Choose one post. (My favorite? My least favorite? The one that surprises me the most when I reread it?) Analyze it in detail. Explain the "behind-the-scenes" of how it was written, what it truly means, where its inspiration came from, etc.
My favorite blog post from the second semester, is the post where we wrote about what we believed would happen to Esperanza after the story ended in the book The House on Mango Street. I titled this post Esperanza's Future. This was my favorite because I started out believing I would reach a certain conclusion, and it turned out that I came to the complete opposite conclusion. I based that post on a chapter that talked about a new life for Esperanza with new beginnings. I talked about how although she basically had a new life different from that on Mango street, all the things that happened to her on Mango street stayed with her for her whole life. The author hinted that Esperanza ended up writing a book about what had happened to her. This leads me to my original thought that she wrote a book to help all the people that lived on Mango street get out. This seemed pretty obvious to me because Esperanza was always sure to say how much she disliked Mango street. I said in the beginning of my post that “In the whole story Esperanza is being held back because she lives on Mango Street.” This is the first impression most people receive from reading the House on Mango Street. Later on in my writing I began to see that living on Mango street didn’t hold Esperanza back, it pushed her forward. I saw that Living on Mango street shaped the person she became, it didn’t destroy it. I later wrote “Esperanza realizes that living on Mango Street was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to her and her friends. In order to make the world a better place, she brings the one thing she always wanted to leave with her to the people of her future.” I ended up discovering that Esperanza kept what she experienced on Mango Street not only for her own good, but for the good of the people who grew up in near perfect homes on near perfect streets. They are the ones that need help, the people who grow up in poverty are the ones that know how to thrive when going through hard times. Along with this they are the ones that change the world because they see the things that need changing. This wasn’t my favorite post because of what I found out, it was my favorite because of how different my opinion was from when I started the when I finished.
What have I learned from my struggles with writer's block? Why do I tend to get stuck? How do I tend to get unstuck? Notice any patterns?
I had a much bigger problem with writers block this semester then last semester. I had a hard time writing my Vignette. I was used to writing about text not writing the actual text. I attempted to write about some events in my life that symbolized my personality at the time it was written. I travel from scared all the way to confident. To show connections between events I used common symbols in each. I used symbols for fear and failure. These themes were good, I just wasn’t able to integrate them well. Although all the required parts for this type of writing were in the short vignettes, I never seemed to write successfully. I wasn’t used to writing about things that aren’t real. Before I know that I loved writing stories much more then nonfictional things. What happened in my Vignette post, wasn’t necessarily writers block, i never ran out of ideas, I just ran out of ways to explain my ideas. I think that this happened because I felt much less pressure when writing creatively, instead of thinking hard to come up with a good piece of writing, I got lazy and wrote the first thing that came to my mind. this made my writing seem simple and not very well thought through. From this I learned that no mater what you are writing, you have to think for it to turn out good.
Where do I get my ideas for blog post topics? What inspires me to write?
It is hard for me to come up with blog topics, the best posts are actually when we are given a prompt. Although I am generally unsuccessful when coming up with my own topic, there was one post that I am proud of and enjoyed that used a prompt that I came up with. This was my post about gay marriage:
I enjoyed writing about this because I find writing about controversial things and expressing opinions on them fun. In this particular post, I said that legally gay couples should be allowed to marry, but If a church refuses to give the couple a ceremony in their establishment, then the anti gay culture must be respected and the couple not be allowed to marry in that particular church. I later continued to write that the couple can still get married, the ceremony just can’t be hosted by that particular religion. I wrote, “My personal opinion is that they should have the right to be married, but I can see why some people are against it.” I always try to show both sides of a situation or movement when writing. In order to cause change you must appeal to as many people as possible. Another post I enjoyed writing was a post for a debate about terrorism:
I think I enjoy writing about controversial things because my opinion often differs with another large groups opinion. I wrote “I believe that the best first step that can be taken against terrorists is to create an understanding between the United States Government and nonviolent Muslims.” I feel like I know what is write and the other group doesn’t, even though this may not be true, I love the struggle to see which opinion comes out on top. In this case, I took a more progressive stance against the threat towards America that can easily be responded to with violence Probably my favorite . part about English this year was the debates. I see myself as very professional and careful when arguing my opinion. There are still things that I need to work on though, for example, in the last debate, I didn’t site all of my sources so I lost credibility. This year my writing as well as thought process has matured faster then ever before, although I am not perfect, I now have a whole new perspective on my personal ability to grow along side my writing.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Basic Book Review
In A Child Called It, a novel by David Pelzer, the story shows the advantages of overcoming horrible experiences, how loving relationships can drastically change to hate, and finally how people take their anger out on others as well as how Children are able to overcome.
Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? How is the author's life reflected in the book?
In the Novel A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer’s life is not just reflected in the book, it is the book. All the experiences Dave faced as a character really happened to him. I think that this makes readers take the events much more seriously because anyone can write about child abuse, but you can only really tell people what it is like if you have experienced it. I did not know that the tortures made up by Dave's mom were real until I was about halfway done. It changed my whole perspective on the story. Something else that I think is significant about Pelzer’s life is that he was able to recover greatly from his childhood. This is actually one of the things that this book intends to show: how children are able to keep the will to stay alive in times of terror. I don’t know anyone who would be confident enough to say to the world the horrible things their parent or parents made them do. I think the reason that Pelzer is so open is that he knows that no one can be as bad as his mother, she may have had a positive affect on his future, but defiantly not his childhood. Because of his experience, he described the tortures he went through much more vividly. Pelzer writes, “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull.” It is easy to see that Pelzer was able to grow from his experience and use it to show the world what really happens to abused children. Because of what has been done to him, things can’t really get worse, they can only get better. Pelzer is the most optimistic person I have ever heard of, he didn’t have a good attitude, but honestly, if I had his mom, I don’t know it I could grow up with out making a few attempts to end my life. He as able to take these skills of optimism with him to adulthood and use them to become a far better person then either of his parents.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
There are two different relationships between characters that are very significant. The first is the relationship between Dave and his father; the other is Between Dave’s dad and his mother. At first, Dave and his father had a very strong relationship; his father would offer protection with little in return. As time went on his father began to see that he was only being hurt by offering his son love. David’s mother began to gain more and more power over his dad until finally, they weren’t even allowed to talk to each other. His father lost confidence that they could escape together. As a result he began to only do things for himself instead of doing things for the benefit of them both. He would stay longer at work to escape from his wife.
