Ignorance In 'In History' By Jamaica Kincaid

I believe that natural areas should be preserved and protected from urbanization and that many people (especially Americans) do not care whether they experience the place. They only care about if they get good photos. Abbey describes the landscape in a way that lets the reader imagine it, but his abundance of details about the plants and rocks could get boring because of how much he talked about them. It is impressive that he knew plant names, but it was difficult to read through those parts because it had such a lengthy description. Abbey’s writing is very good, and it shows a strong voice, tells his stories well, and presents his opinions in ways that show exactly what he thinks.

She works together a story that encapsulates both the large span of American history in depth by dissecting the social, political, and cultural developments throughout. Jill Lepore’s writing is accessible for casual readers and those with a deeper understanding of history, which resulted from the clarity that is showcased in her writing style. A major achievement that Lepore accomplishes is bringing inclusivity into her book by incorporating diverse perspectives, such as the perspectives of marginalized groups; Native Americans, African Americans, women, etc. Topics that are underrepresented in traditional accounts of history are highlighted by Lepore by discussing their contributions and experiences.

The game played by the children Scout, Jem, and Dill in the book To Kill a Mockingbird emphasizes their ignorance and prejudice towards things they don’t understand. Such as when they talk about Boo Radley being dead, “Besides, I don’t think he’s still there. He died years ago and they stuffed him up the chimney.” This dismissal of the possibility that they might feel shame for their actions reflects the theme of ignorance to a tee. The apparent incapability to feel shame is apparent in them when they continue the game in front of all the neighbors, save Nathan Radley.

For example, when discussing men, like Long, who had visited the region, she states that they declared it unimpressive and “a dreary plan, wholly unfit for cultivation.” Here, she sets up the views of harsh critics of the region for comparison with her own feelings for the region itself. Marquet goes on to introduce a story about her grandparents, who felt “anticipation” when waiting to receive their land. By comparing the uncomplimentary aspects of the land judged by surveyors with her grandparents feeling of anticipation, she shows the reader how the land represented a new beginning for many Americans who disregarded the criticism of earlier assessors. She once again portrays her respect for the people of the upper Midwest by clowning their ability to cultivate a previously labeled “unimpressive”

It both saddens and terrifies me to say that I can still feel uncomfortable stating the fact that slaves built this nation. It is as though I have been taught to feel uncomfortable about the truths of American history. I find relief in knowing that there are, and have been, people who are not afraid or uncomfortable with the truth; those who can write, publish, and share honest American history with the world. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates shares truths with his son that I always knew, but never had the ability to articulate. Coates also writes with a sense of knowledge, I detect no doubt in his words; and the lack of repression with which he wrote often made me feel as though I was reading something that should be protected.

As a result, it leads her to fight for her own life in order to survive in the 1800’s. Through Dana’s experience, it helps readers understand, and realize that slavery was not an easy time in our country’s history and demonstrates

The poem “History Lesson” written by Natasha Trethewey has a unique form of style and rhythm that causes the reader to rely more on their comprehension of the story than the presented facts. Specifically, in the beginning of the poem the writer describes herself standing, with her hands on her hips in a flowered bikini while her grandmother, beaming, takes a photograph of her. In the middle of the poem she states that the beach has recently been opened to people like her and her grandmother. Finally, at the very end of the poem she says “Forty years since the photograph where she stood on a narrow plot of sand marked colored, smiling, her hands on the flowered hips of a cotton meal-sack dress.” The writer formatted this poem in a way where she did not put the information together in order to create ambiguity.

Though he also uses the description of the “dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies” to let the reader paint their own pictures of their paradise which Mckay remembers as Jamaica (Mckay). Mckay and Harjo both use these aspects of heavily detailed writing to allow the reader to produce their own image of the scene, and let the reader paint their own pictures of the events that they can connect

A person’s relationship with history is very much like their relationship with brussel sprouts: you either love ‘em or you hate ‘em, with most people identifying with the latter. As we are told countless times, history is important because if we forget it, we are doomed to repeat it. It is a logical claim, for how can someone learn and move forward if they do not reflect and fix their mistakes? History, however, has a tendency to be boring, a never-ending waterfall of dates and names that can only be learned through mind-numbing memorization. Is this truly the only way, however?

“As I looked about me I felt that the grass was the country, as the water is the sea... And there was so much motion in it; the whole country seemed, somehow, to be running.” book one chapter two. Even after Jim grows up, he still retains the childlike wonder of the land around him. The amount of admiration that Jim holds for the land reflects on his innocence as a child.

Kincaid has a guilty attitude toward the construction of her wall in her own garden. She called Ron Pembroke, the maker of the most excellent landscapes in

There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries were made”. While Jim describes the plains as nothingness, the narrator of A Wagner Matinée (Clark) compares his own modern town to the “inconceivable silence of the plains” and how the land he knew was “the flat world of the ancients…more merciless than those of war” (paragraph 12).

In her thought provoking essay “In History,” author Jamaica Kincaid explores the idea of naming things in a historical context through various anecdotes. Kincaid makes a purposeful choice to tell her story non chronologically, beginning with the tale of Columbus, putting her own reflection on plant nomenclature in the middle, and ending with an overview of Carl Linnaeus, the inventor of the plant naming system. This choice gives Kincaid the opportunity to fully vet out each point that she makes, an opportunity she wouldn’t have gotten had she written her essay in chronological order. Throughout each anecdote that Kincaid tells, the theme of names and giving things names is central. Kincaid argues that by giving something a name, one unrightfully takes ownership of it and erases its history.

Today I will be talking about an amazing country named jamaica it is a talented country and we will be talking about how they say stuff and how they do stuff for the holidays. Speaking of holidays that is the word we are going to learn how to say in jamaica but other than that I will now tell you stuff about jamaica and this is interesting too. I will now tell you how my country celebrates the holidays instead of the holidays lasting one day they last two days in jamaica because they like their holidays long. Did you know that Christmas may start at 6 a.m and you go to church

Kincaid uses the phrase “this is how” twenty-seven times. For example, “…this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man…” (Kincaid, 5). Kincaid’s mother uses this phrases to emphasize the importance of her learning the things she is describing because if she did not do these things, she would be looked down upon by the rest of the population; she would not be the proper woman. This is established by the quote, “…you mean to say after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?”