Our Own Kind of Reservation

One of the best things about reading the Diary of a Part Time Indian was that it definitely does not sugarcoat or hide the fact that there is blatant racism out in the world affect Junior and his people. On their reservation, they constantly struggle from the racism and oppression that put them on the reservation. On the reservation they are held back by so many boundaries, the boundaries being money, education and freedom. We know how Junior and his family suffers. But how do we suffer? The point of this blog entry today was to talk about how I suffer in my own reservation as a person. But I wanted to talk a bit differently and talk about the reservation for females, and how females are suffering on their own reservation (this is a metaphor don't freak out).

So, how exactly do females suffer on their own metaphorically speaking reservation? It's actually quite simple. No matter what skin color the woman is she still does not have the advantages that men have. The women who have it even worse are women of a different race other than white. Many females, in this day are told from when they were born to "act like a lady". Why are little girls supposed to act a certain way? They are just little kids. Another common saying heard is "boys will be boys". I know that many girls have heard this saying as a response to a boy doing something they did not like to them. Girls are practically thought from a very young age that boys can do these bad things to them because they're boys. But they can't make mistakes because they have to act like a lady. This is not right!!!

Another thing. Men are more likely to get a job than women. Another boundary set up by this "female" reservation is that women should not follow their dreams. Men are more likely to get jobs than women. A recent study done at auditions for a symphony orchestra proved this to be true. People auditioning were hidden behind a wall so the people listening to their auditions (men) would not know who it would be. More women were hired as a result. And what was more was that once a carpet was placed down so that the sound of heels clacking on the floor were silenced, even more women were hired. But here's the thing-women are still going to follow their dreams (a really good thing).

The final boundary in this terrible reservation is the boundary that women will never be able to beat these boundaries. Now of course the point of this blog entry is to talk about the boundaries that are set up. This is a boundary. But all of these boundaries are going to go away one day soon. Women are rising up strong and fierce, ready to live their dreams and live their lives. This reservation won't be around for long!

Native Son (and some extra stuff)

Out of all of the books that we have read this year, Native Son was definitely the most complex and terrifying. Native Son deals with the main character, Bigger Thomas who murders twice, and in turn continuously slips between a troubled man and a deranged, easygoing criminal. To society, Bigger is better off dead, and they want him to be. Bigger's actions constantly confuse the reader, as he is sometimes guilt-stricken due to his actions and wants to have a good life, whereas other times he is enjoying the feel he gets due to the murders. Max, Bigger's lawyer seems to understand his complexity and in an attempt to save his life and have him spend the entirety of it in jail, makes a long speech trying to define why Bigger did what he did. Max elaborates on Bigger's life, that from the start was plagued not only by the racist restrictions that whites had placed on his life, but that that had evolved into making the whites almost a separate alien race from him. The racism that was thought to only originally divide the races divided so much more than that. To Bigger, Mary was so detached and alien to him that killing her did not affect him in the way that people thought that he should have.

To me, Max's speech in its entirely was interesting. I say this not necessarily for the content of the speech, but because of the fact that Max had put so much effort into breaking down the system and trying to put together why Bigger did what he did. Max, through this speech, condemned himself to almost a similar fate as Bigger's. He mentioned earlier that people had already begun to send him death threats, and this speech sealed the deal, so to speak. I commend him for the understanding of racism and its affect on people of different races, especially African Americans. They are stuck in society where they have to work twice, if not three times as hard to support themselves. They are stuck with so many disadvantages, whereas the white race has so many privileges. It is almost impossible for them to escape this situation in society, so they continue down this path that was forged due to these injustices.

Green Light, Yellow Car, Church Steeple

For people who read the Great Gatsby and don't have the assistance of our great English teacher, the aforementioned objects probably do not mean much. However, in the book they play a bigger part if they are analyzed much more carefully.

The Green Light which appears very early in the book when we see Gatsby reaching toward the light at the end of a chapter confuses readers. Why does he reach out to something so far away, and what exactly is its purpose? We then realize a bit later in the book that the light had symbolized Daisy, who was Gastby's dream. Gatsby had wanted to be with her for so long, and reaches out to the light, his dream, as he is almost there. In a way, the green light represents more than just the light that reminds him of Daisy. It represents the idea of a dream. The green light is far away from Gatsby, yet he tries very hard to be closer to it, such as our own dreams. People chase their dreams, even though they might be farther off than we thought.

