Many Rivers to Cross is a speech that June Jordan makes at a conference known as ‘women and work.' In it is part of her autobiography which she gives to show how many rivers she has to cross in her life. She starts the essay with her mother's suicide at a time when she was struggling financially to support both herself and her son. Her father is an irresponsible man who does not assist her financially and is also absent emotionally. She goes ahead to reflect on how this suicide affected her, her father and those close to them. The essay in written form is aimed at showing the struggles of women during that time and how they took initiative to rise and become the society's pillar.
June Jordan applies voice of a woman in the essay to show emotion, struggle, hatred, anger and hope.
She starts the essay by a powerful statement to open the mind of the reader in the entire essay and show that she had ‘many rivers to cross.' She starts by ‘when my mother killed herself, I was looking for a job' which may make the reader think that the essay is entirely about childhood drama. However, she alters the voices of her characters to bring out the social situation at that time. As the author, she addresses her father and other women in a manner to show the role of women in the society. Jordan achieves the use of voice effectively because the reader actually feels like someone is talking directly to them throughout the essay. The essay is also conversational which helps achieve the role of the characters.
[...] She goes ahead to narrate about how her childish questions managed to make the man smile and take tears from his voice. She changes her narration from her own voice to that of the old man to express his feelings towards the society. This is just but an example of how Hooks exhibits excellent writing skills to give one of the best memoirs in writing. References Gates, Henry Rachel D. Goodman, Phil Bertelsen, Leslie A. Gladsjo, Sabin Streeter, and Paul Brill. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross 2014. [...]
[...] Walker uses voice effectively in the first part of her essay to show how these women either caused or suffered agitation, pain or hope in their respective societies. Among them is Winson Hydson who tells her story on how she caused agitation not only to those around her but for all residents of her county. Walker plays the role of the listener and the communicator in the essays. She uses her great writing skills to tell these women's stories directly to the reader in an interesting way. [...]
[...] Walker uses her own voice and the voice of other African Americans that she meets during her civil rights campaign. Like Jordan, Walker focuses on all African Americans with greater emphasis on women. She also uses conversational writing. Walker communicates not only her views but also the views of those she meets directly to the reader with effective use of voice in both cases to achieve this. Hooks, Bell. “Bone Black: memories of girlhood” This is a memoir that Bell Hooks presents of her ideas and perceptions as he grows up. [...]
[...] She appreciates her roles in the society and struggles her way to success. Hooks sheds light on the fact that the society is all about joy for men where women remain silent. She gives instances about how she faces hardships in school as a black woman and also problems at home where the men do not respect their daughters and wives. She also narrates how black children are pushed and prodded with the aim of making them forget the injustices done to them and appreciate the way of the white people. [...]
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