Without his father, Dave didn’t have anything else to live for; his father was the only source of love in Dave’s life. With him gone, Dave had to learn to keep himself occupied; he did this with the struggle to live. His dad eventually left and David truly then had no one, just himself. On a few occasions he had love from his mom, like when she stabbed him and let him play with his brothers. Also when the person came to evaluate the safety of his mom. These relationships did not change for the benefit of David; they changed based on whatever his mother had to do. These ups and downs were one of the things that made David’s life so hard. He would adjust to having a nice mother, putting so much energy into making himself believe that she had changed, only to have her immediately go back to the tortures. This made it so hard because it would seem worse when going from happy to sad then from sad to sad.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the purpose Dave Pelzer had in writing this novel is very clear, he shows how someone’s personality can change drastically and dangerously, and to show how people can overcome adversity. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew were not true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some do not make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? How is the author's life reflected in the book?
In the Novel A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer’s life is not just reflected in the book, it is the book. All the experiences Dave faced as a character really happened to him. I think that this makes readers take the events much more seriously because anyone can write about child abuse, but you can only really tell people what it is like if you have experienced it. I did not know that the tortures made up by Dave's mom were real until I was about halfway done. It changed my whole perspective on the story. Something else that I think is significant about Pelzer’s life is that he was able to recover greatly from his childhood. This is actually one of the things that this book intends to show: how children are able to keep the will to stay alive in times of terror. I don’t know anyone who would be confident enough to say to the world the horrible things their parent or parents made them do. I think the reason that Pelzer is so open is that he knows that no one can be as bad as his mother, she may have had a positive affect on his future, but defiantly not his childhood. Because of his experience, he described the tortures he went through much more vividly. Pelzer writes, “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull.” It is easy to see that Pelzer was able to grow from his experience and use it to show the world what really happens to abused children. Because of what has been done to him, things can’t really get worse, they can only get better. Pelzer is the most optimistic person I have ever heard of, he didn’t have a good attitude, but honestly, if I had his mom, I don’t know it I could grow up with out making a few attempts to end my life. He as able to take these skills of optimism with him to adulthood and use them to become a far better person then either of his parents.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
There are two different relationships between characters that are very significant. The first is the relationship between Dave and his father; the other is Between Dave’s dad and his mother. At first, Dave and his father had a very strong relationship; his father would offer protection with little in return. As time went on his father began to see that he was only being hurt by offering his son love. David’s mother began to gain more and more power over his dad until finally, they weren’t even allowed to talk to each other. His father lost confidence that they could escape together. As a result he began to only do things for himself instead of doing things for the benefit of them both. He would stay longer at work to escape from his wife.
Without his father, Dave didn’t have anything else to live for; his father was the only source of love in Dave’s life. With him gone, Dave had to learn to keep himself occupied; he did this with the struggle to live. His dad eventually left and David truly then had no one, just himself. On a few occasions he had love from his mom, like when she stabbed him and let him play with his brothers. Also when the person came to evaluate the safety of his mom. These relationships did not change for the benefit of David; they changed based on whatever his mother had to do. These ups and downs were one of the things that made David’s life so hard. He would adjust to having a nice mother, putting so much energy into making himself believe that she had changed, only to have her immediately go back to the tortures. This made it so hard because it would seem worse when going from happy to sad then from sad to sad.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the purpose Dave Pelzer had in writing this novel is very clear, he shows how someone’s personality can change drastically and dangerously, and to show how people can overcome adversity. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew were not true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some do not make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Book review comments
Billy:
Something that you can do is identifying things that the author is trying to show, for example you said there is no racism because everyone looks the same after digging a whole. Here you can say that the author is showing that digging holes makes everyone equal, there is no discrimination in their punishment. Also, you can clarify some of the things you said, like where you said everyone likes x ray even though he is short and black, be sure to say why that would cause one of them to not like him
Vinh:
Your book review seems to be more of a summary; the point isn’t to describe what the book is about, but to show what it means, or how it was written. Be sure that you respond to the questions like this and don’t simply say what happened, if we wanted to know what happens, we would read the book. Read over your book review to make sure all the grammar makes sense.
Karisa:
I would like you to not only talk about the girl’s life but also relate this to our lives, talk about how we can learn from this fictional experience. I believe the point is to discourage teens from taking those baby steps that can eventually lead to something as serious as Crystal Meth.
Something that you can do is identifying things that the author is trying to show, for example you said there is no racism because everyone looks the same after digging a whole. Here you can say that the author is showing that digging holes makes everyone equal, there is no discrimination in their punishment. Also, you can clarify some of the things you said, like where you said everyone likes x ray even though he is short and black, be sure to say why that would cause one of them to not like him
Vinh:
Your book review seems to be more of a summary; the point isn’t to describe what the book is about, but to show what it means, or how it was written. Be sure that you respond to the questions like this and don’t simply say what happened, if we wanted to know what happens, we would read the book. Read over your book review to make sure all the grammar makes sense.
Karisa:
I would like you to not only talk about the girl’s life but also relate this to our lives, talk about how we can learn from this fictional experience. I believe the point is to discourage teens from taking those baby steps that can eventually lead to something as serious as Crystal Meth.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Book Review
Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? How is the author's life reflected in the book?
In the Novel A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer’s life is not just reflected in the book, it is the book. All the experiences Dave faced as a character really happened to him. I think that this makes readers take the events much more seriously because anyone can write about child abuse, but you can only really tell people what it is like if you have experienced it. I did not know that the tortures made up by Dave's mom were real until I was about halfway done. It changed my whole perspective on the story. Something else that I think is significant about Pelzer’s life is that he was able to recover greatly from his childhood. This is actually one of the things that this book intends to show: how children are able to keep the will to stay alive in times of terror. I don’t know anyone who would be confident enough to say to the world the horrible things their parent or parents made them do. I think the reason that Pelzer is so open is that he knows that no one can be as bad as his mother, she may have had a positive affect on his future, but defiantly not his childhood. Because of what has been done to him, things can’t really get worse, they can only get better. Pelzer is the most optimistic person I have ever heard of, he didn’t have a good attitude, but honestly, if I had his mom, I don’t know it I could grow up with out making a few attempts to end my life. He as able to take these skills of optimism with him to adulthood and use them to become a far better person then either of his parents.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
There are two different relationships between characters that are very significant. The first is the relationship between Dave and his father; the other is Between Dave’s dad and his mother. At first, Dave and his father had a very strong relationship; his father would offer protection with little in return. As time went on his father began to see that he was only being hurt by offering his son love. David’s mother began to gain more and more power over his dad until finally, they weren’t even allowed to talk to each other. His father lost confidence that they could escape together. As a result he began to only do things for himself instead of doing things for the benefit of them both. He would stay longer at work to escape from his wife.