The Yellow Car not only symbolizes the death of Myrtle Wilson but also the turning point in the story. For Myrtle Wilson, the Yellow Car symbolizes her way out of her relationship with George. She hates being in this relationship and runs out when she sees that the yellow car is speeding by, which eventually results in her death. However for Tom, he thought that the yellow car was a clown car and he ridiculed Gatsby for it. The very thing that Tom made fun of also ended up killing someone he had at some point cared for a little. The following day after Myrtle's death, a very important thing was to find out who was driving the yellow car. The yellow car symbolized a lot more in the story than most originally perceive. Whoever was driving that car was the person who killed Myrtle. And the person who was "driving" the car was the person who ended up dead.

The Church Steeple, also known as the church steeple Nick looked at like "Kant" was said due to the thinker Kant who, in short, was said to developed theories about morals while looking at a church steeple. Kant was a man who thought about morals. An example is if you believe that lying is bad, then you should not lie, even if lying is the best way to fix your situation. Nick ponders about Gatsby somewhat like Kant when he looks at the church steeple, wondering really, who is this Gatsby. Gatsby is a man who is mysterious, and it is not clear why he is mysterious and always hiding away during his parties. He wonders and tries to develop and idea of who Gatsby really is.

Janie

Janie is a woman who yearns to find true love more than anything, yet she goes about it in all the wrong ways, which was not necessarily always her fault. Her grandmother wanted her to marry Logan Killicks, a hard working man, but Janie knew she did not feel any sort of love for him. Only for her grandmother, she married Logan. She realized she would never love him, and she made that known to him. Although she did NOT love Logan, she put him through a little too much than he deserve. She would often argue with him. Although he argued back, saying some not so nice things, he was hurt. The next man that Janie ran off with, Joe Starks, was not an improvement over her first husband. Yes, Joe was an educated, rich man; the mayor of the town they lived in, but he only really wanted Janie for the image that she gave him. With a beautiful wife like her, it seemed like he was normal just like them, getting married and having a family. However, Joe was not easily impressed and quite egotistical. He would hit Janie at times, did not like her doing certain things because of her social class and gender. Janie did not like that at all. However, she amazingly managed to stay with him for 20 years. When he died, she was elated and loved the feeling of freedom. Sure enough, another man rolled into her life. A curious character named Tea Cake, who is playful and cheerful. He falls in love with her, and the two plan to get married, How will this go? Can Janie actually find a good man she likes this time?

Thanksgiving-Classmate Style

Thanksgiving is a pretty great time to express your thankfulness, and this Thanksgiving, I am pretty happy to say I am thankful for several of my classmates. I am going to cover everyone, and I am sorry I can't say something about everyone that's too magnificent because unfortunately, I don't know you that much. Also, I know that I'll be thankful for some people, but they won't be thankful for me. But that's ok. I am used to this kind of stuff. Anyways, a few years ago, I wouldn't be able to really say the same, as I didn't really like anybody because they didn't like me. That point aside, I am happy to talk about why I am thankful for several of my classmates. I am thankful for Alexis, the very first friend I made here at Whitney Young. I met her during freshman connection and I was trying my best to actually make friends and be less shy. I awkwardly went to sit beside her, and we began to talk and be friends. I am so glad I managed to not be shy long enough to make friends with her. She is very nice and even though she is quiet, it's probably because she's really good at listening to other people. I am very thankful that I met someone super awesome like her. I am thankful for Alex because she is also a great friend. She's very smart/intellectual and she really cares about her friends. She also has a cool laugh and she's always wearing something rad that I wish I had/was wearing. I don't think I could ever be as fashionable as she is, and that's not a lie. Thank you Alex for always having an interesting opinion to share, and also for being there for your friends! You rock! Next, I am thankful for Isabel. I sit next to Isabel and it is never a boring day when she is around. She is so funny and laughs at just about everything, even if it makes no sense at all. Her laughter is contagious. Also, her profile picture is a meme. Why Isabel, why. But besides the laughter, she is smart and has a lot of intelligence to back if up. She can jump into a conversation and not be awkward like me, which I think is very awesome.

