Exploring Humanity through Literature: A Reflection on the Semester's Readings. Through a reflection on the semester's readings, it becomes clear that literature plays a crucial role in helping us understand what it means to be human and live with others. From the powerful social commentary in Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me to the thought-provoking moral dilemmas in Ursula Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, the works we read this semester demonstrate the impact of literature in shaping our understanding of the world. By citing and analyzing passages from at least four class texts, including Joe Sacco's Footnotes in Gaza and Octavia Butler's Bloodchild, this essay will argue that literature not only provides us with a …show more content…
Throughout the semester, our readings have delved into themes that challenge our perceptions and push us to confront uncomfortable truths about society and ourselves. From the visceral depiction of racial realities in Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me to Ursula K. Le Guin’s exploration of ethical compromise in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, each text offers unique insights into what it means to coexist with others while grappling with moral quandaries. This essay will harness specific examples from these works, along with Joe Sacco’s graphic journalism in Footnotes in Gaza and Octavia Butler's provocative narrative in Bloodchild, to illustrate how literature serves as a crucial tool for understanding human nature and societal structures. By examining significant passages from these four texts, I will argue that literature not only deepens our comprehension of individual and collective identities, but also challenges us to reflect on our responsibilities within our communities. This reflective engagement through literary analysis reveals the intrinsic role literature plays in shaping—and reshaping—our
The juxtapositions of text and image, the places where text shifts from short prose passages to more traditional poetic line breaks, and the works of art draw readers to their own understanding of the unconscious prejudice in everyday life. Thus, Rankine has the capability to push her readers with the use of the second person, where the reader is really the speaker. This method helps establish a greater unity of people, where she chooses to showcase her work as a collective story for many. In this way, she guides the reader with the second person toward a deeper understanding of the reality of a ‘post-race world’, allowing the reader to experience the story as if it’s their own. The final section, focuses on the themes of race, the body, language and various incidents in the life of the narrator. In the end, Rankine admits that she, “…[doesn’t] know how to end what doesn 't have an ending” (159). It is what her audience chooses to do with the newfound self that they find, where their standing on the reality of differences
In the novel “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the story is a direct letter to his son. This letter contains the tools and instructions that his son will need in order to be a successful “black body” in the modern society. Coates explains his life experiences and hardships he had to overcome because of the color of his skin. Coates pushes an urgent message to the world; discrimination is still prevalent and real in today 's society, and the world is still struggling to accept an equal life for blacks. Coates writings alter the minds of his readers and allow them to experience life through a black man 's eyes. Ta-Nehisi Coates does this by the use of rhetorical strategies like, repetition and tone, metaphors and similes, and
The purpose of this essay is to highlight the issues that Dana, a young African-American writer, witness as an observer through time. As a time traveler, she witnesses slavery and gender violation during 19th and 20th centuries and examines these problems in terms of how white supremacy disrupts black familial bonds. While approaching Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred, this essay analyses how gender and racial violation relates to familial bonds through Dana 's experience in Tom Weylin 's plantation. It is argued that Butler uses pathos, ethos, and in rare cases logos, to effectively convey her ideas of unfairness during the American slavery, such as examining the roots of Weylin’s cruel attitude towards black people, growing conflicts between
Ta-Nehisi Coates’ novel Between the World and Me is the descendant of Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time. It is the next in the series of great novels that reflect on the narratives of black people in America. He explores the idea of the black body and how it is in danger. But, the most powerful message that Coates gives to the coming of age black youth is that despite knowing that danger, we must live life without fear.
Often, we find ourselves facing dramatic events in our lives that force us to re-evaluate and redefine ourselves. Such extraordinary circumstances try to crush the heart of the human nature in us. It is at that time, like a carbon under pressure, the humanity in us either shatters apart exposing our primal nature, or transforms into a strong, crystal-clear brilliant of compassion and self sacrifice. The books Night written by Elie Wiesel and Hiroshima written by John Hersey illustrate how the usual lifestyle might un-expectantly change, and how these changes could affect the human within us. Both books display how lives of civilians were interrupted by the World War II, what devastations these people had to undergo, and how the horrific circumstances of war were sometimes able to bring out the best in ordinary people.
