Homegoing By Yaa Gyasi

Camp Harmony, written by Monica Shone, tells a story about her life in an internment camp. During World War ll, Japanese Americans had to move into internment camps, they had no choice. The camp that Shone moved into was called Camp Harmony and it was ironic how the name wasn't even close to how the camp really was. "Our home was one room, about eighteen by twenty feet, the size of a living room." (Shone 320)

“The Way Home” is a veterans memorial monument sculpted by Edd Hayes, and it is located in The Woodlands, Texas, in Town Green Park. This honorable monument is dedicated to all active duty and veterans of all military branches and conflicts. It allows individuals to honor family and friends who served in the Armed Forces. The monument is modeled after Zach R. Endsley, and Cory C. Kosters. Two young men who were residents of The Woodlands area and gave their lives in defense of freedom, while serving in the middle East in 2007.

On July 5, 2016, Alton Sterling was fatally shot by Blane Salamoni, a Baton Rouge police officer, in a convenience store parking lot. Salamoni was responding to a call about a man brandishing a gun and thought that Sterling fit the description of the suspect. However, when Salamoni arrived at the scene, he immediately became violent in his use of force on Sterling. Body camera footage shows Salamoni “slamming him into a car; twice ordering the second officer, Howie Lake II, to use his Taser; and threatening to shoot Mr. Sterling with a gun pointed at his head” (Fausset, 2018). Also shown in the video is Sterling doing his best to follow Salamoni’s orders although he was being pushed around by officers for the duration of the encounter.

The novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a story about the lineage of two sisters, Esi and Effia. Throughout the book the generations after the two tell their stories of their upbringings and hardships they had to face with each a chapter of their own. Gyasi uses the motif of scars to show how some characters may relate to one another in a way we as readers may not have thought of and share similarities over generations. Ness is not physically free because she is enslaved on a plantation. Akua is physically and psychologically free but, her environment Edweso is not exactly okay with her being free physically due to certain events.

Jane Howard, a journalist who wrote about the changing American scene, in her essay “In Search of the Good Family” asserts that everyone needs a family which doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be blood-related. Howard progresses her argument by bringing in the terminology of an African tribe, her experience, and the characteristics which make up a good and conventional family. Therefore, Howard throughout her essay uses rhetorical appeals to make her argument credible. In this essay the author, Jane Howard, talks about the important role our friends play in our life and how they can become closer to you than your blood related family.

JHave you ever been interested in trying to learn more about your family’s past? Yaa Gyasi’s novel Homegoing follows eight generations of people and their journey's in trying to find a truthful understanding of their past. A truthful understanding of the past for many people opens their eyes to the privileges they experience in contrast to the struggles their ancestors had before them. This leads them to let go of the narrowness of their own experiences to create a more meaningful future that they can be proud of. One can see this through the examples of the characters James, Marjorie, and Marcus.

Throughout her short story “Recitatif”, Tony Morrison analyzes the politics of race and disability. Morrison highlights our tendency for subconsciously categorizing one another based on outside appearances. This demonstrates how deeply racism and other prejudices are engrained in us. It is disheartening because we try to squeeze an entire person into five single letters. Are they B-L-A-C-K or are they W-H-I-T-E?

The way family and identity are connected is without family you lose your sense of identity you lose part of yourself. You can see this with Isabel. When Isabel starts the book she cares about herself and is hopeful then you see ruth get “sold” Isabel gets careless and sad she also begins to forget her mama and dad A theme in the book Chains By laurie halse anderson

"Only those who risk going too far can find out how far they can go." ' T.S Elliot). Even though being vulnerable is a risk, people can often move on and handle difficult situations through vulnerability. Lion's Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly is about an adopted boy who thinks back on traumatic memories from his life before adoption. "I Went to Korea to Find My Past" by Cosmo Girl contains the story of a woman searching for her biological mother. "

Here the audience can see his push to the start of making things right with his family. Also, since the audience is aware of each character’s situation, we can look at the pieces of the broken family, and more importantly the importance of unity in

While living with her, Jay finds out that his aunt, Tita Chato, had taken Jun under her roof for a year after he ran away from his home. He witnesses the heartbreak that Tita Chato and her wife experience having to watch Jun leave them too, his reason being that he was done, “‘Pretending,’ Tita Chato provides. ‘To be our son, I think.’ She closes her eyes like the words are physically painful” (Ribay 170). Jun had not only left Tita Chato’s home, but also her care.

The theme of Jason Reynold’s novel “Long Way Down” is that the continual repeating of mistakes and the repetitive nature of violence, shootings, and deaths in Will’s neighborhood must come to an end. It is the rules of the neighborhood that drive this horrible cycle of revenge and continue to destroy the living. The rules are no crying, no snitching, and revenge. The first rule, no crying, implies that one should not cry regardless of how challenging or sad the situation is. As for the second rule, no snitching means you won't inform the police or anyone else about anything you hear or see what’s wrong.

This book shows Amari’s physical and emotional journey. Amari’s physical journey starts when white people kidnap her and 23 others from her village. They were forced into shackles around their necks and ankles, which connected them to one another. After walking day after day like this they made it to Cape Coast where they were separated and pushed into a crowded, unsanitary, dark room. She was later sold, branded and boarded a ship.

It was almost as if she hated me.” (Grande 92) This is important because the return of their mother was for a reason nobody would have expected, Mami was full of angry emotions and vaguely showed it when treating the children she abandoned. The reader of my essay might relate to seeing the change in someone after being absent for so long. Though a mother chose to be absent through her children’s adolescence, they still chose to hold so much love for her when she returned though she came back full of anger and

After recalling a broken childhood, Sedaris looks back and realizes that there were many things he did not understand as a child. The treatment and attitude of his mother have helped Sedaris to understand that some things are just too complicated, and that the solution to those issues is not a single step. Being able to realize this helped to justify his mother’s attitude towards him and his siblings, confirming that a family is still a family despite the challenges along the way. In order to connect and understand the people around us, a person must first look past the appearance of someone and dig deeper, as there is more to a person than just what they choose to