MAMA

Today Walter’s business partner came and revealed the ugly truth about what my son had done with the money. I trusted him with the money from my husband’s flesh and he let me down. He let his entire family down. He told me that I had destroyed his dreams when he learned bout my purchase of the house but he still doesn't acknowledge that he ruined Beneatha’s. Where did I go wrong in raising these children???

Now that my frustration and anger has faded, I have had some time to reflect on what happened. I think this event has taught my family a lot. Walter finally became a man. He wouldn't say a thing back when Ruth was considering killing a child. But he stood up for our beliefs and didn't sell himself out when Mr. Linder came. Beneatha might have learned to stop criticizing her brother all the time and love him instead. Yea we done lost a whole lot of money but its all right cuz money isn't important anyway. That man Willy might have actually helped my family. God made Walter a man at the best possible time. Had he been a child when we moved to that cracker neighborhood, I dunno what would have happened to us. But me, Brother, Ruth, and Beneatha will do fine there now. 

Puzzle Paragraph

Many social norms today suggest that wealth results in both success and happiness. Everyone who has money seems to be living life to the fullest; they have the social status and the wealth others can only dream of. However, this is simply not true as Fitzgerald shows in his story “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”. He reveals that the belief of money bringing happiness is as false as the stories that begin with “Once Upon a Time”. These stories with characters as fictional as pink elephants mimic the characters Fitzgerald uses in his story. The Washingtons have lost basic emotions that come naturally to others: sympathy and love. It’s as if they are not even human but rather monsters obsessed with wealth. Their wealth has altered them to the extent where Braddock Washington attempts to bribe the God of Moses. The rhetoric and suspense Fitzgerald uses in this episode is especially effective because it prolongs the incident to the point where it demands attention. He is able to make the negative effects of wealth very obvious through this technique. 

Success

American success is largely based on material success. The “American Dream” is the belief that anyone who works hard enough can eventually achieve financial success regardless of their background. The problem with such a narrow and materialistic definition of success is that it comes with many negative side effects. Even though Gatsby has achieved material success, he still emits a "strained counterfeit of perfect ease"(91), which shows that it wealth has not solved his problems. People become so obsessed with the materialistic things in life that they forget what really matters. According to Charles Derber, many of the values embraced by our society “suggest that success and happiness depend on procuring monetary wealth”. People are willing to buy cars and houses which they will spend years trying to pay off just to create this illusion of success. Many are willing to spend hours in line for good deals on Thanksgiving Day instead of spending time with their families. If we instill in ourselves that success means wealth then we will never be satisfied. Unless you are Bill Gates, there will always be someone richer than you and therefore you will never be content. The definition of success should be redefined to not only contain wealth, but also happiness and satisfaction because without these life is meaningless.

Deception Exists Today

“The History Teacher” by Billy Collins presents a serious dilemma in our society. In an attempt to “protect his students’ innocence”, the teacher fabricates many crucial events in human history. This is the teacher’s way of coping with the horrific truths in the past. Even though his intentions are pure, his way of teaching is not only deceptive but also fails to work. The fact that the children “torment the weak, and the smart” is ironic because while the deception was meant to protect their innocence, it has in fact corrupted them. The “smart” students are bullied because these students would represent knowledge and truth in a classroom of ignorance and lies.

One might expect lies in education to be limited to a work of fiction, but the truth is that deception occurs in schools even today. The second largest school district in Colorado attempted to alter the AP American history curriculum to “promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free enterprise system.” (Washington Post) The proponents of change argue that removing the material about “civil disorder, social strife, or disregard of the law”(Washington Post) would also limit these things in our society.  This is very similar to the history teacher; both are attempting to fix problems through lies and both will fail. 

Punctuation Rules

Even though many things on Earth are rapidly changing and developing, there are certain things that should remain constant. People have begun to neglect certain elements of punctuation but this alteration is harming to the English language. Following established guidelines of punctuation enables a writer to convey tone effectively and for the reader to interpret the meaning correctly. Changing the current rules of punctuation would create unnecessary confusion in the literary world. The meanings of the various marks would be interpreted differently by each reader. The established rules have given a certain connotation to each punctuation mark. For example, colons "give you the feeling of being rather ordered around" and semicolons "tell you that there is still some question preceding the full sentence" (Source D). So while the people who would like to alter the rules might argue that social media sites, such as Twitter, force writers to be "concise and less flowery"(Source E), they fail to acknowledge the fact that punctuation can not only do the same thing, but also do it more efficiently. It can remove the need for "flowery" language while maintaining the intended meaning.

