The 21st Century American and The Dream that Comes with it!

At the beginning of this class when I thought of the 21st century American I thought about how lazy, ungrateful and selfish we were but after completing the course work for the class I must disagree with my self to an extent. Even though most of us display these traits how can one try to describe the quintessential American when we are such a diverse group of people. In American we function on a “me” focused culture where everything is about oneself in the end and how anything will effect the individual but in other cultures they have a “we” focused culture in which everything that happens is for everyone and effects everyone. If America was not “the melting Pot” then we could say that the American is self-centered but since so many different people have gathered here how can we say what a typical American is anymore. We are the mutts of the world! In saying this we must now ask ourselves if being a mutt has gotten rid of things such as discrimination and judgments made by others in America and the answer is no. The “American Dream” is what a lot of individuals that came to America were hopping for when they came here but unfortunately it is something that is hard to obtain. Obstacles, such as money, prevent a lot of people from achieving their American dream but that is not the only thing. The beauty of America is that everyone is different and some times the differences are what keep someone from making their dream come true. For example to be a pilot one has to have 20/20 vision and if not they are not allowed to fly a plane. This is just one example and though its restriction has just cause it still enables some people from achieving their dream as do many other restrictions in the world.

Woman Warrior Reader Response!

I feel Woman Warrior, as a whole was an interesting book I just simply didn’t understand some of the transitions. I understand that Kingston was giving a mixture of her own life events and old Chinese folk tales but I feel that if one doesn’t research the book a bit book reading, like I didn’t, then they will definitely be confused on more than one occasion. Until one figures out that the narration changes along with the story being told then they will be lost. I feel that if I had looked at some facts about the book prior to reading it I would have been able to get a lot more out of it. One aspect I found very interesting is that she called every non-Chinese person a ghost of some sort. Not only could this be considered offensive but also it is also somewhat disturbing. To think that one considers all others dissimilar from their selves to be “non human” or a ghost is not healthy. The characters act as though they cannot be heard or assimilate to the ghosts and if one does assimilate then they are considered part ghost. I found the whole thing interesting because usually discrimination goes towards one certain race and ethnicity to isolate but the Chinese people in the book did the exact opposite and isolated their selves. Another aspect I found interesting was the amount of gender roles used in the book. The girls were the week individuals even though Kingston directly talks of the greatest warrior to be a female the girls are still considered burdens and only they cause the problems and only they are the crazy ones. Starting with the non-names aunt that killed herself and her baby by jumping in the well to the crazy aunt that thought the Mexicans were after her, the girls had mostly all the problems with the exception of the crazy boy with dirty magazines. I feel this is definitely a reoccurring theme throughout the book and I am sure it is intentional.

Beloved Reader Response

After reading Beloved by Toni Morrison I must say that I feel it was a very good story. I was a bit confused at point and because of that I had to go back and reread. I think thins is due to the style that Morrison used while writing the book. She does not go from beginning to end. She does a lot of flashbacks and didn’t give really any indication that the flash back was occurring. She could have been doing this for the effect that in the book the flashbacks were randomly triggered and came out of nowhere, but it was really confusing as a reader. The story its self is a strong one though and full of emotion. The amount emotion that is emitted from Sethe alone was moving. This is a woman that almost died to get herself and her newborn baby to freedom and is so twisted from the pain and anger she has felt that she actually kills her child. In doing this she adds one more thing that haunts her to her list. I feel that being haunted is one of the main themes of the book, meaning the past haunts us. Every traumatic experience that Sethe went through came back to haunt her in some way whether it be a baby ghost, a bad memory, or an “actual” physical being. The very last chapter of the book kind of goes against the theme of haunting, because the spirit of Beloved is eventually forgotten whether it is intentional or through the doubting of Sethe and Denver. I think this may be a message that says once you face your past and deal with it as Sethe and Denver did then it can be forgotten or at least manageable.

Who is the Killer and What does he/she Represent??

As I have said many times I feel that the true killer of the book is not determined. Sherman Alexie wrote the book in a way that he could give supporting fact for many characters as the killer. I think Sherman Alexie did this to appeal to his audience because it allows his readers to finish the story and add to the story what or how he or she wants to. If I were to end the story the way I think it should end I would say that John is the killer. Many different reasons come to mind one being the open admittance to wanting to kill white men for all the wrong done. That is the motive of the killer and I just find it too much of a coincidence to have John openly admit to us that he wanted to do that. Another reason is John has mental health issues. A lot of skeptics say that john isn’t violent enough to commit those murders, but John also is a schizophrenic. “The Killer” could simply be one of John’s multiple personalities coming into play. I know many say if John was the killer then why didn’t he kill Wilson. I think that this was possible a statement John was making. Wilson was supposedly part Indian so maybe John’s cutting of Wilson’s face but leaving him alive was a representation of letting the Indian part live. Wilson was white and that was his main thing that kept him from being Indian because he wasn’t accepted outwardly but at heart Wilson tried to be true to Indians. In the End when John kills himself I definitely feel it was yet another statement. John wanted to tell people that one person can make a difference and as he stood over his body I feel that is when he started the dancing. In the book I feel that John is representing all the angry Indians that have been pushed around and been told to abandoned their heritage and live in the “American way” which was created by the “White” So even if the killings don’t stop I feel that it is still John driving other spirits and their anger along with his to kill the white man that is responsible for it all.

