"And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" by Tomas Rivera is a poignant and powerful coming-of-age story set in the rural Texas landscape of the 1950s. The novel follows the life of the protagonist, Pedro, as he navigates the challenges and complexities of growing up as a Chicano in a predominantly white, poverty-stricken community.
One of the central themes of the novel is the struggle for identity and belonging. As a Chicano, Pedro is constantly struggling to find his place in a world that often ignores or belittles his cultural heritage. He is torn between his love for his family and community, and the desire to escape the cycle of poverty and discrimination that surrounds him.
Another important theme is the power of storytelling and oral tradition. Throughout the novel, Pedro is inspired and guided by the stories and legends of his ancestors, which provide him with a sense of connection to his past and a sense of hope for the future. The stories also serve as a means of preserving and passing down the cultural traditions and values of the Chicano community.
The theme of family and community is also central to the novel. Pedro's family and community are his support system and source of strength, even as they struggle with their own challenges and conflicts. The bonds of family and community provide Pedro with a sense of belonging and purpose, and help him to find the resilience and determination to overcome the obstacles he faces.
Finally, the theme of perseverance is prominent throughout the novel. Pedro faces numerous challenges and setbacks as he grows up, including poverty, discrimination, and family conflict. However, he refuses to let these obstacles defeat him, and instead uses them as opportunities to learn and grow. Pedro's perseverance ultimately helps him to overcome the difficulties he faces and find his own path in life.
In conclusion, "And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" is a rich and nuanced exploration of themes of identity, storytelling, family, community, and perseverance. Through the struggles and triumphs of Pedro, the novel speaks to the universal experiences of growing up and finding one's place in the world.
Glanzer and Cunitz (1966) Flashcards
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Graph showing the U-shaped serial-position curve, created by the serial-position effect. Presenting long lists of information places significant strain on limited attentional resources and restricted memory systems, especially short-term memory, where only three or four items or chunks of information can be maintained at one time. A number of different variables can be used to influence the shape of the serial position effect curve. This contradicts dual-store models, which assume that recency depends on the size of STS, and the rule governing the displacement of items in the STS. In this way, the experimenter was able to see that participants would repeat earlier items more than items in the middle of the list, thus rehearsing them more frequently and having a better recall of the prime items than the middle items later on.
Glanzer And Cunitz 1966 Serial Position Effect Summary
Delaying recall by 30 seconds prevented the recency effect. Therefore, when distracter tasks are employed during recall tests, the recency effect disappears, supporting the theory that improved recall is due to recent items being sustained in a temporary memory system, such as working memory. References Glanzer, Murray, and Anita R. Participants were required to memorize a list of words and then complete a free-recall task Condition 1: Participants were asked to complete a free-recall task immediately after reading a list of 20 one-syllable nouns Condition 2: Participants were given a filler task counting backwards from a number for 30 seconds between reading the list and completing the free-recall task The words at the beginning of a list get rehearsed the most and are thus encoded into the LTM, which remains unaffected by a filler task. For example, one may be given 'Steve is smart, diligent, critical, impulsive, and jealous. Murdock 1962 Procedure Murdock asked participants to learn a list of words that varied in length from 10 to 40 words and free recall them.
Glanzer And Cunitz 1966 Serial Position Effect Summary How To Manipulate The By understanding how to manipulate the order of information and minimize the serial position effect, you can reduce strain on your users memory load and limit the distraction that exists between presentation and recall of information. When a listener is given a word list of about a dozen or more words and is asked to recall them, they will tend to remember the first and last words better than the middle words; thus the position of the words in the list determines how well the human mind is able to recall them. In this model, end-of-list items are thought to be more distinct, and hence more easily retrieved. Researchers found that the subjects evaluated Steve more positively when given the first sentence, compared with the second one. The authors showed that importance attached to the value of the first reward on subsequent behaviour, a phenomenon they denoted as. In some experiments in the late 20th century it was noted that participants who knew that they were going to be tested on a list presented to them would rehearse items: as items were presented, the participants would repeat those items to themselves and as new items were presented, the participants would continue to rehearse previous items along with the newer items.