From Bengali Roots to American Classrooms: Navigating the Language Divide
Throughout my life, I have experienced many challenges, from moving to adjusting to the new environment. As generic as it may sound, the language barrier is easily the biggest challenge and hurdle of my life. Growing up in a family with parents that only spoke Bengali could be viewed very similarly to a double-edged sword. It made the transition from Bengali, at home, to English, at school tremendously hard. Up until seventh grade, I had great difficulties with English because all I knew was Bengali. Even though it had been almost five years of being in America during 7th grade, I was still struggling to speak English. Everything still felt new to me, especially “speaking in front of the whole class.” It was almost the end of seventh grade, and one of the projects for English was delivering a speech about a personal narrative of yourself. I was never the outspoken person or even the person that would talk at least once or twice in class. I was the person who would listen and do whatever I was supposed to without getting myself into talking in class. This assignment was a major part of the grade, and if uncompleted, I wouldn’t be able to move on to eighth grade.
Struggles in Life: Facing the Fear of Judgment and Finding Courage
Due to my anxiety and frustration about speaking in front of the class, I was reluctant to even start the assignment. The thought of being mocked by my classmates for my accent pushed me back in not doing the assignment at all. I was afraid that no one would be able to understand me and later on tease me about how I couldn’t speak English properly. However, I realized that if I didn’t finish the task, I would get left back; life and the struggles I had faced in my family and outside people would open their eyes and see that my language barrier should not be a factor in their judgemental views of me. This thought filled me with courage, but as soon as the day arrived, I became aware of how wrong my opinion was. While going up to give my speech, I heard murmurs and voices in the room, and I knew it was about me. I heard things like, “That girl whom I can’t even understand properly, what she has to offer us?”. The voices, so rough and impertinent, made me want to just escape and run.
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Perseverance Through Silence: Discovering Strength in Adversity and Embracing Growth
I stopped myself, forcibly ignored those voices, and went up even with my insecurities telling me not to. To this day, I still remember the facial expression on my classmate’s faces. I had finished the speech, and I asked if anyone had any questions, and half of the class gazed at me with that facial expression; I knew what that meant. They didn’t understand what I had said. At that moment, I had all these emotions fill my head, but I was mad at myself that I still couldn’t speak English properly. When I got back my grade for the speech, I was surprised at how even my teacher gave me a low score for speaking. I was mad that everyone else was able to speak, and I couldn’t. This experience gave me a new taste of life. Some people were reluctant to give a chance to the “newcomers.” I never knew that I would one day face this situation in my life where I would be criticized for not knowing English. I saw a different view of the world. However, through this struggle, I was able to see that not everyone was the same. I learned what a “friend” is, and through communication with them, my English got better each day. But most importantly, I have also gained self-confidence. I learned that nothing is impossible; I know that now.
Embracing the Journey: Rising Above Insecurities and Relishing Life’s Challenges
Now, I welcome the challenge. Whether I succeed or fail is irrelevant; it is only important that I have tried and tested myself. Even with my insecurities getting the best of me, I pushed myself to talk in front of the whole class. Although I am still a quiet girl, this experience made me comprehend that it is necessary to risk failure in order to gain success. I know I can figure out a way to break the language barrier and still have fun. I enjoyed the challenge of learning English and have discovered this quality within myself in many other situations; I don’t enjoy the easy way out, and I challenge myself every day, whether I’m writing an essay or learning new concepts. If there is a new language barrier in the future, I will always build myself a ladder and hop on over it.
References
- Language, Identity, and Migration: Voices of Transnational Speakers and Students by Patel, R. & Nguyen, L.
- Bilingual Lives, Bilingual Experience: Stories from the U.S. by Mendoza, E. & Ortiz, S.
- The Emotional Weight of Accents in Multilingual Societies by Thompson, A.
- Facing Forward: Immigrant Youth and Their Educational Journey in America by Gomez, L.
- Speaking Across Borders: The Challenges and Triumphs of ESL Students by Johnson, M.
- Voices Silenced: Navigating Societal Perceptions as a Non-Native Speaker by Kim, H.