Discrimination in Restaurants

What I am about to say is going to sound horrible and I am not saying it is a true statement. I work at a restaurant as a hostess and it is a known fact at the hostess stand that a few select servers do not want certain ethnic groups sat in their section.These select servers sometimes even come up to the hostess stand and get angry with us if it occurs. I am not saying these servers are bad people because they are honestly not but they definitely tend to prejudge some tables as to what tip they are going to get, based simply upon the person’s appearance and race. In some cases these prejudgment and racial prejudices cause some servers to treat a table differently and not put as much effort into it. I feel that is what causes them to receive a smaller tip. When someone prejudges someone and then acts differently and treats him or her differently then no wonder they tip you poorly. Anyone can sense when people are not happy and I feel that a lot of times the table senses a servers prejudices. The thing is that you cannot always tell who is going to be a good tipper based upon their outward appearance. For example a couple weeks ago I sat two gentlemen at a table, and they were Caucasian, polite, dressed in suits, and carrying briefcases, clearly they were business men. These two men ordered their food as they talked about some cases in court they had recently taken care of, indicating they were lawyers. After they got their bill they waited until their server was gone and then left with out paying. This is an outcome that no one would have guessed, and it happened. The point I am trying to make is that your judgments of people are not always correct and sometimes when people prejudge then they act different or look for the bad, and in doing this their prejudgment is usually made a reality, but only because in a way they wanted it to be.

Response to Indian Killer

Indian killer by Sherman Alexie was a good book. I did enjoy the setup of the book and how each chapter was a different character. This allowed me to stay interested and not get bored with any particular character. This is a very powerful book. Not just powerful with the story and incidents that occur but with the messages hidden within. This book I must admit is not my favorite. Though it was good, it was so good to the point that I had a nightmare about it last night. Books filled with violence are not my cup of tea and with Alexie’s ability to paint a picture with his words I found myself very uncomfortable with some of the situations within. For example when Aaron and his buddies were beating the Indian couple with bats I could barely read the pages and when John was talking about the 6-year old boy I was completely disgusted and angry. I felt that a lot of the book was intended to be a message to people that even though one grows up in a world full of intermixed people, it doesn’t mean hatred and resentment doesn’t exist. I feel Alexie does this with John. John was raised by white parents and given anything and everything he ever asked for but yet still hated all white people. I feel things like this are something that occurs within a lot of people. Even if these people don’t ever act on their feelings, hatred exists in a lot of societies and is social accepted and normal.

Response to Fear And Loathing!

Starting this book was extremely difficult, Due to the way Thompson explains things. Though the way Hunter S. Thompson explains the events that occurred in his life are interesting they are also very confusing. I am not saying that I am a totally innocent person, but I have never been on drugs. That fact alone not only made it difficult to understand some terms but I didn’t know what the different drugs did so it made it hard to decipher what exactly was real in some instances. The journey Thompson takes his readers on to find the American Dream is definitely an interesting one and it was entertaining, but I must say I was confused at the same time. I ended up actually reading the book and then renting the movie so some instances were made clear and then some things clicked, but without the movie I feel I might have misunderstood some parts. I did love the way he made the American Dream seem like a crock. His trip to Vegas was a symbol for finding your American Dream and I really found it interesting how he made all fun instances have a down fall, which is how the USA works. One can try and try and try and still not get what they initially wanted in the end. Thompson showed this in a way that could appeal to many audiences. He told a crazy story about drugs and Vegas, which only a few can relate to, but he also told a story that allows those who couldn’t relate to the drugs, to relate to the simple situation of everything going wrong.

The American Dream

In general the phrase The American Dream is used to refer to the desire of freedom. This for other countries could mean something as simple as what they are allowed to wear or it could mean better jobs with better pay. For Americans this has now been translated to the desire of success, the desire of money, and the ability to do with the money as one wishes. In USA everything is suppose to be better, and in some ways it is, but the country its self is not as great as it seems. We are in a huge debt crisis in which the country is taking money from its citizens with promises of later benefits, but in reality we are soon going to be paying out more than we take in. America is the place to become successful but one will need money to achieve anything.

The 21st Century American

In my opinion the 21st Century American in general isn’t a great person. Most of us are selfish and ungrateful. We take advantage of the things we have access to. I am not saying that I am a perfect person because I’m not. I along with many Americans take advantage of the life I am able to live. For example a shower is something not all people in the world have access to, but if I couldn’t take a shower I would feel as though the world was going to end. Most American’s spend money selfishly on new gadgets when some people in other countries or even people just down the road can barely keep their family fed. Yes, some Americans are not great, but there are other aspects that make us great. Most of us have the mind set that we can achieve whatever we set our minds to and we don’t allow things to get in our way. This is not a reality for some people in other countries. Because of this Americans are proud of what we are able to achieve which also gives us self-confidence. With this self-confidence we have achieved many great things some of which have allowed us to live a better life.