... Above all, there is "the drink"--the endemic disease of Irish fathers who spend their weeks' wages in the pub on Friday night. Frank leaves school to earn money for the family (his father had joined the war-time wave of work in England, but continued to drink his earnings away), ... . . . isn't this a great country altogether?" Answers Frank in the single phrase comprising the last chapter, " 'T. is." Commentary McCourt taught writing at the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City for many years. This is his first published book. It is masterfully crafted, its present-tense ...

• Word Count: 3537
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... Chapter One: No Name Woman Summary Kingston learns from her mother that she once had an aunt who killed herself and her newborn baby by jumping into the family well in China. The woman's husband had left the country years before, so the villagers knew that the child was illegitimate. The night ... and doorways meant to represent the "circle" or "roundness" of Chinese life "the idea that all the villagers are connected and responsible for one another's lives. Chapter Two: White Tigers Summary The first section of "White Tigers" is Kingston's childhood fantasy of living the life of Fa Mu La...

• Word Count: 6134
• Approx Pages: 25

The Joy Luck Club. Chapter Summaries. SECTION I - FEATHERS FROM A THOUSAND LI AWAY The Parable The novel opens with a parable presented by a Chinese woman living in America. While in China she had ... lost twin daughters. Because of her efforts, the daughters have been located. They want Jing- Mei to go and meet them, for it would answer Suyuan's dream. This opening chapter is very significant, for it explains the meaning of the book's title and introduces several of the themes. Jing-Mei explains how her mother, Suyuan, ... the Chinese women who belong meet together to play mahjong, gossip,...

• Word Count: 6459
• Approx Pages: 26
• Grade Level: High School

... other people? Explain ...3-4 4. What effect does the book have on your own beliefs? 4 5. What is the most important word in the book (or in a particular chapter or section)? The most important passage? The most important event? Explain . .5-6 Part 2 Points of Interest 6. What parts of this book are worth reading again and again ... Frankie has showed me that anyone's dream can be fulfilled. He is now a successful author and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, which sets great standards for the youth that may read this book. This memoir can be considered a book of inspiration and determinatio...

• Word Count: 2588
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... men, and had them thinking about their fate in California. 8.What effect does the nightly camping have on the people heading for California? How does it give them strength and power? During the night at the camp, "the twenty families became one family, the children were the children of all The loss of home became ... like her." (Steinbeck, 310) When Ma came from within the truck, she informs the family that Granma passed away the night before. Her reactions to the tragedy show that she is an extremely strong woman, for even the family looked at her "with a little terror at her strength" (...

• Word Count: 5172
• Approx Pages: 21
• Grade Level: High School

... them has ever committed is to break an occasional window playing a game of baseball. On occasion, Wally might take a nice girl out on a Friday night date, but never does more than holds her hand and is always home before curfew. The deception and problems that exist in modern-day normal family ... and dishonest. In this context, the roses can also be compared to the Burnham's lives. Lester describes his marriage as "just a show - a commercial for how normal we are, when we"re anything but." Although the Burnham's life seems perfect to an outside observer, it is filled with deception and p...

• Word Count: 2528
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography

... the extent of which Paul loves his mother as he cannot see her effectively jeopardizing his relationship. In terms of imagery, "warm"" is also used in Chapter Seven to describe Miriam: "very beautiful, with her warm coloring"." Due to it being used to portray a positive attribute in each character it could suggest ... from his mother. They often share intimate and personal feelings with each other, and share the happiness and sadness with each other. Moments such as that in Chapter Five, the omniscient narrator is used to convey their oedipal relationship: "intimate smile, beautiful with ...

• Word Count: 3412
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Chris was terriblely shocked. He knew that his father had been behind that terrible disaster. Keller tried to tell him that he had done it for him and for the sake of the family but Chris was completely broken. He left the house in fury. Mother told Keller that the best way to deal ... Annie comes. Everything that happened seems to be coming back. I was just down the cellar and stumbled over in his baseball glove which I haven't seen for years." Comment. Mother said these words to Chris in the garden of their house. So many things connected with Larry happened at the same time; Larry's ...

