Children are shaped by the norms of society, which are passed down from parents or peers. Characters in Conflict is an anthology of stories about characters feeling different types of conflict. In the first story a boy experiences pressure to beat a girl in racquetball because he’s a boy. In the second story a girl feels pressure to be a normal girl and get a boy to like her. The last story is about a boy who has a disabled younger broth and is ashamed of his disabilities. All of these characters have something in common, they are experiencing societal pressure which leads to internal conflict. In Gary Soto’s short story “The Challenge,” Jose experiences a conflict involving stereotypes which results in him protecting his pride. He has a crush …show more content…
on a girl named Estela. He tries to impress her by challenging her to a game of racquetball. Jose asks his Father if he has ever been beaten by a girl in sports. He says “Only talking… They can outtalk a man any day of the week” (118). This shows how his Father has embedded this idea in Jose’s head that girls aren’t good at sports and that all they do is talk. He is stuck in this stereotype of having to be better at sports than girls and being bigger and stronger. This causes Jose to feel the pressure of society and his Father to beat Estela. During the game Jose feels humiliated that he is getting beaten by a girl. He is playing Estela and is getting beaten five to zero and is sweating like crazy. The narrator describes, “Jose thought about asking to borrow the sweatbands because he had worked up a lather of sweat himself. But his pride kept him quiet” (121). Jose wants to protect his pride because he feels like it’s all he has got at this point in the game. The game ends with Jose getting smacked in the back by Estela’s ball. In the end Jose ends up starting to work out and train just in case something like this ever happens again. Overall, “The Challenge” explains conflicts involving stereotypes and how they are passed down from parents which leads to protecting your pride as a last resource. In Alice Munro’s short story “Red Dress,” the unnamed girl experiences pressure from society to make herself beautiful and appealing to boys which results in her deciding to never be happy and not telling her mother. The girl is dreading the dance and attempts to get sick, but fails. So she goes to the dance and hopes that a boy will dance with her. Everybody was getting asked to dance except the girl. Then she remembers, “I remembered a magazine Lonnie and I read, which said Be gay! Let the boys see your eyes sparkle, let them hear laughter in your voice! Simple, obvious, but how many girls forget! It was true, I had forgotten,” (135). This shows how worried she is about making herself beautiful to boys. Her only goal at the moment is to get asked to dance by a boy and then she’ll be happy. It also shows the expectations for women and girls at time. Their expectation is to be beautiful to boys and act happy. Also to only desire being wanted by a boy. Also how women are treated like property, the boys come and claim them at the dances. She gets discouraged and goes into the bathroom to hide. In the bathroom the girl makes friends with Mary Fortune in the girl’s bathroom. Mary Fortune explains to her how she isn’t boy-crazy and she wants to get an education and work for herself. They make plans to go get hot chocolate. On their way out she gets asked to dance by Raymond Bolting. She ditches Mary and dances with him. After they dance Raymond walks her home and kisses her. She watches him walk away, she thinks, “Then he turned back to town, never knowing he had been my rescuer, that he had brought me from Mary Fortune’s territory into the ordinary world,” (139). This shows how the girl really feels and that she didn’t really connect with Mary she only agreed to get hot chocolate with her because she felt a bit hopeless at the time. Once a boy asked her to dance she was brought back from the idea of working for yourself and not relying on boys. Mary Fortune’s territory is a life that is not boy-crazed, a life where she works for herself and gets a quality education. The girl’s goal in life is to please boys in the hopes of “happily” being married one day. Overall, “Red Dress” shows how society pressures girls to be beautiful for boys which results, in some cases, being unhappy. In James Hurst short story “The Scarlet Ibis” Brother experiences pressure from society to be normal and everyone associated with him which results in him feeling shame for trying to change his brother because he’s “different.” Brother and his family are expecting a younger child.
Their child is disable and has a delayed learning in physical activities. Brother nicknames him Doodle because he crawls like a doodle bug. Doodle learns to crawl at three, at age six Brother teaches him how to walk. To motivate Doodle brother says, “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?” Doodle replies, “Does it make any difference?” Brother responds, “It certainly does” (182). This shows how determined Brother is to make Doodle normal and avoid embarrassment at school. This also shows the standards of society and how it puts pressure on kids to be normal and fit in. Society puts pressure on everyone, it’s impossible to go somewhere and not be judged for not fitting society’s standards. Some people, like Brother will go to extremes to not stand out. Brother eventually teaches Doodle how to walk and on his sixth birthday they reveal Doodle’s walking abilities. Brother explains, “Everyone began to hug me, and I began to cry. “What are you crying for? Asked Daddy, but I couldn’t answer. They didn’t know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (180). This shows how Brother’s pride is taking over him, the only thing that matters is fitting in at school. He is crying because he is ashamed that he has no power over his pride. Brother explains how he is a slave to his pride and that he has no control over his actions regarding the protection of his pride. All of this leads to Brother pushing Doodle to his limits. Brother and Doodle are running home in the rain, Doodle can’t keep up with Brother and Doodle falls
he calls for his brother, but he doesn’t stop. Brother waits at home waiting for Doodle to arrive and after a few minutes he goes to check on Doodle. He is dead lying in the rain, his body is beautifully twisted like the Scarlet Ibis. As an adult Brother regrets leaving his brother behind and killing him. Overall “The Scarlet Ibis” shows how Brother experiences pressure from society to make Doodle normal, which results in him being ashamed for trying so hard to change his brother. The standards of society cause the characters to feel internal conflict. Jose experienced pressure from his dad to be better than girls at sports. The girl feels the need to be appealing and pretty to boys. Brother wants to change Doodle because he doesn’t want to stick out at school and be an outsider. In the end we all strive to fit in and be normal it is sometimes a fear to be the outsider.
