Book 2

In book Two Joe wants to make contact with the outside world more than anything else. Using his head to transfer Morse code he is finally able to make contact with the world outside his dark prison. He tells the man that finally comes to listen to his messages that he wants to be taken out of the hospital and toured around the countryside. He wants to show those with romantic words and images in their heads the terrible truth of war. There is not fun there. All you find is a maimed husk of a man who will never be able to experience the world around him ever again. However, the army won’t let him of the hospital because of the very thing he wants to show. They have no desire for the world at large to get such a close glimpse of the true horror of war. If boys looking on see how terrible the grand adventure of war really is, the leaders of the army will never be able to recruit anyone again.

How injured is Joe? How much does it matter?

Joe is extremely injured. He has lost both his arms, both his legs, and a large chunk of his face. He can no longer see, hear, smell, or taste. He’s basically a torso and a brain. Joe is fed and breathes through a series of tubes. The extent of his injuries is critical to the book’s plot. Because Joe has absolutely no access to the world around him beyond the vibrations he feels as people walk by his bed. This puts him in a position that no one else can experience, and the realizations that he makes are unique to his unique situation. If he had even one more of the senses that people these days take for granted, His experience wouldn’t have been the same. From the struggle to find out the time of day, to the deep reflections about himself, all would have be different on the most basic level if he had been able to see or hear.

Wolfson number 5

5) Wolfson uses this passage about the right of prisoners to marry because he believes that homosexuals looking to marry are going through the same issues currently that the criminals already worked through. He doesn’t mention the fact that they are prisoners because by hiding the truth of his story until the very end, its ads a sense of SURPRISE and GOTCHA to his telling. He tries to make it seem that he is telling a story about homosexuals. That way he is hoping to get his readers to think, wow if prisoners have the right to marry, and homosexuals are going through such a similar set of circumstances, why shouldn’t we give them the right to vote?
I personally think that to gay rights supporters it would be quite effective, as it would most likely evoke outrage that a class of citizens that can’t vote have the right over non-incarcerated homosexuals to marry. However, for those who don’t already support his way of thinking, it isn’t quite as effective. Personally, I don’t think that the two are related. It’s almost the apple versus oranges debate. For the prisoners, their lawsuit has to deal with the right to marry behind bars, but still between a man and a woman. Gay marriage on the other hand, flies against traditional marriage in our country. In the US especially, marriage is a religious institution that has long been between a man and a woman. To allow same sex marriages would be to change a staple of life in the US while simultaneously ignoring how other groups, especially religions, feel about the topic. It might look the same on the surface, but convicts marrying and homosexuals marrying are definitely not the same thing.

Santorum

I like his metaphor because it accurately describes what he is trying to say. Throughout his essay, Santorum gives statistics and other fact based information to make his point, and this metaphor sums it all up quite nicely. Going by straight statistics, a nuclear, traditional family creates a well-adjusted child more often than any other combination. The metaphor of the planes perfectly shows this as the planes have statistics as well. One plane makes it there almost every time, like a traditional family, and one makes it there only some of the time, like the single parent family. Its truly elegant in its simplicity.

Engaging the Text #2 on p. 453. Refer to Eustace in your answer.

2) I don’t think they are incompatible necessarily, but the way that modern culture asks for and defines those qualities makes them much more difficult to piece together. In the past manliness meant being able to care for ones family and defend what you believe in. These days its seems more and more that society sees manliness as an excuse for guys to beat each other senseless and to treat other people in general terribly. Also manliness is often confused these days with being “hard.” Quite a few guys think that they have to act like real hard cases to seem like men.
On the flip side, sensitivity is often requested by females, but isn’t often a quality that men look to show very often anymore. Nowadays, Sensitivity is seen a weakness or is classified as a “gay” attribute. If a guy shows a sensitive side, other males, and to some extent the world in general begins to question whether he is hetero or homosexual.
Eustace Conway is a traditional example of how the two used to be able to coexist. He is the definition of an old school manly-man, and at the same time treats the women in the life with utmost respect so long as they operate by his rules. He is also extremely prone to show a sensitive, mushy side when he falls in love with a woman. This is the kind of person many women are entranced by because he has almost all the characteristics that they think they are looking for. They ignore his downsides because he is such a prefect male on paper.
A connection of Manliness and Sensitivity like Eustace’s is long longer easily possible because of the way we define the two in modern culture, and if girls want that “Prefect” mix of the two, they better go find a teepee.