• Word Count: 3955
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

... is the loss of a person's perception of 'self'; usually occurring when catastrophic events have taken place. Identity or psychological identity is a person's capacity for self-reflection and awareness. An individual's identity is usually formed by important people in one's life, as well as life experiences which have had an ... but the infinite void, an interminable fall of nothingness. The sun could keep rising, but I'd never be able to distinguish day from night anymore"(Khadra 105). The protagonist claims that nothing is the same after this attack and he has lost track of time itself;...

• Word Count: 2550
• Approx Pages: 10

... honor the traditions of the Indian and non-Indian heritage. Literature indicates that, in comparison to children of other ethnic minority groups, American Native children are at greater risk for emotional and behavioral disorders and negative psychosocial conditions such as poverty, family and community violence, substance abuse, and substandard living conditions (Morris, et al., 2001). Additionally, ... of American Native communities. A report to the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs stated that American Indians, particularly adolescents, have more serious mental health problem...

• Word Count: 2517
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... Involvement in Child's Activities Educational Factors: Reading Percentile, Mathematics Percentile, Commitment to School, Attachment to Teachers, Aspirations to Go to College, Expectations to Go to College, Parent's Expectation for Child to Go to College Parent's Values About College; Peer Factors: Peers Have Conventional Values, Parent's Positive Evaluation of Peers Other Resources: Child's Self Esteem, Child's Involvement in Religious ... a list to summarize essential principles to assist parents: A parent should praise moderately to avoid pressure; postpone "super-praise". This praise ...

• Word Count: 6384
• Approx Pages: 26
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... a pretty brilliant plan she went outside and hide her clothes the night before she ran away and called a taxi the next morning to come pick her up after the school bus came and she also put a pair of her panties in Harmon's bed for him to remember her by. Leshaya had planed to go to this ... ask someone where this recording studio was so hopefully they could run into Aretha but she was not in town that week or going to be for a while. The night they had gone to the recording studio they ran into some people whom invited them out to party, taken the opportunity and went to this private .....

• Word Count: 2988
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... down. So she want to the house and took a hand full of quinine, bitter as gall. That night, she went outside the house and aborted. (no bathroom). He took the oil lamp and went outside to see for sure.(no electricity). They didn't have any screens on the windows and had to burn chips in an old ... rusty bucket at night to chase the mosquitoes away. She said all the doors were locked at night. He was afraid of something or someone, she never knew ... we had a cat, I'd sometimes milk a stream out of it and she'd lap at it. It -4- was also my job at night to bring in the stove wood that wa...

• Word Count: 5522
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... tears". In some areas, the bride would even start crying a month before the wedding. At first they cry every other night and later every night and whole night through. Only by doing so, she feels that she can express her sorrow to leave her relatives. In some places in southwest ... China, the wedding weep also involves singing during the process. The Wedding Weep songs are heartrending in melody, genuine in passion and they became a very unique type of folk songs. For ... days, the majority of the newlyweds were complete strangers to each other. They only met for the first time in the...

• Word Count: 9974
• Approx Pages: 40
• Grade Level: High School

... in absolute patriarchy and countenanced no questioning of his authority. His word was final." After moving to town from the woods, Barnes" father worked the night shift and rarely interacted with his family in a meaningful way. Increasingly throughout Kim's rebellious adolescence, she grew resentful of her father's staunch religion and ... "He looked up from his plate, every muscle in his body tensed, solid. "Then you take your things and you never come back."" That night, Barnes left her parents house and set out on her own. Years later, she attempted to bridge the distance between he...

• Word Count: 2962
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... autobiographical, going into O'Neill's suffering past and more so into the O'Neill family story. "Long Days Journey Into Night,"" was one of his later plays, that was not to be produced or published until all close relatives had passed away. The reason for this was so that the Tyrone story, which mirrored the O'Neill's, would hurt no one. Arthur Gelb of the ... hallucinate; all of the men in the family pour themselves a drink. This occurs even though they had all just had a rough night of drowning. Edmund is aware that he is the reason for his mother's morphine addiction. If it was not ...

• Word Count: 2767
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... the money, after much persuading, but only as a loan. When the two were leaving Tom pulled Stephen aside and told him to go to the bank for a couple of hours every night until Tom gives him a message. Stephen does what Tom asks but after a few nights realizes that nothing will happen. He goes home and gathers some ... of his things and leaves town. One night Mr. Harthouse goes to meet Louisa and tells her that her brother is very much in debt due to a gambling problem. She tells him that she is also ... with her help it won't be long that Louisa is at the very bottom and will be gone. T...

