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Opposing viewpoints of body image
How the media portrays body image
Body image and how the media distorts it
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Recommended: Opposing viewpoints of body image
Laurie Halse Anderson is trying to tell us that personal appearance doesn’t matter, be beautiful on the inside. It doesn’t really matter what you look like, it’s what you do. If a scientist invented a fertilizer that would solve world hunger, nobody would care what they look like. Melinda is like a seed, doesn’t look like much but something beautiful is inside. Melinda gave up on personal appearance the night of the party; she used to dress nice but after the rape she didn’t. Andy used the “you were asking for it” card a lot, I feel that Melinda tried to make herself look “trashy and ratty” so she wouldn’t be so “vulnerable” (but really Andy is just a pig). Onto the Martha Clan, they thought they had to be perfect, but that made them into monsters
on the inside; almost like the couch. In a way everyone has that uglypizzainside but you can make yourself better within, by not caring what other people see. You may worry about people judging you, but judging is just opinion, a swedish supermodel may think you’re ugly, while normal people might think you're a god (probably no one is that attractive though). Trees are naturally beautiful, humans are naturally beautiful, I sense some symbolism of Melinda getting a tree for art.
In this story the main character, Tally, changed a lot. First of all, she was so set on becoming a pretty, she new she was an Ugly and she wanted to change that. “She put her fingers up to her face, felt the wide nose and thin lips, the too-high forehead and tangled mass of frizzy hair” (p. 8). This quote shows that Tally was very aware that she did not fit it with the pretties, she was very ready to change they way she looked to fit in. During the course of the story Tally wanted to stay ugly. She totally changed her perspective on the way she looked. I think was also one of the biggest turning points in the story.
In her article, “Lecture Me. Really”, Molly Worthen addresses the issue college students know all too well: how to lecture properly. Published in the New York Times, Worthen writes a passionate article about lecturing but from the perspective of a professor. Worthen presents the idea that lecturing, although some may think ineffective in the classroom, is a way to truly challenge and engage students into critically thinking. Worth dictates this idea with an excellent build up logical argument but lacks the proper evidence to support her claims creating a faulty argument.
/The beautiful wife. / For sometimes she fancied he looked at her as though, / Measuring her. As if he considered, had she been worth it? […] Whatever she might feel or half-feel, the lipstick necessity was something apart.” (Brooks, 48-53). It wasn’t as though she was afraid of her husband distinctly killing a young boy or even her being partially the cause of it; it was a feeling of guilt she was trying to cover up. Her entire fantasy is distributed and destroyed, she retreat inwards and uses her makeup to create a wall to maintain the foundation of her life based upon the fairy tale imagery. For many women, makeup is an extension to certain parts of themselves. Carolyn worked so hard to maintain this ideal image of having the perfect family, being an obedient housewife, looking after her children and basically being beautiful, than watching it all fall to ruins because of individual actions. One can only put on so much make up, like a placebo, it is harmless but it really only hides and masks the reality behind it. Eventually the truth will show, whether it is someone’s natural appearance, the qualities of a family or an individual’s true
In her article “Why Racial Integration Remains an Imperative,” Elizabeth Anderson claims that integration is the only solution to the problems created by segregation, particularly between blacks and whites. Referencing her book The Imperative of Integration, she provides evidence to show why other methods are ineffective in eliminating racial disparities. In his “Comment on Elizabeth Anderson’s The Imperative of Integration,” Ronald Sundstrom critiques this view by suggesting an alternative method to combat segregation. He proposes that local solidarity will eventually lead to the type of inclusion envisioned by Anderson. However, Anderson provides ample support within her article to refute this critique and show the necessity of integration.
The theme of the book is appearance shouldn’t matter. Like how Shay says that she doesn’t care about appearance or becoming a pretty.
Susie stated “film, print, and photo, magazine, newspaper, TV – magnifies the object. It is hard to escape. It enters us, and then out interest in that object becomes part of who we are, entwined with our sense of self and community, an aspect of our identity as crucial as church iconography was several centuries ago”(Orbach). She focused on the fact that we are heavily influenced by the mass media to the point where we no longer have our own voice or beliefs on a certain topic. For example, the Western beauty, long before the media had anything to do with this, each person had their own definition of beauty and everyone accepts everyone else for whom they are. Nowadays, words such as pretty, ugly, skinny, or fat can be a life-changing weapon that changes people‘s life to both the negative and positive
An image of a dead skull indicates that a substance is poisonous because it happens to be a symbol. Throughout our lives, symbols are used to interpret meanings in an easier way. Similar to how trees represent life and death. They are a constant source of renewal. In Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak, Laurie uses the power of symbolism to expound Melinda’s progress and growth throughout her bildungsroman story by using Melinda’s art class’ project: trees.