Why is Eustace the last American Man?

I think that Gilbert considers Eustace the last American man because he represents classical American values that have changed or simply been forgotten as we have entered the modern era.
Eustace lives in a much simpler world that most of us live in. His biggest challenger in the world isn’t a person vying for the same job or anything like that. It’s putting his skills as a human against those of Mother Nature. There is a mystique around the stereotypical cowboy. On the range with just a horse and a six-shooter as company, there are very few images that produce that “Badass” male idea. Everyone Eustace meets gets swept up in this idea and Gilbert is no different.
At times she almost seems obsessed with Eustace to a point of glossing over his faults. While she does mention how he has become like his father, she moves on rather quickly to further highlight another of Eustace’s accomplishments. This image of the frontiersman is almost addictive to some people, and once you’re under Eustace’s spell, as it appears Gilbert is, he can do no wrong. And when you only see one person like Eustace, it’s no surprise that it’s easy to label him the last American man.

fairy tail

A story that I remember loving as a child was the story of John Henry. Henry was a rail worker who was so fast he bet that he could dig a tunnel faster than a machine. They had a race to the center of a mountain and in the end John Henry won, but his heart wore out in the process. However, he died a happy content man because he had worked his hardest and provided for his family.
I think that this could be considered a lesson for just boys, but a girl could get something out of this tale as well. The lesson of this story is that by working hard and believing in yourself, you can achieve anything. Plus, Henry was more than willing to give his life for his family which is another commendable trait.

Nature

Who can set bounds to the possibilities of man? Once inhale the upper air, being admitted to behold the absolute natures of justice and truth, and we learn that man has access to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself the creator in the finite.

I think that this is a cool passage because it perfectly fits the ideals of transcendentalism that Emerson is a proponent of. These lines describe the fundamental belief of transcendentalism, that god is inside everyone, and that everyone has to forge their own place in the world. Its an interesting concept, and definitely appeals to people even in today’s world. Unlike most mainstream religions, the idea that anyone can shape their own destiny is a radical concept that can attract many followers.

Artists v. Politicians

I completely agree with Wright’s thought that Artists are the opposites or Politicians. Their purposes in the world are completely separate from each other.
Artists strive to bring out the inner soul of the world around them. They see suffering, happiness, and human emotion and they work to bring that out, whatever medium the choose to use.
Politicians on the other had want to harness the parts of humanity that they can use. They strive to bring out the complacent sheep inside everyone, and try to hide their dark motives for doing so.
Politicians may pretend to enjoy the finer parts of life, might even socialize with artists, they are out for something else. As long as an artist serves the politician’s purpose they’re best buds. If they need good propaganda, the right kind of artist can do wonders. However, as soon as the artists’ work don’t fit their agenda, they part company as fast a possible. In Black Boy, the Communists are more than willing to work with Wright and the other writers until their “mission” changes. They now want new creative talent around them who will mold more easily to their goals. Wright and those around him are dropped and forgotten. The same can be said of any person once a politician removes everything from a person that that individual can

Can one voice do anything?

I don’t think that one voice can move a whole crowd to action. Rather, it takes the efforts of tens, if not hundreds of people. At first, while unlikely that it’s only a single person, one person might see an action that stands against their moral code. Usually this is a trait in society that everyone is aware of, but no one actively acknowledges because it is taboo in a society.
If the paper is especially well written or enlightening, a small core of people will be willing to do something to fix that problem will read it. While the majority might look right past without truly understanding the problem, this small group will take action how they seem fit. This small group will recruit, sometimes secretly more and more people until the group has grown to a size large enough to reach out to the general population and affect their way of thinking.
The hard part of this process is keeping the message from becoming diluted. When only one person starts a crusade, there is a large chance that his or her method will slowly fade away. This can be seen in the efforts of the Communists in Black Boy. Marx had an amazing idea, but the group that is trying to bring his ideals to fruition lose sight of what is truly important.

use of parenthesis

On page 265 Wright uses parenthesis to show that he is talking out of context about his feelings of uncertainty about his place in life. By doing this he separates himself from the story, and it shows that he is talking about this after thinking back over years of life. He isn’t speaking as the worried, harried boy, but as a man with many more years of experience under his belt.
Also, the style of writing changes and he uses more metaphors and seems to think more deeply about what he’s talking about. You can tell he is talking from a more mature point of view in these paragraphs. Also, I thought I was interesting that in all of the passages he starts with a (but doesn’t have a) at the end of his aside. Instead, he just moves on to the next paragraph.

