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Metaphor and vocabulary
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In “Seeing Beyond Our Differences “by Sheri White, the author writes about how people are different in their appearances, race, and religion. After all, everyone is human and almost identical. The author points out how her mother is from India with a dark skin color and her father is from Indiana with a light skin color. Her parents still able to get married and there is no obstacle in their marriage. As a daughter, the author has never noticed that her parents are different in their skin colors and races. They both are the same as human to her. The author’s main idea is to let people know that no matter what race they are, what religion they follow, or how they look, they all are human. Deep down inside them, in their DNA, they all are 99.9 percent the same and almost identical. In this article, the author uses expressive purpose and descriptive pattern to express her main idea. …show more content…
Throughout the article, the author uses the first person view to illustrate her main idea. For example, in the first paragraph she says “I learned that despite our differences in size, shape and color, we humans are 99.9 percent the same”. Here she uses the first person point of view to show her belief that people are different on the outside but inside they all are human, which is an example of expressive purpose. She says “I never noticed that my parents were different colors” and “I knew them as my parents before I saw them as people – before I perceived their skin color”. In this two quotes, the author expresses her feeling that although her parents are different in their skin colors she had never been racist or noticed that. The author sees her mother and father as her parents, their skin colors do not make them different to her. It is another characteristic of expressive
When I first announced to my parents that I was going to marry my current wife, the first words out of my father’s mouth were, “But she’s from another culture.” My father and mother, although being generally good people, are the products of an older system of beliefs. It is the matrix I was raised with, and that dictated my earlier learning experience. Fortunately for me, I chose to risk alienating my parents, and told them that if they ever mentioned “different cultures” to me again, it would be the last time we would be on speaking terms. I chose to ignore the matrix I was presented with, and the happiness and peace of mind that came from that decision have shaped my life ever since. I share this example because it is the key point of what I want the reader to understand from the comparison in this paper. It is a comparison between two choices made by two different primary players from the movie The Matrix and Octavia Butler’s novel Dawn.
The main aspect of this story is how race should not be someone’s entire identity, and that there are other parts of people that create who they are. Personality has nothing to do with whether someone is black or white, and throughout the story the reader catches themselves making these assumptions and feeding in to these stereotypes. Both Roberta and Twyla find difficulties in determining whether or not Maggie was black or white, and their memories seem to be unreliable. Roberta remembers Maggie being black while Twyla
In her book, Difference Matters, Brenda Allen discusses the importance of identity in an individual and in society. She addresses specific factors, from age to social class, that affect society. In her first chapter, more specifically, she talks about these factors as a whole in introducing the why differences matter. She then lays out the issues associated with differences in society. There are misinterpretations and misconceptions that become problematic between the relationship with individuals and society. This chapter is perfect for my topic because it shows that people differ from
Janie’s first discovery about herself comes when she is a child. She is around the age of six when she realizes that she is colored. Janie’s confusion about her race is based on the reasoning that all her peers and the kids she grows up with are white. Janie and her Nanny live in the backyard of the white people that her Nanny works for. When Janie does not recognize herself on the picture that is taken by a photographer, the others find it funny and laughs, leaving Janie feeling humiliated. This racial discovery is not “social prejudice or personal meanness but affection” (Cooke 140). Janie is often teased at school because she lives with the white people and dresses better than the other colored kids. Even though the kids that tease her were all colored, this begins Janie’s experience to racial discrimination.
As she listens to the speaker she started to think about the opinions of others regarding her. She thought to herself, ´´It was awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life¨. It was in that moment she realized that others do not see her as she sees herself. To them she's just a another black person in the world, but she does not see herself as that.
In the essays How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldúa and How It Feels to be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston, both writers are discussing their experiences when they discovered how people viewed them. Views which were seen through eyesight, as well as views of judgement on how someone speaks. They both use their experiences as lessons and remain true to their identity. With using their experiences, these ladies overcome negativity and focus on embracing who they are.
As much as we may think our lives are so much different from others, there are many ways that they can be similar. I learned this in a novel called “The Other Side of the Sky: A Memoir” by Farah Ahmedi. Although the similarities of our cultures are there, the differences are obvious from the beginning. For example, the way we dress, what religions we believe in, and the food we eat. There are many different ways that our cultures compare, including our religion, how we eat, and our languages.