Everyone has had that one moment, or maybe a couple. The moment when their life changes forever, the moments when they know they will never be the same person they were yesterday. These moments are turning points that play a large role in a person’s identity.
They take in stride this idea of what is means to be a “bad girl” by living their lives recklessly with little to no remorse for others. Natalie Nunn is an example of how hypersexualization and the angry black woman is a vital element to the show. Natalie is the epitome of what this show is based off of, being the baddest girl you possibly could. Natalie constantly bullied, encouraged violence, and showed no care for anyone in the house, often disrespecting the others for intimidation. On the flip side, she lived a promiscuous lifestyle, for example she brought home a random guy named John, instantly making out with him and preparing for an sexual exchange. Her strength is her intimidation. She is always picking fights, and constantly is involved in some type of convertation. For the sake of the tv show, and celebrity status the stereotype of the angry black woman is shown to be her strength. Natalie capitalizes on this notion of the “Good Girl/Bad Girl” which is describes the image as “ more realistic since it is supported by the women’s actual behaviors rather than sugar-coated in the show’s biographies.” (Goldman, 17). This idea of “Good Girl/Bad Girl” is a gift and a curse for someone who uses the strategy. As it does not help the image of the African American woman, it does give the opportunity to expand of
When the short story began, Connie was an extremely conceited girl. She expressed how pretty she was throughout the beginning of the short story. However, she didn’t get much praise at home about her outer appearance. In actuality, her mother seemed to hate that the most about her. Connie seemed to have no support around her. Unfortunately, her mother nagged at her all the time about how she thought she looked and a constant comparison to her older sister. Per in the short story, “Her mother, who noticed everything and knew everything and who hadn 't much reason any longer to look at her own face, always scolded Connie about it. "Stop gawking at yourself. Who are you? You think you 're so pretty?" she would say.” "Why don 't you keep your room clean like your sister? How 've you got your hair fixed—what the hell stinks? Hair spray? You don 't see your sister using that junk." (Pg.1) Therefore, her older sister received all the glorious praise from her mother. Subsequently, not only was her
In the Novel Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Lady Seymour, a dying woman asks for forgiveness from Isabel, the main Character. It is not directly stated what she is asking for forgiveness for, but it is heavily implied what she’s asking for. She’s asking for forgiveness for not buying Isabel. But Isabel does not forgive her. But she is justified in not forgiving her. This is true for multiple reasons.
..., women try to make themselves beautiful to attract the best opportunities possible. Susan Sontag not only emphasizes on the out of proportion catastrophe of woman and their outer beauty, but also tries to convince her audience that there is more to a woman than just looks; there is another individual right underneath the ugliness.
I’m reading Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson. Normally I don’t like to read a all, but this book is making it more fun to read. Whenever I pick it up I just keep on going. This is like one of the only books I can actually get into. It’s about a girl named Melinda, and she is a freshman starting school just like me. When she gets to school she has no friends because all of her old friends are still mad at her from last year. The author still has not said why all of her friends hate her. She feels like an outcast and is that one girl who has no friends to sit by at lunch or anywhere else. But, she found one other girl who is alone to and she calls the other girl a wounded zebra. They will probably end up becoming friends. So, I can kinda relate
Mesopotamia, a land that mystifies and enchants people from ancient times to present. The people of this ancient civilization left behind an extraordinary amount of records and artefacts for people to marvel over for centuries. Even with an abundance of written record, there are still many mysteries to be solved about this ancient culture. One of the biggest mysteries are located within the Royal Cemetery of Ur. Susan Pollock, wrote an essay for the Cambridge Archaeological Journal in 1991 regarding the evidence found and her interpretation of the Royal Cemetery and funerary practices of the Mesopotamians.
Firstly, Growing up with attempting to live up to so many unattainable standards these women discovered life outside of their own lives, and once they opened their eyes they were able to rediscover themselves in ways that only bettered their moral values. For example, Sheila began to accept curves as beautiful based on their new found meaning. Once they seen as unwanted, however given enough time in an african society she had learned to accept them as a sign of fertility and beauty. Rather than a flaw, and she even found herself disgusted in those visiting the island whom had fallen anywhere short on the scale in comparison to the elders around her.