The story I read was The Outside Shot by well known author Walter Dean Myers. It
Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, takes a look at a young black male growing up in Miami named Chiron. The movie is split into three different chapters in order to demonstrate the development and maturation process that Chiron undergoes. He faces many struggles throughout his life ranging from issues with his own sexuality to problems he has with his family. Although Chiron had a difficult upbringing, he is comforted by Juan and Teresa who help Chiron realize his true self. Throughout the film Jenkins specifically selects certain music, camera angles, scenery and structure in order to portray the difficulty and hardships faced by Chiron. Moonlight is an extremely relevant movie especially in the world we live in today where homosexuality
In the eleventh paragraph of “Of Our Spiritual Strivings,” W. E. B. Du Bois’s stylistic and content choices contribute to the persuasiveness of the idea that prejudice is negative and harmful through the use of such rhetorical devices as word choice, alliteration, rhetorical questions, personification, an appeal to pathos, and allusion. In the first sentence of the paragraph, Du Bois writes that prejudice inevitably brings the “self-questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals which ever accompan[ies] repression and breed[s] in an atmosphere of contempt and hate.” In using the word “breed” to describe the effects of prejudice, Du Bois makes the reader think of the mindless propagation of a virus or bacteria. This, therefore, helps
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, written by Alex Haley, tells the story of Malcolm Little and his growth and change through life. Although the main purpose of autobiographies is to tell the story of one’s life through the individual’s own perspective, this story seems to have a greater purpose: to express the theme of the transformation and discovery of self-identity through the journey of Malcolm X’s life, as well as the influence and power of society on one’s self-identity. His character is molded and created over again by the changing influences throughout his life, often swayed by the oppression surrounding him. He learns to view the oppression and racism in his world from a different perspective as he matures in the autobiography.
Dissatisfaction with ones present life can lead them to do almost anything. Langston Hughes short story, “Why, You Reckon” captures a naïve main character whom learns the hard way of trusting another personage, solely for the fact that they share a common dilemma. Hughes makes it apparent from the very beginning, that both the narrator and minor character share a common situation. This plays as a detrimental part as to how the short story plays out. Ultimately, Hughes “Why, You Reckon” represents that in the end everyone has their own motive, even if they say otherwise.
The book Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, tells the tale of a young boy named Saul Indian Horse who goes through the struggles of trying to fit in, in a society controlled by white people. Saul tells the story of his life and the challenges he goes through. The change and abuse he receives, and the supports he rarely gets, Saul really showed how he was treated and what it was like to be a First Nations in the 1960s. Just like the book, the movie 42 by Brian Helgeland showed struggles of trying to fit in, in a society controlled by white people. The main character, Jackie Robinson, also showed the changes and abuse he received throughout the movie. He showed how black people were not seen as equals and how people reacted to a black person being in a white person’s territory. Both sources showed the challenge of being different. The challenge of what it’s like to live as a minority. How people can be cruel and condescending just by a person’s race and change is not easy to accept and achieve.
In the novella Anthem by Ayn Rand, there are many quotes that have a very significant meaning in the story, as well as in the real world. Equality lives in a society where everyone does, says, and thinks what they’re told to, having no sense of being their own person. Equality eventually gets tired of all of these rules, spoken and unspoken, and decides to defy his society. Throughout the novel, Equality was able to find who he was and what his purpose was by challenging his society, and it’s rules.
Frederick Douglass’s “What the Black Man Wants” captures the need for change in post Civil War America. The document presses the importance for change, with the mindset of the black man being, ‘if not now then never’. Parallel to this document is the letter of Jourdon Anderson, writing to his old master. Similar to Douglas, Mr. Anderson speaks of the same change and establishes his worth as freed man to his previous slave owner. These writings both teach and remind us about the evils of slavery and the continued need for equality, change, and reform.