Beautiful Passage

“Their conversation is like a gently wicked dance: sound meets sound, curtsies, shimmies, and retires. Another sound enters but is upstaged by still another: the two circle each other and stop. Sometimes their words move in lofty spirals; other times they take strident leaps, and all of it is punctuated with warm-pulsed laughter- like the throb of a heart made of jelly. The edge, the curl, the thrust of their emotions is always clear to Frieda and me. We do not, cannot, know the meanings of all their words, for we are nine and ten years old. So we watch their faces, their hands, their feet, and listen for truth in timbre.” 

The above passage is one of the most beautiful in the entire book. The children are describing the conversation of adults as they see it. Morrison packs the passage with personification and imagery which gives insight to the imaginative minds of children. Instead of being spoken, the words “move in lofty spirals” and “take strident leaps”. This kind of personification is beautiful because it shows the innocence present in children. Several similes are also used in the passage to add literary beauty to it. The “conversation is like a gently wicked dance” and the laughter “like the throb of a heart made of jelly”. These comparisons make the passage more beautiful as well as reveal the mindset of children. The kids are so inexperienced in life that they compare things as simple as conversation and laughter to things they can relate with. This makes the fate of Pecola and the beatings of children even more difficult to understand. The diction used in the passage gives a gentle and moving feel to it. Words such as “lofty spirals” and “strident leaps” all add to this scenic and beautiful feel. 

There is No True Evil

There are many people that society has labeled as evil or just bad. Because they have done certain bad things, we think they are horrible people. What we fail to recognize, however, is that everything has a reason. There is a reason these people turned out the way they did and did the things they did.

This is clearly expressed in many of the characters in The Bluest Eye. In the prologue, Morrison states she doesn’t want to “dehumanize” the characters, even the ones that oppress others. This is why almost every single character in the novel has a redeeming back-story. Cholly Breedlove was humiliated by white men when he was younger. Finding no other way to release his anger, he chose to hurt women. Pauline Breedlove suffered loneliness due to her abnormal foot; she didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere.

The reasons for doing evil, however, do not justify the action. Even the worst of people, such as Hitler and Stalin, have reasons for what they did but it does not make it okay for them to do so. 

Definition of Beauty

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Every single person on Earth has a unique understanding of beauty. Esther Honig sent an unaltered image of herself to artists in over 25 countries and asked them to Photoshop the picture to fit their definition of beauty. The result was not surprising; no two images were the same. This experiment further reveals the illusive nature of beauty by showing that what people consider beautiful in one country differs greatly from beauty in another.

The concept of differing views on beauty is also explored in Toni Morison's The Bluest Eye. The majority of adults and children consider "blue-eyed, yellow-haired, pink-skinned" dolls to be externally beautiful but Claudia fails to see it. She searches the inner beauty of the doll and finds only "a mere metal roundness". Even if a majority considers someone or something to be beautiful, exceptions will always exist.

Society has set standards for both male and female beauty. Every country has models and celebrities who are considered beautiful. There is, however, no fixed definition of beauty and there will never be a universally accepted beautiful.

Attempt At Synthesis Essay

The othering of a group or individual by those in power causes the dehumanization of both parties; the oppressed are degraded through shame while the oppressors are dehumanized simply because they dehumanize others. Since oppression dehumanizes both sides, ending it is just as beneficial to the powerful as it is to the weak. The Puritans' marginalization of Hester Pryne by forcing her to wear the Scarlet Letter made her feel as if "she didn't belong to it [society]" (Source A). This letter dishonored her in the eyes of Puritan society but in turn also degraded the society because they no longer see fault in themselves. they are so busy shaming Hester that they fail to acknowledge that punishing her so severely for a sin is inhumane of them. Similarly, Jonathan Edwards oppresses his listeners by calling them "sinners" (Source B) and informing them that they face God's "wrath" (Source B). His audience is so dehumanized by this that they don't feel worthy of having a human life and thus kill themselves. What Jonathan Edwards fails to realize, however, is that by oppressing his audience to the extent of suicide, he has probably angered God more than his listeners did. The bases on which he dehumanized his audience, is the same basis on which he is dehumanized: sin.

Guilt

Before reading the Scarlet Letter, we briefly discussed the concept of guilt. Every person on Earth has, at some point, experienced this emotion. Its presence can be caused by the smallest of things but can have the biggest impact on one's life. Guilt starts as just a horrible feeling in one's stomach but can evolve into influencing the day to day functions of the individual.

A major real-world application of the extreme effects of guilt is soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). According to Juliann Steinbeigle, the Director of Psychological Health for the Illinois National Guard, guilt is the "#1 predictor of suicide thoughts and attempts". These soldiers feel guilty for their actions on the battle-field and this haunts them for their entire lives.

