The Knowledgeable Sayings

Authors Note: This piece is analyzing the quotes and/or sayings that relate to the short story “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes.

“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” –Forrest Gump

Just imagine, being alone; no family or friends at all. Think about having no money for food or transportation and all you really want is a pair of blue suede shoes. Lastly, dream about how this unorthodox, enigmatic woman named Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones would take you in and feed you just to teach you a lesson. This is what the main character; Roger goes through in the short story “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes. In this brief two hour time with Mrs. Jones, he is taught that he can’t get the goods that he wants by stealing from other people. The teenager also learns that you don’t have to be discriminative or prejudiced to demonstrate proper manners and/or thankfulness. There are many quotes in the short story and in the outside world that clearly shows and analyzes the main concepts and conflicts of this story, “Thank You Ma’am”.

The opening quote that can be related to the story “Thank You Ma’am” by Langston Hughes is the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.”(By: African Proverb) This excerpt is logically related to the young boy, Roger because he doesn’t have a home or anyone to love him. When Luella asks him if he has any family he simply repeats, "No’m”. The reason this relates to him because if he was raised and nurtured by an actual family and if he grew up in a safe environment or a 'village', he would not have been trying to steal Mrs. Jones pocketbook.

Furthermore, another quote that is comparative to “Thank You Ma’am” is “Everything happens for as reason.” This reference simply means that if Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones would have done something like calling the cops, Roger wouldn’t have learned the simple life lesson of kindness. He realized that you don't just have to be rude and mean to people to teach them a lesson. He acknowledged that you can be nice and caring to people to show them something important. The real meaning of that excerpt, is that no matter what happens or what you do, everything happens for a reason. Maybe he wasn’t told on for a reason and it was just karma for Roger(Which I highly doubt), or that she was just giving him a chance.

In addition, there is also one more very important quote in the chronicle that helps Roger change his life completely. Luella exclaimed at him in her house saying, "Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that." When saying this, the no-longer-thug Roger learned probably the most important lesson in his life. This excerpt means so much to him because it taught him that all people are created equal and that you should never discriminate people for what happened in the past because they may have changed by then. After that I don’t think that the young teenager will never make fun of people and he will not in any way, try to steal from people to get what he wants.

In conclusion, I would like to express my feelings on the title of this piece. What this means is when Roger was captured by Mrs.Jones, he had no idea what was going to happen. Just like in the saying from Forrest Gump, “…you never know what you’re gonna get.” Nevertheless, “Everything happens for a reason” and who knew that for Roger, his ‘village’ would be Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones.

Deathwatch Retelling

At the beginning of the story Deathwatch by Robb White, Madec hires Ben to take him Bighorn hunting. After Madec ‘accidentally’ shoots an old prospector, the crazed man starts talking all criminally. He then makes Ben, take off all his clothes and then he ditches him in the scorching hot desert. Using his background knowledge of the simmering lands, Ben outsmarts the man that was blatantly hunting him and escapes the desert.

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Deathwatch
By:Robb White, Pages-220
When Madec turns on him during hunting, Ben goes through perilous torture, dangerous cliffs, and a cruel and vicious man with a .358 Magnum. Will Ben escape the crazed madman and the scorching desert alive? This thrilling page turner by the author, Robb White is a great read with many twists and turns!

The Developing Obi

Author’s Note: This piece is about how the main character, Obi from the short story “Dead Man’s Path” by Chinua Achebe changes during the story.

Imagine getting the chance to have your dream job, early in your career. Think about wanting to change the schools culture, just because it wasn’t modern enough. Lastly, dream about the whole tribe at your school coming down on you because you were altering their culture. This is how the events and actions change Obi as a character in the short story “Dead Man’s Path” by Chinua Achebe.
When Obi is first elected as principal of the school, he and his wife think that they can go there and change everything about it. The appearance, the teachers, what the kids are learning, and even the culture were all altered in some way. Although the largest thing that he changed was the path that went in and out of this ancestral footpath. All of this changes Obi because he finally realizes that different towns have different aspects that make it unique and that it’s never a good idea to change them.
Consequently, the enigmatic Obi changed as a character in the story “Dead Man’s Path” by Chinua Achebe because he changed other people’s cultures!