In the essay of Mr.Gary Soto, we learn about his experiences about falling in love with someone of a different race. Ever since he was young, he would be lectured that marrying a Mexican women would be the best option for his life. Gary’s grandmother would always proclaim: “... the virtues of marrying a Mexican girl: first, she could cook,second, she acted like a woman, not a man, in her husband’s home” (pp.219). Being conditioned into the notion that all Mexican woman have been trained to be proper women, Mr. Soto set out on finding his brown eyed girl; however, what love had quite a different plan. This paper will cover three different themes Gary’s essay: The tone, the mindset of the character’s mindsets, and the overall message of the
To improve one’s understanding of how the narrator changes, one must first be acquainted with the situation: Doodle is born with a heart condition. Therefore, he will not be competent to do what ordinary kids could be capable of. No one anticipated for him to live very long. The reality that Doodle will not be able to do normal activities makes his brother, the narrator, miserable. How or why? The narrator has always sought after a brother whom to play, run, and box with.
He also exhibits kindness and love toward Doodle during parts of the story. For instance when Doodle’s brother tires of carrying Doodle in a go-cart, he decides to teach Doodle how to walk. Although Doodle fails numerous times, his brother keeps trying and and encourages him after a particularly disheartening fail when he says “Yes you can Doodle. All you gotta do is try. Now come on,” (Hurst 558). In this quote Doodle struggles to walk by himself. However, his determined brother stays with him the entire time and encourages Doodle to make sure he never gives up and can learn how to walk by himself. The evidence shows that Doodle’s brother does care for Doodle and that he is not always mean and cruel. The quote exemplifies Doodle’s brother’s ambivalent attitude toward his brother. The author is trying to show that Doodle’s brother grows fonder of Doodle with each passing day. Doodle’s brother’s growing love for Doodle becomes more evident as the story progresses. After Doodle learns to walk well, he and his brother, “roamed off together, resting often, we never turned back until our destination had been reached” (Hurst 559). This quote shows that Doodle’s brother grows fonder of Doodle and the two become inseparable. They go everywhere together and Doodle’s brother takes care of Doodle when they go on their journey. Hence, Doodle’s brother becomes a kind, loving brother who takes care of Doodle and tries to make Doodle have a happy life.
Doodles brother had wanted him to be a normal kid like himself because he didn’t like having a brother who couldn’t walk,because it was embarrassing and didn’t want the other kids to make fun of him. So he had pushed his brother to walk do things that he never done before and they had set a goal that Doodle would walk,run,swim by the end of the summer. Doodle had agreed with his brother that he
In conclusion, Brother shows his self-interest in how he treats his younger brother. He treats his younger brother, Doodle, as something to ‘fix’ and he cannot accept his brother as he is. When Doodle finally learns to walk, Brother’s selfish need for a more ‘ideal’ little brother is not satisfied for long. Soon he demands a little brother who can run, jump, climb, swim, swing on vines, and row a boat. When he gives Doodle lessons for these activities, he does not do so for concern about Doodle wanting to be able to do them, but because he wants Doodle to be able to be a ‘normal’ brother.
Doodle's brother would only do this to have control on Doodle and Doodle's actions. This control, which Doodle's brother wanted, gave him enjoyment to boss around his brother, enjoyment to boss a crippled kid. And that Doodle walked only because his brother was ashamed of having a crippled brother. It was bad enough having an invalid b....
