The document contains summaries of 5 different passages:
1) The first passage summarizes the book "The Giver" and introduces the main character Jonas, who lives in a strictly controlled future society without freedom.
2) The second passage summarizes a short story collection focusing on family relationships and the universal themes of loss, grief, hope and relief.
3) The third passage provides a brief biography of Martin Luther King Jr., discussing his education and family life.
4) The fourth passage gives a short summary of a story about a boy named Victor who has a crush on a girl in his seventh grade class.
5) The fifth passage summarizes the events of the Titanic disaster
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. He was a Victorian Realist and gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895).
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have become classics of English literature. She published her works under the pen name Currer Bell.
Thomas Hardy was an English novelist and poet. He was a Victorian Realist and gained fame as the author of such novels as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891), and Jude the Obscure (1895).
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters whose novels have become classics of English literature. She published her works under the pen name Currer Bell.
This program can be used for El Dia in April. The history of El Dia is presented and book suggestions for middle school readers using books for global understanding.
Phillips 1
Phillips 4
Terrell Phillips
Alex Kurian
ENGL 1302
28 June 2012
Literary Analysis of The Magic Barrel
“In a career that took him from the Bureau of Census in Washington, DC in 1940, to the halls of Harvard University as a visiting lecturer, from 1966-68, Bernard Malamud proved that reinvention was the catalyst for his success as a writer” (Gitenstein). Malamud’s works include The Natural,The Fixer, and Two Fables (Gitenstein). Malamud was “…born April 28, 1914, in Brooklyn, NY; died of natural causes, March 18, 1986, in New York, NY” (Understanding Bernard Malamud 2). In 1954 Malamud published what is considered one of his greatest short stories – The Magic Barrel (Gitenstein). The main theme of the story is that one must know his or her true identity to progress in life.
Leo Finkle, a rabbinical student, has decided at the age of 27 that he must find a wife. Finkle enlists the help of Pinye Salzman, a marriage broker and ends up with the Stella, the daughter of the marriage broker. There is nothing difficult about Bernard Malamud’s writing; he writes in clear, straightforward prose about universal ideas and emotions. The conflict that exists in this tale is finding the perfect bride for Finkle. The pace of the story was appropriate for the type of story Malamud was writing. If the story was rushed, you would not have believed the cautious nature of Leo Finkle, nor believe Salzman as calculating.
There are four central characters in this story; Leo Finkle- the rabbinical student who has assimilated to American life, Pinye Salzman-an elderly Jewish matchmaker, Lily Hirschorn- a potential wife for Leo, and Stella- the woman young Leo is certain that he loves (and the daughter of Salzman). Leo Finkle is a cautious, educated, young man with a long, severe scholar’s nose. He had brown eyes heavy with learning, sensitive yet ascetic lips, and a certain, almost hollow quality of the dark cheeks. Salzman is of slight build but dignified build, who wear an old hat, and an overcoat too short and tight for him. He was missing a few teeth and smelled like fish. However, he had an amiable manner that contrasted with horn rimmed mournful mild blue eyes that revealed a depth of sadness. His voice, lips, wisp of beard and bony fingers were all animated which surprisingly puts Leo at ease. Lily is a regular school teacher who drives a Dodge and once lived in Paris for a year. She is intelligent and cultured who is somewhere between the ages of 29-35 and widowed. Lily is petite and not unpretty, is wearing something signifying the approach of spring and surprisingly sound. Stella is Salzman’s disgraced daughter who is wearing a white dress and red shoes, appears at the end of the story smoking under a streetlight located on the corner. Salzman claims she is dead to him because she is wild like and animal. She is also the woman Leo has fallen in love with.
A stereotype in this story is that people, especially men, are most concerned with how their ...
2. The Giver: Jonas
Jonas is a character from the book The
Giver. Meet Jonas, an eleven-year-old
boy who lives in a rigidly controlled
society some time in the future. In his
"community," there is no
suffering, hunger, war, and, as you will
soon see, no color, sex, music, or love.
Everything is controlled by "the Elders,"
right down to who you will marry, who
you receive as children, and what you
will be "assigned" as a job. Individual
identity has gone the way of cassette
tapes, and everyone is essentially just
like everyone else. It seems that no one
has really left the area, except to visit
other neighboring communities. To get
"released" is a big deal. It only happens
to sick infants or really old people, or to
people who break the rules.
In short…this world is a lame place to
hang out.
4. Zebra
Zebra' begins to regain use of his
crushed hand and leg creating art
assigned by temporary teacher;
'Isabel' finds unexpected solace in
the company of her new stepsister.
In the collection's haunting
centerpiece, 'Nava' uses her father's
experiences in war, and his
connection with a Navajo healer, to
fend off a frighteningly persistent
drug dealer. The families
represented are all middle-class or
upper-middle-class, but the
relationships, the feelings of
loss, grief, regret, hope, and relief
are universal; readers sensitive to
nuances of language and situation
will be totally absorbed by these
profound character studies
5. Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April
4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later
had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather
began the family's long tenure as pastors of the
Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914
to 1931; his father has served from then until the
present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther
acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated
public schools in Georgia, graduating from high
school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A.
degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a
distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which
both his father and grandfather had graduated. After
three years of theological study at Crozer Theological
Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected
president of a predominantly white senior class, he
was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at
Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston
University, completing his residence for the doctorate
in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he
met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of
uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two
sons and two daughters were born into the family
6. Seventh Grade
Victor was a boy in the
seventh grade who had a
crush on this girl named
Teresa, a girl he had liked
since they were in catechism
classes at Saint Theresa’s ,was
taking French, too. With any
luck they would be in the
same class. Teresa is going to
be my girl this year, he
promised himself as he left
the gym full of students in
their new fall clothes. She was
cute. And good in
math, too, Victor thought as
he walked down
7. The Titantic
On that fateful night of April 14, 1912
there were 2,235 souls crowded
aboard the R.M.S. Titanic. There
was no wind to speak of. The
frigid, dark sea was calm, like a plate
glass mirror beneath the star-
spangled heavens. It was an hour
before midnight on a
starry, moonless night. While the
band played on beneath the decks
in the first class lounge, and while
the night watch paced the Bridge
high above, the greatest maritime
tragedy in the history of
sailing, stealthily, silently awaited
them in the ice-strewn midnight
waters of the North Atlantic
8. Reflections
These characters and stories I have wrote have
overcome some major adversities. In the giver Jonas
learned to become wiser to take on the role of the
Reciever. As he learned to become the reciever he went
over major obstacles. In the story The Zebra he just
wanted to run for the rest of his life when this random
man entered his life and tought him how to do art. In
the M.L.K story he got the chance to meet Maya
Angelou and got to know a lot about her. In the story
Seventh grade he learned to not be so shy and speak
his mind.