Without his father, Dave didn’t have anything else to live for; his father was the only source of love in Dave’s life. With him gone, Dave had to learn to keep himself occupied; he did this with the struggle to live. His dad eventually left and David truly then had no one, just himself. On a few occasions he had love from his mom, like when she stabbed him and let him play with his brothers. Also when the person came to evaluate the safety of his mom. These relationships did not change for the benefit of David; they changed based on whatever his mother had to do. These ups and downs were one of the things that made David’s life so hard. He would adjust to having a nice mother, putting so much energy into making himself believe that she had changed, only to have her immediately go back to the tortures. This made it so hard because it would seem worse when going from happy to sad then from sad to sad.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the purpose Dave Pelzer had in writing this novel is very clear, he shows how someone’s personality can change drastically and dangerously, and to show how people can overcome adversity. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew were not true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some do not make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
In the Novel A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer’s life is not just reflected in the book, it is the book. All the experiences Dave faced as a character really happened to him. I think that this makes readers take the events much more seriously because anyone can write about child abuse, but you can only really tell people what it is like if you have experienced it. I did not know that the tortures made up by Dave's mom were real until I was about halfway done. It changed my whole perspective on the story. Something else that I think is significant about Pelzer’s life is that he was able to recover greatly from his childhood. This is actually one of the things that this book intends to show: how children are able to keep the will to stay alive in times of terror. I don’t know anyone who would be confident enough to say to the world the horrible things their parent or parents made them do. I think the reason that Pelzer is so open is that he knows that no one can be as bad as his mother, she may have had a positive affect on his future, but defiantly not his childhood. Because of what has been done to him, things can’t really get worse, they can only get better. Pelzer is the most optimistic person I have ever heard of, he didn’t have a good attitude, but honestly, if I had his mom, I don’t know it I could grow up with out making a few attempts to end my life. He as able to take these skills of optimism with him to adulthood and use them to become a far better person then either of his parents.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
There are two different relationships between characters that are very significant. The first is the relationship between Dave and his father; the other is Between Dave’s dad and his mother. At first, Dave and his father had a very strong relationship; his father would offer protection with little in return. As time went on his father began to see that he was only being hurt by offering his son love. David’s mother began to gain more and more power over his dad until finally, they weren’t even allowed to talk to each other. His father lost confidence that they could escape together. As a result he began to only do things for himself instead of doing things for the benefit of them both. He would stay longer at work to escape from his wife.
Without his father, Dave didn’t have anything else to live for; his father was the only source of love in Dave’s life. With him gone, Dave had to learn to keep himself occupied; he did this with the struggle to live. His dad eventually left and David truly then had no one, just himself. On a few occasions he had love from his mom, like when she stabbed him and let him play with his brothers. Also when the person came to evaluate the safety of his mom. These relationships did not change for the benefit of David; they changed based on whatever his mother had to do. These ups and downs were one of the things that made David’s life so hard. He would adjust to having a nice mother, putting so much energy into making himself believe that she had changed, only to have her immediately go back to the tortures. This made it so hard because it would seem worse when going from happy to sad then from sad to sad.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the purpose Dave Pelzer had in writing this novel is very clear, he shows how someone’s personality can change drastically and dangerously, and to show how people can overcome adversity. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew were not true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some do not make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I will be responding to the same question as last week:
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I stand by what I said earlier, but now I believe I can find out even more expanding off of what a previously wrote. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew weren’t true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some don’t make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I stand by what I said earlier, but now I believe I can find out even more expanding off of what a previously wrote. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew weren’t true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some don’t make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Child Called It Author’s Purpose
When Writing A Child Called It, author Dave Pelzer intended to show child abuse from the eyes of a child to help people better understand why abused children experience problems socially, and just to raise awerness for the huge problem that is very much present in America.
Most of the time when we hear about child abuse, we don’t get much detail on what happened. Many would think that this is because the truth is to graphic, but in my opinion, to really understand how evil something is, you must see it at its worst. Recently in history we learned about Gandhi, something that helped his gain support was the press coverage of brutality from the British Empire against Indians. I believe this is a tactic that Pelzer uses to get support for his cause. Now, a child’s point of view may be very biased when it comes to child abuse, but at the same time, the child is the victim, and it is his view that matters. This is a reason that parents and guardians must be extremely careful because something small can cause a lot of damage on kid. Reading o hearing about Child abuse in the media does not give you an idea of how an event really happened. It may tell you, but a child called it shows you. If we hear, “A ten year old was forced to drink cleaning materials.” Our minds wanting to shelter us will fill in the blanks to make the situation not as bad as it really was. However, if we were to hear “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull,” We would see the event as what it really is. It went from a kid force to eat something that tastes bad, to a near death experience. After reading the first half of A Child Called It, almost everything I had thought previously about Child abuse changed.
When Writing A Child Called It, author Dave Pelzer intended to show child abuse from the eyes of a child to help people better understand why abused children experience problems socially, and just to raise awerness for the huge problem that is very much present in America.
Most of the time when we hear about child abuse, we don’t get much detail on what happened. Many would think that this is because the truth is to graphic, but in my opinion, to really understand how evil something is, you must see it at its worst. Recently in history we learned about Gandhi, something that helped his gain support was the press coverage of brutality from the British Empire against Indians. I believe this is a tactic that Pelzer uses to get support for his cause. Now, a child’s point of view may be very biased when it comes to child abuse, but at the same time, the child is the victim, and it is his view that matters. This is a reason that parents and guardians must be extremely careful because something small can cause a lot of damage on kid. Reading o hearing about Child abuse in the media does not give you an idea of how an event really happened. It may tell you, but a child called it shows you. If we hear, “A ten year old was forced to drink cleaning materials.” Our minds wanting to shelter us will fill in the blanks to make the situation not as bad as it really was. However, if we were to hear “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull,” We would see the event as what it really is. It went from a kid force to eat something that tastes bad, to a near death experience. After reading the first half of A Child Called It, almost everything I had thought previously about Child abuse changed.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Vignette Response
I will respond to Victor Liang’s, Melissa Ma’s, and Billy Lau’s Vignette
As I was reading the very first vignette I noticed that they chose to talk about family first. I believe they did this because your family defines who you are more then anything else. For example, if your parents beat you, you will most likely become a violent person, on the other hand, if your parents are nice to you, you will grow up to be a nice person. This, of course is a very general example, but the point is how a family acts towards a child defines the future of the kid.