Have you ever wondered how your ethnicity can impact the way you interact with people? What about the conversation you might have with people? Do you have a voice in our society that allows you to speak for yourself or a group of people? In the poem “Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question” by Diane Burns, the author focused on showing the importance poetic devices have through allusions, repetition, and imagery. Through poetic devices, author of “Sure You Can Ask Me a Personal Question” shows how stereotypes from societies and her ethnicity affects her life. Diane Burns uses three poetic devices to communicate her tone throughout the poem.
The “red earth, black earth, yellow earth, [and] white earth” describe different races that are present in the world (l. 12). However, this imagery is not confined to signify races, but can also refer to different genders, religions, nationalities, and so on. The juxtaposition of the various colors emphasizes how different people can be from each other. However, the repetition of the word “earth” emphasizes how the earth is a common factor among all people and unites the human race together. All kinds of people are present in the world and each characteristic that defines humans adds to their identities, yet there is always something that connects everyone together. For example, one’s heritage is a significant factor in determining an identity. Each person is “evidence of her [their mother’s] life, and her mother’s” and so on (l. 8-9). Heritage highlights traits that have been passed down from generation to generation, further accentuating the importance of remembering one’s past – or ancestors – in order to help justify characteristics of their
Such an encounter becomes a source of discomfort and momentarily a crisis of racial meaning. Without a racial identity, one is in danger of having no identity" (Michael Omi, Howard Winant, 12). It is obvious when we look at someone we try to get a sense of who they are. We categorize people within our society and place them by gender, ethnicity, race, religion, and even social class. Because one of the first things we utilize is race and gender it is questioned that without racial identity one is in danger of having no identity. Personally, I believe that this is true, for instance, within our society gender roles are very apparent. We utilize gender as a form of identity, because many people now are coming forward with wanting to change their identity there has been ann uproar to try to fight against equality for citizens that identify with a different gender. What is to be considered is the same uproar that is occurring with people who identify with a gender is also occurring with citizens that are identified solely on race. Within our different generations there has been an uprising in mixed races, a person can be
Racism is often considered a thing of the past, with its manifestation rarely being acknowledged in the United States today. Race: The Power of an Illusion, is a documentary that addresses the legacy of racism through its significance in the past, and its presence in society today. To understand racism, it is vital to understand the concept of race. Race is a social invention, not a biological truth. This can be observed through the varying classifications of race in different cultures and time periods. For instance, in the United States, race has long been distinguished by skin color. In nineteenth century China, however, race was determined by the amount of body hair an individual had. Someone with a large amount of facial hair, for example,
Many practices within diverse cultures are familiar, leading us to the realization that even though people have different beliefs and different values, and come from different countries, there are also many similarities. When analyzing the various practices withing diverse cultures, you begin to see the likeness of a society that reflects your own customs. Through out The Namesake, symbolic meaning contributes to the overall message of being able to establish an identity and embrace the identity of others.
The first example is “my skin has betrayed me. ”The second example is “How come my knees are so ashy.” those are just a few reasons why I think she doesn’t like her skin color. It is significant to me because I don’t like myself and it can be significant to others because they can not like themselves either. She talks about raising
Up until this point, McBride’s life had been defined by disconnection and uncertainty. As a child, he understood that his family was different when he noticed that “mommy looked different than the other mothers” (13). Being a bi-racial kid with only a white parent proved to be even more difficult as he got older and dealt with more pressures from his peers. During this time, he felt the pain of isolation so acutely that he would get angry at ‘the boy in the mirror’ (his reflection) for “not having to worry about having a white mommy” (28). Even as he got older, the confusion did not stop.
In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gulliver learns that without experiencing different cultures, one cannot have a broad perspective of the world, such as when he meets the miniature people of Lilliput, when he becomes dependent among the giants of Brobdingnag, and when he encounters a society of Houyhnhnms that finds his kind repulsive. Gulliver originally takes for granted what the Lilliputians do not have, like his great size and physical ability. Conversely, he also finds that even someone such as him who was of great power in Lilliput can be rendered helpless in a different setting. Also, Gulliver realizes that in other societies he is viewed as a lesser being. To summarize, Gulliver finds that one cannot view the world accurately without having first been immersed in different cultures as exemplified by the tiny citizens of Lilliput.