Category: Race

Their Eyes Were Watching God (Reading Update #2)

On By OLIVE TEPFERIn Book Update, Feminism, Novels, Race2 Comments

So far I have seen a lot of Growth in Janie’s character. A lot in her live has drastically changed. From where we left off she started to realize the way she was treated by her husband was not love. He began to try and mask his own insecurities by trying to shine a light on hers. He would purposely try and put her down and make her feel small and helpless. But, then he began to get sick and tired. That didn’t stop him from continuing to shame her.

Eventually he got to the point where he was close to death. He was the Mayor of the town and a very powerful and authoritative man s this effected the town greatly. On his death bed Janie was able to confront him about the way he treated her and how he was the insecure one. I think this provided closure for Janie and overall made her more confident, reassured women.

After his death Janie was able to start living her best live. Her husband had restricted her from doing things that made her feel young and like her self. So she was able to start embracing those things about her. Eventually she met a new man who truly loves her and cared for her. They moved out of the town and Janie is now thriving and happier. Honestly I think the best thing for Janie might have been to be on her own for a little bit longer. But, I am happy that she is flourishing and growing as a character.

Their Eyes Were Watching God- Reading update

On By OLIVE TEPFERIn Book Update, Class, Race2 Comments

Their Eyes Were Watching god by Zora Neale Hurston is so far a really interesting book. The main character is a women named Janie living in the early 20th century. She was orphaned as a child so she was raised by her grandmother who had traditional idea’s. Janie has to deal with the struggles of not only being an orphan but being a African American women in a difficult time period.

So far I think Janie is having trouble finding her identity. So far a lot of her life has been controlled by someone. First, it was her grandma then two different men. It is hard for her to find her voice when she is in the shadow of powerful men. Especially considering the roles women are forced into specifically in this time period.

I’m looking forward to see how Janie will grow as a character. I’m also excited to see what part Janies husband will play. If he will end up supporting her or holding her back. So far I would recommend this book it is interesting and also a little challenging of a read.

Kodama’s Ramen Shop

On By GRACE F.In Novels, Race, Short StoriesLeave a comment

In the story “Kodama’s Ramen Shop,” by Ellen Oh, the grandmother is a dynamic character because by the end of the story she changes her attitude towards her non-Japanese family members and her attitude toward Korean food. Obaasan, as she is referred to in the story, realizes how much it hurts her granddaughter when she makes derogatory comments about aspects of Korean culture. There are many instances throughout the story where the main character, Jessie, talks about how her grandmother is racist, and has never treated people such as her mom or aunt well. “Auntie Mio was half-Japanese and half-Black, and although Mio spoke perfect Japanese, Obaasan never let her forget that she wasn’t 100 percent Japanese.” (160). Although Jessie’s Aunt was family, her grandmother never respected her because she was racist, and didn’t like anyone who wasn’t entirely Japanese. She wouldn’t let her help with certain things in her ramen shop because she did not trust that she would be able to do them well. Jessie resents her grandmother for always being rude to her late mother, who was Korean, and always hating her food. “Obaasan hated Korean food, but she seemed to hate kimchi the most. Jessie’s mom had to buy a small kimchi refrigerator and put it in the garage because Obaasan wouldn’t allow it in the kitchen.” (162). One day, a Korean customer came to their family’s ramen shop and asked for a spice or condiment like Kimchi to spice up the ramen which really infuriated Obaasan who insulted the customer under her breath. This was the final straw for Jessie who finally expressed her true feelings about how her Grandma mistreated Jessie’s mother simply because she was Korean. The explosive confrontation between Jessie and Obaasan led to Obaasan being hospitalized and then realizing that she has acted poorly toward people simply because they were of a different race. She realized her poor and unfair treatment of Jessie’s mother could ruin her ongoing relationship with the granddaughter she loves so dearly. “I was such a fool. I let my pride ruin everything, and I let my pride ruin everything… Will you teach me her kimchi recipe?” (177).