An example of being defined by your parents is in Victor’s blog. He writes
“Unlike the old generations of Liangs, my siblings, my cousins, and I all realize our parent's flaws and have learned to behave unlike them. The main reason I am positive and caring towards others is because my father, a lot of times, isn't like that towards me, which I know makes me unhappy and left out in the world.”
This is an example of how you can learn. A lot of people say that you learn more from mistakes then examples. Victor’s generation has learned from the mistakes of his parents. Because of how they were raised, there is a better chance that they will become better adults. Now, of course the older generation isn’t naturally strict, but as a child, they may have seen that kids without rules lead bad lifestyles. When we become parents, there will still be problems with us, and in order to fix that, our kids will learn from our mistakes and become better adults.
This theme of learning from your parent’s mistakes appears again in Melissa’s post. She says
“But she said that if I did live with her, I would see Mickey Mouse everyday. I realize now that Mickey Mouse can't trick me.”
Once again, a child identifies the mistakes of their parents. Because Melissa was misled like this she will become a great adult. Later on in life, if faced with the decision of lying, chances are she will choose to be truthful because she has experience on the other side of the situation. The point of learning is not what happens to you, but what you.
Finally, Billy simply talks about the differences between him and his family members. He tells us that differences shouldn’t be gotten rid of, they should be celebrated. The theme of family shows up in many of the vignettes and is an important symbol of growth.
As I was reading the very first vignette I noticed that they chose to talk about family first. I believe they did this because your family defines who you are more then anything else. For example, if your parents beat you, you will most likely become a violent person, on the other hand, if your parents are nice to you, you will grow up to be a nice person. This, of course is a very general example, but the point is how a family acts towards a child defines the future of the kid.
An example of being defined by your parents is in Victor’s blog. He writes
“Unlike the old generations of Liangs, my siblings, my cousins, and I all realize our parent's flaws and have learned to behave unlike them. The main reason I am positive and caring towards others is because my father, a lot of times, isn't like that towards me, which I know makes me unhappy and left out in the world.”
This is an example of how you can learn. A lot of people say that you learn more from mistakes then examples. Victor’s generation has learned from the mistakes of his parents. Because of how they were raised, there is a better chance that they will become better adults. Now, of course the older generation isn’t naturally strict, but as a child, they may have seen that kids without rules lead bad lifestyles. When we become parents, there will still be problems with us, and in order to fix that, our kids will learn from our mistakes and become better adults.
This theme of learning from your parent’s mistakes appears again in Melissa’s post. She says
“But she said that if I did live with her, I would see Mickey Mouse everyday. I realize now that Mickey Mouse can't trick me.”
Once again, a child identifies the mistakes of their parents. Because Melissa was misled like this she will become a great adult. Later on in life, if faced with the decision of lying, chances are she will choose to be truthful because she has experience on the other side of the situation. The point of learning is not what happens to you, but what you.
Finally, Billy simply talks about the differences between him and his family members. He tells us that differences shouldn’t be gotten rid of, they should be celebrated. The theme of family shows up in many of the vignettes and is an important symbol of growth.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Esperanza's Future
The future for Esperanza is Mango Street. I believe that after she left, she had to express everything that had happened, in order to help those she left behind. She overcame her problems, the things that held her back. On page 103, Esperanza talks about overcoming. “One night a dog cried, and the next day a yellow bird flew in through an open window.” (103) In a previous post, I talked about windows and what they symbolize. I discovered that windows symbolize being held back. In the whole story Esperanza is being held back because she lives on Mango Street. Here she says that she breaks away when she says a yellow bird flew in through an open window. Although Esperanza thinks that mango street held her back, I think it helped her future. She learned more about herself by living on Mango Street than anyone else. Others say Mango Street as who they were. Those people ended up “in alleys” as the book put it. Esperanza allowed Mango Street to define her, but not take her. She used it as a learning experience, and because she learned, she left. Someone who saves the world needs inspiration, if they grow up in a perfect family in a perfect house on a perfect street, they will think the whole world is perfect. Esperanza sees what is wrong with the world.
Now for the question what does Esperanza do in the future? There is a chapter that says a lot about this question. Author Cisneros writes in the voice of Esperanza “Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.” (108) Esperanza later shares her ideas in the world. She says her house is clean as paper before the poem. This house in my opinion is a symbol. The symbol of a house also appears when she talks about her house on Mango Street. Houses, I think symbol growth. The house on Mango Street as been through much more, it has grown more than this new house. It has been shaped by Mango Street, it has inspiration. However this new perfect house hasn’t been shaped, it has a lack of inspiration, anyone growing up in it won’t change the world, they will grow up believing nothing needs to be changed. What Esperanza does in the future is she writes a book about everything that happens to her on Mango Street. She doesn’t write it for the others on Mango Street, she writes it for those who grow up in the houses that are quiet as snow. The ones who don’t see imperfection or problems. She writes to inspire those without inspiration. Esperanza realizes that living on Mango Street was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to her and her friends. In order to make the world a better place, she brings the one thing she always wanted to leave with her to the people of her future.
