Past from the eyes of the Present

      What is something everyone has heard through some media. The same rhetoric of racism no longer existing, while using underlying concerning phrases. I mean there is the famous 'I have a black friend' or the 'I don't see color'. This fits the 'color blindness' theme. The thing - and I've spoken about this before- is that racism still exists. Raisin in the Sun is very clear in the implicit way racial minority groups are discriminated against. The main defense people have is historical context, and that isn't exactly a good scale because if you want to live in a world where racism isn't a concern because you aren't enslaving people, that world can't have technology: you can't have both, you must have one or the other.  If you want the facilities of today you need to base your index on today. Racism today is institutional - housing, wealth- naturalized - it is the way it is naturally- and those are some things we have to combat. The...

       'Raisin in the Sun ' is a good play. I mean I feel like everyone who has read the book would agree that Hansberry did a decent (read great) job in portraying the cyclical desperation regarding economic standing of the African- American community. Since Hansberry herself went through some of the problems the Youngers went through, it was pretty expected that the play would be realistic.       We see the cyclical poverty the Youngers go through with institutional racism backing it up. I mean the people in Clybourne were all 'racist? us? Gosh never' but they take advantage of their wealth to try prevent the Younger from getting into a house that they would own. Now pride is a huge part of the play and it is that sense of pride that stopped Walter from doing what he was going to do- beg for the money- but what about the other families. What about the families who had to sacrifice their pride in order to allow their children to attain some semblanc...

      "  I don't see color"       "Racism isn't as bad as it was"        These are so m e of the most common things people (most commonly white people) say when the topic of racism is brought up. Now I am sure these people don't mean to be, kinda you know,  racist, so I'm gonna do them a favor and break down these statements and show how they are actually no bueno.       (p.s I'm using google translate, forgive me if translations are horrible)         цифра one: Everyone sees color. I feel like people have started to get the misconception that noticing that a person is from a minority is equivalent to discriminating against them. That's wrong, all you're really doing is undermining the trials that the entire culture has gone through. What you're essentially is saying that " hey guess what the only way you will get treated equally is if someone is blind and therefore, is unable to margina...

      Gatsby is a stalker.       WHATTTTTT Saumyaa how could you say that????       Well hey I'm just saying it as I see it. Let's look at the facts all compounded together, but said in a different manner.       When Jay Gatsby was a private in the army he met Daisy Fey and thus begins his journey. When he found out Daisy had 'left' him and married Tom Buchanan he blamed his background and then got into organized crime to amass wealth. He somehow knows where Daisy is living and builds/buys a mansion right across the river from her. Every night he stares at the green light at the dock of her house and throws extravagant parties in aims of getting her attention. He somehow finds out that his neighbour is Daisy's neighbour and then starts using his in hopes of finally, just finally meeting Daisy. After their grand affair Gatsby still can't believe that Daisy ever loved someone else, and the final scene with the two, he is sta...

Is it just me or are all the men in Great Gatsby a little not right in the head? See you can summarise all the girls with one statement: want money, but the guys, ohhh they are so much. (I am sorry the girls also have a lot of characteristics that can be talked about but I wanted to focus on the guys) Let's start with Gatsby. I mean imagine you had a boyfriend, five years ago, he goes to war and in his absence you marry a different guy. Fast forward to the present and all of a sudden your ex-boyfriend buys a house right across the river from yours, and starts throwing lavish parties with illegal substances (alcohol) just to meet you. and when all this fails he tries to befriend your second cousin once removed (how did he even know that they were related?) to convince you to unknowingly meet him. This is not counting the ways he achieved his wealth, which also was just to impress you. I don't know something would stop me from trusting that dude. The next Tom Do we even n...

      Guitar is a very dramatic character, I mean just look at any of his quotes. He always take his own feeling and translates them as though everyone feels the same, and if they don't they are against him, and transitively everyone of his community. From the moment Milkman disagreed with his choice of joining the Seven Days it was as though he had started doubting Milkman, doubting the loyalty Milkman had towards him. He leaves cryptic messages in their conversations, which made it rather clear that he was going to try and kill his own friend. Guitar views being wealthy as having power, but not the general view of power, but the power to ignore the discrimination. He indirectly says this with him constantly pointing out Milkman's wealth. Now the thing is why? Why does he view wealth as something so important, that he is willing to kill someone for having it? His father. His fathers death was tried to be equivivated to a piece of candy- something materialistic. He feels...

What is it that Guitar truly wants to accomplish? He starts at the beginning of the novel as a racially aware character, someone aware of the racial prejudice against black people, but as the plot continued Guitar went from being aware to militant. He decided to take matters in his own hand- and while this isn't necessarily bad- he went about it the wrong way. In this time period there were many groups of racial equality seekers who were able to accomplish their goals without purposely killing others. Guitar states that his aggressive behavior is a result of his love for his community, however he contradicts himself which debunks his fallacy.       Let's be frank, Guitar's claim that he joined a ridiculous militant group, and kills people who have done nothing is a result of his love for black people is, in kind words, not true. When he first presented the idea of killing people to maintain a sort of 'balance' admit it everyone thought there was...

