THE BADDEST DOG IN HARLEM
The fictional short story “The Baddest Dog in Harlem” is written by the African-American writer Walter Dean Myers, and is part of his collection “145th Street”, which was published in 2001. Drawing from his own experiences growing up in Harlem, Myers have often written about the challenging realities that face today's urban youth. The fictional story could easily have been a real story from the ghetto district. The composition is constructed chronologically and takes place at 145th Street in Harlem, a very poor and highly populated area with slums, gangs, crimes and a high rate of unemployment. When the story is set, is not mentioned in the text. Although the story is completely up-to-date, I am convinced that the setting takes place in the 70’s, where both Muhammad Ali and Roberti Duran had their golden days.
First of all, we meet the narrator and his friends, who are sitting around the trail outside of Big Joe’s place, trying to figure out which is the best fighter of all time. Willie Murphy gets everybody mad; he is the kind of guy who thinks that just because he is old it means that he is cleverer than anybody. The debate continues as Mr. Lynch joins the conversation and nominates the grand old champion Jack Johnson. Additionally, we meet Pedro and Tommy, but in general, we do not get much information about the narrators friends, which is quite typical for a short story. The narrator, whose name remains unknown, is a young black man, probably about 20-25 years old. The short story is told in first person narrative by the unnamed main character, which makes it even more interesting and empathetic.
All of a sudden, two police cars pull up right in front of the blokes to interrogate them. The c...
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...ppression of a race
Bruce Springsteen’s song American Skin (41 Shots) was recorded and released in 2001 and is a sarcastic comment on the fatal shooting of Amadou Bailo Diallo in 1999. Amadou was a 23-year-old immigrant and was shot and killed (with 41 shots) by the cops.
The song is obvious in relation to the short story. As long we have weapons on earth, there will never be justice. The line “You can get killed just for living in your American skin” outlines the message – unfortunately, but truly.
As Lena gets her son ready for school, she says “On these streets, Charles, you have got to understand the rules” and continues “promise me that you will always be polite”. Even if you stick to these rules, you cannot necessarily be safe – just like the 145th Street in Harlem. You never know what is going to happen – you have to take care and be aware!
The street code is a very important concept when talking about the world of the inner city. In Anderson’s words, the code of the
In The Negro’s Friend, Claude McKay makes readers visualize the true meaning of salvation and segregation. African Americans were fighting to end segregation, but McKay spoke and said that they were wasting their precious time. McKay wanted African Americans to know that the state was under control by the white supremacy. He said that their cries were useless and didn’t help anything.
Around the world it is acceptable to eat certain animals depending on one’s culture. “The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who loves their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs” (Foer 604). “Let Them Eat Dog” is an excerpt from Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. The excerpt explains the many benefits to eating dogs and the taboo behind it. The author also uses humor, imagery and emotional appeal to get across to the reader the logic of eating dogs. One chooses to eat meat based on what the culture deems acceptable. Foer questions why culture deems certain animals acceptable to be eaten, and illustrates why it should be acceptable to eat dogs. The
Black Hearts tells the story of a few bad soldiers from 1st platoon, Bravo company of the 1-502nd Infantry Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, that was plagued with toxic leadership and lack of control over soldiers. The book documents the events that led to the ultimate demise of the soldiers involved in the horrific incident that occurred on March 12, 2006. Four soldiers were arrested in the brutal murder of an Iraqi family, which was a result of the lack of leadership and structure these soldiers received. Black Hearts takes a deep look into what happened to this troubled platoon and what unfortunate events occurred during their deployment.
For this assignment I decided to read the book Code of the Street: decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city by Elijah Anderson. This book is about how inner city people live and try and survive by living with the code of the streets. The code of the streets is basically morals and values that these people have. Most of the time it is the way they need to act to survive. Continuing on within this book review I am going to discuss the main points and arguments that Anderson portrays within the book. The main points that the book has, goes along with the chapters. These points consist of Street and decent families, respect, drugs violence, street crime, decent daddy, the mating game, black inner city grandmother. Now within these points there are a few main arguments that I would like to point out. The first argument is the belief that you will need to accept the street code to get through life. The other one is the belief that people on the street need “juice”. For the rest of this paper we will be looking at each one of main points and arguments by going through each chapter and discussing it.
