ipl-logo

The Coldest Winter Ever Analysis

1151 Words5 Pages

Media Portrayal of HIV/AIDS
The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah is a novel that tells the coming of age story of a young African-American woman named Winter Santiaga. Sister Souljah highlights the challenges faced by inner city African American communities, such as drugs, violence and incarceration. The novel also addresses the all-around destruction caused by AIDS. In doing so, Sister Souljah clears up misconceptions surrounding the virus. Likewise, “Hope’s Hospice: And Other Poems” by Kwame Dawes also addresses misunderstandings about the disease. Dawes offers a glimpse into the lives of people who are HIV positive. Both The Coldest Winter Ever and “Hope’s Hospice and Other Poems” help to reduce stigma surrounding HIV because both pieces …show more content…

In the poem, “News,” the narrator became infected with the virus after having heterosexual sex. In it, the narrator states “But people talk and you heard. Hannah dead of AIDS. You remember Hannah, her legs over your shoulder, and the way she laughed, dear God!” (Dawes 25). This demonstrates that HIV is non discriminant of the sexual orientation of the individuals it chooses to infect.
Sister Souljah also demonstrates that HIV does not only infect gay men. In the novel, the character, Sistah Souljah speaks with HIV positive women in jail (Souljah 260). Though not indicated how the women contracted the disease, it is clear that they are not a part of the presumed demographic that was typically targeted in the news.
Moreover, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic exploded, there was misconception among the general public about how the disease was transmitted. The US Center for Disease Control explicitly ruled out any possible transmission through casual contact in 1983. Nonetheless, news headlines such as, “It’s Spreading Like Wildfire” and “AIDS: Bubonic Plague of the 21st Century?” suggested that the virus could spread through casual contact. Although, HIV/AIDS was becoming more understood, some media continued to rectify fallacies about the disease. “Fear and misunderstanding was at work but so was the willingness to disregard basic facts about the knowledge that HIV/AIDS was not readily transmissible”

Show More
Related
1496 Words | 6 Pages

Anand Sundaram Professor George Bishop USE2307: HIV/AIDS – From Microbes to Nations 6th February, 2015 Book Review: The Invisible Cure by Helen Epstein Helen Epstein’s book “The Invisible Cure: Africa, The West and the Fight Against AIDS” is a powerful account of the AIDS epidemic that has hit hardest in Africa. Epstein is a scientist-turned-writer who merges 15 years of personal observations with scientific reasoning to explain the spread of HIV/AIDS in the continent. She explains why the battle against the disease has been so challenging in Africa in spite of the investment of large amounts of effort and money. Giving the example of Uganda, Epstein argues that the solution may not align with what the proverbial Western World envisions, and that it must come from the Africans themselves.

Read More
1491 Words | 6 Pages

During Nella Larsen’s lifetime, the African American community in Harlem, NY was experiencing the Harlem Renaissance. They were questioning and pushing the boundaries of commonly accepted views of African Americans. Larsen was bold enough to talk about passing, or when black people pass as white, and the fact that sexual attraction can exist between two women. In her novel Passing, Larsen takes a strong stance on the act of passing and the sexuality of women.

Read More
1845 Words | 8 Pages

Critical Review of a Social Issue: Coldest Night of the Year Introduction The purpose of this paper is to explore one of Blue Sea Philanthropies yearly fundraising initiatives “Coldest Night of the Year” in support of people who are homeless and the local organizations across Canada who supports those experiencing homelessness. “Coldest Night of the Year” walk takes place each year in February to bring awareness by having participants feel a hint off the challenges faced by those experiencing homelessness, particularly during the winter (Coldest Night of the Year, 2016). “Coldest Night of the Year” describes homelessness as, “absolute homelessness where people are living on the streets or in shelters, hidden homelessness where individuals

Read More
980 Words | 4 Pages

Fischer calls out all the stereotypes that were associated with being HIV positive when she states “In the context of an election year, I ask you-here, in this great hall, or listening in the quiet of your home-to recognize that the AIDS virus is not a political creature. It does not care whether you are Democrat or Republican. It does not ask whether you are black or white, male or female, gay or straight, young or old. “ Her reasoning is both convincing and all inclusive. While she states that the virus is not a political creature she uses words that are meant to scare her audience into action.

Read More
284 Words | 2 Pages

In the 1980’s the Aids epidemic broke out(Aids

Read More
1312 Words | 6 Pages

A lesbian is a woman- indentified woman and Adrienne Rich calls it ‘Lesbian continuum’ she explains lesbian continuum is “Include is a range through each woman’s life and throughout history of woman indentified experience no simply the fact that a woman has had consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman (25)”. Rich argues to embrace many more forms of primary intensity between and among women including the sharing of a rich inner life. Their Eyes were watching God is overwhelmingly centered on Janie’s relationship with Tea Cake. Whereas certain critics recognize the female search for self and need for community as key issues in the novel, most still give priority to heterosexual love and experience as the sole informers of Janie’s existence.

