Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Self reflection psychology
Prison experiment psychology
Essay psychology in prisons
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“And then I was running, as fast as I could. No one could stop me.” The last words of Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange Is the New Black, are that of a tear jerker for anyone that has read all two hundred and ninety-five pages. The well organized and well thought out memoir describes her thirteen-month sentence in the federal prison system for a ten-year-old drug charge. Kerman’s memoir is filled with lessons for not only the reader but lessons for herself, as she finds out more about herself than she ever has while behind bars. Kerman’s memoir is organized in a way that the reader falls in love with characters, that even under false names feel like family. The memoir is also organized in a way that at the end everything comes full circle. All the lessons and teachings come together, and the main idea of the book is shown. Therefore, the way Kerman organized and structured her memoir was for the readers to fully understand the lessons that she herself learned. One organizational technique that Kerman uses throughout the entirety of Orange Is the New Black is giving all of the chapter unique titles. The titles of each chapter tie into the story being told by either a small detail or the general idea of the chapter. These titles let the reader know what the chapter is about and entice the reader to keep reading to find out how the title is connected. …show more content…
Kerman makes the structural and organizational choices that she does to try and convey her message clearly. By uniquely structuring it to be more character based, not only the fellow prisoners’ characters, but also her own character, it is more impactful for the reader. The main message leaves the reader changed, just like it like Kerman. Therefore, if Orange Is the New Black had not been organized the way it was, Kerman’s main goal would have not been
Erin George’s A Woman Doing Life: Notes from a Prison for Women sheds light on her life at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women (FCCW) where she was sentenced for the rest of her life for first-degree murder. It is one of the few books that take the reader on a journey of a lifer, from the day of sentencing to the day of hoping to being bunked adjacent to her best friend in the geriatric ward.
The setting of Code Orange affects the plot because them living in the heart of the city would mean that the disease smallpox would spread easier. The book Code Orange is a realistic fiction novel that was written by Caroline B Cooney. In the book the reader is introduced to Mitty Blake a 16 year old who doesn’t take school serious. And he was doing a project for bio so he didn’t get kicked out of the class. When he found scabs from a smallpox epidemic in 1902. In the novel code orange The setting affects the plot because It can spread quickly, there are a lot of people that it will affect, and he lives in the heart of the city.
In this critic, I will be analyzing and comparing two books. The first book is “A question of Freedom a Memoir of Learning, Survival, and Coming of Age in Prison” by R. Dwayne Betts. The second book is “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing” by Ted Conover. In this comparison will first give a short summarization of both books. Second I will be answering the fallowing questions, what prisons are discussed? What types of prisoners are there- age, race, sex, level of crime? How current is the information? What are the conditions of the prisons? How are the prisoners treated? How are the guards and their viewpoints represented? How are the prisoners and their viewpoints represented? What forms of rehabilitation are there? What are the social relationships with other inmates? What opportunities are available to occupy prisoners? What point of view is the author taking – critical, Positive, does she/he write from the viewpoint of a guard, a prisoner? What evidence is/are the author’s points based on and how is the evidence presented - for example, first hand observations, Statistics? Also what changes, if any, are proposed or discussed by the author? How does the information in this book compare with what you’ve read in the text and articles and what you have observed on a class trip? Lastly what is your opinion of the information and viewpoint expressed in the book?
Kerman effectively conveys her story to her audience while also sending a message about the war on drugs and faults in the federal correction system. She uses this position to input her own ideas and show how her opinions have changed with experience. For example, when she started getting involved with the drug world, she did not know the harm that she was doing to all of the people who did the drugs she helped smuggle the money for. During her time in jail she reflected on all of the bad things she did and she realized how much harm she probably caused all of those people she provided the drugs for. From this change in opinion one can see the views of Kerman that sets the tone of the book.
Once Olivia receives help, it is perhaps too late. In her senior year, she is sentenced to a juvenile camp, and is clearly out of place. “She is so different from the other girls (pg.312)”, her therapist says. “She was one of the rare kids we see who is focused on her future. I wish I could have started with her when she was twelve or thirteen (pg.312).” Olivia’s case illustrates a system that rather than providing guidance and support to abandoned children, it leads them into a criminal world.
