“The mistake ninety-nine percent of humanity made, as far as Fats could see, were being ashamed of what they were, lying about it, trying to be somebody else.” “Honesty was Fats' currency, his weapon and defense. It frightened people when you were honest; it shocked them.” "Birth and death: there was the same consciousness of heightened existence and of her own elevated importance" (Part 1, p. 16). “Yes, well, principles are sometimes the problem, if you ask me,' said Miles. 'Often what's needed is a bit of common sense.' 'Which is the name people usually give to their prejudices,' rejoined Kay.” “Life, for Colin, was one long brace against pain and disappointment, and everybody apart from his wife was an enemy until proven otherwise.” “You want to draw a line neatly between the home-owning middle classes and the lower—’ ‘Pagford’s full of working-class people, Kay; the difference is, most of them work.
Postmodern America Norman Mailer’s the White Negro Can you imagine living your life in constant fear of sudden death? Or of your home be infiltrated and your family torn apart? It is likely that these are feelings that some Americans feel but in our fast-paced society we often push such anxieties to the back of our minds or ignore them completely. It’s easy for one to suppress these fears when that terror seems so unrealistic but what if these fears were more probable, what if the aforementioned was happening extensively to your fellow countrymen at this very moment would your perception change? It is impossible to know what the implications of WWII namely the atomic bomb and Holocaust were on the subconscious of the American public but it is evident through the conformity and lack of voice of the post-war era that there was a malaise spreading across American infecting almost every level of society or as Norman Mailer describes it in his article “The White Negro”, “a stench of fear [that] came out of every pore of American life” causing us to suffer “a collective failure of nerve.” Post-war American’s were scared and rightfully so, these two events had an effect of epic proportion on humanity, however, the fear does not justify the reaction or more explicitly the over reaction, to individualism.
This culture is one of many cultures who put there faith in past on beliefs and go to seemingly horrific measures carrying them out. This article was frightening as well as uplifting to me. What was frightening to me is the fact that in the U.S these disturbing rituals take place. As I already stated as an outsider it is very difficult trying to make sense of these customs in terms of my society. I was being quite ethnocentric.
Through out the “Notes of a Native Son”, there was many accounts of racism, but I choose to use the one that spoke to me the most. Therefore, the lesson I think James Baldwin learned here was that many people can be very mean and racist against many races; in this case, it was against blacks. The other lesson that James Baldwin learned was that “People don’t know what they have until it’s all gone”. The meaning behind that is because on Page 114 (last page) it says “The intimation made my heart heavy and, now that my father was irrecoverable, I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which
I think the most obvious message is that the life of German soldiers was more horrifying than you might think. Most of the time you hear of heroic acts done by the winning side. Seldom are the sickening details of what the other people faced revealed. In addition to the main message, I believe the author wants the readers to realize that these soldiers not only endured physical pain but also emotional and psychological problems that they were left to deal with their entire life. That is, if they survived.
The main concern and issue in TKAM is the concept of prejudice. In the text, prejudice is represented mainly through the racial inequality in the town of Maycomb . In the text, we see Atticus' belief in treating and respecting everyone as an individual contrasted with a number of other wold views. The aspect of racism is shown when the people of Maycomb accept the testimony of an obviously corrupt white man. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”.
As citizens of this world, it is our duty to take care of our brothers and sister of this earth. Those people on our planet that we may not know, count on us to help them through there tough times and try to express their needs as much as they can. Malaria is something that has been a constant problem in this world; affecting many people on our earth with this sickness and not having the proper tools to keep safe from this killer disease. Two philosophers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Peter Singer both believe that We as humans on this earth needs to help all of those who are in need. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an activist for not just the African American community, but for all people has a philosophy that stands out amongst many.
A native son is a product of the violence and racism that suffused the devastating social conditions in which he was raised. By no means does Wright downplay the oppression of blacks by whites, but he does demonstrate that much of the racial inequality was due to the profound lack of understanding, among both blacks and whites, of the other social group. Bigger’s misunderstanding of whites binds him to a self-fulfilling insight, because as he behaves according to what he believes is his racial destiny. An important quote that can describe the racism in the story as well as the racism during that time is when Wright writes, "We live here and they live there. We black and they white."
"The Lottery" is a short story about the dangers of unexamined traditions and the dark side of the human nature. Shirley Jackson reveals a shocking dark look into society that lampoons traditions, families, and the cruelty that all humans can reveal towards each other. It seems in the story that we are reminded of how a society can seemingly blindly follow any tradition without truly knowing the source, or even why the tradition is followed. It's been proven many times that societies can follow a tradition simply on the fact that they were taught that as a child, or at a younger age, and it was just how they were raised. The story reminds me of a Psychological study about a group of monkeys that were kept in a room where they hung bananas over a ladder in the middle of the room.
War has left a great part of humankind starving, homeless, emotionally and physically unstable. War is an incredibly disastrous act that should only take place when all other alternatives have been exhausted. All nations have a very intricate relationship which entails complicated solutions and negotiation along with many persons who have opposed views and cultures. Wars are ongoing for a variety of reasons ranging from: extended area of land, inner power struggle, natural resource, and religious beliefs. Although religion gives a person meaning to life, it guides people into the right direction, comforts people in times of sadness, and connects people together.