Christopher is a fifteen-year old boy with Aspergers Autism whose life is full of uncanny surprises. His main focus is on school, and his ability to take the maths A level exams. Unfortunately, that was his focus until he finds Wellington dead on Mrs. Shears’ lawn. Christopher wants to know who killed Wellington and why. He investigates and finds out not only who killed Wellington, but he discovers secrets about his mother and father. In the book “The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time”, the author, Mark Haddon, shows us how courageous Christopher is throughout his journey. According to Aristotle, a man is courageous when he sets himself free from his fears, pain, and poverty instead of running away from it. According to Aristotle’s theory, Christopher profusely shows courage when he investigates Wellington’s murder and travels to London to find his mom.
This story take place in the town of Castle Rock, Oregon. Most of the book takes place around the main characters neighborhood and the store in which the camera was bought. In the story it is the month of September. The story stars on September 15, of 1997. The way the time period is associated with the main character is that September 15th is his birthday. So the story begins in the setting of a 15 year old boys birthday party. The other main setting that changes the most is the setting of the pictures that the main character takes. This setting is important to the story because it is always changing, and the story revolves around those changes.
Ann Petry’s The Street is more than a story of racism and poverty in America. This novel is about how the intersectionality of identities limit African-Americans from achieving equality in the dominant race’s society. The protagonist, Lutie Johnson has three barriers dragging her down. She is not only a woman, but a black woman that is also a lower class single mother. In the novel Lutie faces the realities of the American Dream, which for African- Americans is literally just a dream. Lutie also experiences the harsh effects of poverty and how it shapes one’s life.
In “The House on Mango Street” the author Sandra Cisneros explores the ins and outs of a girl living in a neighborhood of poverty. The main character of the book experiences may things that ultimately shape her into the person she wants to become. Through the book Cisneros explains the experiences out of a person’s control creates a foundation for what they value in life by having Esperanza move houses, go through a traumatic event, and have social normalities forced upon her.
The first verse of the song begins by comparing the generals of the United States Army to a group of witches who have "evil minds that plot destruction" and act as a "sorcerer of Death's construction." The songwriters are saying that the generals and politicians meet with each other and think of new ways to cause destruction and chaos for nothing but their own amusement. The last part of the first verse says that they only have hatred for mankind and are trying to brainwash citizens of the United States to think that the war is a good cause so there will not be much protesting and opposition.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is told through the eyes of a fifteen year old boy named Christopher Boone. Christopher has a highly-functioning form of autism which allows him to understand complex mathematical problems, but also leaves him unable to comprehend many simple human emotions. His inability to understand metaphors, distinguish emotions, and his lack of imagination makes it possible to consider Christopher as functioning like a computer rather than functioning as a human being. Throughout the story, Christopher is faced with many challenges which he conquers using the stable and never changing system of mathematics. All of these factors suggest that Christopher does, in fact, function like a computer, but it is apparent early in the story that Christopher, regardless of anything else, is capable of independent thought which separates him from the programmed, dependent world of computers.
population is oppressed and must ignore or postpone their dreams. The more dreams are postponed
Political issues such as the war on terrorism is evoked as an issue throughout the song. American was divided “All across the alien nation” when troops were sent to Iraq to search for weapons of mass destruction. Metaphorical language was used to explore the issue. Audience positioning from techniques indorse concerns with a country divided and positions them to feel the need to cooperate and sort things out other than civil unrest and debate.
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard For this unit, the play which we are studying is "The Real Inspector." Hound" written by Tom Stoppard, an English playwright famous for his clever use of language and ironic political metaphors. Stoppard was associated theatre of the absurd, and often his play referred to the meaninglessness of the human condition. He combined English tradition of the "comedy of manners" (a play that attacks the customs).
George Herbert throughout his poem “The Collar” puts his thoughts, feelings and complaints on paper on freedom restrictions. He resolves to break free from the binds fastening him to the life he fights to be free from. In various ways, countless things hold down and confine us from doing certain things daily. All the way through history people fought for the rights that tied them down for what they believed in. Herbert explains in his poem that one requires some restrictions even if we cannot understand the motive behind it.