Teddy Roosevelt's Use Of Violence In 'Enemy Territory'

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Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most progressive presidents in the United States. Since Teddy Roosevelt was highly respected, many believed in him and his words. In almost all his speeches, he would use the words, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far” which meant that the threat of violence is necessary in order to defend oneself. This quote is used in Angry Staff Officer's article "How 'Big Stick Policy' Still Influences US Foreign Relations Today" to show how violence has been used in the past years in order to have very progressive history.Also, this quote was so used and well respected that an author named William Melvin Kelley used this quote in order to show his theme on his short story “Enemy Territory.” It is a common …show more content…

In "Enemy Territory" Tommy, one of the main characters, had a job to do which was to return a hat that a man had recently left at his house. One of the things that Tommy had to do was cross the territories of the whites. He had confidence while getting through their fields but then some of his bullies came to him and started to fight about each other's' race. Suddenly Tommy said that he will make the Japanese to bomb their house. "Wanting to save some amount of my dignity, I screamed at them: 'I'll get you guys! I'll get you. I'm not really an American. I'm an African and Africans are friends of Japs and I'll get them to bomb your house!'" (Kelley 4).Because of this, the reader can tell that violence is necessary to help achieve peace because when Tommy said this, the others backed off and Tommy went to his grandmother's house. Also, when Tommy arrives at his grandmother's house, his grandmother had seen the whole argument and she knew what Tommy's task was to do with the hat he had on his hand.She gave him a broom and the purpose of the broom was to protect him. The broom symbolizes that violence is necessary for peace to be achieved. His grandmother also said that sometimes you don't have to be violence at all to conquer peace but sometimes it is. His grandmother told him a quote of Teddy Roosevelt