- Resilience in Language Learning: Personal Narratives of Second Language Learners by Fernandez, C.
- Language Barriers in Education and Beyond: Challenges and Solutions by Li, W. & Moore, D.
- The Power of Voice: Overcoming Linguistic Hurdles in America by Sanchez, R.
- Classroom Dynamics: The Experience of English Language Learners by Martinez, J. & Lee, S.
Two Adjectives To Describe Poe’s Literary Works: Dark And Haunting
From Melancholy to Mastery: Words to Describe Edgar Allan Poe’s Emotional Landscape
Edgar Allan Poe indulged in thoughts of sadness and depression. These feelings matured, but the thoughts did not stunt his growth and creativity. Poe went on to write many poems which, include “The Raven.” His feelings created the groundwork for many successful and distinctive bodies of literature. The themes in “The Raven” include death, curiosity, and loneliness; these themes relate to this life to the death of his wife Leanor, Curiosity of where the people who die go, and the loneliness of being left behind when someone is no longer there in life.
Death is a big concept in Poe’s poem “The Raven,” as it is clear he has just lost someone whom he cared deeply about. “Other friends have flown before- on the morrow, and he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.” When he says other friends have flown before, the assumption made is that the character in this poem has lost friends and family and has given up hope to live or love or even get to know people because they all end up dying. Poe shows his themes of depression and death through his writing about the loss of Leanor, who can be assumed to be his lover who has passed on. I believe that Poe based this on his life and experience of the death of his parents, his foster parents, and his wife. He has dealt with quite a lot, especially if the reader puts themselves in the poet’s shoes. By saying, “He will leave me, as my hopes have flown before,” the assumption made here is that he is so tired and sad that everyone he knew and loved is gone. What is the point of life after everyone who made it worth living is gone? Poe uses his sadness and depression to create a dreary mood and tone, causing the reader to question their sanity and cause themselves to feel or at least imagine what Poe or his characters must have gone through.
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Probing the Abyss: Poe’s Curiosity about the Beyond in ‘The Raven’
Curiosity can be an argued theme in Poe’s “The Raven”; with death comes questions such as; Where do you go? What happens after death? How do you move on after death? Is there really a good or bad place? In “The Raven,” Poe writes, “This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core; This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp–light gloated o’er, But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp–light gloated o’er” I believe that Poe had questions to ask the bird who he believed was sent by death, I believe that Poe didn’t ask these questions because if the outcome of the answer turned out to be gruesome and tragic what would be the correct response? Poe seemed to embrace death and the mystery behind it, causing his readers to question what happens to death afterward. I believe that dealing with all the death in Poe’s life created the basis for these questions that he had asked himself, and he is now trying to get his readers to ask these questions and decide if they would want to know the answers for themselves or not.
Solitude’s Symphony: Poe’s Intimate Dance with Loneliness and Legacy
Loneliness is a human feeling that Poe uses in his poetry to portray feelings that he was feeling in his real life. I can only imagine the pain and loneliness that Poe felt through losing family members and people whom she trusted and loved and cared deeply about. The feeling of abandonment, emptiness, and sadness, Poe writes, “leave my loneliness unbroken! Quit thy form from off my door! Take thy beak from out of my heart and take thy form from off my door” Poe writes this with a tone of sadness and desperation. The bird seems to be a symbol of death and the mystery behind it. The loneliness created by death and loss is a major reason for sadness and depression throughout life. If someone dies, an initial reaction to that loss is sadness and sorrow. Poe shows how lonely he has become through the bird and how he wants the bird to stay, but he wants the bird to leave because it is taunting his trust, and it is soon enough going to leave and be gone forever, causing the loop of loneliness to appear again.
Poe is a great poet who knows how to show the emotion of sadness in his writing; he knows how to captivate an audience and draw readers in from the first sentence. His life was full of death and sadness, which created a way of writing that made Poe famous. A question that goes on in my head after reading his poems and about his life is, Would Poe be famous if he didn’t write melancholy themes and sad poems?
References
- Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Raven.” The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. Vintage Books, 1975.
- Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.
- Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-Ending Remembrance. Harper Perennial, 1991.