Book review of Monster by Walter Dean Myers

On By ADAM DIn Book Review, Book Update, Race3 Comments

Monster, A novel by Walter Dean Myers, is an enthralling book about a young man’s struggle with the American Judicial society. Steve Harmon, 16, was mixed up in a robbery of a drugstore in which the owner was shot and killed. No one knows who actually pulled the trigger, or even who exactly was involved. Steve is on trial for first degree murder, but in the meantime is locked away in the county prison. The story is told from two different perspectives; the diary in which Steve keeps as a record of his life and time in prison, and as a movie script. The diary and movie script is a very interesting way to quickly shift modes, and to give the reader a chance to speculate as to what is going to happen. With plenty of strong evidence from both sides of the story, and a relentless prosecutor hell-bent on proving Steve guilty, this story is sure to leave you breathless. As the story progresses, the tension builds, and one burning question is stuck bouncing around Steve’s mind: Am I guilty? Read Monster to find out for yourself.

The Hate U Give: Book Update

On By Hannah JIn Book Update, Highly Recommended, RaceLeave a comment

Author: Angie Thomas

In my opinion, the most compelling internal and external conflict in the book “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, is Starr’s conflict. Starr feels as she needs to “code switch” between Williamson Starr, her more kept away less “ghetto” version of herself, and her regular Starr, just her. Externally, Starr’s actions and the way she would handle things are very different when code switching. She makes a promise to herself to never ever let anyone see her as “ghetto” or “loud”.

Starr consistently claims that being cool as a black girl is different than being cool as a white person at Williamson, and since her school is dominantly white, she has to code switch. I believe that the internal conflict that connects with this is the way Starr didn’t really have the energy to code switch after the incident. She kept getting angry with people at school for making racist remarks and the subtle microaggressions. Usually, she would let it pass, but since shes been dealing with it so long internally and the incident, it all just came spilling out. Starr felt alone, embarrassed and confused because she felt as no one would understand her, she felt as she was betraying the black community, and she felt as all her hard work and energy she put into code switching was all for nothing because she had now been officially seen as “The angry black woman”. Stereotypical.

The book builds tension by explicitly describing the way Starr feels about her actions and code switching. The narrator is from Starr’s POV making the book more interesting and easier to connect with when her thoughts, emotions, and feelings are shared. Angie Thomas also leaves space for the reader to infer what she is thinking.

Racism in lion king

On By MAX KIn Cultural Criticism, Disney, Race3 Comments

The movie Lion King is set in Africa, yet it only features animals. This could be interpreted as a way promoting a dominant narrative that Africa is wild and full of animals. It does not accurately represent modern day Africa and all of its culture.

Blogging Kickstarter: Disney’s Dominant Narratives

On By Bernie H.In Cultural Criticism, Disney, Film, Gender, Gender Identity, RaceLeave a comment

Make a short post in which you respond to another’s group argument, agreeing or disagreeing with their thesis and briefly explaining why.

Then …

Make at least one comment on one of your classmates’ posts — not just saying you like it, but providing a brief, but substantive response to their points.

More Class Blogs

On By Bernie H.In Class, Comedy/Satire, Comics, Course Stuff, Cultural Criticism, Feminism, Film, Gender, Gender Identity, Music, Novels, Poetry, Race, Short Stories, Spoken Word, TV, Video GamesLeave a comment

For many years, we used the Blogger platform for my classes. Since it is owned by Google, it integrates pretty seamlessly with your Google accounts — which made it easy to use, in some respects — but it is a very limited and bug-ridden platform. So we have decided to construct a new class blog from scratch using the most more powerful and stable WordPress platform.

If you are interested, though, in seeing what past American Studies students have been thinking and writing about, feel free to wander over to Take Control of Your Culture.

You can also check out my senior AP Lit students who are presently blogging over at Story Power.