Read More
708 Words | 3 Pages

Edgar Allen Poe uses symbols such as the Red Death, masquerade ball, and even the castellated abbeys in the allegory “The Masque of the Red Death” to teach all readers, no matter their age, ethnicity, or gender, to acknowledge other people’s problems. This story applies to real-life situations, such as the HIV outbreak in the 1980s; it was believed that the disease could only be contracted by homosexual men and drug users, so it seemed unimportant to the sober, straight community, who mainly just tried to ignore it. It was only when HIV was detected in straight women and children who did not use drugs that Americans started worrying about the disease and began funding and developing research on it. In this case, HIV was like the Red Death in

Read More
2402 Words | 10 Pages

Over two million people died of AIDS that year alone. And with the egregious lack of HIV/AIDS care in her home country of Antigua – another primary focus of Kincaid’s memoir – the fatal prognosis for these cases is all but certain. From this statistical lens, Devon’s death is far from being exceptional or mythical. Devon becomes nothing more than scientific data, another number on a graphical chart.

Read More
1026 Words | 5 Pages

“[AIDS] is not a distant threat. It is a present danger.” It is important to recognize, focus and take immediate action in regards to AIDS to create a safer and more positive future. On August 19, during the 1992 Republican National Convention Address, Mary Fisher, the author of “A Whisper of AIDS,” stood in front of a huge crowd of audience, delivered an influential speech to raise awareness for the treacherous transmittable disease known as AIDS, and called America to take action. She first starts her speech with a request for the audience’s attention and respect.

Read More
1011 Words | 5 Pages

On June 5th, 1981, the first case of AIDS was reported in the United States resulting in 121 known deaths that year, all of which were gay men. Since the deaths reported were only of gay men, it lead straight Americans to believe that they could not be affected by the disease. From 1981 to 1987, AIDS had infected over 50,000 Americans, which were not all gay men, but straight, American men and women. Again, this lead Americans to avoid the truth by making the excuse that only gays, hookers, and prostitutes, could contract the disease, and not the average American. From 1988 to 1992 the number had quadrupled resulting in over 200,000 Americans infected with the AIDS virus (“A Timeline of HIV and AIDS”).

Read More
1385 Words | 6 Pages

The AIDS epidemic began in the 1980’s and the effects of it were seen all around the globe. Each country led their own unique approach to preventing and curing AIDS, and some strategies worked better than others. The Australian response to AIDS can be considered world leading due to their multifaceted approach against the disease. Australia was successful in educating all people while simultaneously researching ways to cure the disease. Australia made a concerted effort to fight the both the physical disease itself, as well as the social stigma associated with it.

Read More
214 Words | 1 Pages

People usually turn a blind eye on whatever they find troublesome as if the problem would go away. Mary Fisher wants people to stop their ignorance and prejudice. She wants them to realize AIDS is spreading and affecting many individuals. It can infect anyone at anytime; everyone is at risk. In Mary Fisher’s speech, “A Whisper of Aids”, she utilizes parallel structure, metaphor, and antithesis to support her argument for people to be aware and informed about the disease.

Read More
796 Words | 4 Pages

AIDS is the third leading killer of young adult Americans today. From the voice of one who knows the struggle all too well, political activist and author Mary Fisher, wrote the speech “A Whisper of AIDS”, presented at a Republican National Convention in 1992. In which she argues that AIDS should not identify a person, nor allow them to be hindered from experiences in their lives, which the Republican party can assist with. Fisher adopts a serious, compassionate tone in order to appeal to those infected with AIDS and their families. Fisher effectively convinces her audience that AIDS does not define a person and that these people deserve protection from society through the use of metaphors, meaningless words, emotional appeals and statistics.

Read More
640 Words | 3 Pages

An example of this in the film is proven when Miller visits his doctor after he was in casual contact with Beckett, knowing that Beckett is HIV-positive. Miller assumed he could contract the virus through airborne particles settling on his clothes. Miller’s physician had to explain to him that HIV can only be transmitted through bodily fluids such as blood, semen, and vaginal secretions. Another example of an inaccurate interpretation of how HIV is spread in the film is the scene when Wheeler stated to the partners that“ Andy brought AIDS to our office.” AIDS is a syndrome: a collection of multiple symptoms that are acquired from Human Immunodeficiency virus.

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

We fully understand that texting and driving is dangerous, but, many of us still tend to do it. While a person is texting and driving, they hardly ever think of the worst case scenario. Although texting and driving is not the only cause of car accidents, research shows that it is now, the most common one. Because text messaging requires visual and manual attention from the driver, it is said to be one of the most alarming distractions. Simple phrases like “Hi, LOL or WYD” can cause someone to either lose their lives or injure themselves in a car accident.

Read More

More about The Coldest Winter Ever Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document