Final Exposition - Literature

Leonardo X. Muentes

The literature into the 21st century

• The 21st century in literature refers to world literature in prose produced during the 21st century. The range of years is, for the purpose of this article, literature written from (roughly) the year 2001 to the present.

• The 2000s (decade) saw a steep increase in the acceptability of literature of all types, inspired by the coming-of-age of millions of people who enjoyed the works of writers such as C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien in their youths.

• Neil Gaiman, for instance, one of the decade's most popular writers of speculative fiction, cites Tolkien, Lewis, and G. K. Chesterton as his three biggest influences growing up. J. K. Rowling admits to being heavily influenced by Lewis as well.

• Philip Pullman's gritty and controversial young adult His Dark Materials trilogy, written and published in the late 1990s, increased in popularity and was more widely read during the 2000s (decade).

• The popularity of Lewis, Tolkien, Pullman, and Rowling was spurred on by movies which proved to be some of the biggest of the 2000s (decade).

The literature into the 21st century• The 2000s (decade) also saw the

popularization of manga, or Japanese comics, among international audiences, particularly in English-speaking nations.

• Many famous books like Harry Potter series were converted into movies. Books on wars, guides for exams, myths, etc. were frequent sellers in this decade.

• Some books were written in simple English and works of old writers were translated into language that was easier to understand. Mythology was converted into graphic novel form to build interest among young readers.

Civil Rights• During the Civil Rights movement, literature

describe the discrepancies between the rights of the majority to those of the minority.

• Amid the harsh repression of slavery, Americans of African descent, and particularly black women, managed--sometimes at their own peril--to preserve the culture of their ancestry and articulate both their struggles and hopes in their own words and images. A growing number of black female artists and writers emerged throughout the Civil War and Reconstruction eras before finally bursting into the mainstream of American culture in the 1920s, with the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance. After playing a significant role in both the civil rights movement and the women's movement of the 1960s, the rich body of creative work produced by black women has found even wider audiences in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Literature - Technology boom• The “death of print” has been much heralded

over the past decade, precipitated by the rising accessibility of devices like tablets and smartphones that have made the electronic medium cheaper and more universal. Book sales, as well as magazine and newspaper subscriptions, have diminished, but our appetite for information has grown larger and more impetuous.

• More “traditional” forms of literature, including novels, plays, and poetry, have been less successful in conforming to new technology. Various forms of “electronic literature,” including hypertext (interactive fiction), animated poetry, and even SMS (text-message) fiction have grown yet still exist within a small niche.

• Therefore, although literature has to change with society, authors are still trying to address immutable human questions in new ways and reconcile them with the ever-changing technology that surrounds us.

USA - A nation of immigrants• Novelists and writers have captured much of the color

and challenge in their immigrant lives through their writings.

• Regarding Irish women in the 19th century, there were numerous novels and short stories by Harvey O'Higgins, Peter McCorry, Bernard O'Reilly and Sarah Orne Jewett that emphasize emancipation from Old World controls, new opportunities and expansiveness of the immigrant experience.

• On the other hand Hladnik studies three popular novels of the late 19th century that warned Slovenes not to immigrate to the dangerous new world of the United States.

• Jewish American writer Anzia Yesierska wrote her novel Bread Givers (1925) to explore such themes as Russian-Jewish immigration in the early 20th century, the tension between Old and New World Yiddish culture, and women's experience of immigration.

• The history of immigration to the United States is the history of the country itself, and the journey from beyond the sea is an element found in American folklore, appearing over and over again in everything from The Godfather to Gangs of New York to "The Song of Myself" to Neil Diamond's "America" to the animated feature An American Tail.

• In recent years the popular culture has paid special attention to Mexican immigration and the 2004 motion picture Spanglish tells of a friendship of a Mexican housemaid (Paz Vega) and her boss played by Adam Sandler.

Cesar Chavez – Mexican/american farm worker

• Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez, March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers union, UFW).

• A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support.

• After his death he became a major historical icon for the Latino community, organized labor, and liberal movement, symbolizing support for workers and for Hispanic power based on grass roots organizing and his slogan "Sí, se puede" (Spanish for "Yes, one can" or, roughly, "Yes, it can be done"). His supporters say his work led to numerous improvements for union laborers. His birthday, March 31, has become “Cesar Chavez Day”, a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas.

Biography of Studs Terkel• Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16,

1912 – October 31, 2008)• Was an American author,

historian, actor, and broadcaster.

• He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for “The Good War”, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.

• In 2004, Terkel received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College.

• In August 2005, Terkel underwent successful open-heart surgery.

• At the age of ninety-three, he was one of the oldest people to undergo this form of surgery and doctors reported his recovery to be remarkable for someone of that advanced age. Terkel smoked two cigars a day until 2004.

• One of his last interviews was for the documentary Soul of a People on Smithsonian Channel. He spoke about his participation in the Works Progress Administration.

• At his last public appearance, in 2007, Terkel said he was "still in touch—but ready to go".

• He gave one of his last interviews on the BBC Hardtalk program on February 4, 2008. He spoke of the imminent election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, and offered him some advice, in October 2008.

Working: Roberto Acuña - Farmworker

Roberto Acuña: Farm Worker (plot)• Book One contains stories by a farmer, a farm worker, a

farm woman, a deep miner and his wife, a strip miner, and a heavy equipment operator. This story can also be located in Springboard English textual power 6. Here is a sample that is not from the student's book:

• "Working in the fields is not in itself a degrading job. It's hard, but if you're given regular hours, better pay, decent housing, unemployment and medical compensation, pension plans--we have a very relaxed way of living. But the growers don't recognize us as persons. That's the worst thing, the way they treat you. Like we have no brains. They have only a wallet in their head. The more you squeeze it, the more they cry out." (Roberto Acuna, farm worker)

• When Roberto was a kid, he would work in the fields picking crops all day long at harvest time. Sometimes he would see his mom crying, but he never understood why. When she went to her evening job at a restaurant she would receive mean remarks from customers.

• White kids would laugh at Roberto when he brought to school a different type of lunch that showed his culture. This started fights at school which ended in 8th grade because that’s when he quit school. He was abused at school because the kids did not understand why he worked in the fields all day.

• When he would work in the fields, he would day dream about becoming rich and people having respect for his mom.

• When he was older, he became a company man because he wanted his mom to be proud of him. He was paid $1.10 an hour which is barely anything.

• This was because he was a minority so he quit his work and joined the Marine Corps. In the Marine Corps he was supposed to whip people in prison camps, but he was not able to harm people. Because of his experiences, he realized that everything is favored towards the wealthy.

• For example, during wars, there were drafts but people who were wealthy were able to get out of it in many ways because of their money. People who did not have enough money were less fortunate. Roberto said, “When growers can have an intricate watering system to irrigate their crops but they can’t have running water inside the houses of workers.” He is upset by how the money is distributed in the farms.

• He thought that the workers were treated less fairly than the animals on the farms. Pesticides were being to become more popular, but they were not healthy for the farmers and the animals. There were many harmful affects when spraying the chemicals. Because of all of these harmful conditions, people were going on strike. It helped Roberto feel a sense of belonging because they were his own people who wanted the same changes in working conditions as he did.

Roberto Acuña: Farm Worker (Opinion)

• This book is prominently about violence, but it also explains how work shows who people are and what attributes they have.

• Many people work because they want to have pride in something they do.

• Other times people really hate their work and want to leave it. People are suited to work at different things, and people work at different speeds and levels.

• Sometimes, people just keep working and lose the purpose and meaning of it. Overall, work gives people a secure place in life because they always know that it is there for them.

Thank You !