Sahara Special Sahara Special, by Esme Raji Codell, is a shining piece of adolescent nonfiction that authentically and sensitively captures the Heart-Wrenching Life Story and Amazing Adventures of a two-time inner-city fifth grader. Inspiring and empathy inducing, Sahara Special exemplifies Russel’s guidelines for culturally and socially diverse literature as outlined in our textbook in many ways. An important aspect of any successfully culturally diverse literature is that its characters be presented in authentic, non-stereotypical ways (Russell, 69, 71). Codell fulfills this requisite by realistically presenting the broad cultural makeup of Sahara’s Chicago classmates. Based on names, physical descriptors and prescribed accents, we can …show more content…
On the contrary, Codell takes the stance that all people can succeed. For example, Ernie’s uncle, though he is assumedly of Latin American decent, is described as being a heroic fireman. Luz and Borris, despite their ESL troubles, are quality friends to their peers. As explained in our textbook, Latinos are often presented as poor migrant workers in literature (Russell, 64). Also according to Russell, it is essential that authors “present their subjects with sensitivity and emphasize the need for society to embrace all individuals (71). Throughout the novel, Sahara feels alienated by her peers and pre-judged by school staff for receiving pullout services. This sentiment is made clear on page 53 when she remarks, “I wished she...could see me reflected in her, the way I want to be seen.” Miss Pointy’s character does what she can throughout the work to affirm all of her students, including Sahara and Darrell, as individuals able to prove their own worth. In my opinion, refusing to look into her students’ files is a metaphor for casting aside biases and stereotypes and embracing her students’ …show more content…
According to the textbook, social diversity is based of differences unrelated to heritage such as, “gender, physical or mental or emotional disabilities, sexual orientation and alternative lifestyles.” One perfect example of this is when Miss Pointy states jokingly in her introduction that her first husband was a pirate. Though this was said in fun, it is an affirmation of the alternative lifestyle that is being divorced and remarried. This affirmation of the non-traditional family is also present in the descriptions of Sahara, Rachel’s and Darrell’s families, all of which are single-parent matriarchs. Miss Pointy captured the essence of accepting social diversity when speaking to Sahara’s mother: “You’re a class act, Ms. Jones, and you have nothing to feel bad about.” Beyond that, Sahara Special successfully asserts the existence of capable children with mental and emotional disabilities in this world, with its strong portraits of Sahara and Darrell who were selected for pull-out services and finally held back. For young readers in comparable situations, these character profiles can provide a necessary point of reference, if not positive role models, for them as they find their place in humanity. Also, for majority students, reflecting socially diverse characters in a positive way can disprove stereotypes and clarify misunderstandings held about such groups (Russell,
What would you do for love? Would you break up a marriage or assassinate an Archduke? In the short story “IND AFF” by Fay Weldon the narrator must make a choice on whether or not to continue her love affair while examining the Princip’s murder of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. The story is set in Sarajevo in Bosnia, Yugoslavia where the assassination took place. Through irony, symbolism and setting, Weldon uses the parallel between the narrator and Pincip to show that seemingly inconsequential actions of an individual can have great consequences.
Race manifests itself as a key challenge to Jeannette’s views on freedom and immaterial love. She never truly saw people of other races in a different light until the family arrived in the small town of Welch, West Virginia. In Welch, racial divides were
The social aspect is accurate because there are not many problems with racial or gender equity in the text. For example, there are many different races in Birdy’s unit; Birdy and Jonesy are both black, Marla and Captain Miller are both white, and Victor Rios is most likely Hispanic, though it is not clearly described in the text. Also, gender equity was not a complication. One of the main officers in the novel was Major Sessions, who was both black and a women. The only section in the novel where there was a morsel of racial problems was when Birdy’s unit was first introduced to Ahmed, the translator.
Anne Moody (born Essie Mae) was a very private person, and her withheld feelings often led to mental breakdowns. Throughout her childhood she is a timid, poor little girl who is afraid to even ask her mother questions about what is going on around her. Through most of her childhood experiences she learns the social significance of race and gender on her own because her mother avoids confronting the issue because she feels society cannot be changed. The first time Anne is really confronted with the issue of racial differences is when she makes friends with some white neighbors and goes to the movies with them. When arriving at the movies she learns that she cannot sit in the regular seats with the other white children. ?After the m...