Now, I met Isabella this year, but it is no lie that she is kind of one of my favorite persons right now (that might have not made sense grammatically). She is short like me, and it makes me not feel so bad about my height (sorry Isabella). But although she appears quiet, she does talk about some pretty intense stuff. She also has a pretty good fashion sense. Because of her, I can make it through my next period class without losing it. Thanks girl! I am thankful for Sally! Sally is so awesome! She is good at understanding things and being able to present it and talk about it. She's a good actor and she's really good at helping me take care of the animals in the animal room. Sally is so great because when you see her talking or caring for animals, you see how awesome and passionate she is about the things she does, and that's what makes her so cool and a stand-out person. Sally is a really great friend as well. I remember seeing her in Freshman connection, but I never said anything because I am too shy. Actually being able to have a class with her makes me be able to hang out with this awesome person!!! I am thankful for Adam, who, although I met this year is already one of my best friends. He's kind, he listens to people and he's friends with everyone (how does he do it???). Adam is great at talking to people, being sociable and making friends so casually (unlike me), and he has really great ideas in the classes that I have with him. He's good at what he does, and I like it when people are able to flaunt at what their good at. Unfortunately he also had to give me a nickname that I will not type here for obvious reasons. Thanks a lot Adam. I am thankful for Sabrina, who I don't sit next to, but when we did talk, it was nice because she had a lot of cool things to say. I wish that I could talk to her more but I don't sit next to her unfortunately. You are rad, Sabrina! I am thankful for Juan, whose sneezes make me laugh because of everybody's expressions when he does. Ah yes, the joy of watching surprised faces. Ha, ha. I am thankful for Alejandro who I get to hang out with now in classes. He has an amazing voice and he's also a great friend. He wears these gorgeously awesome wigs and he looks fabulous in them. He likes to mess around a lot, but who doesn't? He also really likes the song Anaconda. Reaaaly likes it. I am thankful for Rivka. I have not talked to her at all, but she projects her ideas in class and their awesome. I think it's really great to hear. And for the rest of you in my class, I am thankful for all of you. I really want to say more, but I obviously have written too much. And I am also quite certain none of you wrote anything about me. Oh well.

Lastly, I am thankful for Mr. McCarthy, for being a great teacher. I always look forward to your class. I was so worried before this year started that my first period class wouldn't be great. I was so wrong. I love this class, and I am thankful that you make it interesting and fun, and you're not a strict teacher that the students can't talk casually to. Thanks for being such a great teacher!

Happy Thanksgiving guys! Eat a lot now, regret it all later!

Principle We Should Keep

Principles are a very important fundamental way of life for people worldwide. Everyone has different principles, and those principles are their guidelines on how they each live their own life. However, many people question other people's principles. Some do not make sense to other people, however there are principles that should definitely be kept. A principle that I believe we should keep is the principle to not harm other people. I chose harm instead of kill because killing is an extreme form of harming somebody. And harm can explain a wide variety of different things, physical or mental harm, harm that comes from being struck or harm that can come from someone's harsh words. Everyone should keep the principle to not harm anyone because no matter what kind of way the harm is delivered, the pain is still the same. Harm can affect people in more than one way. The most extreme form of pain can come from someone you love dying, or from being hurt physically. That is why this principle should be so important to people and central to our community. It can prevent many bad things from happening and covers a wide variety of topics and other principles. The principle to not kill anyone can be covered by this, or the principle to never steal, as stealing takes other people's stuff away and leaves them with less. Thus, the principle that is golden for everyone to keep is to never harm anybody.

Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway. An author so praised and celebrated. However, many seem to overlook his life outside of writing, his many wives, times in the war, and even more interesting enough, the way his life connects to some of his stories.

Throughout his entire writing career, Ernest had many wives and loves. It seemed as if whenever he was married, the marriage would only last so long until he fell in love with another woman. He would love two women at the same time until the former left the the relationship. He jumped around from woman to woman. Knowing this made me change my perspective on him, as Ernest also seemed to want to be in control all the time and have a macho image. With one wife, that did not particularly set well and she left him.

Ernest used his time in the war for a lot of his story inspiration. There are many stories he wrote involving inspiration from the war, such as a Farewell to Arms. However Ernest had a connection the war, not only affecting his writing style, but his personal life as well. He had had many nightmares about the war and for some time he could not sleep without a light on as well. Eventually, this also led to his eventual suicide.

There are also a lot of connections with his life and stories. One of his wives had trouble giving birth at one time and was continuously given c-sections whenever she gave birth. Hemingway wrote a similar story called Indian Camp that had a lot of parallels to the trouble his wife had giving birth. The wife in that story had been giving labor for hours until she got a c-section, much like his wife.

There are a lot of sides to Ernest Hemingway that many people overlook because most focus on his stories. But with knowing more about him, we can see how his experiences and life connect to his writing style and stories.