks about that success means nothing if you forget where you came from. He believes that you must give back to the community that you came from. He talks about all the ways in which he does this.

“My Hyphenated Identity”

By Jhumpa Lahiri

Thesis- “Like many immigrant offspring I felt intense pressure to be two things, loyal to the old world and fluent in the new, approved of on either side of the hyphen.” (Jhumpa Lahiri, 2009).

In Jhumpa Lahiri’s story she discussed the troubles of being an immigrant child and the battle to stay on both sides, one being an Indian, and the other an American. She says that according to her parents she was not an American, and would be one no matter how hard she tried. She says she feels Indian not because of her looks, the language that she speaks, or her time spent in India, but because of her parent’s influence on her.

“On Being a Cripple”

By Nancy Mairs

Thesis- “As a Cripple, I swagger.”

In Nancy Mairs short story she starts off by telling a story of her falling in a bathroom in her office because she is crippled. She says she doesn’t like words “disabled” or “handicapped,” she prefers crippled. She says that hearing the word crippled makes people cringe, and maybe that is what she wants people to do when they here that she is crippled. She discusses her diagnosis with MS and how it effected her, she says her disease has been slowly progressing causing her to lose movement throughout time. She then goes on to talk about all the little things in life she is no longer able to do, and she says she fears one day she will be writing that one day she will never walk again.

“Smashed: Story of Drunken Girlhood”

By Koren Zailckas

Thesis- “My intention, in telling this story from the very beginning, is to show the full life cycle of alcohol abuse.”

The author starts off by telling a story of a horrible accident she had when she was sixteen and drunk. It started as a young girl for her, her cravings for alcohol. She tells of the years she spent growing up and the alcohol that was related to those years. She talks about her years of drinking all the way until the age of 23, when she quit. She talks about how drinking has a become less of a big deal, just something that is a lot better than getting into drugs, and that’s why she thinks so many young people today have alcohol problems.

Parallelism- “Girls don’t drink in the name of women’s liberation, for the sake of proving we can go drink for drink with t he boys. We don’t drink to affirm we are “sassy” or “self-confident.”