In the literary world, Dimmesdale is a textbook example of the negative effects of guilt. The guilt from his sin has made him unable to enjoy any moment of his life. Every single actions he performs and every word he utters is controlled by his guilt. He does not want to commit another sin that would result in a similar feeling and thus holds himself back from enjoying his life. Just like PTSD victims, Dimmesdale eventually loses his life to guilt.

What's Feminism?

Feminism in today's society has been skewed and is perceived the wrong way by many. Even some "feminists" do no truly understand what it is. Feminism is a movement for political, social, and economical equality to men. EQUALITY, not superiority. Here are three quotes from some well-known "feminists":

1) "The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race."- Sally Miller Gearhart

2) "All men are rapists and that's all they are."- Marilyn French

3) "The more famous and powerful I get the more power I have to hurt men."- Sharon Stone

The above are just as representative of feminism as terrorists are of Islam: they aren't. There are many people that judge feminism based on the viewpoints of radical feminists and they need to enlighten themselves. All movements consist of a minority extremist group based on which people judge the entire movement upon and this is wrong. 

Deborah Tannen is a feminist; she is not a radical feminist. Almost everything she states in "There is no Unmarked Woman" appeals to logic as true. Even though some of her writing is very opinionated, she never makes anti-male remarks. It is wrong to judge her writing based on the views we hold regarding feminism as these views could be skewed. If the byline of the piece contained a man's name instead of Tannen's, the reaction towards the piece would be unanimously supportive, but since it read "Deborah Tannen", it was split. 

Religion in Society

Though there is argument over the effects of secularization, there is no debate that it has occurred. Over time, many western nations have slowly driven God out of public life. In the Seventeenth century, as shown by The Scarlet Letter, religion played a major role in society; It was not only visible at the personal level, but it also provided the basis for government. Now, government and religion have become separated.  People have gone from following the rules of religion to submitting to the commandments of corrupt governments. If this trend continues, it could have devastating effects on our lives.

Religion teaches us to do right and forbid wrong, which is something most would not argue against. It is necessary in society to regulate behavior because at the end of the day, humans are just animals with intellect. As depicted in Lord of the Flies, without a fear for the consequences of our actions we would do anything we please. We would not know right from wrong, and killing and stealing would suddenly become normal. If our actions bore no consequences, the only thing preventing us from committing crimes would be the moral compass all human beings are born with. The only problem with this is that this compass is very weak and inaccurate; what appears to be north on one person's compass is actually south on another's.

A World of Stereotypes

The world is filled with people of various races and backgrounds. They have different customs, different foods, and different clothing. This diversity causes misunderstanding among races and it is the reason for stereotypes. People from different parts of the world don't understand why others do things the way they do. Their lack of knowledge leads to false perceptions which, as shown in "Black Men and Public Spaces", can have negative effects to the entire community. An example of stereotyping is in our legal system. The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive a 10% longer sentence than whites for the same crime (See Site). Even people who are a positive contributor to society are discriminated against because of previously held notions about their race.
In order to fix stereotypical views it is necessary for people to inform themselves about the cultures of others. Learning about the culture of others and being open-minded towards them will help to eliminate stereotypes. It will help unite the different races and cultures into one peaceful, loving species.

When Children Become the Parents

Out of everything we talked about regarding The Glass Castle, what intrigued me most was the relationship between the children of the Walls family and the parents. Many of us do not like Rex and Rose Walls because of how they neglect and leave the kids to fend for themselves. They are more interested in fulfilling their desires than they are in nurturing their children. After all, isn't it their responsibility as parents to provide for and take care of their children? Many people have no trouble pointing the finger at such parents for not taking care of their kids, but completely disregard the other stage of the relationship which occurs later on in life. The elderly are just as vulnerable as little kids are. Who takes care of them? Paid nurses.

It is becoming increasingly popular for middle aged adults to dump their parents into nursing homes. There are more than 3 times as many elderly in nursing homes today as there were in 1922 (Institute on Aging). The same mother and father who raised the 7-pound baby into an adult are now being abandoned by that very child. They say that they don't have the time or patience to take care of their parents. They say it's too hard to balance their lives with that of their parents. Many don't even care to visit their parents in the prisons called nursing homes.

Yes, it was wrong for Rex to put his alcohol ahead of his children. Yes, it was wrong for Rose to use the family's much-needed money on chocolate for herself. But just as parents are expected to take care of their children when they are young, the children should be expected to take care of their parents when they are old.