Racism is an unfortunate constant in our society, and in my opinion texts and accounts detailing this do not appropriately highlight the mental and psychological impact on minority groups. Toni Morrison shows inpacts of internal racism through her minority characters in 'Song of Solomon'. What causes internal racism? What drives people to hate their very own being? Well quite frankly it is the environment in which they live. When someone lives in a place where they are constantly ridiculed, discriminated against and have opportunities taken away from them, people may face significant drops in self-confidence. Minorities loath the color of their skin because they believe that to be the cause of missed opportunities; instead of realising that it is in fact society. This re-directing of blame is seen in the scene with Emmet Till in the novel, when everyone apart from Guitar blamed Emmet for his own death. They took the case, in which someone was brutalized and killed, and they e...

            This week in class we mostly talked about the various advantages and disadvantages associated with images and various opinions trying to answer the question of using images to convey ideas.There were a lot of opinions, but on the spectrum most of them were in favor of using them. The one who disagreed conflicted me, because I could see where they were coming from, but due to my experiences with images being used as a method of persuasion, I just wasn't convinced. Playing, Devil's advocate, how would a world where picture cannot be used as a medium to spread information.              In a world where pictures aren't easy to spread information will become easily manipulated. In this world with images it is still relatively easy to recognize false images, and correct it. With words, it is more of a hearsay, politicians are very apt in lying, white lies or lies hidden in truth. Photographs are the face of scandal...

       One of the major recurring themes in the graphic novel, is the concept of inability to understand the circumstances without actually living through them. This is specially shown with various kinds of barriers between Art and Vladek. However, the unfathomable reality transcended from just Nazi brutality and concentration camps, but to also determinants of survival.       Before we start how many of people know how to perfectly stitch a shoe? Maybe one or two. On page 60 of volume Two we see a graphic of Valdek talking about how he knew the best way to stitch a shoe. This is very interesting because if someone were to say that they are incredibly proficient in stitching shoes, one would ask about their socioeconomic status, because let's be honest, why would you know how to perfectly repair shoes, but in the climate they were in, where factories and every white-collar work was virtually snatched from the Jews, knowing how to sew was a very impor...

The word 'mature' unknowingly dictates huge portions of our lives, so what exactly qualifies as mature? One of the decade long arguments of mature or not, is related to picture books. Can picture books truly be mature? Can something we enjoyed as children be considered mature, or if we twist it a bit, can something we learned the most basic things from be considered mature? Yeah well we talked about that in class and after soe nt really conflicting ideas we came to consensus that yes, if adults read picture book they wouldn't all of a sudden be considered less mature. So why and how did this divide originate? Well what happened was that children enjoyed picture books more than Shakespeare, and we all know Shakespeare is very mature, only adults can understand the importance of it, understand the hidden truths of 'Much Ado About Nothing', so anything children find boring is mature, and anything they enjoy is immature. Well the thing is, that li...

           For a body created and elected by 'the people', the people sure do have a lot of complaints against the government. If you believe in that argument, you are kinda off mark. That is a rather idealistic view of it, because despite the veil of equality there are various barriers between the majority- people who have always had the right to vote- and the minority- those who have not. Despite the fact that we are in the 21st century there are still instances of voter suppression, and would you believe me if I say that this suppression is mainly towards minority groups.             I mean if you are so sure you are going to lose if you don't implement unjust laws, you probably shouldn't run for office, but hey that is just me. Implement laws that make it harder for minorities- who have to realise that their own skin, gender, sexuality is a hindrance and then spend time trying to overcome that obstacle- is just...

    Sometimes, people are tempted to think that they are the center of the universe. The freedom associated with caring and being concerned about others is a foreign concept for some, even though it may not be complete. For some of you, it may just be that you read David Wallace's 'This Is Water' and now want to not think of yourself, well I'm here to help you with that. The rest of the essay is just going to be one interesting rant about my daily day and you guys are going to read it, for some reason.    Well, to start I get the daily student requirement of sleep- 4 hours, and it makes sense because when given the choice between a good, healthy, regular amount of sleep and stressing yourself out studying for 900 tests and another 500 pages of homework, any sane person would choose the latter. It's just common sense. Anyway, I'm getting off track, so after I wake up, which by the way I use very loosely because I could fall asleep on any flat surface in an hour...

The deafening noise rang across the garden. The memorial had a grand aura around it, making it seem untouchable. Looking at it with the carefully thought out shapes and colors, the hidden meaning within every inch of it's being re-assured the mourners while reminding others of the horrors of war. The names of the people lost to war along with the images of battlefields made the hearts of countless people heavier. Memorials have a way of helping people connect with circumstances that they wouldn't be able to understand had they not been there themselves. Memorials help 'close one of the most important gaps separating the experience of soldiers and civilians'(Allyson Booth).  The designers for memorials make sure to include aspects from the war, mimicking the geography of the region, using phrases that were common on the front lines, using symbols to celebrate the soldiers and locations that help serve as a reminder for the future generations, but also taking into...