Now for the question what does Esperanza do in the future? There is a chapter that says a lot about this question. Author Cisneros writes in the voice of Esperanza “Only a house quiet as snow, a space for myself to go, clean as paper before the poem.” (108) Esperanza later shares her ideas in the world. She says her house is clean as paper before the poem. This house in my opinion is a symbol. The symbol of a house also appears when she talks about her house on Mango Street. Houses, I think symbol growth. The house on Mango Street as been through much more, it has grown more than this new house. It has been shaped by Mango Street, it has inspiration. However this new perfect house hasn’t been shaped, it has a lack of inspiration, anyone growing up in it won’t change the world, they will grow up believing nothing needs to be changed. What Esperanza does in the future is she writes a book about everything that happens to her on Mango Street. She doesn’t write it for the others on Mango Street, she writes it for those who grow up in the houses that are quiet as snow. The ones who don’t see imperfection or problems. She writes to inspire those without inspiration. Esperanza realizes that living on Mango Street was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to her and her friends. In order to make the world a better place, she brings the one thing she always wanted to leave with her to the people of her future.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Raising boys and girls
On several different occasions in The House on Mango Street, a novel by Sandra Cisneros, the idea that boys should be raised differently then girls appears. She believes this because of the different forms of adversity each gender faces in the future, and their overall position in society. In my opinion, girls and boys shouldn’t be raised the same because of a combination of these two reasons. I believe that women are viewed as weaker by others, and that causes a whole set of problems that boys will never have to deal with. Boys and girls need to be raised so they are prepared to meet the specific type of problems that their gender faces. For example, men, if not raised properly, will take advantage of women. This can get them into trouble with the law. At the same time society thinks that women are weaker, and because of that, there is more pressure on them making it easier for them to crack. After reading The House on Mango Street, I am sure that author Cisneros believes with me. The idea that men take advantage of women appears strongly in a vignette titled Red Clowns. After being sexually assaulted, main character Esperanza says,
“Sally, make him stop. I couldn’t make them go away. I couldn’t do anything but cry. I don’t remember. It was dark. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. Please don’t make me tell it all.” (100)
This is what Cisneros believes will happen if boys are not raised like they should be. She thinks that they will do what ever they want if not given guidelines. This is true on some occasions, but I think Cisneros might be coming of as slightly extreme. She seems to be giving readers the idea that almost all boys are like this, when in fact it is very few. She is saying that if unpunished for anything, a boy will become a monster. My opinion differs. I think that something must be grounded into a child’s mind to make them like this. People are not naturally abusive, but at a young age, their minds are in the hands of everything they see.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Overcoming Fear
Hungry Hungry Hippos
I looked at the hungry hippo standing on the water, it looked back at me. It wanted to eat me, my eighteen month mind knew that much. I was afraid, truly. As my parents urged me to go stand next to it and I cried in resistance. In the end they had managed to get me to stand on top of the crystal clear water right next to the animal. Next they said to me “Climb into the hippo’s mouth.” Were my parents crazy, I knew in the back of my mind that if I did, nothing would happen, but the fear overpowered my common scenes. Of course my cousin (who was with us by the way) climbed right into the mouth like it was something he did every day. I clearly wasn’t the brave one. I was an unstable little child. That did not change for a long long time.
Rainbows and Unicorns and Six Year Olds
The first five or six years of my life I hid. I hid from the other six year olds who were mean and wanted to hurt me. Instead of surrounding myself with those abusive children, I surrounded myself with girly things like rainbows and unicorns. Eventually I realized that what I wanted wasn’t to feel comfortable in the presence of stupid toys, it was to have real friends, so in the middle of my kindergarten year, I changed. I purposely changed almost everything that was
wrong with me. Instead of playing with unicorns, I played with action figures, instead of liking rainbows, I liked cool things like guns and war. Although I had changed, those six year olds never did. We were the same, but they didn’t treat me like it. We swam in the same crystal clear water, but I was at the other end of the pool, the shallow end. I was afraid of them, they didn’t see me as the same, they saw me as what I started out as. In my mind, I was them, in theirs, I played with unicorns.
Mischievous Cats
I loved those stories. About the cats. We all did. It was what I remember when I think about second grade. Almost every day we would anticipate a new story. They seemed so exciting at the time, but now e the rants of an easily distracted teacher. Even though I know they aren’t as amazing as they seemed, I would still go back to relive the innocence that allowed me to enjoy the unenjoyable. The cats seemed to be so perfect as they stayed away from things they didn’t like, even the clear water waiting to bath them. That was what I shared with everyone, it was what was so good about being children. Now it is different, I have no time for the cats.
Blow Silently
Seventh grade was the low point of my life. I had forced myself into situations that I couldn’t handle. I was terrified of one of my teachers. It was band that was so bad. I was a seventh grader in a whole class of eighth graders. There was enough pressure already. On top of that, the teacher was in-comforting. He would literally have temper tantrums and throw instruments against the wall. I, as a trumpet player had to empty the water build up in my instrument that after a few songs would appear. To do this I had to open a little valve and blow through the instrument. When the teacher grew angry, I still had to use this same process. When he heard someone emptying the water, he would scream at them, so I had to blow out of my trumpet as quietly as possible. I slowly would allow the clear water to leave the instrument, the water of the trumpet mixing with the sweat dripping from my for head. I wanted nothing more then for the period to end. When it did, I just went home scared not relieved.
Water and Fire
Water doesn’t always put out fire. Sometimes the opposite happens. I had stayed in the shallow end for to long. It was time to end everything wrong with me, all the mistakes I had made in my child hood. It was fear that kept me in the shallow end, nothing else. It was all in my head. What I did was simple. I had to get rid of what I was scared of. So I burned the water. The fire easily drained the pool. I saw the deep end, now it was all mine. I started walking towards it. It was so close. This is what I had wanted my whole life. One more step until I would be like everyone else. Instead of making that last step, I tripped. I was stuck on the declining slop between the two ends. It was good enough, I wouldn't fight for a different place any more.
The Hippo’s Mouth
I was moving on to High school. Because I decided to somehow be more then everyone else, I attended ASTI instead of a regular school. I was more ready for this then anything else in my life. I was so tired of trying to blend in and be unsuccessful, it was time to do something that would set me apart. I was to good for any other system. I remember that first morning. I woke up had a glass of water, and got ready to leave. On the way i was scared of course so I tried to think of other things like fire. When I arrived I remember walking up that slope at the entrance of College of Alameda. I didn’t trip. I got to the campus, said hello to a few old friends and met some new ones. When my phone told me it was time for class to start, I put my back pack on, climbed up the stairs, and walked directly into the hippo’s mouth.
I looked at the hungry hippo standing on the water, it looked back at me. It wanted to eat me, my eighteen month mind knew that much. I was afraid, truly. As my parents urged me to go stand next to it and I cried in resistance. In the end they had managed to get me to stand on top of the crystal clear water right next to the animal. Next they said to me “Climb into the hippo’s mouth.” Were my parents crazy, I knew in the back of my mind that if I did, nothing would happen, but the fear overpowered my common scenes. Of course my cousin (who was with us by the way) climbed right into the mouth like it was something he did every day. I clearly wasn’t the brave one. I was an unstable little child. That did not change for a long long time.