• Word Count: 3472
• Approx Pages: 14
• Grade Level: High School

... many social aspects. Beatrice's role as mother changed immediately when she became a widow and a single parent, she was the only one who could work and provide for her children. Usually, children of single parents fail to make successful transitions to adulthood. A large number of children and youth in this position are at great risk ... women, who faced gender discrimination, which limited their ability to earn a decent living. It is implied that Beatrice's husband did not support her writing profession. Career opportunities for women were limited, when she was a young adult. It is also...

• Word Count: 2741
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... severe mess at his house and in the building. I remember I was in Karachi and was supposed to leave the same night for South Africa. My wife Delilah called me around 12 mid night asking for help with the Police and said please get him locked up. We have tied him with the ropes, and Derek, ... to who Mr. Robinson really was. I reached Mehran apartments in the middle of the night, and before I reached ASI Rizwan was waiting for me outside the building gate, as I called SHO Arshad Laghari when I was on my way, for assistance in this regard. I called Delilah to inform I am down but suggested...

• Word Count: 4191
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

... but then in 1867 the Southern states were forced to give African Americans to vote (Butterfield, F., 2008). Also in the beginning stages of this chapter the whites began to become enraged due to the fact that blacks were given the right to vote and there were more blacks in the population ... to burn and rid of all the bad memories his family had caused him. The police would then take him into be sheltered and cared for, for his behavior. Butch began to stay on the path of trouble living in Harlem, Butch would stick to the street life and continue his acts ... the social class effects as...

• Word Count: 3198
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... . While her friend might be planning to go to the movies on any given night the teenage mother is planning her child's sleep schedule. The teen parent tends to find new friends, she looks for friends who she can relate to often times having one or two of her own ... bond but my daughter has come into her own individuality now and is kind of nonchalant about his efforts. I asked her last night did she want to spend the night at her dad's house and meet her siblings. Her response was beyond me. She said she does not have a daddy nor ... this argument was negated because although adolescen...

• Word Count: 2751
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... as young Rahel and Estha experience it). When her mother tells a rambunctious Rahel to "Stoppit," Rahel "stoppited." At Sophie's funeral, a bat alights on a mourner: "the singing stopped for a 'Whatisit?' 'Whathappened?' and for a Furrywhirring and a Sariflapping." -- reminds one of the artistry of John Lennon. Sweet and heartbreaking, ribald and profound, this is a novel sure to invite comparisons with the work of Salman ... . Roy's undertaking as, throughout her book, she shuttles between the twins' past and present, continually angling in, crabwise, toward the night of Sophie Mol's de...

• Word Count: 2899
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... of "a terrible fire" and "flames" and a "furnace." These visions would soon become reality upon arrival at Birkenau, which was a reception area for the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Madame Schacter's apparent madness also put quite a strain on the psyche of many of the deportees as she brought them ... medical care. Wiesel reflects on having a cup of coffee in the morning, a plate of soup in the afternoon, and a "ration" of bread at night on a typical day at Auschwitz (p. 40). The physical torment that became commonplace at these concentration camps ranged from baton whacks to whip la...

• Word Count: 3336
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

... to church and seeing new and even old faces. Honestly after a long church day our family tradition is to go out to eat then watch sunday night football. I love every part of our fun-filled Sunday! Christmas Joy I think Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. Maybe because of ... , pubs and even streets, where you can hear the magical carols, or maybe it's because of its religious background, but what I can tell you for sure is that I can't think of anything more exciting than the image of the entire family preparing the Christmas Tree or fixing the Christmas dishes. When ...

• Word Count: 2511
• Approx Pages: 10
• Grade Level: High School

... attempt to do so; spending a great deal of your time drinking or recovering from drinking; giving up important social, occupational, or recreational activities for drinking; and continuing to you alcohol even when it is causing you physical and physiological problems. Much like diagnosing alcoholism, there is no set ... you are not placing yourself in a situation with peer pressure, make sure that there is someone there that you can call day or night whenever that you will need them; and speak up, take control, take responsibility of your life and safety. There are different ways to ... ...

• Word Count: 3830
• Approx Pages: 15
• Has Bibliography