Leslie Carter, Carter’s sister, died in 2012 because of drugs and alcohol. Since Carter had dealt with the same addictions and won he couldn’t “shake the feeling that Leslie would have found some truth, hope and direction” in his book “and that it might have helped save her life” (Carter 4). Carter was blamed for his sister’s death because he was never there for his sister. Instead of helping his sister get over some of the same struggles he suffered with, he was furthering his own career. Carter began to think that he was the cause of his sister’s death and that in some way he could have prevented it.The overwhelming feeling of guilt in Carter’s life intensified when he didn’t attend the funeral of his sister because he was afraid that his family members would blame him for Leslie’s death as well. The last time him and his sister spoke they did not end on good terms, which added to his feeling of shame. To appease his guilt, he wrote his autobiography so that hopefully other people could find guidance through his struggles and past mistakes. Walls’ first memories were those of poverty, but when she grew older she became successful and provided a good life for herself. Walls now lives in an apartment in New York City but she “could never enjoy the room without worrying about [her] Mom and Dad huddled on a sidewalk grate somewhere” (Walls 4). At the same time she “was embarrassed by them, too, and ashamed of [herself] for wearing pearls and living on Park Avenue while [her] parents were busy keeping warm and finding something to eat” (Walls 4). Walls has conflicting feelings: she feels embarrassed at the way her parent’s chosen lifestyle but at the same time she feels guilty for feeling this way. No matter how hard she tries, her parents will not accept her help because they took pride in
Then moving on to the chapter called The Lockdown. Alexander then goes on to explain the system of mass incarceration. She goes on to talk about how black people are getting abused through the criminal justice system mainly
Orange is the New Black (OITNB) is a Netflix series that is loosely based on Piper Chapman, a self proclaimed WASP, who was imprisoned in Litchfield Penitentiary, a women’s jail, for drug smuggling. For the majority of the show, it gives insight on the social, personal, and past lives of inmates, as well as the interactions between the inmates, correctional officers (COs). In season four, episode nine, there is one main running theme, power imbalances. The core scene that depicts power imbalance and corruption is when a CO demands an inmate, Blanca Flores, to shower, but she refuses. He then forces her to stand on the dining tables for multiple days as a punishment. During this time, she urinates and defecates herself, causing her to smell even more. Eventually, other inmates realizes that this is wrong, they practice civil disobedience by joining her on the tables. Eventually, this turns into a dangerous riot
Pam Noles’s Whipping Boy is no stranger to the life in the inner-city. Dexter, a young man with an extraordinary gift, pushes the crack cocaine and methamphetamine through the streets of Citrus Groves while struggling to repress his whipping boy role. Granted with the power to cleanse one of their sorrows, Dexter vigorously rejects his whipping-boy role much to his Aunt June’s dismay, who entices him to become all that he can be. He focuses on the drug business and establishing a love with with Tamika, a woman who too was “born and raised in Citrus Groves.” The story offers a perspective on the realities of inescapable responsibilities as well as the state of the Black community. Dexter’s responsibility is nothing political or hierarchal; in
The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not
The Netflix original series is based on the real life experiences of Piper Kerman when she went to prison. The series main character is Piper Chapman who years after being involved in a drug smuggling crime gets thrown in jail to serve a fifteen month sentence with her ex girlfriend, with whom she committed the crime. Piper is portrayed as a well to do white woman who, in the beginning, does not feel as if she deserves to be in prison. The series includes a huge cast of women which include transgender, drug addicted, lesbian, and mentally unstable inmates.
There is a common saying that “misery loves company.” Often times, this case is very true. When people are around some misery, they tend to become miserable too. However, sometimes misery is a way for people to connect and to form friendships and bonds. Females in oppressed societies especially feel misery and as a result, they band together and form a stronger power that can overcome their grief. They use each other’s support to be happy and they work towards the common goal of success together. Amy Tan, a famous Chinese American writer, writes with a style that “intermingles intercultural and intergenerational conflict,”(Qun). Tan is most famous for her novel The Joy Luck Club, which is comprised of short stories that various females belonging to a friendship circle narrate. In this novel, the females of Chinese descent portray their life experiences and struggles as women in the male dominated Chinese culture and society. They highlight their hardships, and challenges from their heritage. In addition, they emphasize how they survived and fought against their past situations. Similarly to Amy Tan, Alice Walker is one of the most famous African-American writers of all time. Her works focus on “double repression of black women in the American experience,” (Napierkowski). The novel that brought Walker fame is The Color Purple, an epistolary novel about an oppressed black female who writes letters to God to reveal her inner thoughts about her family and life. By explaining her inner thoughts and relying on the love of a loyal friend, Celie is able to overcome her oppressive state and live on her own terms. Although both novels take place in very different surroundings and both novels have very different focuses, both Alice Walker an...
The visual essay “Apples to Oranges” by Claire Ironside presents the reader with a series of infographics displaying the environmental impact of industrially farmed, non-local produce. The author attempts to approach the audience with a logical appeal using facts and statistics. Despite these efforts, the essay is missing an explicit statement of the author’s argument, and the infographics used throughout the essay are ambiguous and misleading. The obscure images, lack of logical connections and absence of an explicit claim leave the reader more confused than persuaded. These problems require the reader to infer most of the information and context, which is contradictory to the purpose of a visual medium. This is why I believe that “Apples
Bea once being so insecure and excluded herself from everything, became this confident young woman who understand who she truly was. Her new trust and love for herself is so evident that the people around her also changed for the better good. Bea’s boyfriend, Beck, who also has OCD, lessened his compulsions, her best friend, Lish, has a better understand and acceptance of those with disorders, her parents are finally opening up with her, and the previous couple she stalked are finally loving each other again instead of arguing. Much less, Bea realizes that who she was or how she acted, really had a huge effect on everyone around her. In the end, everything was going to be
Alice Walker is an American author who wrote a controversial novel during the civil rights movement. This novel, ‘The Color Purple’, is based on the ideas of racism, sexism, and freedom. As an author, Alice Walker was very active in the civil rights movement and her childhood greatly influenced her writing. In her novel, Walker uses diary entries to create a musical sense which makes her novel connected and rhythmic. Also, Walker’s work embraces black culture and how people had to live during times of racial segregation. Alice Walker bases her characters on her own life struggles to convey a message to the readers of staying strong and having perseverance through challenges in life.