Rainbows and Unicorns and Six Year Olds
The first five or six years of my life I hid. I hid from the other six year olds who were mean and wanted to hurt me. Instead of surrounding myself with those abusive children, I surrounded myself with girly things like rainbows and unicorns. Eventually I realized that what I wanted wasn’t to feel comfortable in the presence of stupid toys, it was to have real friends, so in the middle of my kindergarten year, I changed. I purposely changed almost everything that was
wrong with me. Instead of playing with unicorns, I played with action figures, instead of liking rainbows, I liked cool things like guns and war. Although I had changed, those six year olds never did. We were the same, but they didn’t treat me like it. We swam in the same crystal clear water, but I was at the other end of the pool, the shallow end. I was afraid of them, they didn’t see me as the same, they saw me as what I started out as. In my mind, I was them, in theirs, I played with unicorns.
Mischievous Cats
I loved those stories. About the cats. We all did. It was what I remember when I think about second grade. Almost every day we would anticipate a new story. They seemed so exciting at the time, but now e the rants of an easily distracted teacher. Even though I know they aren’t as amazing as they seemed, I would still go back to relive the innocence that allowed me to enjoy the unenjoyable. The cats seemed to be so perfect as they stayed away from things they didn’t like, even the clear water waiting to bath them. That was what I shared with everyone, it was what was so good about being children. Now it is different, I have no time for the cats.
Blow Silently
Seventh grade was the low point of my life. I had forced myself into situations that I couldn’t handle. I was terrified of one of my teachers. It was band that was so bad. I was a seventh grader in a whole class of eighth graders. There was enough pressure already. On top of that, the teacher was in-comforting. He would literally have temper tantrums and throw instruments against the wall. I, as a trumpet player had to empty the water build up in my instrument that after a few songs would appear. To do this I had to open a little valve and blow through the instrument. When the teacher grew angry, I still had to use this same process. When he heard someone emptying the water, he would scream at them, so I had to blow out of my trumpet as quietly as possible. I slowly would allow the clear water to leave the instrument, the water of the trumpet mixing with the sweat dripping from my for head. I wanted nothing more then for the period to end. When it did, I just went home scared not relieved.
Water and Fire
Water doesn’t always put out fire. Sometimes the opposite happens. I had stayed in the shallow end for to long. It was time to end everything wrong with me, all the mistakes I had made in my child hood. It was fear that kept me in the shallow end, nothing else. It was all in my head. What I did was simple. I had to get rid of what I was scared of. So I burned the water. The fire easily drained the pool. I saw the deep end, now it was all mine. I started walking towards it. It was so close. This is what I had wanted my whole life. One more step until I would be like everyone else. Instead of making that last step, I tripped. I was stuck on the declining slop between the two ends. It was good enough, I wouldn't fight for a different place any more.
The Hippo’s Mouth
I was moving on to High school. Because I decided to somehow be more then everyone else, I attended ASTI instead of a regular school. I was more ready for this then anything else in my life. I was so tired of trying to blend in and be unsuccessful, it was time to do something that would set me apart. I was to good for any other system. I remember that first morning. I woke up had a glass of water, and got ready to leave. On the way i was scared of course so I tried to think of other things like fire. When I arrived I remember walking up that slope at the entrance of College of Alameda. I didn’t trip. I got to the campus, said hello to a few old friends and met some new ones. When my phone told me it was time for class to start, I put my back pack on, climbed up the stairs, and walked directly into the hippo’s mouth.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
RED
In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza is forced to be in many situations that she doesn’t want to be in because of other people’s decisions, not her own. This is symbolized by the color red. The first time readers can see this symbol is right away on page four. Esperanza says when talking about her house “It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath.” The symbol red is in this quote because her house is red. She of course doesn’t like her house. It doesn’t fit her personality or her dreams and because of this it holds her back. It wasn’t as if it was her decision to move there, it was her parents, it is because of them that she doesn’t have the house that she wants. This symbol is shown again. “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor.” (9) This is a very obvious example of the meaning of the symbol red. The balloon is of course red and it wants to fly away and be free, but it is held back by a rope tied to an anchor. Just like Esperanza is “tied” to her house. So far these are very similar to the symbol of windows. Windows symbolized being forced into a life you don’t want. The difference between these two symbols is displayed of page 99 when Esperanza is forcibly kissed (possibly more). This happens at a carnival by a picture of a red clown. It is almost an untimely leap in maturity that she was not at all prepared for. This is also like the symbol of shoes, which represented sexuality and growing up, but the difference is that the shoes represented what is normal for everyone. It isn’t uncommon to witness someone get hit on by a bum, or be asked to dance, or to have a friend let someone take advantage of them, but it is uncommon for someone to take advantage of you against your will. Going back to what I said earlier, there is a difference between red and windows and that difference is that windows hold you back from a dream, while red holds you back from reality and what your life could and should actually be like.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Windows
In The House on Mango Street, Many symbols are used to show large concepts of life. We already know shoes symbolize growing up and leaving childhood behind, but there is another large symbol is the book. That symbol is windows. Windows symbolize discrimination and being held back because of who you are, not what you have done. The first example of this is on page 11. Main character Esperanza writes “Until my great grandfather threw a sack over her head and carried her off. Just like that, as if she were a fancy chandelier.” Directly after this quote, windows are mentioned. Judging by this writing, the theme of gender discrimination can be observed. Obviously some of the men Esperanza knows have no respect for females at all and choose to be with them for only their needs. Already I predict that the whole book is about how children can be influenced when growing up. I believe that exposure to inequality defiantly can influence how someone can turn out as an adult by causing them to fear others, in this case men. Gender inequality isn’t the only thing windows symbolize, they also appear when talking about being held back because of where someone comes from, this is very close to racial discrimination. Esperanza says “…I believe she doesn’t come out because she is afraid to speak English, and maybe this is so since she only knows eight English words.”(77) Unlike he last example, this displays someone holding themselves back. Even though it may seem not as bad it still has the same effect on someone’s life and future. This woman came from Mexico, and now she feels she doesn’t fit in in America, not even with other Mexicans including her husband. She has the option to go out and socialize, but chooses to stay inside and eat. Discrimination appears once again; in this case, a woman is forced to stay inside because her husband is scared another man will take her if she leaves.
