HL Language & Literature Written Task 2 1. How and why is a social group represented in a particular way? In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, the natives of Africa – the Blacks – were represented in such a way that they seemed to have close to little or no value compared to the Whites. The constant use of animal imagery in the novel is both a comparison and a symbol that has been used in order to dehumanize any character that was not White. As such, it can be said that the novel seeks to represent the Blacks of Africa as lowlife beings, prehistoric barbarians and savage creatures that have no rights to say anything for themselves.
He would notice, however, that the book did include an actual slave owner's quote, but would mostly likely dislike the heading used. Additionally, Loewen would notice that racism is not mentioned, nor is the process and specifics of slavery. By not mentioning racism, this textbook makes slavery seem like a thing of the past and nothing to worry about, but it does have lasting effects that this book ignores. Although it was not in the excerpt I photographed, Loewen would also note that the book did not address any presidents having racist tendencies and remarks. Loewen would say that by not addressing racism and white-washing the abolitionist movement, that students would be ignorant to the effects of slavery and racism today.
Europeans colonization caused many Africans to be against imperialist European Nations. The Europeans believed it was their divine right to rule the Africans
The racism that was so normalized among Conrad and his peers has since placed his novel under attack by Chinua Achebe, who claimed that “Art is not intended to put people down. If so, the art would ultimately discredit itself” and that if it pulled out and dehumanized such a large portion of the human race, it could truly not be considered a work of art (Phillips). Yet, the racism embedded in the novel played a much larger part than merely being racism. Both Conrad and Marlow are clearly racist, but Conrad knows that the superiority held by the Europeans was wrong, and he uses Marlow to view that and to show that there is a possibility for it to change. He knows that although he could see no alternative, it was possible just as he saw with Imperialism.
The poem “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds is about a very delicate subject. It is about discrimination and devices such as imagery, symbolism, and first person point of view give the reader that immersion they need to capture the main point of the story. The first device that is used to display this racism in the poem is Imagery. The author tries to make this the most obvious device by basically making the whole poem a big description of the other person on the subway. She uses the imagery to make the other character look bad for example, “I look at his raw face.” Raw face is meant to represent a face in which there is no filter or safeguard.
This idea shines through postcolonial and multicultural literature, in these short stories, poems and essays: Stephen Bonnycastle's In Search For Authority, The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, Black Man's Burden, White Man's Burden, and Caesar and Cleopatra one can specifically envision the oppression felt by the colonized, the hatred felt for the colonizers, and surprisingly, even the sympathy felt for the colonizers. Many, if not all people who a colonized feel oppressed in some way, shape or form. Most often they feel oppressed when their own culture is pushed aside and a new and, in most cases very different, culture is pushed upon them. This is an extremely prominent them throughout postcolonial and multicultural literature. In the second chapter of The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, an autobiography, the reader can easily notice
Without the setting, the theme would probably still make sense, but because the South was one of the most racist places in North America, it makes the theme of the novel presented with more strength. The novel provided great insight to the pains of living in the South. The theme of ‘racial prejudices were impactful on the lives of people’ is true because Jefferson died because of racism, and the people of colour were taught that they were not as worthy as whites, which impacted the way they lived their lives. One can understand that if this book was set somewhere else, the racial prejudices would have still been present, but would probably not cause someone to die due to bias in the justice system. In conclusion, the setting in “A Lesson Before Dying” was very impactful on the theme because the problems that they characters faced were best represented in the South, since it was one of the most racist places in the
The novel explores the damage that colonization does to white colonizers such as the character of Kurtz. The novel also raises the issue and impact of slavery on the natives. People are exploited so that the colonizers can build their riches. This is a predominant theme of colonization on a continent such as Africa, where individuals are vulnerable to the manipulation of the colonizers.
In these short stories/poems, I am going to share different views and literary analysis on racism. Starting with “White Best Friend” The theme for this essay is racism. The narrator of the poem is a young 14 year old Japanese girl; who has a best friend that is American. It took place in the era of WWII; when the Japanese went and bombed Pearl Harbor. Stating that the Narrator is confused because her white best friend said “that she
In today’s society people want a women to have an extraordinary appearance. Marge Piercy's’ story Barbie Doll portrays the theme of how a person never feels fully perfect because of the views of society. Even though this poem was written back in 1936, we still have the same perception of how an ideal man or woman should look. In today's time, Social media is the main reason why people have these views. Girls are supposed to look a certain way to be considered attractive.