Amy Chen's ePortfolio

In the prologue to “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the author addresses the theme of feeling invisible. The author, I believe is Black which is why he feels he is invisible sometimes. He depicts himself as someone who “turned” invisible because people around him refuse to recognize him as a person that’s “… of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids…” (312). One night, he bumped into a guy and beat him up for it. The next day he finds out the guy was on the news for being “mugged”. He chooses to live underground. It’s “a hole in the ground”, and refers to himself as a bear that hibernates. Although he calls himself the invisible man, he likes to live in the light because it reminds him he is still alive.

The short story, “The Money” addresses the theme of revenge. The author introduces us to the Dominican culture in his days where they would send back pocket money every few months or so to their grandparents. The author and his family were new immigrants, but were settling into the robberies that everyone has experienced. They were never really well off, and everyone took the robbery pretty hard. The author later finds out that his friends were the ones that robbed their family. He then sneaks into their house and takes back what was rightfully theirs.

1. Opener: “Life asked death; “Why do people love me but hate you?” Death responded; “Because you are a beautiful lie and I am a painful truth.”
2. Thesis with 2 subtopics: Dealing with a close death was very challenging; it caused me much pain, along with finding a way to cope with it, and I came to realize how even people in my own family were great hypocrites.
3. Subtopic Paragraphs: 3 Subtopic paragraphs
4. Topic sentences for each paragraph: “Dealing with the death of someone so close to me really cause me to in great pain.” “Of course I couldn’t go on acting like that, so I had to find ways to deal with her being gone.” “The worst part of my Grandmother’s death was seeing how people in my family could be so hypocritical.”
5. Transitional words & phrases: “In conclusion.”
6. General Edits
7. Conclusion: “Love leaves a memory that nobody can steal.”

The poem, “Lenox Avenue: Midnight” by Langston Hughes addresses the everyday life at Lenox Avenue. There is jazz, love, and pain. With the jazz there is rhythm, with the love there are broken hearts, and with pain there are wishes not granted. The people of Lenox Avenue wish for rain, but not only are their wishes not granted, they are ignored by the Gods. They are looked down upon and being laughed at for their love for jazz and their wishes waiting to come true.