Fireweed Case Study Essay

IntroductionFireweed is a short falsehood indite by Skye Brannon about a special twenty-four hours in Balutas life. Baluta is an uneducated carpenter in U.S.A, and lives with his brother Jato and the brothers married woman Sama. Baluta has had a rough background, he was witness to his father and babys death, and had to flee to America, from Libya from war and hate.Main ThemeThere ar several themes in the story, such as, culture difference, racism and poverty, but all these, are sub-themes. The overall of import theme of this short story must be to cherish the present, and quest nothing for granted. The particular that Baluta saw his dad getting killed and his sister sacked and killed, is a view into an absurd world of violence and hate, described without many an(prenominal) feelings. He saw his father, swinging from a tree, on a set1, and He saw little Alonsos ten-year old body, limp, naked in the sun, be passed from whiz soldier to another, his pants mingling with the dust.2 This is a proceeds of course that he will never discipline anything for granted, because he has intimate that he will never know when its going to stop. A more positive sign on the main them, of this short story, is that he is actually having a better life now, in America. And he wint take that for granted even though, there are a lot of other nation with much better conditions, interchangeable Tiffany.The trend the story is structuredFireweed is written with a third individual arrangeer who is omniscient. All the actions are seen from Balutas point of view. Cold interchangeable Kpatawee Falls back home, Baluta thought. Yes, today would be a remembering day scallywag 9, line 9. In this quote its clear that the narrator is omniscient since he knows what Baluta thinks. The story is told in the past tense, except for the quotes which are in present.The short story is simple to read, because of the uncomplicated language that is being used. It also makes it easier to read when nearthing in the text that catches your attention, like the dialogs between the devil brothers, Baluta and Jato, because they speak with an African accent. Dese Americans, Jato said, if you tell dem your mandika name, dey look loke youve given dem a block out.3The story also contains a few flashbacks which might get a bit confusing. It is not possible to figure out the story beforehand the end, because a lot of important details are revealed that you wont be able to guess. It keeps the authors attention, and helps out to keep the story exciting and interesting.A Characterization of Baluta/JoelBaluta/Joel is a person that doesnt look to conflicts or controversies with other people which you can see on page 9, line 17 Baluta felt awful for this, but he had to cultivate to get a car, and needed a car to get to direct and again at page 10 when Tiffany asks Baluta to smash down some dirt which in the theory isnt his job, but he scarce says Sure, miss because he is a n ice person. Could you please smash down that pile of dirt? Another example of Baluta trying to fit into the reinvigorated society that he is in, is shown by him changing his name from Baluta to Joel, just so he wont be a victim of racism.The fact that Baluta fled from Liberia to a country where he has all these opportunities, that U.S.A provides, makes him not take anything for granted, and I think that Skye Brannon took Tiffany into the story on purpose because she is the exact opposite of Baluta, a rich, white, lady. This has got to be fixed. She looked at Baluta for confirmation. Baluta nodded, but saw nothing wrong. The cabinet was of pretty-pretty hardwood.4 This quote helps to characterize both Baluta and Tiffany.The SettingThe story is built up around three environments the first one is in America, where Baluta lives with his brother and the sister in law. They live very poorly, with cold water in the waste and a car in bad condition, which they dont have enough money to f ix. When he was several numbers away, he took his plunk off the gas. He hoped he could glide to a stop in front of the correct house, otherwise, the Swiss Chevy would let out a loud squeal when he hit the brake.5 This quote shows that they have to take a lot of alternative methods in use, to make it through the day, like saving money on the car.The next environment is even poorer, we gain vigor about his life in Libya. When they would get back to their hut, a hearty in the shanty-town quilt shadowed by a mountain, Alonso would always tell Grandma Awa that Baluta had caught some fish.6 Even though Baluta lives in the lower stinting class in the U.S, its still far better than what he would have obtained in Libya.The last environment is at Tiffanys house, where Baluta has a job to do. She is a rich woman with a monolithic house, big lawn, and apparently also big signs of prejudices against African people. When he got out of the car, he noticed a frightened look on her face and that she clutched a phone in her hand.7In this quote it is easy to see that, because she belongs to the upper-class, she feels that poorer people might only be here to steal. This is important because it proves the point of one of the storys theme, racism.