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.