Then Steinbeck opened the character up by talking him to Lenny. Crooks felt as if he could be totally open with Lenny because Lenny couldn’t properly follow track of the conversation and wouldn’t tell anyone else what he has said. This showed the readers the suffering that black people suffered. For example Crooks says to Lenny “Spose you couldn’t go into the bunkhouse and play rummy ‘cause you was black.” This shows the social outcast that black people were. By including this character, John Steinbeck was protesting that treating black people as social outcasts and as second class was not fair.
This is very detailed and horrific because he is saying he won’t be able to stop his soldiers from raping the women in the city. Henry’s choice of words in this speech show us that not only can Henry influence people into fighting but he can create the illusion that disturbing things will happen if you don’t do what I say. This actually isn’t the best type of leadership because he his leading with fear. It is an effective form of leadership but it is one that doesn’t always work
“Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more.” (99) Scout thinks. Atticus tells Scout to ignore the comments, and let them say what they want. He seems invincible, until he is faced with Tom Robinson’s trial. He knows that he will not win this case, for the racism among the Maycomb residents is too strong. Yet he perseveres, trying to get an appeal from the court, on behalf of Tom Robinson.
The kid’s lost part of their childhood innocence learning how serious the story is and that they are hurting somebody by portraying it. As the story progresses, Atticus must take a case of a black man named Tom Robinson, who is accused of rape. Scout overhears her dad, discussing with his brother Jack, that the case is already lost even if Tom could be innocent. Scout doesn’t understand why her dad thinks this, until years later when she realized “He wanted me to hear every word he said”(Lee 117). Atticus wanted Scout to hear this, so she could mature by understanding that because Tom is black, he will have a little chance of winning.
In the Cornel West article "Nihilism in Black America" he argues that the dilemma of African Americans is nihilism. This is somewhat parallel to W.E.B Dubois's Talented Tenth speech in 1903. Nihilism, according to West, is the lived experience of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness, and lovelessness. African Americans are threatened by the lack of hope and the “absence of meaning” in their lives. Dubois's philosophy not only shows nihilism in the black race during this era but it also shows the same lack of progression in the black community in 2011.
Dougy expresses that character in the novel including; whites and blacks, creating tension though racist comments. An example for this is pg.64, chapter 6, Craig told Brett, “you have to die your skin black to get the boarder fees, cause the government only gives that sort of money to Abos.” This comment creates anger mostly towards Raymound, also Dougy and Gracey that are listening. If a white girl or boy won the scholarship, Craig would just congratulate them and move on, but because Gracey is black the automatically thing she didn’t earn it. Moloney’s focus is on the aboriginal point of view,
Innocent people are getting murdered for a crime they didn’t commit. Gray Gauger was convicted of killing his parents but, after his conviction he was from innocent when the police heard the murders talking about the killing. Recently, Troy Davis was executed after convincing the judicial court he was innocent. There was no proof that he actually murdered the victim, and to this day the prosecutors don’t even feel guilty for executing the wrong person. To add to that most of the innocent people on death penalty were black.
Sources: Maria Dugandzic. Against all odds: School offers hope, opportunity for young men. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/25/bia.urban.prep/index.html The main argument the author wants to exhibit here is that although nowadays blacks have much poorer performance in the United States, there is still hope that they can make a difference if offered necessary opportunities. This news story makes me realize a question: what determines blacks’ bad academic performance, like D'Souza says in the end of racism?
Jordan 1 Jasmine Jordan Mrs. Andrea Chester April 15, 2013 ENG 100 Not So Public Space In the essay “Black men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples, the author introduces something that we are all guilty of, but pay a little attention to. From his experiences and other accounts, Brent Staple’s essay portrays the racial tendency of people to assume black men are potentially violent and dangerous. It took him nearly twenty-two years to realize that black men are a part of a stereotypical and discriminatory world. But yet, the author accepts being stereotyped and goes out of his way to try to make people not portray him as a dangerous young African-American male. Brent Staples started off his essay with his first “victim,” a young white female who was walking alone late at night, just as he was; she was not comfortable with the space he had provided her.
Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, used Tom’s race and physical strength to imply that Tom was just another stereotypical black man who targeted a fair skinned female. Mr. Gilmer hinted that because Tom was strong and coloured, Tom would rape and beat a white woman. Not only was Tom discriminated against on the stand, but after Tom was sent to the slammer, Tom was killed and shot at multiple times after he was already dead. “ ‘Seventeen bullet holes in him. They [the police] didn’t have to shoot him that much.’ ” (235).