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How does A Lesson Before Dying connect? 

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How does A Lesson Before Dying connect? 

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It helps to show how deep love and hate can run and how they can lead to other strong emotions, such as grief, sorrow, despair, and self-hatred. Some examples of this are the grandmother in the story becoming so depressed that she cannot get out of bed in response to the news that her grandson will be executed, and how when the main character is put in jail for a crime that he did not commit and is treated poorly, he starts calling himself a hog and stops eating.

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What about The House on Mango Street? Is there any connection?

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What about The House on Mango Street? Is there any connection?

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Yes. This story shows the spectrum of emotions that the main character, Esperanza,  experiences as she spends her childhood growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in a low-income family. Esperanza experiences deep sadness, love, longing, and happiness throughout the course of the story, and the writing allows the reader to see the full gamut of her emotions. Esperanza is sad when she is assaulted by the man at the carnival and longs to have a better, fancier house, but really enjoys herself when she is riding on the bike with her friends and feels love for her family, evidenced by how she defends her sister and won't let anyone else make fun of her.

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Absolutely. In this story, symbolism is used to help the reader feel the depth of Abner's fury, such as when he gets so mad that he smears feces all over someone's carpet and sets their barns ablaze. It also helps to explain the heights of Abner's child's emotions, especially when Abner is about to burn down Major de Spain's barn. I could almost feel Abner's son's heart pounding and the sheer terror he felt as he runs to warn Major de Spain and then runs back to warn his father. That part had MY heart pounding!

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In what way does the poem "Those Winter Sundays" connect with this theme?

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In what way does the poem "Those Winter Sundays" connect with this theme?

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Through the writing, readers are able to comprehend how different and unique each person's expression of love can be. The literature helps readers understand how each person's expression and reception of love can be so vastly different. The father in this story is trying to show his love for his son by chopping firewood for him on cold mornings when he is tired, but the son doesn't realize that this was the way that his father showed love for him until he gets older. When the boy was younger, he had a hard time understanding and receiving his father's expression of love because his father didn't express it through hugs and kisses and verbally telling him that he loved him.

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The girl who tells the story makes her words resonate on a deeper emotional level with the reader through the help of literary devices such as symbolism and rhyme, which help the reader to fully understand how much the girl in the story is struggling with the transition from childhood to adulthood, such as when she says that she feels like she is "wound like the guts of a clock". The girl allows herself to be vulnerable through the literature, such as when she writes about the changes in her life that come from beginning to menstruate. This is where literature allows people to express emotions that they may not be able to in person.

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" We should read poetry because only in that way can we know man in all his moods -- in the most beautiful thoughts of his heart, in his farthest reaches of imagination, in the tenderness of his love, in the nakedness and awe of his soul confronted with the terror and wonder of the Universe"

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Q: Which piece of literature did I fall in love with this semester? Why did I like it so much?
A: I loved The House on Mango Street. I felt that I personally could connect to come of the themes in the story such as growing up in circumstances that were sometimes difficult and far from perfect, but still finding joy and love along the way. I liked how the author incorporated comic relief into the book because it kept me from getting overwhelmed by the intense parts of the story and kept me entertained. I also loved how the author wasn't afraid to touch on difficult subjects and show the harsh reality of life in her book.

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Q: What does this quote mean to me? Why does it matter?
A: This quote tells me that when people read poetry and literature, it helps them to further comprehend the exhilarating highs and crushing lows that exist in life and human emotion in a way that would not be possible without the help of literature because these phenomenons are expressed through the writing. I personally am now more interested in reading literature because I want to live vicariously through the emotions expressed in the writing and use the heightened understanding of emotion that I gain to help me better connect with others in my life.

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What pieces of literature that I read this semester connect to this idea?

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What pieces of literature that I read this semester connect to this idea?

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1. "Quinceanera"
2. "Those Winter Sundays"
3. "Barn Burning"
4. The House on Mango Street
5. A Lesson Before Dying
6. "Speech to the Young, Speech to the Progress-Toward"
7. "Harlem [Dream Deferred]"
8. "I, Too"
9. Fences
10. "My Papa's Waltz"

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Q: Can this idea be connected to anything other than just literature?
A: Yes! Music works in the same way! When I am listening to music or singing, that is when I feel the most vulnerable and open my heart up the most. That is when I show and release some of my strongest emotions. My emotions run the whole gamut when I am making or listening to music-I release anger, sadness, joy, pain, excitement, and so much more! Music is what I use to connect with others. I use it to help me understand others and to help them to understand me on a deeper emotional level.