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote many letters from jail. All of the letters presented wise thoughts for the people but his letter to clergymen stands out in all of them. He used rhetorical appeal to establish his credibility on the subject of injustice and discrimination through ethos. The letter starts with “My Dear Fellow Clergymen” which indicated him being apart and on the same level as of clergymen. This makes him equal to them and sending across his message becomes easier. By saying that “I am here because I have organizational ties here but more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here”, he assures the reader that he had researched on the topic. After then he talks about his association with Southern Christian Leadership Conference which helps the readers to make up their mind that the author is not an ordinary man and is credible. Then he appeals to pathos by talking about the trials of black men. He then talks about the discrimination of black men by police as well as people. He used powerful words like “vicious mobs” and also employed parallelism by saying “lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim”. He pictures the hard times of black people through these sentences. Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized on sentence structure and lot of imagery which portrays the pain he has for his people. It
The Battle Royal is a chapter from the novel “Invisible man” by Ralph Ellison. The plot is about a young afro-american male who has made a speech and is told he will obtain the opportunity to present his speech in front of a group of wealthy white men. The speech is about the afro-americans place in society and moreover their correlation to the white people. The boy has been praised because of his obedience towards the white population. The speech was going to be presented in the ballroom of a hotel but when the narrator arrives his events of the night takes a very unpleasant turn and he is forced to participate in the Battle Royal. This breathtaking story takes place in the early 20th century. Although the story does not give the reader any exact date it does give an essential clue about what time the story is set, in the beginning the narrator says that the american slaves were freed about eighty-five years ago and since the Emancipation Proclamation was issued around 1860 one could figure out this story takes place in the 1940s. By the way the author quote the white men and by the events that take place in the story one could also assume the story is set somewhere deep into the south of America. The story depicts the conditions for afro-americans in America (post slavery era).
Thesis: In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, Malcolm X in his telling of his life to Alex Haley uncovers the theme of positive and negative environments unearthed by the interaction of African Americans and White Americans in his life and what those kinds of environments inherently produce.
I chose to write my Response Essay on the story "Sonny's Blues" written by James Baldwin. In Sonny's Blues, the storyteller recounts the tale of his association with his sibling, Sonny. Sonny is a performer not able to get away from the ghetto. Disheartened by his sibling's suffering , the storyteller connects with him, yet discovers that Sonny's hurt powers his music. The narrator is a teacher in Harlem that has changed his life and got out of the ghetto where he grew up. He sees African American youths finding the points of confinement put on them by a supremacist society at the exact instant when they are finding their capacities. The narrator talks about his association with his more youthful sibling, Sonny. That relationship has traveled
Fanon and Young’s texts provide excellent accounts that allow schematization to be understood from different perspectives. In The Lived Experience of the Black, Fanon recounts and compares his experience around other “black” people (like himself), and around “white” people. These experiences, according to Fanon, brought about the experience of skin color. In his interaction with other black people, Fanon simply felt as one in the space and therefore, “belonging.” He states that "as long as the Black is with his own,
Everyone is born with independence, but imagine a society where this virtue is ceased. In the novel “Anthem” written by Ayn Rand, she describes a society in which everyone is the exact same. Equality 7-2521 and Liberty 5-3000 are two characters that live under a strict and controlling rule, in which they make decisions for you. As they story goes on, the two characters discover love, freedom, liberty, and independence.
The case study of Nick, paints the picture of a young African-American man whose larger than life personae seems to be in sharp contrast with the realities of his existence. An uncharacteristic moment of genuineness and vulnerability, in which he expressed his feelings of depression and past suicidal thoughts to his doctor, has opened the door for Nick to delve into his mental and emotional issues with a therapist. However, his false bravado and self-created grandiose image, will most likely impede his ability to accept the needed treatment and potentially diminish the likelihood for a positive prognosis. A thorough familiarity with his diagnoses, background, cultural influences, treatment history and motivation to fully engage in the process are needed to develop an effective treatment plan for this young man.