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Adrian Huerta
ENG 1500-15
Professor Lago
February 11, 2014
A New Technological World
Children from Generation Z grew up differently than people born into Generation X and
Y. Although both Generation X and Y were exposed to technology, it was Generation Z that
grew up constantly surrounded by the latest gadgets. Before the internet was available, people
found activities to distract them when they had free time. These activities included playing
games with friends, watching movies, or reading books. Each activity was an experience that the
child could recall later on in life when necessary. An example would be that these experiences
could be recalled when trying to analyze literature. Literature has always been a form of
communication that authors used to get their point across. However, some authors used literary
devices to disguise their meanings to appeal to those readers with similar interests. The reader
would have to recall first-hand experiences or books that they read previously to try to
understand the authors meaning. Unfortunately, Generation Z exposure the digital age has
steered them away from prior practices, and has turned them into lazy humans since all questions
could be answered on Google with a click away.
Since I grew up in Generation Y, I was able to easily decipher the poem Where Children
Live by Naomi Shihab Nye. As a kid I was never surrounded my multiple technological gadgets
and instead spent most of my childhood outside playing with friends. When the narrator stated
the heart never goes outside to find something to do, I knew exactly what she meant. Most kids
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born in Generation Z always complain that they are bored so they are constantly on the internet.
The reason why they are bored is because they lack the imagination that came from socializing
with friends at the park. Every day in the summer, my friends and I would play soccer and other
games that involved teamwork. If we went through every game known to man, we would simply
create a new game with whatever resources were available. This also correlates with the last lines
in the poem when the narrator states Even when the children are at school, the yards glow with
the leftovers of their affection, the roots of the tiniest grasses curl toward one another like secret
smiles (Plath). Each activity that we would come up with was an exciting adventure that would
be talked about endlessly among my friends. Each adventure would be an experience that could
be used to help analyze literature.
As a young child, I was always exposed to information regarding World War II because
my friends and I would constantly play war games. In school I would remember eagerly reading
about World War II in my history book in class. This information made it easy to decipher the
poem Daddy written by Sylvia Plath in the 1960s (Plath) The poem goes in depth about a
female woman who is speaking to her father, whom she is trying to eliminate from her memory.
Her father was a German officer during World War II (Plath). The narrator goes on to explain
her mixed emotions on how her neighbors were excited that her daddy had passed away. The
author used many different literary devices to enhance and give a vivid image of what the
character was experiencing when she learned who her father really was. In the first stanza, the
narrator used a simile to get her point across when she states, In which I have lived like a foot
for thirty years, poor and white, barely daring to breathe or Achoo.(Plath). I was able to
decipher the meaning because I know first-hand that the foot is the lightest part of the human
body. The foot is hidden under shoes and socks which is always worn to keep out of sight like
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her family pride. From my extensive knowledge of World War II, I know that German Nazis
mistreated Jews through torture. These tortures included extended hours of labor with little food
to eat, and majority of them were executed in gas chambers. This can give insight on why she
hated her father for committing the crimes he did when he was alive.
Unfortunately, not all poems and lines are easily deciphered. Some authors tend to use
allusions to help get their point across. Allusions are the reference to something famous such as
Plath used in her poem Daddy multiple times. In stanza seven, the narrator states A Jew to
Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen, (Plath), which are all well-known Jewish concentration camps that
were established during World War II. At first I did not know two out of the three German
words. However, recalling the famous Auschwitz camp from my history textbook helped me
decipher that the other two must also be concentration camps.
Some allusions, however, cannot be deciphered just by reading context clues. In the
thirteenth stanza, the daughter described the model she created of her father by stating A man in
black with a Meinkampf look. (Plath). Unless a person was well informed on World War II or
on Hitler, the average person would never be able to understand what Meinkampf means in the
poem. However, through the accessibility of the search engine Google, I was able to understand
what the author meant when she chose that allusion to explain her description of her father. After
researching on Google, I learned that Meinkampf was an autobiography written by Adolf
Hitler on his beliefs (Meinkampf). By understanding what this word meant, I was able to grasp
the idea of how she viewed her father. We can now understand that the daughter in the poem
compared her fathers model to Hitler, thus indicating that her father must have shared similar
characteristics. That can also explain why many of her neighbors were thrilled when her father
had passed away.
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Through the use of Google maps, I was able to understand another allusion. In stanza
eight, the narrator stated The Snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna are not very pure or
true. (Plath). When I first read this stanza, I was completely lost. I did not know if it was an
allusion to something, or a metaphor because I have never been exposed to these German words.
By utilizing Google maps, I was able to search what the author meant by the beer and the snow.
When I clicked on images, I saw a picture of the two towns to better visualize how both cities
surrounded Germany. When the narrator describes how things are not true, she is really saying
that there is more to what seems normal. I came to the conclusion that she referred these
impurities to the concealed realities of the mass killing of Jews that occurred within the German
concentration camps without German citizens ever being aware of what was occurring.
Utilizing search engines makes analyzing literature easier but it can still be done without
it. The reason why children from the digital age would find it difficult is because they lack the
personal experiences that both Generation X and Y had. Children from Generation Z are not
picking up books to read, playing games with friends, or taking up hobbies. These are one of the
flaws that come with Generation Z relying solely on the internet for all aspects of their lives.
Being able to access almost any kind of information in seconds has caused people to become
lazy and impatient. All these clich scenarios regarding children would be erased through time as
the internet would take over childrens childhoods. With so much information that the internet
can display, majority of kids leave their toys to become hooked on technology. The adventurous
days that came with being a kid are now slowly declining. This can be proven in Naomis poem
when she states Grown ups like swings, leafy plants, slow-motion back and forth.(Nye). The
plant in this stanza can be referenced to a pendulum swing in which both move naturally back
and forth. This can also be referenced to the lives that children in newer generations are expected
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to live with the result of being raised in the digital age. No longer will they enjoy roaming
around outside with their friends on summer days. Instead Generation Z will spend their summer
days home, chatting and playing games on the internet with their best friends. Their lives will be
like a pendulum swing, consisting of the same rhythm, or pattern, time after time after time.



















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Works Cited
"Mein Kampf." Wikipedia. 02 Aug. 2014. Wikimedia Foundation. 08 Feb. 2014
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf>.
Nye, Naomi. ":: Adventures in Daily Living :: : Friday Poetry Where Children Live by Naomi
Shihab Nye." :: Adventures in Daily Living :: : Friday Poetry Where Children Live by
Naomi Shihab Nye. 10 Feb. 2014
<http://adventuresindailyliving.blogspot.com/2009/01/friday-poetry-where-children-live-
by.html>.
Plath, Sylvia. "Daddy." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. 09 Feb. 2014
<http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15291>.