Wright at the end of part one

At the end of the book Wright begins to read and starts to see that greater world of thought that has been around him his entire life but hasn’t even begun to comprehend. He reads to learn more about what’s around him. Wright says that as soon as he feels that he understands an author’s point of view he moves on to the next because its not so much the stories but the point of view that he’s reading for.
I think that this is a positive change because it convinces him once and for that he’ll never make it anywhere in the south, and decides to go north. Plus, he has actively made a decision to change his life without stealing for it. He might have to resort to sneaky means to gain access to his books, but in the end they have given him a boost in life that he hasn’t ever attainted himself before without stealing.

Wright’s moral dilemma about stealing

Wright Has a moral dilemma about stealing because if he steals he fits in the standard mold of southern Blacks, but if he doesn’t steal it will take him a long time to acquire the money necessary to leave the south.
Wright values his individuality and his sense of self. He sees himself as a person trapped between a rock and a hard place. He wants to avoid the stereotype of his race, but in southern society there is little way for him to do so while amassing the required resources to leave the south.
In his place I think I would end up stealing as well because it’s the only opportunity available to people in his class. It doesn’t make stealing right, but in a community where the Whites hold down the blacks so tightly, there is little else he can do. It was a hard decision that plagued him to tears, but it was the only way to make it out of the south alive so I think that Wright was justified in his actions.

What does Griggs mean by ‘learn how to live in the south’?

When Griggs tells Wright to learn how to live in the south he means that Wright must learn how to fit in a White controlled society. Wright always says and acts how he feels, and in a society where that see blacks as simple sheep, that can be very dangerous. Griggs is saying that in order to live, Wright must learn how to walk small. He acknowledges that Wright is smart, but tells him that when whites are around he must act like a typical black person to avoid dangerous attention.
Having to cover who you are is never a good thing, but Griggs is giving Wright some of the most important advice that a Black person can get in the south. Learn to live the Whites’ way or suffer the consequences.

Was Wright justified to say his own speech?

I think that Wright is justified to make his speech, but in the greater sense of the world, it probably wasn’t a smart thing to do. Wright is a man of strong opinions and morals. He deeply believes in himself as an individual. The principle is telling him that when whites are around its not a good idea for him to be himself. Instead, he asks Wright to drop his own opinions in favor of a washed out prewritten speech.
Wright can stand the fact that this “bought man” is trying to force him to drop how he feels about the world, and knowing what we do about Wright, he will never be willing to do that. To do so would compromise Wright’s sense of self, and that shouldn’t be forced on anyone. I would definitely say that Wright was justified to not say the speech, and I can say that I would do the same to protect something that I truly believe in.

Why is Wright so angry at Uncle Tom

Wright is angry with his Uncle Tom because even though that Tom should have no authority over him, he tries to beat Wright after Wright gives him “sass.” All Wright does is respond to a criticism of his watch wit ha response that he would give anyone. Uncle Tom took this the wrong way and tried to beat Wright. It was only Wright threatening to stab him with Razorblades that stopped Tom.
Wright was angry at Tom’s response to his actions, but I think he reacted so angrily for a larger reason. Day in and Day out people tell him where to go, how to act, what to do. His granny is trying to force him to be religious. He teachers want him to be a sheep, and the Whites just want him to shut up and act like a regular black. He has been struggling with these influences, and when another influence suddenly arrives in his life and tries to take control of even more of his life, its no surprise that Wright was so angry with him.