Internal conflict caused by culture is a concept that Edward Hall explores in his book “Beyond Culture”. In this examination of intercultural interactions, Hall argues that people are born into the cultural prison of one’s primary culture. He then goes on to claim that from people can only be free of this prison and experiencing being lost in another (Hall). For Coates, this cultural prison is the permeating fear resulting from the blackness of his body. His internal conflict is therefore created when seeing the world of white, suburban culture. Because this world of pot-roasts and ice cream Sundays seems impossibly distant from the world of fear for his black body, Coates comes to feel the contrast of cultures. He tells his son, “I knew my portion of the American galaxy, where bodies were enslaved by tenacious gravity, was black and that the other, liberated portion was not” (21). As a result of the shocking divide, Coates comprehends the burden of his race. Coates therefore feels “a cosmic injustice, a profound cruelty, which infused an biding, irrepressible desire to unshackle my body and achieve the velocity of escape (21). The quality of life between the culture belonging to Coates’s skin in contrast to the culture of suburban America creates for Coates a sense of otherness between himself and the rest of the world. Disillusioned, Coates avidly pursues answers to this divide. Coates thereby embarks on a quest to satiate this internal conflict of cultures, beginning his journey towards
When handling a controversial subject, it is important to recognize the opinion of everyone, not just of oneself. If an author does not recognize, at least to some degree, the opinion of everyone in their audience, they risk losing the interest of readers whose opinions are different. African American writers must consider how it feels to be an African American to their audience; they must understand that there is no such thing as one identity for an entire race.
Intersectionality points to the fact that people are affected, often adversely, not only by their race, but also by their gender, sexual orientation, class, age, and global location. In the novel, “Between the World and Me,” Ta-Nehisi Coates tells a story that demonstrates an instance of intersectionality in which a black boy raised in the ghettos of Baltimore experiences first hand how racial, class, and global location, intertwined, induce a of life hardship on the author, for social reasons other than just race alone. The book is formatted as a letter to the author’s fifteen year old son, Samori, in which the writer (and father) instills his wisdom on his son and, ultimately, outlines how to survive and live “in a black body in America.”
Bradbury’s exploration of the consequences of censorship extends beyond the mere absence of literature. By stripping society of its literary history, the novel unveils the erosion of empathy and critical thinking and, worst of all, true human connection. In a world devoid of meaningful discourse and intellectual exchange, individuals are reduced to sitting ducks consuming mindless entertainment not even connected to the richness of human experience. Through Montag's encounters with characters like Clarisse McClellan and Faber, Bradbury highlights the transformative power of literature in awakening the human spirit and igniting the flames of resistance against oppression. “ Fahrenheit 451” serves as a stark warning against the dangers of complying in the face of a tyrant.
The novels Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness are illustrations of the baser aspects of human nature, both in their content and the manner in which they deal with the subject of subjugation, violence, and suffering during historical interracial confluences. This fact is illus...
For centuries, literature has stood as a reflection of the complexities and contradictions of society. Sparking during the Enlightenment, authors have turned to their pens and paper to critique society and analyze what we know as sociological norms and constructs. Through the use of allegory, idealism, and other various literary devices, authors have unpacked the layers of society to delve into the intricacy of our nature, from the good to the ugly. Through works like Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Machado de Assis’s “The Cane,” and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, we are prompted to evaluate societal issues ranging from superficial to obsession. Literature acts as a beacon to understanding our society on a much deeper level, leading to
Their lives are deemed unworthy of the extra effort required to locate and rescue them, illustrating how the development of a single, particularly negative narrative, strips individuals of their humanity, rendering them invisible and disposable. The consequences of this dehumanization extend well beyond the pages of Urrea’s narrative, resonating with broader societal attitudes towards migrants and other marginalized communities. In conclusion, as we explore Judith Butler’s ideas in Precarious Life alongside Luis Urrea’s novel in The Devil’s Highway, a profound insight emerges; while completely eliminating the single story may not be possible, however by delving into an individual's full story one can become aware that all members of any generalized group have their own full story to tell. By examining how narratives are constructed and their impact on societal understanding, we gain valuable insights into the workings of power within society. Additionally, we are prompted to confront the biases and prejudices that shape our perceptions of others, pushing us to seek a deeper, more empathetic understanding of the human
In addition, Neal expresses the importance for spiritual and cultural needs to be recognize, just as much as the merging of politics and art. The idea of nationhood could one day occur, however, before that can happen the narrative of the black and the oppressed needs to reach both black and white masses. For the white citizens it calls for responsibility to be taken, influencing white Americans to not just become allies of race but become active members in the fight against inequality. In supplement to Neals outlook on the clearing out of old culture and installation of new culture, is the ideas of Hoyt Fuller. In “Towards the Black Aesthetic,” Fuller reports on an incident of Jonathan Kozol’s experience with most black literature being censored from a boston school
Paris, Bernard J. Imagined Human Beings: A Psychological Approach to Character and Conflict in Literature. New York: New York University Press. 1997.
A wall between neighbors. A stranger offering up their seat for a child. People whizzing by a car broken down on the side of the highway. These all seem like isolated incidents but when put in context of works of literature they all share a common theme: people’s interaction with others. All three of these cases demonstrate how both a person’s upbringing and current surroundings can shape their interactions with others.