A Raisin in the Sun - Lit Analysis In the play “A Raisin in the Sun”, there are clear variations between the ideals of Lena and her son, Walter. Due to Lena’s upbringing with liberation from slavery, and old-fashioned beliefs, her sons’ obsession with becoming wealthy is very disturbing to her and that causes friction between the two among other things. Throughout the play, there are many times where Lena and Walter do not see eye-to-eye, and the reason for this starts with the fact that Lena was born of a generation of slaves. Lena mentions time and time again how she lived a very different lifestyle. “Son-I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers- but ain’t nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk this earth.
When the slave owner found about this he strongly disapproved, because he thought that if the slaves learn to then the slaves would want to escape. Still, Douglass taught himself how to read in secret and eventually taught other slave how to read the Bible. Here, he understood where and why inequality within the US was thriving. Free labor brought profits for southern plantation owners and the ideology that “non-whites” were considered not to be equal. “Frederick Douglass was the most important African American leader and intellectual of the nineteenth century.
Overall, the white slave holders saw slaves as utterly worthless if unsuited for work or unable to obey simple commands. For instance, when Frederick Douglass’s grandma was too old to help out with the children on the plantation, she was forced to live alone as an outcast until she died. (Douglass 2000-2010) However, since slaves had this appearance of being unintelligent, Frederick Douglass was able to easily trick white people in many ways. While learning how to read and write, Douglass would fool kids his age to spell words for him. He would compete with the little boys to see who wrote a word better, and by initiating a competition with these kids, he slowly learned how to write.
It is true that learning to read brings Douglass “that very discontentment which Master Hugh had predicted would follow” (56). However, it is not that Douglass was blissfully persevering in his enslaved state prior to the book planting new ideas in his head that brought discontentment. Rather, his reading “gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had frequently flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance” (56). This is a very provocative view of reading. Did Douglass really read this stuff when he was twelve or so?
Born a Slave, Died a Hero “I think I am learning more and more each year that all worry simply consumes, and to no purpose, just so much physical and mental strength that might otherwise be given to effective work.” – Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington lived an eventful life where he continuously worked to improve himself and African American Rights. One of the most relevant leaders of Black America was born on April 5, 1856. Washington was born into slavery. After the emancipation act his family moved to western Virginia (Vickery-Smith).
Banned Book Project The Giver by Lois Lowry, tells the story of Jonas, a 12-year old boy, living in a future utopian society where poverty, crime, sickness, and unemployment are a thing of the past. These idyllic communities were set up after some vaguely referenced dark period in human history. The communities lived by a strict set of rules that robbed citizens of their ability to see in color and feel emotion, but it saved them from war and famine. Each baby is assigned to a family according to his or her needs, and each adult is given a role in society according to his or her abilities. The role that Jonas receives is the Receiver of Memories, which assigns him the task to store all the memories of life before the “sameness”.
When Frederick Douglass addressed the audience with his speech, it was very emotional and straight from his heart. As we all know, he was a freed slave and mainly considered his “slavery” as not being able to read and write, until his white master’s wife taught him to do so. With Douglass becoming a freed man and moved up North to pursue the life he dreamed to live, all he wanted was for the rest of the African American slave population to be free as well. Douglass believed that everybody had the right to succeed in society; he never understood how our country was founded on freedom but not everybody was free. Throughout Frederick’s speech, he repeatedly would ask the crowd uncomfortable questions and somewhat “guilt-trap” the people, example being “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine.
Even though both Jefferson and Grant Wiggins learned a good lesson, I felt that Grant was the one that had learn much more. Jefferson was just not open to his family members and those close to him, but had either recorded or kept his feelings inside. When he actually expressed his sadness and frustration to people, I guess some people would classify that as a big lesson learned, but I think Grant went through some major change. Grant had first felt that there was no point in his lifestyle. Why was he living like this?
To achieve the good life one must endure a journey that is filled with learning and rewarding experiences, such as the two journeys traveled by Martin Luther King and Siddhartha. Attaining a set goal is ideal for most individuals, but sometimes the journey is too difficult and creates a question in peoples' motives to continue. Siddhartha and King demonstrate that even when faced with many obstacles, they persevere through the journey and find it just as fulfilling as the goal. There is no set path to reach a goal, and Siddhartha demonstrates this throughout his journey in his attempt to reach enlightenment. He dedicated a large portion of his life to trying to achieve nirvana, and his journey was not an easy one.
Vanessa Lopez Our Challenges We all have faced many challenges in our lives. A challenge is not only an obstacle in our lives; it’s also a situation where we can learn a lot from. Challenges should be faced with determination, hard work, and perseverance. A great example is the story of “A Homemade Education.” by Malcolm X, in which his first language was English but he recognizes his lack of efficiency in the language due to the need of education. Even though Malcolm was in jail he found the way to educate himself.