Wrights Writing

Wright feels gratified after sharing his writing to his next-door neighbor because he has finally done something that sets him apart for the dull masses around him. Even when the girl doesn’t understand why he’s written his story, it gives him great satisfaction.
He can finally call something his own, and gives him a purpose of sorts in the world. Instead of just having to sit there and take what is given to him, Wright can now reach out and show himself to the world around him. He says that it is a terrible story, but he had made something that was his.
The girl might not understand and his world might view his desire to write as alien, but he found something that allowed him to express his view of the world and nothing can take that away from him.

Wright's reaction to his mother's sickness

When Wright first sees him mother in such a pitiful condition, he is scared for her survival. He even forces his relatives to let him go to the hospital where the surgery to save her life will happen. But after her immediate survival, his attitude begins to change.
After she gets over a bout of paralysis, Wright’s mother tells him to just kill her. After that he shuts off feelings for his mother because he can no longer deal with her suffering.
But more importantly, Wright realizes something about himself. He decides that he won’t just sit back and live with the miserable life that has been dealt to him. Instead he is going to try and wring a meaning from what appears to be meaningless suffering. His entire life before his mother had her strokes was on disappointment after another. Constant hunger, both literal and metaphorical, has been all he’s even known, and he finally decides that the only way he can have a life is to try and make sense of the meaningless trudge of a life.

Wright's Jewish interactions

Wright’s Cultural heritage revolves around disliking other cultures. He goes to church and is taught that Jew’s are the Christ killers and should be distrusted and disliked. But on top of that, popular culture gives him even more direction.
His culture that he sees everyday tells him to avoid, distrust and hate people unlike him, and the most visible example of people to distrust is are the Jews. Whites don’t generally come into the black areas of town, which can be seen in his interactions with the white boys. So to have a white person owning a story right in the middle of black territory gives him a prefect target to go after.
Wright’s religious culture gives him an excuse to go after the Jews, but in reality this is just example of the general distrust the blacks have for the whites.

Wright's hunger

Richard Wright is hungry because his family is poor and can’t afford poor, but like all good English books, there is a deeper metaphorical meaning. Wright has so much more to deal with in his life.
Wright is hungry for a wider view on the world. He has been stuck in a hellhole of a house with no way out. Every day is exactly the same as the next, dreary and unimpressive. He’s hungry for something new and he’s desperate to find a way to get that.

Case against school

I think that schooling is definitely something that is necessary, but for different reasons than Gatto says. He downplays the academic education that is given to children and also glosses over the positive social skills that are developed over their twelve-year career.
While school might train kids to be sheep, Gatto himself says that is to avoid if you know what to look for. But another aspect of socialization occurs in school as well. Kids learn how to interact with their peers in a way that isn’t possible without being with people their same age for extended periods of time. While yes, I know of home-schooled children who are extremely bright, they are some of the most socially awkward people I know. Haven’t never spent large blocks of time with other people, they close down and don’t know how to react once they are among their peers.
Also, the education that is given might at times seem useless, but I think that people need some kind of education. He says that he wants to give kids education but not schooling. Unfortunately the only other option I can see for schooling is home schooling, but there isn’t much ability for a member of the family to stay home every day to teach the kids. Also, while he points out that people like Lincoln and Franklin never had formal education, I don’t think that you can compare the world they lived in to the one we are in today. The cutting edge of learning these days is so much further along, that you can’t really teach yourself the knowledge necessary to do more that basic things.
While “schooling” as we have today might not be the best option, and it gives plenty of opportunity for conspiracy theories, it gives people education opportunities that wouldn’t be available to people who don’t have access to home schooling. The system has holes, but it gives people a boost in life that they can get nowhere else.

nonacademic education

I would say that I value the nonacademic education that school has provided me. There is so much more to life than just books and learning, and it’s during high school that I’ve gotten a window into this larger world.
I’ve heard many times that high school is the time to start figuring out who you are. What kind of people you like, who you want to date, the emphasis of school versus sports versus the hundreds of other opportunities. It all adds up and can make a mess out of your schedule.
But it’s during high school that I’ve started to sort it all out. Comparing my schedule and friends of freshman year to that of my senior year it is amazing. Freshman year I had so many things on my plate that every night I’d basically collapse from sheer exhaustion. Now, I fence and I go to the Lord’s pantry. My friends have changed as well, I no longer hang out with people from middle school really. We’ve just grown in different directions. Now my friends are all from high school and form a base that I know won’t evaporate like my friends from middle school because I’m much more sure of myself that I ever was in middle school. Even though I will still change during college, who I am is more certain than ever before.
The education that I’ve received in high school might not all be academic, but that part might be even more important than the actual schooling. I’m more confident and sure of myself. I know better now who I am.