“And then Rafael, who is still young but getting old from leaning out the window so much, gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid Rafael will run away because she is too beautiful to look at.”(79)
This is another example of how a person can be held back because of things they can’t control. The recurring theme of discrimination coincides with the theme of windows.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The Color Purple Compare and Contrast
In The Color Purple, a novel by author/poet Alice Walker, Walker describes how two characters, Celie, and Nettie, react to adversity. Throughout the lives of both Celie and Nettie, they both face the same problems, but in different forms and they have different methods of handling them. Some, Celie is able to solve and Nettie can’t, and others Nettie can solve and Celie can’t.
Religion is a huge part of Celie’s life. Through out her life Celie faces many problems, and religion is how she responds to them. Religion is her escape, it is what allows her to get through her life and stay hopeful. Religion is the answer to all of her problems, like relationships, race, and the loss of her sister Nettie. Her belief in God is slightly more spiritual then religious though. Shug tells Celie, “God ain’t a he or a she, but a It.” (195). She believes that God is in everyone and everything. To her, the spirit isn’t simply a man in the sky, and he doesn’t think that having fun is a sin. She thinks that anything a person enjoys is something God does. This idea is displayed the most when Shug told her that God gets angry when someone doesn’t notice the color purple. That says that he/she puts beautiful things in the world so people can enjoy them, not to test people with temptation. The way Celie worships is much different from other people. She doesn’t worship to find God, instead she worships to feel God inside of her. This is shown in the text when she says that she smokes when talking to God. This says that she tries to bring god out of her so she can share it with everyone. Religion is defiantly a way Celie is unique.
Another thing that sets Celie apart is the impact of gender inequality on their lives. In most of her life, she faces problems with her husband. Her experience with gender inequality is very common for America; here problems don’t go very far beyond domestic violence. Celie in the end is able to summon up the courage to overcome adversity. This is partly because of her relationship with God. In Celie’s opinion, God wants her to be happy. Mr. Didn’t want celie to be happy, because of this Celie felt that leaving Mr. was what God wanted her to do. With Celie, she was the one discriminated against, she didn’t witness it. Because of this, she was completely in control of how she reacted to her mistreatment. Another problem Celie faces is racial inequality. She witnesses Sofia’s life destroyed by the mayor’s wife. She lives in a southern state where races are heavily segregated. Also she is never able to overcome race, because she isn’t able to interact with white people. Her view on white people is very limited; the only white person she really knows is the mayor’s wife. Sofia says to Celie “They backward, she say. Clumsy, and unlucky.” (102). The mayor’s wife forced Celie to stereotype. The reason she can’t overcome race is because it isn’t up to her. Unlike gender inequality when it was her choice to leave Mr.
Nettie is very different from Celie. Religion is a huge part of Nettie’s life it is responsible for many of the main things in it happening. The way Nettie uses religion is different from how Celie did. Nettie uses religion to help other people. She went to Africa, not only to spread the idea of God, but also to give the kids in Africa a quality education. Nettie’s takes on a very different belief on what God is then Celie. Nettie doesn’t think that God is everything, she believes he is one central force. Nettie worships God by simply believing in him. He has faith and she feels that that is enough.
Nettie, like Celie faces gender inequality. In the life of the Africans, the separation between males and females is very large. Males in the society of the Africans are supposed to live out a very different life then the females. Nettie writes to Celie “So I am an object of pity and contempt…” (161). Nettie is never able to overcome gender discrimination. This is because it is part of the society of the Africans just like racial inequality was a part of American society. Unlike Celie, Nettie is never discriminated against for being a female; she witnesses others being discriminated against because of gender. Nettie faces a lot of racial inequality in Africa. The height of it is when the Europeans destroy the village in order to make a road and rubber plantations. She and the villagers were discriminated against because both of their property was destroyed. Nettie had a much higher exposure to other races then Celie; she witnessed both good white people and bad. The bad of course were the ones making the road, but she also met a British woman who was against the destruction of African Culture. Because of this she believes that personality has nothing to do with race. Nettie is able to overcome racial inequality because of this.
Celie and Nettie live parallel life styles with many of the same problems; however, they both attempt to overcome their hardships in completely different ways. As a result, they have very different outcomes. Celie has a very spiritual faith, while Nettie believes God exists in the form of a single person. Mr. discriminates against Celie because she is a woman. At the same time, Nettie witnesses females in Africa being forced into lives based on motherhood and house work. Celie is never able to overcome racial inequality because she lives in a very segregated area. On the other hand, Nettie can because she is exposed to many different ethnicities and good and bad people from both. Alice Walker tells readers never to let others take advantage of you, to view everyone as equal, and finally to understand that even in the loneliest of times, there is always someone or something there for you.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Color Purple In Class Response
Celie’s letters tell us that she is the kind of person who will put the needs of others before herself. She writes,
“I ast him to take me instead of Nettie while our new mammy sick. But he just ast me what I’m talking bout. I tell him I can fix myself up for him.”
Celie really loves her family, and feels like she already lost innocence when she was raped. Because of this, she wants to save her sister from being taken advantage of by giving up her marriage for them. She always talks about how Nettie is so much better then her self, but I think that Celie is a better person because she would do something for Nettie in a heartbeat that Nettie wouldn’t do for Celie in a lifetime. I don’t believe that Celie is jealous of Nettie for being prettier and smarter. I think she accepts these things. If she were Jealous, she wouldn’t be doing the things for Nettie that she does.
Celie’s views on relationships are very different from most peoples. Celie writes to God:
“He beat me today cause he say I winked at a boy in church. I may have got
something in my eye but I didn’t wink.”
This quote shows the negative way that Celie was raised. Because she was beat for this, she is basically being trained to fear men. Also because she was raped, she thinks that a relationship is all physical and not about love and other emotions. She doesn’t want Nettie to be raised like she was, so she attempts to shelter her as much as possible.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Terrorism Solution Opening Statement
I believe that the best first step that can be taken against terrorism is to create an understanding between the United States Government and nonviolent Muslims. Here in America we are finding it difficult to avoid the constant threat of terrorism, and some of us won’t even consider attempting to accept the presence of Islam in America. I believe that acceptance will lead to peace.
