letter to Tim o' Brien author of Ambush

35-98 79Th st Apt #2h
Jackson Heights, NYC, 11372
Phone # (718)-333-4636
Fax # (718)-333-4637

Dear speaker

After reading this narrative I have realized that I know what you have felt during all these time. I understand how it felt to keep a secret from some one you love and suffer. I know that you want to tell your daughter the truth about what happened that night in my khe and come clean about your past and at the same time you don't want to tell her the truth because you are afraid that she is going to hate you for what you did.

I admire you for fighting for your country. I am not saying that you did the right thing by killing that young person with the grenade. I mean he might have done the same thing to you if the situation was reversed. I admire you for admitting that what you did was wrong. I admire you admitting that you feel guilty for what you did . I know that you really didn't want to kill that man but you did what you thought was necessary. I admire you for making a hard decision to possibly save many people lives.

While reading the narrative many question came into my mind. Some of these question may seem a little personal but I want to ask them anyway. If you could go back in time to the moment that you killed this man would you change your decision about whether to kill this guy or not. Another question would be do you think that the war you were fighting for had the wrong reason? Another question is that Did you tell your daughter about what happened now that she is older and more mature?


Please reply to this mail in the mailing address. Thank you very much for your cooperation. I am looking forward to your reply.

sincerely,
Nahida Akter

Wik-elements from Olaudah Equiano Narrative

Wik-elements: here is where you will identify the following elements in Equiano’s narrative: You will give definitions of each literary element and identify them in the text.

-Identify Genre - a kind of literary or artistic work

-Symbolism - the practice of representing things by symbols

-Imagery - the formation of mental images

-Plot: sequence of events - Also called storyline. the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work, as a play, novel, or short story.

-Characters - an account of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing.

-Setting - the surroundings or environment of anything

-Conflicts (internal)
- man vs. self

-Conflicts (external)
- man vs. man
- man vs. society

-Point of View - A position from which something is observed or considered


WORK ON THIS

Wiki-cabulary from Olaudah Equiano Narrative

Wiki-cabulary: i.e. all vocabulary words and appropriate definitions this will be ongoing, but you will need to include the title of the work for us to easily identify where to find these words

"To that Heaven which protects the weak from the strong, I commit the care of your innocence and virtues, if they have not already received their full reward, and if your youth and delicacy have not long since fallen victims to the violence of the African trader, the pestilential stench of a Guinea ship, the seasoning in the European colonies, or the lash and lust of a brutal and unrelenting overseer."

Pestilential - annoyingly troublesome.

"This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers."

Avarice - desire for wealth

"Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs."

Inhabitants - One that inhabits a place, especially as a permanent resident

"Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful, and heighten my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites."

Apprehension - suspicion or fear of future trouble

"The noise and clamour with which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers serve not a little to increase the apprehensions of the [Page 87] terrified Africans, who may well be supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they think themselves devoted. In this manner, without scruple, are relations and friends separated, most of them never to see each other again."

Clamour - loud uproar, as from a crowd of people

Olaudah Equiano - Question & Answer

Comprehension Check Questions:
1. For what crimes were slaves punished? And what was the punishment?
-The slaves were punished if they got caught trying to run away. The punishment they suffered was that the slave owner would beat them for trying to run away. Sometimes all the slaves were punished for one slave’s mistake or flight for freedom. The master would starve them to teach them a lesson. So the other slaves wouldn’t try to runaway because they know if they did their family and friend would suffer.


Critical Thinking Questions:
2. Interpret: Why does Equiano blame the illness aboard the ship on the “improvident avarice” of the traders?
-Equiano blame the illness aboard the ship on the “improvident avarice” of the traders because the ship that the traders forced the slaves to occupy on their journey was very disgusting. The slaves didn’t have enough space to move around in. They didn’t get much fresh air and if they need to do their business they need it to do it in the ship on the spot they were sitting. The environment they were forced to occupy was unclean so disease spread easily and many people got sick and died.


Support from the text:
3. How can you tell that Equiano has a great zest for life despite his assertion that he wanted to die?
-"During our passage I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much: they used frequently to fly across the ship, and many of them fell on the deck. I also now first saw the use of the quadrant; I had often with astonishment seen the mariners make observations with it, and I could not think what it meant. They at last took notice of my surprise and one of them, willing to increase it, as well as to gratify my curiosity made me one day look through it. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. This heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded than ever that I was in another world, and that every thing about me was magic."
"As every object was new to me everything I saw filled me with surprise. What struck me first was that the houses were built with stories, and in every other respect different from those in Africa: but I was still more astonished on seeing people on horseback. I did not know what this could mean; and indeed I thought these people were full of nothing but magical arts."
- Equiano knew that his future would be horrible because he is separated from his sister. Even though he had suffered in the ship. The new things he saw in his journey inspired him to live his life and hope that one day he will he will be able to get his freedom and experience all these "magical" things.


4. Infer: What does this passage reveal about the author?
-This passage reveals that the author who wrote this passage experienced first hand from maybe one of his ancestor who is still alive. He knows what the slaves had to face in their lives. He knows how much the slaves have suffered throughout their lives and how they were tortured and their lives destroyed.


Thematic Focus:
6. When one culture dominates another, what troubles might society face?
when one culture dominates another the society faces trouble. They fight among each other. There are violent fight for freedom. There also war between the nation to see who can try to best take control of the other.

Interpretion of quotes by D.H Lawrence & Emily Dickinsons and Do Now

Assignment: Interpret D.H.Lawrence’s “I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough Without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
Emily Dickinson’s “I am nobody, who are you?” Analyze this quote and the response should include your self-perception.

“I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough Without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
-D.H.Lawrence

After reading this quote I got really confused and I still am but I think that this quote is saying that animals don’t feel sorry for them self. They work hard to survive in this harsh world. They don’t give up on their life. Like how squirrels stores nuts all year around for winter or how a mommy bird provides worms and other insects for her babies. The animals has to hunt for their food but the human, if they get hungry they can just to the grocery store for food or the deli and or any restaurant. The humans are provided with everything but they don’t appreciate it until they lose everything. Some humans are lazy they give up too easily when things get hard. After giving up they pity themselves and ruin any chance of fixing their future.

“I am nobody, who are you?”
-Emily Dickinson

I think that this quote is asking us to define our self. The author of the poem Emily Dickinson is proudly saying she is a nobody and she is asking us who we are or who we think we are to people around us. If someone asked me that question, I would say that I am who I am and nobody can change that. I am a sister, a daughter, an aunt or a friend to someone in my life. I am someone who is important to someone who also matter to me like my best friend Arzu. To other people who don’t know me I am just someone that they are going to meet once or twice in their life and I am not important to them because they don’t know me. I am definitely proud of who I am and I am not going to change my self and turn into someone I am not. My looks may change over time but I am the same person inside.