“The Invention of Wings,” written by Sue Monk Kidd may seem like a light-hearted novel based on the title. Perhaps a fantasy or fiction book, but when you open up and turn the pages you will find that The Invention of Wings is not a mystical fantasy, or a fun silly fiction, but a powerful and moving historical novel on slavery and women empowerment. The book follows two main characters from childhood to adulthood and shares with us their incredible journey during the early 1800’s. Hetty (Handful), and Sarah Grimké had a close bond from the start of the novel. When Handful is gifted to Sarah for her birthday she despises owning another human being from the beginning, which only grows to more extreme heights throughout the novel. Sarah bends …show more content…
The novel is historically based and based on true events and figures. Kidd examined and sifted through and endless amount of research, documents, facts, letters, and articles to put together a fictionalized account of a true story in American history. The story of Sarah Grimké is almost entirely accurate while the story of Handful is more fictionalized and fabricated. While Handful was in fact real, there is not much known about her. The story of the Grimké’s is already exceedingly compelling, but Kidd expands and adds in Handful to help unfold and enliven the story. Although she is mainly a product of imagination, Handful is an important aspect of the story and is given a truly incredible story. The author incorporates several documents, newspapers, diaries, and letters into the novel to make the story more believable and …show more content…
A major strong point was how Kidd switched back and fourth each chapter from Sarah’s point of view to Handful’s point of view. It made the story easy to read, much more interesting, and didn’t allow either character to take over. You saw the slave’s side and the slave owner’s side which helped the reader get a better understanding of all that was going on at the time. The book does an incredible job of showing some of the awful things that slavery did to people, and some of the terrible things being an abolitionist did to you at the time. “Being an abolitionist could get you attacked right on the streets — heckled, flogged, stoned, killed,” Sarah Grimké says which shows how unbelievably brave she was for standing against it; especially being a woman. Another strong point was how well Kidd developed the characters. It was hard not to feel a sort of attachment to the characters and feel what they were going through as they came to life throughout the story. A shortcoming of the book was that I believe there was too much time spent on non-important events. A large chunk of the novel was spent on Sarah Grimke’s childhood and her love life, which weren’t necessary components of the book. The last section of the book talking about Sarah and Angelina’s journey speaking about abolition and women's rights was very vague while it was perhaps the most important part of the characters lives and of
Have you ever been sitting somewhere and felt unbearably bored, just thinking “I wish I were a bird and could fly freely.” Ten-year-old Handful, in the novel The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, thought this way, but for a completely different reason. She thinks like this to escape the brutal reality of her life as a slave. Her owner, Eleven-year-old Sarah Grimke, is an abolitionist who got Handful as a birthday present and is forced to accept her by her parents. Kidd wrote this historical-fiction book not only to entertain, but also to provide the reader with a perspective of an awful time in history.
I did not have many complaints. Even though, at times, I may have felt there was information or conversations that were not entirely needed, it did add more depth to the book and allowed the reader to see more into each individual
To Satisfy the Desires of Women: The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon Linda Gordon uses her book The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction to show racial, gender, class, and religious issues in Arizona during the early 1900s. This novel, at first, seems to be about the orphan train that ran from New York City to Arizona. However, the title is misleading, as it suggests to the reader that the novel is focusing on the orphans. Rather, Gordon uses the orphans as a lens through which one can view the inequalities between the people in Arizona.
Fire in a Canebrake Reading “Fire in a Canebrake” was very absorbing. I found that the events that occurred in this book are parallel to events today. I found this nonfiction narrative to be an ongoing investigation that has yet to be solved. From the events leading up to the election to Talmadge, to police brutality, to black & white racism crimes. Reading this novel contrary to this presidential election soon to come is ironic.
Flying is a thought that everyone wishes to do, however some wishes don’t come true. “Waxen Wings” by Ha Songnan is about a girl named Birdie, a nickname she earns because she wishes to fly. Birdie tries to fly, but struggles every time. Throughout the story, Ha Songnan utilizes cause and effect, second-person point of view, and repetition of ideas emphasize the importance of rising after a fall. Songnan uses cause and effect structure to show structure in the story to highlight the importance of rising after a failure. When Birdie attempts to dabble in gymnastics, her achievement falters because of her body.
Treated unfairly, beaten and put down slaves, had no rights in the novel The Invention of Wings. Sue Monk Kidd explained abolition at its greatest point of effectiveness. Abolitionists despised slavery and did everything in their power to abolish it. It took courage to be an abolitionist because an abolitionist had to take the harder path and stand up to the people who opposed ending slavery. In the novel the characters face hardship, sorrow and loss, but it is through their ability to be courageous that helps them learn best what they must do to survive.