Brother was embarrassed of his brother and also a little bit ashamed. He doesn’t want a sibling who can’t do all the things that his friends brothers can do, he just wants Doodle to fit in. “I was so embarrassed of having a brother that age that couldn’t walk”(2), because of this he sets out to teach Doodle how to do these things. Brother pushed Doodle, he wanted Doodle ot be able to be like the other kids when school started. Even though Brother was just trying to help Doodle, he was doing it for himself, not for Doodle. “Although he kept up, his face turned red and his yes became glazed”(Hurst 3), Brother oftentimes pushed Doodle too hard, resulting in him feeling exhausted. While sometimes pushing DOodle to get better at things was good, that was not always the case. “I ran as fast as I could, leaving him far behind with a wall of rain dividing us”(5), Brother did some things out of embarrassment, shame, and sometimes love, but this time was definitely shame.”I went back and found him huddled beneath a red nightshade bush”(5), this time Brother had pushed him too hard, resulting in Doodle’s death. While most of the time Brother helped and taught Doodle out of embarrassment and shame, by the end it was just all
Mom’s words and doctor’s advice did not become a way to obstruct the narrator and his pride. Paying no attention to Mom and the doctor’s warning, the narrator took his crippled brother out and trained him anyways regardless of Doodle’s physical restraints, because he is embarrassed. “When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him (Hurst 204).” Even worse, the narrator knew it was his pride that made him to force Doodle into cruel training, “I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother (Hurst 206).” In addition, due to his embarrassment, the
In the essay: “ ‘Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts”’, Bruno Bettelheim discusses how Cinderella is a story about the difficulties of sibling rivalry and the degraded heroine ending up on top of the siblings that oppressed her. Bettelheim argues that sibling rivalry is created when a child feels that they cannot win their parents love and esteem in comparison to his brothers or sisters. In addition he argues that every child feels that they deserve to be degraded at some point in their life. The concept of Oedipal guilt, his last point, has some intriguing details included in it, concepts of which could be disputed. However, the main focus of this essay is on how children justify the idea that they should be degraded, and because of the hardships they have faced, risen up and exalted like Cinderella was. He states that Cinderella relates very closely to the youth because they feel like they can relate to her situation more than the majority of people could.
... growth where a child is forced to start looking for solutions for everything that is wrong instead of simply being a child. This analysis prove that children have their own way of seeing things and interpreting them. Their defense mechanisms allow them to live through hard and difficult times by creating jokes and games out of the real situation. This enables then to escape the difficulties of the real world.
For decades now, popular culture has been tainted by the perpetual use of racial stereotypes that come to us through music, television, and film. These reactionary stereotypes are often unaddressed and often permeate the minds of those too young to understand what a stereotype is. Therefore the effects of these conventionalized ideas continue to prevail throughout our society as they are repeatedly swept under the rug. However, although seemingly less common, there are also forms of media with goals of bringing attention to toxic stereotypes while still entertaining their audiences. African-Americans, Arabs, and Latin@’s are three of the most prevalent minority groups represented in the media and by analyzing the films Aladdin, Django Unchained, and the television show Devious Maids, one can become much more aware of the racial stereotypes that they are calling attention to.
Since young women are being surrounded and exposed to different types of media, it also influences the identity of young women by reinforcing negative stereotypes. In Chapter 3: “Bitches and Morons and Skanks, Oh My!” of Reality Bites Back, Pozner reveals how popular reality television shows have a strong impact on today’s society by shaping the way women view things and define themselves. She also states how dating shows, like The Bachelor and Flavor of Love, often describe women as “catty, bitchy, manipulative, not to be trusted, and cannot live without a man” (pg. 97). The problem with these dating shows is that it tells young women that they need to become the most seductive and beautiful to win the guy’s heart. This also convinces the young women, who watch the show believe that they have to be manipulative and untrustworthy in order to obtain whatever they want. Because young women have been subject to these stereotypes, they also begin to make generalization and change their perceptions about other people, especially to women. Another example is the reality TV series, Keeping ...
But he learned to crawl (it was his third winter), and we brought him out of the front bedroom, putting him on the rug before the fireplace. For the first time he became one of us. (Paragraph: 6 Page:2) I know that this doesn't seem very bad but what you have to pay attention to are the last few words for the first time he became one of us that means that he did not care about him and did not want him in this family until he could prove that he is worthy. He doesn't need to change because he is perfect the way that he was well that was of course until he died.The Knowledge that Doodle and my plans had come to naught was bitter, and that streak of cruelty within me awakened. I ran as fast as I could leaving him behind with a wall of rain dividing us. Just as I said he doesn't really care or except him he wants him to be normal that is the only thing that they shared they didn't share love well at least the narrator didn't show love toward Doodle he wanted something more than a brother that could only walk but he should of helped his brother and not tear him down. What I mean by that is that the Narrator should've cared and savored the time with his brother and not just spend time with his brother to just make himself look less embarrassing. I hadn’t run too far before I became tired, and the flood of childish spite evanesced as well. I stopped and waited for Doodle. The
The family relationships with both Doodle and Paul also push them beyond their limits. Doodle is forced to learn to walk through Brother's determination. "Shut up, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to teach you to walk," his brother has said before heaving him up to try again. Brother's pride pushes Doodle to be like the other children, causing them to set unattainable goals of rowing, climbing, and swimming. Doodle is stretched to exhaustion through these exertions.
The origin of stereotypes is a topic that had not crossed my mind before. Thinking about it now a person tends to have similar views to what their parents or immediate family have, and I believe this is due to our views being heavily influenced by those around us while growing up. For example I was brought up in a hispanic household with our own set of beliefs and cultures. My parents are christians so naturally I am also a christian. Being influenced in our thoughts and believes by our parents is something that happens to all of us. Given that as a child we use all that we have seen, heard and experienced to form a set of core beliefs. In my opinion there is not one straight forward answer that can tell you were did stereotypes come from or who invented them.