Jordan Whitmore History 121 December 1, 2015 Carl Jensen’s Stories That Changed America: Muckrakers of the 20th Century Carl Jensen was an author, newspaper reporter, advertising executive, and professor at Sonoma State University. He also founded Project Censored in 1976, a research project on news media censorship, and acted as the director of the program which has remained an important part of the University’s journalistic curriculum since its inception. The techniques used by Jensen to teach journalism have been accepted and used by colleges throughout the country based upon their exceptional quality and standards. Jensen was a strong advocate of the idea of freedom of speech and expression espoused in the First Amendment of the U.S.
In this essay we will attempt to explain what is an American. We will compare two different pieces of literature. We will analyze "In Response to Executive Order 9066" and "Mericans" to see how the authors define what it means to be an American. In my opinion cultural heritage and physical appearance do not determine what is an American. America is a melting pot.
She explains how happy, but conflicted because her parents refuse money from her and live as homeless people. She writes the memoir to work through her feelings and share’s her story. Some topics that I could identify in the text are: poverty, teenage pregnancy and child rights. The issue of poverty is portrayed from the beginning of the book to the end.
The author uses a rhetorical question to feel readers wonder about themselves in America and what it means to become an American citizen. The author also
Written works about American Identity are a very common theme amongst writers, including poet Dwight Okita and short-story writer Sandra Cisneros. Dwight Okita is famous for her poem “In Response to Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers,” in which the theme of American identity is portrayed through a 14-year-old girl. In a similar way, Sandra Cisneros’s short story is told by a young girl of Mexican heritage who prefers American culture—in sharp contrast to her deep-rooted Mexican grandmother. Although the overall theme of the two texts is “American Identity,” both Okita's poem and Cisneros's short story delve deeper and portray that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it
In this essay I looked over and analyzed several texts such as speeches, articles, stories, and poems which represents the American vision and what it really means to be an American. To me the American voice signifies the people who have at one point had ability to become something and actually be successful dispute their race, gender and poverty; In other words their background. To Me being an American is a privilege and a blessing, I live in country where I actually have the opportunity to shape my future the way I want it despite of my background unlike many 3rd world countries in this world. To me the best representations for the American voice signifies is a speech written by the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama which is from the 2004 Democratic National Convention and a poem written entitled "I, Too Sing America" by Langston Hughes Patrick Henry in his speech to the Virginia convention entitled "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death," the speaker describes how they (the people of the colonies) shall no longer tolerate the British and how they are in need of liberty or if not given, they shall take death as a substitute; thus "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death". Henry's purpose is to propose a change ; to be given liberty through the use of explanations and past remarks.
The author Brandon King in his essay on, The American Dream: Dead, Alive or on Hold. Employs many different types of repetition, contras, anomalies and literary devices to help get his point across on why the American dream still lives despite the recession the country has faced where the existence of the American Dream has been questioned. Brandon begins to use repetition both positively and negatively with words such as dead and alive that describe the so called American Dream and where it stands in the eyes of many, although many think its dead for King it seems to be much alive and it’s no longer a rags to riches idea but rather an idea of the potential to, “work for an honest, secure way of life”. He Uses negative repetition to also point
Richard Rodriguez makes several great points in how America plays the victim. America contains millions of illegal immigrants and I believe that America should grant them citizenship. Mexicans, unlike Americans are willing to work for low wages, and fill in jobs that Americans are unwilling to do. Most Americans have a stereotype of most gardeners, being Mexicans unlike the typical American who chooses to stay inside and watch his or hers Smartphone hour hours at a time. Mexicans work out in the heat cutting grass, racking leaves, and tending gardens.
The author’s craft used in the story is imagery. Liliana Heker’s writing style helped me connect with the characters in the story. For example, our the summer, my sister, aunt and I visited a particular pool in Essex County and we were not welcomed and looked down upon because we were the only black visitors. That experience made me feel uncomfortable.
In the article “What to Bring” by Naisha Jackson the immigrants chose significant items with them as they immigrated to the us. One conclusion I can draw is the items they bring are either things that remind them of back home or that is really important to them. For example, the text states, “Immigrants often also bring things that remind them of their homelands” (11). If I was traveling to a new country and was an immigrant, I would do what these immigrants are doing. Immigrants bring things with them that are important and meaningful.
After reading Okita's poem and Cisneros's story you gain a new understanding of American identity. Both passages portray the idea that family cultural background and appearance do not determine who may identify as American. Throughout both stories this idea is supported in several ways. Both authors used different techniques to portray the same common idea. In response to "Mericans", the first support of American identity I noticed is this story is based on the American titles.
With the inclusion of a multitude of perspectives, experiences, and emotions outside her own, her expertise heightens allowing her to be more respected as an influential writer on the subject at
More than twelve million immigrants will make their first stop in America at Ellis Island Immigration station in the years ahead between 1892 and 1954, at least that's what we read. Who knew a small island in the New York Harbor would become my life saver ? I have waited for this day ever since I was just ten years old. I was thinking about the time when I first heard the news that we would be traveling to America when I was interrupted by a repetitive phrase. “Are you ready, Aria ?”
I used to have this grudges in my heart when everything go hard that would made me wanted to blame my parent. But I can’t because I was not raise to think that way. When I come to America, I was eleven years old and no one asked me if I wanted to come it just happen in a second. I was in a cold place with extended family that I never met before and that one person who raise me and made me feel secure was still back in the country. I had to lived months without her and next thing you know I adapted and convince myself they are doing this because the wanted the best for me.
In the current political environment, the question “What does it mean to be an American” is one that really caused me to think and reflect deeply. And while some are vowing to “Make America Great Again”, I think there are already a number of things that already make America great and make me proud to be an American. Early on, our founding fathers suggested through the Constitution that at its core, what it meant to be American was simply “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