Before reading the book I figured it would be more a story line, however it’s in like manner to a documentary. I questioned if the book was going to mainly be about the hardships of slaves (which it mostly is). I chose this book due to my high fascination with slavery. I worship to learn about the hard times blacks went through (mainly slaves). I feel as if I’m not only learning more about my history, correspondingly I’m enlightening myself on how I could’ve been treated, comparatively what some of my ancestors probably went through.
Waxen Wings is a story that talks about a main character named Birdie. Birdie’s life is not the ideal life, and it seems like she has failed at everything she has ever tried. This story really makes the reader feel bad for Birdie, and she is seen as the victim of the story. The tests that she goes through are things that would make most people give up, but she does not give up. That fact alone makes this story somewhat inspirational.
I found the book Day of Tears by Julius Lester a very good read and I would certainly recommend the novel to others. This is a historical fiction book about the lives of slaves, and specifically, a major slave auction known as “The Weeping Time.” Lester wrote this book in dialogue of both the slaves and whites in the south. One of my favorite parts of this book was how the author included interlude sections to let readers know about certain characters later in their life.
I overall found this book to be very enjoyable to read due to the fact that it had evoked emotions such anger and sadness, it very informative in broadening my knowledge of how African Americans who were slaves had lived and some of the unfair regulations that they had to abide by as a result of social prejudices. One thing that that I will critic was the length of the memoir; I felt Douglass should have been more elaborate and specific on how slavery and discrimination policies had affected him and the African American community. I did noticed that he uses a lot of the logos appeal meaning that he gives more factual information rather than more emotion evoking statements. This could work to his advantage but I wanted it to be more emotion evoking because an ethos appeal would be more efferent in conveying to the
Milestone #3: Contemporary Work Jeannette Walls spent decades finding ways to hide her past; she fabricated stories of her own upbringing to help her fit seamlessly into the New York jet-setter lifestyle. While it wasn’t exactly a double life, as she was certainly authentic in her present life, the betrayal of her true origins gnawed at her personal acceptance of not only her family but of herself. Penning the memoir The Glass Castle afforded Walls the opportunity to not only embrace her unconventional upbringing but to examine how it ultimately impacted her personal development.
Another thing I really liked was the way they made the family characters of mom, dad, and Scott. But my favorite thing was the way that they developed Nick’s basketball skill throughout the story. There is a part in the story where somebody is shot by Zack (Trent’s brother) and Trent has to decide if he’s gonna go into running with him or stay for the big championship game with Nick. So I really enjoyed that part because it combined how much I like basketball and the excitement of whether or not Trent would stay or go. In the book it has dad only caring about Nick as much when he was a good basketball player, so I thought it was cool how they sort of betrayed him as a bad guy.
The author handles suspense well, making the reader anticipate what will happen next. She spends a couple of chapters writing about the dilemma at the courthouse involving the colored men from The Bottom and The White League gradually leads up to the horrific Colfax massacre. The massacre is described in great detail. The reader is transported into the civil war era and can practically hear the gunshots being fired, can see the men being killed in cold blood leaving their lifeless bodies on the ground in the aftermath. When Israel Smith cheats death again after being brutally beaten and shot in the eye the reader doesn 't know if he will live or die.
Night by Elie Wiesel is the first book that would be saved because it tells about the Holocaust, has great examples of emotional appeal, and is one of the best, if not the best, example of a historical tragedy. Telling about the Holocaust is the most important aspect of this book, as the Holocaust continues to be one of the worst historic tragedies in the world. The easiest way to prevent a similar occurrence from happening is by never letting it be forgotten in the first place. This book would be memorized to make sure that it would not be forgotten and hopefully prevent it from happening again. Reading this book makes the reader realize just how fortunate he is/was to not live during that time period, and also helps one understand just how
It showed me a new perspective on the south and its ways of life before and after the war. Before reading this a person from the north only saw how the south had slaves and didn 't want to give them up; being taught that the south was just keeping slaves and that the war started because this did not adhere to the Emancipation Proclamation. In reading this book, the reader learns how the laws made to prevent slaves from uprising or creating a balanced system was not going to happen anytime while living in North Florida after the war. Most slaves couldn 't even live within the city limits without paying a fee or 5 days in jail (Schafer 11). The fact that during Lincoln 's first election, he wasn 't even on the Florida Ballot was a shock.