In today’s world is important to have a sense of personal and national identity, sometimes one will have to choose one or the other. This clash is important because the two can coexist but often one is chosen over the other which leads to the other being lost. The pair of graphic novels Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang illustrates this clash. The stories in Boxers and Saints takes place in the events leading up to and during the Boxer rebellion at the turn of the 20th century. Boxers centers on the leader of the rebellion, Bao, on his crusade to liberate his country from foreigners. Saints focuses on Vibiana, a Christian convert, and documents her struggle to find her place in society. Through these characters, Yang implies that one will have to choose between personal or national identity …show more content…
Vibiana was the fourth girl born into her traditional Chinese family, which leads to her feeling alienated, and alone. This is because she is a girl and because four is a homonym for death. On the first few pages of Saints, when Vibiana was first born, her mother took Vibiana to her grandfather to be named. Instead of giving her a real name, he declines and her family decides to call her Four-girl (Yang 3). Vibiana’s association with the number four cause her to be considered unlucky. As a result, Vibiana was shunned and excluded by her traditional community and family throughout her childhood. Vibiana’s family’s treatment of her shows how traditional Chinese society hurts her. Later in the story, in an attempt to find acceptance, Vibiana then converted to Christianity, leaving behind her Chinese national identity. Vibiana takes the message of hate against her to heart and does everything to keep it up, even hexing her grandfather, which leads to his death. Instead of attending his funeral, Vibiana runs into the forest looking for solace. Instead, she meets Joan of Arc who feeds her and convinces her to convert to Christianity and
“The 1910 Jeffries-Johnson Fight and Its Impact” was by far my favorite reading from the text this semester, which is the main reason for my choosing of this topic. Throughout this article, I found it to be incredibly intriguing how detailed it was on the struggles that Johnson went through. Discussing the difficult experiences he had as a rising black athlete and then to end up with a white woman who, to many, could or could not have been considered a prostitute. All of the events during Johnson’s life make him such an amazing person and a very interesting athlete to learn more about.
protagonist postulant Mariette Baptiste. Hansen’s challenges readers to explore beyond his descriptive narrative to find further meaning in the themes of suffering, power, and gender. Mariette Baptist represents a prideful, young woman who challenges and undercuts the Priory of The Sisters of The Crucifixion through her eccentric faith. Mariette’s piety generates discourse within the convent about the sincerity in her disposition for a religious life. The sisters are challenged to see Mariette’s faith as real and pure. Her religious practices involving self-inflicted penances disrupt the conventional ways of the priory. Furthermore, Mariette implores herself
Gwendolyn Brooks' "First fight. Then Fiddle." initially seems to argue for the necessity of brutal war in order to create a space for the pursuit of beautiful art. The poem is more complex, however, because it also implies both that war cannot protect art and that art should not justify war. Yet if Brooks seems, paradoxically, to argue against art within a work of art, she does so in order create an artwork that by its very recognition of art's costs would justify itself.
The film Heavyweights, filmed in 1995, was a popular children’s movie depicting adolescents attending a summer camp for overweight kids. This film fits in perfectly with other children’s movies of its time, including Hook, 3 Ninjas, and The Mighty Ducks. The slew of children’s comedies mixed with adult humor shows what consumers were looking for in a movie. Most notably, all of these movies (and most predominantly Heavyweights) address the issue of child obesity.
I selected Ralph Ellison’s short story “Battle Royal”, as this assessment illuminates the struggles of both race as well as issues oppression within society, in which many must continue to endure. The narrator, a young black teenager has attended an event absent of both law and order as a guest speaker only to be severed up as just another entrée for the prominent group of southern white ringmasters to feast upon. Subsequently, he now realizes “that it was on the occasion of a smoker, and I was told that since I was to be there anyway I might as well take part in the battle royal to be fought by some of my schoolmates as part of the entertainment.” Forced to fight for a right to speak, the young man is in the midst of an alcohol induced and cigar smoke filled circus of violence and sexual misconduct, which is fueled of force intimidation. Many of the symbols used in this story resonances of both race and inequality within a regime lacking integrity, where one is neither protected nor served fairly. Moreover, it is with this view of hopelessness, despair as well as mistrusts that offer a seed of change in society, in which the invisible becomes the visible.
