Native Son Theme Analysis Essay Example for Free

Native Son Theme Analysis Essay In his novel, Native Son, Richard Wright reveals his major theme of the Black population in America in the 1930’s. In the opening scene of the novel, Wright introduces his condemning message towards the ugliness of American racism and the social oppression of Blacks in his time. The opening scene of Native Son functions by foreshadowing future events that occur throughout the novel involving major symbols that are introduced in the scene to represent other elements in the novel. The scene also establishes an atmosphere of hopelessness and despair as it presents the Thomas apartment setting and its contrasting image of the Dalton mansion. The function of the scene is established by three major elements which is the alarm clock, the rat-catching, and the apartment setting. The first element that is introduced is the ambiguous alarm clock. The alarm clock that awakens Bigger Thomas and his family at the opening of the novel is a major symbol that Wright uses to attack American racism. The loud ring the alarm clock gives off serves as a wake-up call Wright wants his audience to hear. Wright uses the alarm to represent his assertive message to the American public of the destructive effects of racism and oppression American society has accepted. His call for change is like a prophetic warning such as Elisha gives, in Biblical context, demanding the need for social change before it is too late for the nation of ancient Israel. Similar to Elisha’s warning, Wright predicts revolutionary violence and social upheaval if racism and oppression is not stopped in American society. Another function of the alarm clock is its foreshadowing of Bigger’s symbolic awakening in the course of the novel. The clock in the opening scene represents Bigger as a powder keg, both of which are waiting to go off at any moment. Bigger’s climactic point of his explosive act of killing Mary serves the same function as the alarm given off from the clock whereas both wake and opens the eyes of those who hear it or see it. The alarm clock symbolizes Bigger’s new realization that he should not feel guilty for the killing of Mary because of the living conditions White society forced him to live into, which made him into what he is. Another important element in the opening scene that Wright uses to attack racism and oppression is the rat-catching. In the commencement of the novel, Bigger discovers a huge black rat and his mother and sister jump in hysteria. Bigger then corners the rat, and as the rat attacks back, he strikes it with a skillet; then smashes it superfluously until it became a bloody pulp and showed it to Vera. The rat-catching scene is significant because it foreshadows Bigger being tracked down and caught in the course of the novel. In the scene, Wright portrays the black rat as Bigger Thomas. Wright makes them resemble like each other because of their color and their unwanted presence. Like rats, the Black population are viewed as vermin and unwanted pests by White society. With this perspective, the public oppresses and controls the Black population to prevent them from getting near towards Whites in American society. Both Vera and Mother Thomas’ hysteria towards the rat resembles White society’s hysteria toward Bigger’s murder and assumed rape of a White woman. Vera and Mother Thomas’ reaction towards the huge black rat is that of disgust and fear of what it may do. In comparison, when the public found the truth behind the killing of Mary, they panicked and feared of what a Black murderer and rapist is capable of doing. Wright uses this episode to reveal the intense hate the racist American society has towards the Black population. He also uses it to call attention to the excessive paranoia the public exhibits which is a link to the intensity and depth of American racism. Another foreshadowing in the novel would be the representation of Bigger’s capture through Bigger’s cornering of the rat. In the beginning of the novel, Bigger blocks the exit of the rat such as how the police block the exit on Bigger later on in the novel. The foreshadowing extends also at how the rat attacks viciously at Bigger’s pant leg such as how Bigger shoots back at his capturers to prevent being caught. These aggressive scenes between survival and fear points out the result and effects of American society’s strong racist views as Wright describes the capturers drive to capture what seems dangerous and fearsome to them. The last and final foreshadowing in the opening scene would be Bigger’s superfluous bashing of the rat and his act of showing the bloody rat to Vera. The scene is used to portray Bigger’s excessive beating at the time of capture and Buckley’s exhibition of Bigger’s capture and death. The excessive beating of both the rat and Bigger relate the abuser’s need for their thirst witnessing pain being inflicted upon their subject. They are also similar because their unnecessary abuse is a signal of the intense hate the abuser had towards them. Also, the exhibition of Bigger by Buckley presents the similar racist connotations as the beating does. In the novel, Buckley holds Bigger as a political advantage, stressing a racist message to Blacks to show them what happens to the unwanted Blacks when they break the law in Richard Wright’s time which consists of strict and racist laws. One last important element of the opening scene is the setting of the dilapidated Thomas apartment. One function of this apartment setting is to set the atmosphere for the novel as a whole. The run-down and squalid apartment gives a sense of hopelessness and despair. The gloomy aspect of the setting describes the victimization of the Thomas family done by the society in which they are living in. Another function of the apartment setting is that it is a microcosm for how Blacks live throughout the city of Chicago. The apartment is a small, congested room fixed with a kitchen and no walls to separate the men from the women. The inappropriateness of their apartment is exemplified when both Buddy and Bigger have to turn their heads away while Mother Thomas and Vera dress. These unacceptable living conditions are created by an oppressive society and creates an unstable Black society which produces people such as Bigger who turn out to be exactly what White society believes they are like. The apartment setting is also part of a geographical contrast with the Dalton mansion. The apartment shows the unfair distribution of wealth as the Dalton mansion exhibits aristocratic characteristics with its multiple rooms and white columned porch; while the Thomas apartment has a mere single room, which occupies an entire family, and consists of a rat infestation. The contrast helps enforce the sense of the inequality and injustice while it also presents a divided Black and White society made possible by a racist country. Altogether, the opening scene functions to attack American society and its oppressive standpoint towards Blacks in Richard Wrights time. Wright establishes the scene’s function by using these three major elements: the alarm clock, the rat-catching, and the apartment setting. Richard Wright central theme of change is produced by the opening scene to correspond with the rest of the novel as it stresses the warning of a possible revolution and social upheaval if conditions do not change in American society.

