Sharon olds in the passage “on the subway” is trying to write the similarities and differences between the way people are with a Caucasian and an African American. Sharon attempts this by using literary techniques like imagery, simile, and tone. Imagery is used to see the differences between a white women and a black boy, the the first part of the passage. The narrator is the white woman and the black boy is the observer; the the shoes that he is wearing are black with “white laces on them”.
After reading “Dothead” by Amit Majmudar I considered looking at the year in which the poem was written and right underneath the poem it marked 2011. Looking at the year I thought about the speaker's point of view, based off his writing it seemed to me as if he were going back in time and reviving his past memories. I pictured the scenario to be in a upper class school, that filled the cafeteria “Jesse sucked his chocolate milk,”(Majmudar 20) with pale faces and some seats with other skin colors. Just by picturing the scenario I became to imagine what that could do to a person who is different from everybody else. Majmudar poem gives us a glance of his past experience of being an indian in an all american white school.
Sharon Olds poem, On the Subway, brings up the topic of race and the views of both different cultures. She presents an abundance of discriptive terms displaying a story in your head. Olds explains these different views of how other individuals see people who are white or black. She sets the tone of judgement of the two different races. Beginning the poem with the discriptions of what the boy wears showed the contrast of herseld as well who was wearing a more poshe attire.
The book Perfect Peace by Daniel Black covers a variety of stereotypes and issues that plague the black community more specifically when dealing with the ideas of self-love and sexuality. While the book primarily focuses on Perfect/Paul and his mother Emma Jean much can be said about Perfect’s father Gus. Perfect’s father Gus in many ways is not only similar to Perfect’s mother but is also contradicting in the way he treats Perfect/Paul once he finds out that he is a boy. Perfect’s father Gus in the story is revealed to be a sensitive man who cries more than most.
In modern society, we’ve associated a number of characteristics to define what a man should be; macho, chivalrous, courageous and so tough as to never show any form of emotions. In our story we read about a troop of soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War who witness death on a daily basis, being both men and soldiers with a mission to carry out they hide their fear and other emotions behind superstitions and trinkets. The most important component to a soldier is his psyche, or his ability to think strategically through any situation. With your mind preoccupied your skill declines, which can lead to a number of things going wrong. The theme presented in “The Things They Carried” supports this stereotype while also exposing the negative impacts.
Racism is a topic that has been relevant for many years though our time. Brent Staples wrote "Black Men and Public Space," published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, where he discusses how he became "familiar with the language of fear" (614). Throughout his essay, Staples uses logos, ethos, and pathos to give a reader an insight into the life of a black man in society, which effectively reaches his intended audience, but not his current day audience. Brent Staples starts talking about his "first victim" (613) picking up her pace until she was no longer able to be seen.
The book challenges Americans and how they treat American Values. The book exposed the truth of the white race and how they treated the black race. Throughout the novel white Americans did not value equality or progress and change. In Black Like Me whites did not believe in having a society the ideally treats everyone equally. When John Howard Griffin gets a ride from a white hunter, he tells him “I’ll tell you how it is here.
The John Griffin Experience In the 1950’s, racism was at its peak in the US. In the book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin, he puts himself into a black man’s shoes to experience an everyday life of what it is like being of darker color. He takes it upon himself to seek medical treatment to change the pigmentation of his skin from white to black. After undergoing this treatment, he sets out to New Orleans to begin his life in darker skin.
Annotated Bibliography Introduction: Examine different kinds of advertisements and the problem at hand with how they perpetuate stereotypes, such as; gender, race, and religion. Thesis: The problem in society today is in the industry of social media. In efforts to attract the eye of the general population, advertising companies create billboards, commercials, flyers and other ads with stereotypes that are accepted in today’s society. Because of the nations’ cultural expectation for all different types of people, advertisement businesses follow and portray exactly what and how each specific gender, race, or religion should be.
“[Mr. Raymond] likes [people of color] better’n he likes us… Lives by himself way down near the county line. He’s got a colored woman and all sorts of mixed chillun” (Lee 183). The day of the court trial, “The Negroes sat quietly in the sun… Mr Dolphus Raymond sat with them…drinking out of a sack” (Lee 182).
Society in today’s world is very alike to society years ago, with different social classes and stereotypes. In “Just walk on by” by Brent staples, a variety of rhetorical devices are used in order to convey the message of how a black man is trying to show society that he is so much more than the color of his skin. The author explains how the character was characterized as violent and dangerous because he was black. Staples continues on a sort of journey with the character to show how he overcomes that stereotype, by whistling classical music to give the idea that he is mature and less threatening. Throughout the piece, Staples uses devices that will help the reader better understand the struggles that the character has to face on a daily basis.
Throughout his essay, Staples is able to make the audience understand what he has to deal with as a black man. Staples does this by using words and phrases such as, “...her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny” and “... I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area…” (542). By writing and describing how he (Staples) feels, the audience is able to get an inside look into how black men are treated and better understand why society’s teachings, play a vital role in how we see each other. Staples’ powerful writing also allows the reader to take a step back and see how as a society, people make judgements on others based on appearance alone.
In his essay “Black Men and Public Spaces,” Brent Staples explains that people often find him intimidating because he is tall and black. Staples shares his account of a number of personal encounters, arguing that in each situation, he was misinterpreted as being dangerous because of his daunting physical appearance. Staples asserts that as a result of this misinterpretation, he was continually mistreated. Staples begins his article by describing the events leading up to his life-changing realization that he has inherited “the ability to alter public space in ugly ways (183).” When he was twenty-two years old, Staples found himself one evening, walking behind a well-dressed white woman on a deserted street in a rather wealthy neighborhood.
Sherman Alexie presents the contradiction between heritage and nature as the main idea in this short story since it is related to people from a diverse background and race. Regardless of their own origin, it takes time for people to realize who they are and how they would like to live their own lives. William integrated his life by living through the way of Caucasian culture. Overall, the main idea of this story is that there is an underlying trend going on about how racism is more prominent in the coming years even if people don’t realize it. A certain inconsistency which results in people basing others of different backgrounds upon stereotypes and general knowledge without taking the time to consider who they are.
Author and editorial writer, Brent Staples acknowledges this issue as well as experience many situations in which people distinguish him from others. Brent Staples message in his essay titled “Just Walk On By” is conveyed to the audience through many rhetorical devices in which he suggests that stereotypes of race and gender can impact someone 's life in the easiest ways. Brent Staples use of pathos creates an emotional connection and pulls the reader into his essay, through his anecdotes and diction. His intro paragraph tells an interesting story, in a way that readers often forget what type of passage they are reading. Staples uses of phrases such as “my first victim”, “seemed menacingly close” “picked up her pace” and notably “running in earnest” (1-2).