Projects day 2

Today’s most interesting ad was the one about the pregnant woman drinking the non-alcoholic beer. I thought that this ad was one of the most creative ads all day and definitely brought my attention to the product that the ad was selling.
In modern society it is almost a rule that pregnant women shouldn’t drink. Alcohol consumption during a pregnancy can do terrible things to the baby, and any woman seen drinking during that nine months is scorned for putting her child in jeopardy.
Then to see a very pregnant woman holding a glass of beer automatically draws you attention. You can’t really move past the ad until you have figured out why this event is taking place. Its then that you see that its non-alcoholic beer and you can go Whew and move on.
The way that the ad draws in your attention and forces you to figure out the product that’s being advertised is pure genius and gives and amazing example of rhetoric used in the real world.

Response to projects 1

Of all the ads that I saw today, I think that the most thought-provoking one I saw was Christina’s ad about lines. Ha-ha not really. Really, the best ad that I saw was the picture of the Village of West Clay. I’ve always kind of seen that place as a creepy stepford wives sort of place, but I’ve never really looked at it for rhetorical value.
The comment that it is trying to reach back to an older way of life seems very true. The town center complete with open green and town hall shows that the village is trying to be like one of the old colonial villages out there in Massachusetts.
However, I think that their effort comes off as heavy-handed. Instead of harkening back to the good old days of America, it seems like this community is saying to the rest of the world we’re better than you and we don’t need to even leave the confines of our wonderful world to be happy.

Reaction to women in ads soapbox rant

While I can see validity to Kilbourne's argument, the way that she goes around it just irritated me. Instead of focusing on the issues with good examples she over-generalizes and talks about all men and the how all teens think when she really has no expertise in either. I'm sorry, but the only way to know how a guy reacts to ads it to be a guy. Those ads don't provoke any violent thoughts in me. Call me crazy, but it seems like she is saying that guys can't take a provocative ad as simply that, an ad.
Instead, she assumes that guys will see pictures of a watch ad or a perfume ad as an excuse to treat women badly. I can't remember ever having walked by a billboard like that and thinking, hmmm while that tie looks nice, I have a sudden urge to go tie up a girl and take advantage of her. Let me go wait in the dark alley over there for someone unsuspecting to walk by.
I actually get offended when people start making generalizations like that. While she was on her soap box about men treating women as objects, Kilbourne completely missed the irony of her own argument. People should be treated as real people, but men are all dangerous knuckle dragging degenerates that use any excuse from popular culture to take advantage of the opposite sex. Ok, I see the pro's of treating people as real people. Too bad according to Kilbourne it only needs to go one way.

Ad appeal

Tonight while I was watching the news I saw a commercial for the Toyota Tundra. It showed the pickup truck hauling a large load of metal barrels or something. Then a huge metal wall dropped in front of the truck and it screeched to a halt right before it hits the wall. Then it goes on to talk about the brakes and suspension of the car.

This ad appeals to men's idea of what they need in a truck. Guys always need the next big thing and this one sure is big and shinny. Even though most men will never need the ability to haul so and so tons of junk, but it is sure cool to say, and that's what this ad is trying to get males to think to convince them to buy the truck.

One Act plays

I guess the plays were good for having a sophomore in high school write them. That being said, I didn't really find them enjoyable. I think the only one that I really liked was Henry's casting call short. For the ones that Elise wrote, it seemed like her goal was to confuse and piss people off. Dealing with gay issues as well as the Issue of God is touchy territory to start with, and when its condensed into a one act play and the written by someone who is still developing her writing skills, this touchy subject comes of badly. It was a good first start that's for sure, but until she has more time to improve her style I would recommend that Elise stick to less sensitive subjects.

However, I would like to congratulate all of the actors. They did a fantastic job with what they had. I have to assume that it is hard to project a character in such a short period of time and I think that they all did it wonderfully.