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Problems with racism in literature
Can literature impact society
Can literature impact society
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Being brought up in this society I have come to realize the urgency of revealing our private thoughts and personal opinions. Speaking your own voice has come to show many benefits as well as consequences. Literature has warned us that our words have a strong impact in displaying our thoughts and opinions allowing for others to feel empathy and love towards us just as well as it brings hatred ,and loathing against us. Should we really stand up and reveal our private thoughts or should we bury them within ourselves? What impact will it have on society if we do choose to reveal our thoughts?
After reading "The Book Of Negroes" I have come to realize that revealing your private thoughts can be a dangerous task. Before reading the novel I was not conscious as to how oblivious I was to those who live in corrupted societies. I am fortunate enough to be living in a country where freedom of speech is a right as long as it does not threaten others safety or promote hatred of any kind. As Aminata would walk the streets of Shelburne, she constantly faced hostility towards her and the other 'negroes'. Even the White's who stood up against the hostility on their own would be shoved back down. Aminata had witnessed a white man try to stand up against his aggression only to be beaten down for it. Although this man was greatly outnumbered why is it that he tried to help? Is it our human instinct to help others who are in need? Or was it guilt?
Is it because of society that we act the way we do? Following whatever the majority perceives as right or the 'cool' thing to do. Literature has brought me to the belief that humans are very adaptable as we tend to adapt to not only our surroundings but also to what others around us think. We adapt for th...
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...atsoever, other people would be judgemental enough to think of you as someone you are not. Literature plays a big role in societies, families and relationships, it is important that we share our thoughts, claim what we believe and make others realize that if something to you is important and why is it important. In literature we have to be persuasive and be able to explain the reason behind everything and the reason to things, being able to communicate with each and every person and even to make them realize it's hard. It is more about yourself and how you communicate more than anything else, literature is important and overall it teaches us and warns us about the urgency to reveal our inner thoughts.
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. "Superman And Me." Los Angeles Times 19 Apr. 1998. Print.
Hill, Lawrence. The Book Of Negroes. Canada: Harper Collins, 2007. Print.
For as long as I can remember, racial injustice has been the topic of discussion amongst the American nation. A nation commercializing itself as being free and having equality for all, however, one questions how this is true when every other day on the news we hear about the injustices and discriminations of one race over another. Eula Biss published an essay called “White Debt” which unveils her thoughts on discrimination and what she believes white Americans owe, the debt they owe, to a dark past that essentially provided what is out there today. Ta-Nehisi Coates published “Between the World and Me,” offering his perspective about “the Dream” that Americans want, the fear that he faced being black growing up and that black bodies are what
The world is divided up into numerous things: Countries, states, cities, communities, etc. However, when looking at the big scope of things, one can group the vast amount of people into a society. This society is where the majority lie in the scheme of things - in other words, the common people. Individuals do exist in this society, but they are scarce in a world of conformism. Society’s standards demands an individual to conform, and if the individual refuses they are pushed down by society.
The narrator is not the only black male in the story to have experience the racism with the white men. The narrator tries to get away from the racism but struggles to, he come across multiple African Americans that attempt to do the same thing. All of these provide an idea to the correct way to be black in America and it also demonstrates how blacks should act. It is said that anyone who doesn’t follow these correct ways are betraying the race. In the beginning of the story, the narrator’s grandfather says that the only way to make racism become extinct that African Americans should be overly nice to whites. The Exhorter named Ras had different beliefs of the blacks rising up to the whites and take power from the whites. Even though these thoughts come from the black community to take the freedom from the whites, the stories reveals that the are just as dangerous as the whites being racist. The narrator has such a hard time throughout the whole story exploring his identity. While doing so, it demonstrates how so many blacks are betraying their race because the have such a hard time dealing with it. In the end of the story once the battle was over the boys are brought to get their payment. That is when the narrator is able to present his speech to everyone. He was completely beat up and bruised and blood coming from his mouth and nose when he begins his speech. All the other men are laughing and yelling at him,
Everybody wants to be accepted, yet society is not so forgiving. It bends you and changes you until you are like everyone else. Society depends on conformity and it forces it upon people. In Emerson's Self Reliance, he says "Society is a joint stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." People are willing to sacrifice their own hopes and freedoms just to get the bread to survive. Although the society that we are living in is different than the one the Emerson's essay, the idea of fitting in still exists today. Although society and our minds make us think a certain way, we should always trust our better judgment instead of just conforming to society.
This leads to the first example of human duality which is the good and bad side to conforming to societal ...
While trying to break the movie theater norm, it was difficult for me to pick movies with a different variety of people and movies that were a little older so less people would be attending them. I also had a little trouble when it came to answering the phone and waiting for the other person to talk first. The problem with this one was that I had to wait for people to actually call me, which doesn't happen that often in this day and age anymore. To conclude, these social norms forced people to be in uncomfortable situations and make a decision as to how they would react to it.
“Social conformity has been practiced in societies around the world since ancient times,” and the reason it is so effective is that humans have an inherent need to be accepted as part of a group (Sadat). Furthermore, Hossna Sadat reports that:
We remember Mrs. Lithebe's words, "For what else are we born?" and we see that there are some white men who do care. We also learn of James Jarvis's suffering and fear.
Being the social animals, humans need a sense of belonging in a society. Therefore, people are willing to do anything to fit in and to avoid a social punishment, including, changing their
Conformity is defined as the occurrence of people yielding to social pressures as a result of pressure from a group of their peers; when faced by the pressure to conform, people will alter their behaviour and actions to fit the norm demonstrated by their peers (Lilienfield et al., 2012). Conformity is studied so that is can be understood and used in society to facilitate positive outcomes, and help avoid situations where peoples’ predisposition to conform leads to negative consequences (Lilienfield et al., 2012). By understanding conformity and other social processes society as a whole is able to understand themselves better and motivates them to work on improving as a whole (Lilienfield et al., 2012).
"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." John F. Kennedy. When we permit ourselves to comply with what our acquaintances, family or public opinion asks of us, we lose the capability to develop into our own person. Conformity, then again, is more than simply the young lady wearing UGG Boots and an Abercrombie hoodie to fit in. It is all the more then just lis...
Conformity, or going along with the crowd, is a unique phenomenon that manifests itself in our thoughts and behaviors. It’s quite simple to identify countless examples of the power of conformity in virtually all aspects of social life. Conformity influences our opinions and relationships with others, often to a higher extent than we realize. It is posited that people generally conform to the group in order to fit in and avoid rejection or because they truly believe the group is more knowledgeable than they are. After analyzing numerous studies and experiments on the nature of conformity, one will find that the motive of social acceptance is the greatest driver of conformity.
Though conformity is a humane feeling, many examples of conformity going wrong can be found throughout history. For example, multiple Germans conformed to follow Nazism and prosecuted millions of innocent Jews. Southern whites conformed to segregate thousands of African-Americans. By looking at multiple sources of literature, one can see conformity becomes unacceptable when innocent people are hurt and/or killed and affects the way one thinks or acts.
...ruly realize the false reality that literature made. The reader also has a huge role into expressing these false realities to the public, which can cause prejudice in the near future. People need to be open and understanding of different people and situations. Perspective plays a huge role into the thinking of a human mind, and readers should be more aware of the information’s brought upon different ways. Readers should not come up with a preconceived idea based upon the beliefs of other people perspective but should experience these different societies.
Literature allows reflection. It helps us to shape our own thoughts. It builds on rich histories of thought and expression. Literature represents and explores the ways in which the world is viewed and experienced by people in that society.