Here is a quote from the united states institute of peace that symbolizes Americas vision on what is happening in the Middle East:
Here is a quote from the united states institute of peace that symbolizes Americas vision on what is happening in the Middle East:
This quote says that the reason we are still there is that their government needs our support. I believe that this is true. But we also have to know that us being there is another reason that they hate us. My solution is to offer the victims of these wars an easy way to get out of their violent countries. We can build shelters for refugees outside of their borders. We can reform U.S. immigration laws, but what we can’t do is change those countries government and philosophy. We attempted to do end communism in Korea, and failed. We attempted to do the same, in Vietnam, and failed. We for a while have been trying to change the Chinese treatment of its workforce, but they are not showing any major signs of changing. Based on simple reasoning, I doubt that shooting at terrorist groups will cause them to become less violent. And even if we want to shoot at them, we should never put the innocent people at risk.
Another problem is that many Americans are just as stubborn as the radical Muslims. Some of us believe that democracy must be forced upon everyone, especially our enemies. This will not solve anything. We should now know that we will not change a government with violence. I believe that we can save the innocent with peace, and then simply let them be. Or we can evacuate their countries then bomb their government and Military structures. I’m sure that we all remember the Mosque that peaceful Muslims tried to place in the general vicinity of ground zero as a peace offering (Ground Zero Mosque). Americans made many enemies when they denied the building of the harmless structure. Until we can accept something like this, we will not improve relations with the nonviolent Muslims, which as I said before, is the very first step towards eliminating terrorism.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Response post
I am doing a response to Ebone’s college debate post. She writes:
“This opinion is true, but considering the fact that most minority students can't afford elite institutions, it would be very hard to go to Harvard, Yale, etc. without being on a scholarship or ending up with a lifetime debt in loans. It's easier said than done and the reason elite schools don't have many minority students is not because they turn down admission, it's because most of them can't afford it!”
I agree with Ebone in this post. Minority students are still finding it difficult to get a quality education. She says that they find it hard to get into elite colleges because they are unable to compete with their fellow applicants because of lack of money. I think money is a major reason that they have a hard time, but I think that the lack of money can be traced back to stereotypes put against minorities back when it was socially acceptable to thin like that. Now, most of the stereotypes are either gone, or not expressed openly, yet they still have that lack of money that holds them back from a quality education. It seems we have found a way to solve that by handing out scholarships. I don’t think that this is the way to go. Handing out money based on race will not solve anything. Scholarships should be given to anyone with the highest academic talent regardless of their race. Working for the extra money is what will create a stronger, richer minority population. Cooperate America employs many minorities just to make themselves look better. We have to stop doing this. Instead of throwing money at those that are less fortunate hoping that it will somehow make them smarter, and using minorities to improve a companies image, we need to reform education and business so that everyone starts out with an equal chance of getting into the college of their dreams and achieve the life that they deserve. Until we realize that giving money to people will only make them think that they don’t have to work very hard in life, money and jobs will simply come to them, we will not be able to get to perfect equality.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Same sex marriage
I would like to do my free post this week on gay marriage. My personal opinion is that they should have the right to be married, but I can see why some people are against it. I think that it should be possible for a gay couple to become legally married, but if a religion is against homosexuality, they should be allowed to deny the couple a religious ceremony under their church. The couple is allowed to have a religious wedding ceremony; the church they use has to allow it though. I don’t see how this would be a problem though because I have a strong feeling that a homosexual couple wouldn’t want to be married by an anti gay church. Also even if they can’t be married by that church, they can choose another one. The reason that I think people don’t think that same sex marriage should be allowed is that it started out as a religious based process. They may feel that the government is interfering in there religion by allowing. This is why a church should be able to deny the use of their own recourses to merry a couple that they do not approve of. I think it is a compromise that has to be made in order to gain ground in the fight for equality in marriage.
I think that the religions who have these beliefs should change, but that will not happen any time soon because changing someone’s religious beliefs is like destroying their faith in the god they believe in. I think that people have to put aside their social beliefs when voting on a law like this. Their decision should be based only on the constitution. The constitution clearly gives everyone equal rights in marriage, I don’t think that congress or the United States criticizes should be able to vote to basically destroy everything that the bill of rights stand for. Hopefully soon in the future everyone will understand the importance of this movement. Something important to remember is that back in the civil rights movement, the people who are loved by society today are the radicals. When voting, try to think how your grand children will think of your position on the problems that we have today, that will be famous American history in their time.
I think that the religions who have these beliefs should change, but that will not happen any time soon because changing someone’s religious beliefs is like destroying their faith in the god they believe in. I think that people have to put aside their social beliefs when voting on a law like this. Their decision should be based only on the constitution. The constitution clearly gives everyone equal rights in marriage, I don’t think that congress or the United States criticizes should be able to vote to basically destroy everything that the bill of rights stand for. Hopefully soon in the future everyone will understand the importance of this movement. Something important to remember is that back in the civil rights movement, the people who are loved by society today are the radicals. When voting, try to think how your grand children will think of your position on the problems that we have today, that will be famous American history in their time.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Debate responses, college
"It turns out that the best community colleges do a better job than the average elite research university at teaching freshman and sophomores. That means that even if you're not among the chosen few, you can still get a great college education -- if you know where to look." (Most persuasive)
I believe that the most persuasive argument about what it means for a college to be good is Kevin Cary’s titled “Skip the Admission Games.” He says that elite colleges are only available to those who have the grades and especially the money. He claims that if you are in this part of the population, then you should try to get into the most famous college as possible, because employers assume that the people who attend the famous colleges are smarter then others. I think that this is true, not that they are “smarter”, but that is how employers see it. They must think that there is some reason that they are better known. Something else he says is that good community colleges can be just as good as elite universities; they just aren’t recognized for it. I think that if you are going to school to get a lot of money in the future, then you should try to get into the most famous college as possible. However, if you are simply in it to learn, you should do some research and find the college that is great for your learning goals, because chances are you will get just as much out of the experience. While Cary makes a great argument, I disagree with the message that Anthony P. Carnevale sends in is argument titled “Access to Money and Power”. He says that going to an elite college gives you a better chance to graduate. This is not a good fact to use because I believe that the school can’t make a student drop out, the student is the one responsible. He also says that going to an elite college will allow you to get higher pay after graduation. I believe that the only reason that this happens is because the smarter people go to the elite colleges, if one of the smarter people were to attend a small university, there is a large chance that they would make just as much money as they would have going to an elite one. In my opinion, it is not the college that determines he quality of a student’s education, it is the student.
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