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
219-224. Library Services Institutefor Minnesota Indians. Guidelines for Evaluating Multicultural Literature: 1970, pp. iv-v. Norton, Donna. 'Through the Eyes of a Child. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffes, New Jersey: 1995.
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.
In her story, "Full Cicada Moon", Marilyn Hilton exhibits the theme "how communities deal with differences" in several ways. Hilton conveys a story about an adolescent half African American and half Japanese girl in a novel-in-verse book. The book talks about fitting in and standing up for what is right. Throughout the book, I have noticed several examples of the theme “how communities deal with difference.” Commixed race Mimi, is moving into a predominantly white Vermont town which is enough to make her feel like an alien. The town follows the conception that sheltered towns struggle to accept differences. As Mimi arrives at her new town, Mimi has noticed the confusion about her ethnicity. An example of this is
In Heidi Durrow’s book, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, she creates an eye opening story about the effects of one’s race and how they deal with society. Rachel, the protagonist of the story, is deeply impacted by her mixed race and society’s standards for her. Throughout the book she struggles with her identity, the loss of her family, and the ups and downs of life. No matter what happens to her, she always finds a way to survive, whether it’s jumping from a building or dealing with her fellow classmates. One thing anyone can learn from this story, is that even though it is difficult conforming with society and meeting society’s principles for us, one can overcome the standards set for all of us.
blockages in the relationships of the characters‘ family ties and their racial issues. The actual
In the short story “Brownies,” author ZZ Packer uses the narrator, Laurel, to explore the tensions that exist between belonging to a community and maintaining individuality. While away at camp with her brownie troop, she finds herself torn between achieving group inclusion and sustaining her own individualism. Although the events of the short story occur at Camp Crescendo, Packer is able to expand (and parallel) this struggle for identity beyond the camp’s walls and into the racially segregated society that both the girls and their families come from. Packer is exploring how an individual’s inherent need for group inclusion consequently fuels segregation and prejudice against those outside the group across various social and societal stratums.
In the novella, Quicksand by Nella Larsen, the reader follows the story of a mulatto woman, Helga Crane, who longs for a place of true belonging and combats her internal discontent by moving to one place after the other. However, even among the black people in America, she is treated differently when they know of her white mother. When she was made to feel as such by her black ex-fiancé, James Vayle, “she threw out rather tartly: ‘I’m a Negro too, you know.’ ‘Well, Helga, you were always a little different, a little dissatisfied, though I don’t pretend to understand you at all. I never did,’ [James] said a little wistfully” (Larsen 612). When Helga first comes to Harlem, New York, an all black community, she feels connected to the other people because of her black ancestors and father. Although the other black folks do seem share this strong bond with her, the one who is aware of her immediate white blood, James, views her as somewhat of an outsider because of this. He speaks to her as if she was not also a black person but some sort of alien that he cannot categorize, since she is neither white, who is the opposition, nor black, who is an ally, but something entirely different. Additionally, James finds it odd that she can identify with whites and blacks alike. Helga also describes her situation in Harlem as
Greenblatt argues that it is crucial “to have culture for in-depth reading” (Greenblatt 115.) In other words, it is important to have background knowledge of all characters so we are able to understand why they do things the way they do. In addition, he believes that if one analyzes literature, it may enhance our understanding because it demonstrates the relationship between literature and culture and culture “deepens pleasure” for the reader (Greenblatt 110.) Many of Greenblatt’s arguments are proven to be correct in The
Morrison provides the reader with a light-skinned black character whose racist attitudes affect the poorer, darker blacks in the community, especially the main characters, Claudia MacTeer and Pecola Breedlove. Maureen Peal comes from a rich black family and triggers admiration along with envy in every child at school, including Claudia. Although Maureen is light-skinned, she embodies everything that is considered "white," at least by Claudia's standards: "Patent leather shoes with buckles...fluffy sweaters the color of lemon drops tucked into skirts with pleats... brightly colored knee socks with white borders, a brown ...
It is not until Celie is an adult that she finally feels content with her life and understands her capacity to be a completely autonomous woman. The concept of racial and gender equality has expanded greatly throughout the twentieth century, both in society and in literature. These changes influence Walker's writing, allowing her to create a novel that chronicles the development of a discriminated black woman. Her main character, Celie, progresses from oppression to self-sufficiency, thereby symbolizing the racial and gender advancements our country has achieved.