Karl Stern is an artistic, lanky, beat up, Jewish fourteen year-old boy whose only refuge is drawing cartoons for his younger sister and himself. All that changes in an instant when he meets the boxer, Max Schmeling in his father’s art gallery. In exchange for a painting, Karl will receive lessons from the world renowned fighter and national German hero. Suddenly he has a purpose: train to become a boxing legend. As the years go by and he gets stronger, both physically and emotionally, so does the hatred for the Jews in Germany. This new generation of anti-Semitism starts when Karl gets expelled from school and grows until his family is forced to live in Mr. Stern’s gallery. Though the Stern’s have never set foot into a synagogue and do not consider themselves “Jewish”, they are still subjects to this kind of anti-Semitism. They try to make the best of it, but Karl can see how much it affects his family. His mother is getting moodier by the day, his sister, Hildy, hates herself because of her dark hair and “Jewish” nose and his father is printing illegal documents for some secret buyers. On Kristallnacht the gallery is broken into and the family is torn apart. Karl must now comfort his sister and search for his injured father and his mother. With the help of some of exceptional people, he manages to get over these many obstacles and make his way to America.
Jehanne d’Arc or more commonly known as Joan of Arc nicknamed the Maid of Orleans is a brave heroine who is known for her work during the Hundred Years War. With her defeat at her last battle, Joan ends the Hundred Years War and years later gets declared a saint for her bravery and sacrifice. Throughout her life, she struggled with an education and growing up on a farm. Later in those years she beings to hears voices and sees visions believing it to be from the Heavens and joins the French war because of it. Only being a teenager through all this, at the age of 19 she’s gets betrayed by who she thinks is an ally and burnt at the stake for charges.
Sports have impact in greater development in different countries based on the individuals’ representatives and the history behind the person. Keep in mind that, boxing was one of the significant sports in America’s history. "Boxing provoked the deepest white anxiety about Blacks manhood and Blacks equality". More importantly, Jack Johnson was one of the greatest figure in U.S. boxing history. From my greatest general studies on this topic because of the time frame, like any other sports in the twentieth century, boxing was also segregated, but Jack Johnson was able to be the first African American to won the heavyweight champion in the twentieth century. The heavyweight champion was a symbol of masculinity and ranked highly among the white upper and middle class society.
The battle of Antietam is known as the bloodiest single day in American history during
As soon as Muhammad Ali was notified, upset, he declared that he would refuse to serve in the Army and told everyone himself a conscientious objector. He came out saying that the war is against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and that he was not trying to dodge the draft. He claimed that due to his religion, Muslim, he is not supposed to take part in no wars unless the war has been declared by the Muslim God Allah. With his in mind, Muhammad Ali refused to step forward the first time when his name was called. Due to this he was ultimately committing a felony that was punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 maximum. For not coming forward a second time Muhammad Ali was ultimately arrested. On the same day following
Much of Joan’s time was spent praying to the statues of saints around her village (“Gale- Free Resources par 5). Joan was a white Roman Catholic (“Joan of Arc” par 3). Her whole family was very religious and lived near a church. During the day, Joan usually helped out with her family’s animals and her dad’s heavy work (Bouet De Monvel 13). No one expected something to happen to change this normal lifestyle of Joan’s.
The fifteenth century was a gruesome era in world history. Church and state were not separated which caused many problems because the Church officials were often corrupt. The story of Joan of Arc, portrayed by George Bernard Shaw, impeccably reflects the Church of the 1400’s. Joan, a French native, fought for her country and won many battles against England. But Joan’s imminent demise came knocking at her door when she was captured by the English. She was charged with heresy because the armor she wore was deemed for men only but she justified her actions by stating that God told her to do it. Today, Joan of Arc would be diagnosed schizophrenic because of the voices in her head but she would still be respected for serving in the military. But in the fifteenth century, she was labeled as nothing more than a deviant. She was tried and the Inquisitor characterized her as a beast that will harm society. Through his sophistic reasoning, loaded diction, and appeals to pathos and ethos, the Inquisitor coaxed the court into believing Joan was a threat to society and she had to pay the ultimate price.
“I am not afraid… I was born to do this,” confidently stated the brave and courageous Joan of Arc on her feelings of leading an army into battle (Joan of Arc). From being born into an ordinary farming family in northeastern France to becoming canonized a saint, Joan lived a legacy. Her call to life a holy life from God and to lead France into many battles against England show her strong faith and trust in the Lord. The early life, uprising, downfall, and canonization of Joan of Arc are factors that summarize her extraordinary life. Her humility during the good times and her strength during bad times make Joan an admirable woman.
During the early fifteenth century in France, we see the birth of a young peasant girl known as Joan whom became a celebrity or divine figure. Also known as “The Maid of Orleans,” the martyr of the church of France and the saint of the Roman Catholic Church, Joan of Arc, played a significant role in manifesting popular Christian piety, influencing developments with bureaucratic states, and initiating major changes with European societies during the fifteenth century through her trial with the Catholic Church known as the Trial of Joan of Arc.
Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., et al. A Brief History of Heroes. 2004. Glencoe Literature. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2009. 69-72. Print.