Amy Tan and Maya Angelou come from diverse cultures, but both face the same harsh society of the American culture and beliefs. Both authors discuss their problems and culture differences in their stories. Tan and Angelou each tell about situations in their short stories of being outcasts and coming from different racial backgrounds and trying to overcome these obstacles. Angelou and Tan both have different approaches and style in their writing. I have found some similarities and differences in “Fish Cheeks” and “Champion of the World”.
The novel, Looking for Alibrandi, by Melina Marchetta, conveys cultural boundaries that are evident in Australian society. Through the actions of the characters, these cultural boundaries are crossed. These characters are subject to discrimination due to their culture, the strict parental expectations, cultural traditions and events, morals and beliefs. The importance of relationships, family and respect, academic competition, sexual maturity, and identity and freedom are the main attitudes and values portrayed. Melina Marchetta’s purpose is to educate the readers on the discrimination of today’s society of a cultures morals, values, beliefs and traditions, and that crossing boundaries brings greater self knowledge leading to growth and emancipation.
“Appropriation study of texts is interesting because the changing values and attitudes of particular time periods can be observed.” Evaluate this opinion in relation to the Jane Austen’s novel, Emma, and Amy Heckerling’s film, Clueless. In your response make detailed references to both texts. 3. In comparing your TWO texts you will have become aware of how the contexts of the texts have shaped their form and meaning. Of more interest, perhaps, is a comparison of the values associated with each text.
Compare/Contrast: Dillard and Rodriguez Dillard’s “An American Childhood” and Rodriquez’s “Always Running” both on the outside seem to be autobiographies about an experience when both writers were being chased. Both writers include cultural influences on the setting to make it more clear what life was really like for them in their autobiographies. They also both dramatize the chase to make the story more exciting. Yet, the two writers differ in what cultural setting their autobiographies are in and what style they use to dramatize the chase. While these two autobiographies are rooted in culture, they both differ in what exact cultures the autobiographies nestle in.
How does Andrea Levy explore the themes of discrimination and prejudice through the distinctive voices within her unique characters? Andrea Levy’s novel Small Island encompasses the themes of discrimination and prejudice through the distinctive voices of her characters. Through Levy’s extensive depth of characterization, divides within post World War two England are evident. Her book conveys the divide through the use of both Jamaican and English characters, contrasting not only the injustice and hardships faced by the ‘black’ society but also highlighting the divide within class due to the colour of one’s skin. Through the use of monologues through the characters of Hortense, Gilbert and Queenie Levy is able to segregate the individual characters points of view, exploring the themes of discrimination and prejudice.
Self discovery can be influenced by other attitudes, surroundings and personalities throughout the process. Interactions and relationships can contribute to self findings through the uncovering of new concepts, people and relationships. Societies generate new ideas by synthesising perspectives and deepening ones understanding of themselves. Self discovery from influence of others is evident in the play Away by Michael Gow and in the film The Breakfast Club by John Hughes. Michael Gow’s play highlights the restrictions of discovery because of societal issues present in the 1960s, however, it is made evident that the interactions and relationships the characters have with each other, influence the path of self discovery each person is willing
“How do writers Achebe and R.K Narayan compare and contrast colonialism in their respective novels?” Colonialism is explored in both novels through a main protagonist; Okonkwo in ‘Things Fall Apart’ and Nataraj in ‘Man Eater of Malgudi’. Both of these characters are a device for the authors in order to represent the cultures of the people during post-colonisation. Achebe explores the life of the Igbo people prior to colonisation, allowing us to see the Igbo tribe in an authentic and pure light; because of this, we as a reader, gain an intimate understanding of this culture. R.K Narayan on the other hand, explores the life of Nataraj, an ordinary man working in a printer in Malgudi, who becomes frenzied over an outsider by the name of Vasu. Though both texts are set in completely different parts of the world, they both uphold core and necessary values on colonialism, a sense of literal hybridity can be captivated from these readings, backing up the idea that post-colonial theory and its ideas are universal.
Social Distance The technical term for this social distance is objectivity - the ability to remain detached, aloof or personally separate from the people you are researching. There are a couple of important dimensions to objectivity (namely, personal and methodological) but for the moment we can consider it as involving the ability to avoid: The intrusion of our personal beliefs (or values) into the research process. Influencing the way respondents reply to our questions or behaviour. Subjective Sociology This, in some ways, is similar to the aim in an unfocused interview. However, a new dimension is added to the research process by the ability to "see for yourself" the behaviour that people describe in an interview or questionnaire.
At first glance, the concept of Cultural Relativism provides an insightful, well-defined perspective on culture and society; however, upon further inspection we can dissect the traditional definition of Cultural Relativism to reveal its setbacks. As James Rachels refers to them, the 1st and 4th claims made by traditional Cultural Relativists, that different societies have different moral codes and that the moral code of our own society is one of many, go hand in hand and follow logically from each other. These claims depend on the contextual definition of “moral code,” and for this argument we will consider these claims to be reasonable and thus we can interpret them as true. When it comes to the 2nd and 3rd claims made by Cultural Relativists, that the moral code of a society determines what is right and what is wrong and that there is no objective standard that can be used to judge each society’s code, we begin to see the traditional definition of Cultural Relativism pull apart at the seams.
‘British literature of this period always sees the “racial other” in light of British cultural values.’ How far is that true? British citizens in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were fascinated by different cultures and races. As explored in Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Behn’s Oroonoko; or, the Royal Slave, different races and characters are often compared and contrasted with British characters or, as in The Tempest, European characters who are created to represent British cultural values. Often, the ‘native’ characters come out looking less than pretty, ‘savage’ in contrast to the ‘civilised’ European standards. Howard Felperin writes: The discourse of colonialism […] abounds in shifting conflations of the ‘exotic’, the ‘demonic’, the’ monstrous’, the ‘slavish’ or ‘subservient’ under the master category of the radically and ineluctably ‘other’.