A Critique of DiLorenzos The Real Lincoln Essay -- Thomas J. DiLorenz

A Critique of the Real Lincoln The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War, by Thomas J. DiLorenzo completely shatters the illusion of the 16th President as the liberator of the slaves. DiLorenzo provides convincing evidence for Lincoln’s overt racism as expressed in his documented views on racial supremacy as stated in his desire to colonize all American blacks outside the United States (p. 4); Lincoln’s views were matched by the majority in the North who used such tools as state constitutional amendments to prohibit the emigration of black people into Northern states like Lincoln’s home of Illinois (p. 4); and that the Presidents war which killed 620, 000 Americans and destroyed 40% of the economy, was a singularly terrible, unjustified conflict given the proven success in the 19th century of the peaceful end to slavery through the policy of compensated emancipation (p. 4). DiLorenzo accordingly notes that, â€Å"Between 1800 and 1860, dozens of count ries, including the entire British Empire, ended slavery peacefully; only in the United States was war involved (p. 4). DiLorenzo documents that history’s claims that the abolition of slavery as the leading motive behind the Union’s aggression against the South is untrue. He states that Lincoln’s motives were economic and political and in no way altruistic. Lincoln did oppose slavery, but his opposition did not stem from any moral motive. He wished to preserve white labor, and to avoid artificial inflation of Southern representation in Congress under the three-fifths clause of the Constitution, under which every five slaves counted as three free persons for the purpose of allotting number of congressional seats. DiLorenzo explains that from th... ...ding Fathers had tried to institute through the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Thomas DiLorenzo does a good job in documenting Lincoln’s ruthlessness and hypocrisy and how historians have covered it up. The founding fathers had a fear of federal governmental abuse. They saw state sovereignty as a protection. That’s why they gave us the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. I found this book very interesting and it makes you wonder what else we may have learned growing up that could be completely untrue according to your elementary school history books. I do however understand that there is two sides to every story and I wish DiLorenzo did a better job at explaining why history has painted Lincoln as such a hero. Works Cited DiLorenzo, Thomas. The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War. Three Rivers Press, 2003.

Monks

The basic purpose of monasticism is devotion to spiritual work and abdication from earthly temptations. Monasticism is known in many religions including Christianity. The word â€Å"monk† itself derives from Greek ‘monos’ – alone, so originally monasticism supposed it’s adepts to live alone[1]. Such lonely style of living has been known from the early years of Christianity, but it’s symbol is the figure of Antony the Great – a charismatic leader of the desert monks, who is said to be a founder of Christian monasticism. Antony and his followers completely left the world and devoted their lives to prays and manual work, attempting to reach cleanse their soul and know God[2]. Those â€Å"escapists† became known as anchorites (the word derives from a Greek word meaning â€Å"to withdraw†). Anchorites strived to stay alone with God and their way was a way of individual salvation. Such approach was good for early Christianity, however, with the development of Church as organization and spread of the new religion in Europe it could not satisfy both the Church and it’s numerous believers. So another way called cenobitic monasticism became popular. Saint Pachomius, the father of cenobitism has founded a community where numerous monks (both male and female) lived separately in huts or caves, however they met for prays and to perform common duties. Such from of monasticism allowed to make it more arranged and uniformed as well as to guide and control the monks. Pachomius himself wrote the first statute to govern the life in a monastery[3]. Cenobitism has not rejected the idea of personal mystical insight, it rather allowed to unite the associate-monks around a figure of a prior. So a monastery in cenobitism is a sort of school where knowledge of God is taught. Both cenobitism and anchoritism are united by several universal principles of monasticism such as surrender of all earthly vanity, labor as a part of salvation, individual way of spiritual rebirth, prayers as basic mystical practice, etc. Works Cited: 1.Lawrence, C. H. 2001. Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (3rd Edition). New York: Longmans 2. Burns, Paul, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Full Edition January vol. Collegeville, MN:The Liturgical Press 3.Johnston, William M. (ed.). 2000. Encyclopedia of Monasticism. vol. 2., Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers [1] Lawrence, C. H. 2001. Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (3rd Edition). New York: Longmans, p.- 9 [2] Burns, Paul, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Full Edition January vol. Collegeville, MN:The Liturgical Press, p- 107 [3] Johnston, William M. (ed.). 2000. Encyclopedia of Monasticism. vol. 2., Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, p. – 215 [4] Lawrence, C. H.   (supra note) p.- 45

Thought piece

We have discussed different learning theories (e. G. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning) in Lecture 3. Please derive ONE hypothesis related to any real-life issues based on one of these theories and then design an experiment to test your hypothesis. When you work on this assignment, try to think of and answer the following questions: D what Is your hypothesis? What are your independent variable (IV) and dependent variable (DVD)? How will you manipulate your IV (I. E. At is your treatment) and how will you measure your DVD? What are your experimental and control groups? What are the possible confounding variables and how would you control them? How would you decide that your hypothesis/sees have been supported? (I. E. Whether or not your hypothesis is supported by your data)? What may be potential problems with your experiment? How can they be solved? The major goal of this assignment is to apply what you have learned about the key elements of experimental design to real- life situations. You will need to describe the design of an experiment to best test your hypothesis.Please be specific about all of the key elements of your design and also about what results will be consistent or inconsistent with your predictions. Issues like sampling, group assignment, confounding factors etc. Should be considered when designing the experiment. Basically you will not need to read anything extra apart from the textbook and lecture notes for this assignment. Of course if you find it helpful to use ideas from other sources, you may do so, and in that case you should clearly state the source. Work will be penalized with severe mark reduction.Late submission will also be subject to mark reduction (marked down by 10% per day after due date). Your thought piece should be written in ENGLISH. It should be about and no more than three pages long (AY double-spacing, font: Time News Roman, size 12, 1 inch margin), excluding supplemental materials you may have (e. G. , refere nce list, table and figures, experiment materials, media clips)

The land I love essays

The land I love essays Bruce Springsteen writes a majority of his songs about prolific times in the great American past, which most Americans have vowed to forget. He stresses the importance of the mindset we must have as Americans, throughout harsh and painful times we inevitably endure. Not many people find comfort in reminiscing about the many innocents killed in Vietnam or the souls destroyed by racial profiling in the race riots of the 1960s. In Born in the U.S.A, No Surrender, and My Hometown, Springsteen engages the listener in a patriotic mode, and makes us Americans, proud to be who we are. Vietnam was a War in America that many want to forget. It was a war plagued by unexplained deaths and fought by innocent and mentally unprepared civilians Got in a little hometown jam so they put a rifle in my hand, Sent me off to a foreign land to go kill the yellow man. Many suffered extreme losses Had a brother Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong, Theyre still there hes all gone. Springsteen knew Americans needed a sense of patriotism when discussing times of negativity, such as Vietnam. Throughout Born in the U.S.A Springsteen reaches out to his listeners, because both he and us were Born in the U.S.A. Us Americans need to feel as if we are that ...cool rocking Daddy in the U.S.A. in order to change our moods and focus on other aspects of life such as rock and roll, rather than War. In Springsteens No Surrender references are made to Vietnam War, yet Springsteen forces Americans once again, to feel patriotic. Tonight I can hear the neighborhood drummer sound, I can feel my heart begin to pound. Drum rolls are necessary in funerals of those who die serving our country. He recognizes Americans feel our situation in Vietnam is worthless, and recognizes many of the soldiers are indeed tired and scared, yet Springsteen lets them remember We made a promise we swore we...

Mandarin Chinese Sentence Structure

Mandarin Chinese Sentence Structure Mandarin Chinese sentence structure is quite different than English or other European languages. Since the word order doesnt match, sentences which are translated word-for-word to Mandarin will be difficult to understand. You must learn to think in Mandarin Chinese when speaking the language. Subject (who) Just like English, Mandarin Chinese subjects come at the beginning of the sentence. Time (when) Time expressions come immediately before or after the subject. John yesterday went to the doctor.Yesterday John went to the doctor. Place (where) To explain where an event happened, the place expression comes before the verb. Mary in school met her friend. Prepositional Phrase (with whom, to whom etc.) These are phrases which qualify an activity. They are placed before the verb and after the place expression. Susan yesterday at work with her friend ate lunch. Object The Mandarin Chinese object has a great deal of flexibility. It is usually placed after the verb, but other possibilities include before the verb, before the subject, or even omitted. Conversational Mandarin often omits both the subject and the object when the context makes the meaning clear. I like on the train read the newspaper.

The Breakfast Club Film Review Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Breakfast Club Film Review - Coursework Example The plot is basically about teens and growing up pains. The five main characters in the film are Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), Claire Standish (Molly Ringwald), Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), John Bender (Judd Nelson) and Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy) who are brought together one Saturday morning at the Shermer High School library for â€Å"detention† – a kind of penalty imposed on each one of them for having done an unacceptable deed. Each of the characters come from different cliques, and are of different types of individuals – the wrestler, the prom queen, the nerd, the outcast and the rebel – but as the story unfolds, they find out that they actually have similarities, common angsts and can actually be friends and confidantes. From strangers, the story ends with some discoveries, transformations, and finally, some kind of connection between these teens. At first glance, the film seems to be a boring one with much talk and not too much action t aking place. The issues brought up by the characters are just too petty and would just send the viewer to shake his/her head in disbelief. As the movie goes along, however, the viewer gets to know more about the characters and it would be unlikely for anyone not to identify with the issues these youngsters faced.