The book The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake. Everyone has experienced a harsh time of bullying in some part of their life . This story describes a girl named Maleeka Madison and her worst enemy Charlese Jones, who gives away her clothes so she can do her homework as a return . Since her dad passed away, Maleeka and her Mom have been struggling with money. Maleeka's mom cannot afford to buy her clothes anymore so, she makes her clothes to hide her pain and save money. On the other hand, Maleeka gets bullied for what she wears and how dark her skin is. The book eventually comes to more than her bulling experiences. The theme that it is better for a person to be themselves than someone they are not can be shown through the clothes Maleeka wears, …show more content…
An example that supports the theme is shown through Charlese's clothes. Charlese’s clothes represents symbolism of maturity. Maleeka states to herself “but even those hundred-dollar pants suits she brought in for me to wear can't make up for the hurt I feel when she slaps me with them mean words of her ” (Flake 15). Maleeka hangs out with Charlese to do her homework , projects and get her out trouble just for her to wear Charlese clothes. With the clothes Charlese brings in for Maleeka to wear, she still treats Maleeka bad and says mean words to her. The symbolism also shown through the clothes represent Maleeka growth, she mentioned to herself “ I hang in the bathroom to get out of Momma’s homemade rags and into the clothes Charlese brings for me to try on ” (Flake 12), she also said “I’ve got on my new clothes and I'm feeling mighty fine … this my day , and I’m not letting nobody spoil it ”(Flake28) . In the beginning Maleeka didn't have the confidence to embrace the clothes she wears but towards the ending of the book she have confidence from the help of her bestfriend Sweets. Sweets helps Maleeka embrace her beauty. She wears her moms clothes, and has grown into a more self confident person, allowing her to recognize her own
When presented with a strange story with uncertain reasoning behind several actions of the characters, and in this story, it is revealed through the symbolism of their attire. Understanding that clothing symbolizes a false identity and an open heart and open love is the taking off of clothes gives a second story behind her reasoning for this story. Although clothing might not be a common symbol for fake identities versus true beings, almost all love stories have a symbolism to represent the open trustful
She’s just so weak. If she would stand up for herself, no one would bother her. It’s her own fault that people pick on her, she needs to toughen up. “Shape of a Girl” by Joan MacLeod, introduces us to a group of girls trying to “fit in” in their own culture, “school.” This story goes into detail about what girls will do to feel accepted and powerful, and the way they deal with everyday occurrences in their “world.” Most of the story is through the eyes of one particular character, we learn about her inner struggles and how she deals with her own morals. This story uses verisimilitude, and irony to help us understand the strife of children just wanting to fit in and feel normal in schools today.
Ella is the main character in the book camo girl by Kekla Magoon. The novel centers around Ella, her friend Z, and the new kid Bailey. Ella is the only african american student at her school. It does not help that her skin has an uneven tone, which earned her the nickname ‘Camo Face’. One day a new kid named Bailey comes to school. Now Ella is not the only african american at her school because Bailey is too. He is automatically popular because he plays basketball. Bailey and Ella start hanging out. Ella must decide to either stay with Z and be an outcast or go with Bailey and be
The poem starts with the line, “This girlchild was born as usual,” which suggests that as soon as a girl is born, society already expects her to learn the role she will soon play in when she hits puberty (1). Thus, showing why we are given dolls as little girls to illustrate how we should act and appear according to society. After we learn all the roles we will soon take part in, “the magic of puberty,” hits and girls immediately begin applying the ideals to their own lives (5). As if this attempt to conform is not enough we have other people telling us we are not to perfect. “You have a great big nose and fat legs,” says a classmate to the girl (6). This type of pressure can slowly but surely destroy even the little confidence women do have in themselves.
Whether it's about your looks, the way you dress, your skin color, or who you are seen with. “The Flowers” by Alice Walker shows what the worlds actions and thoughts on skin color can do to someone. As a child you are as carefree as can be, without one care about what's happening in the world. Because, you live in your own special world. Myop’s world is the path in the woods she always took until she strayed from the path. “She had often been as far before, but the strangeness of the land made it not as pleasant as her usual haunts” (Walker 1). She's started to explore the world around her as do most children do once they start to grow older. However, exploring the world can have some consequences. Myop at a young age finds "Very near where she'd stepped into the head was a wild pink rose. As she picked it to add to her bundle she noticed a raised mound, a ring, around the rose's root. It was the rotted remains of a noose, a bit of shredding plowline, now blending benignly into the soil...Myop laid down her flowers” (Walker 1). Seeing that slave dead is the product of what society does to colored people. Teaching her that the world wasn't as colorful as she thought it was. That she’ll never be treated equally because of her color ruining her innocent view on the world. Giving her a negative view on society and losing her hope in it ever improving. “And the summer was over” (Walker
The short story "The Metaphor" is based around this perception. Charlotte admires and looks up to her grade seven teacher, Miss Hancock. Miss Hancock is a very kind and caring person "I could tell that she was feeling concerned and kind, not nosy," (Pg. 69) but unfortunately she is often overlooked because of the way that she dresses "Her head was covered with a profusion of small busy curls, which were brightly, aggressively, golden." (Pg.66) However, as Charlotte and the rest of her classmates discover, she is actually quite a sophisticated person "Miss Hancock was equally at home in her two fields of creative writing and literature. It was the first tine I had been excited, genuinely moved, by poems, plays, stories." (Pg. 66) The more that the students developed, the happier Miss Hancock became "But we were delighted with ourselves. And she with us." (Pg. 67) She took great pride in her job and really enjoyed teaching her students. The more the children got to know Miss Hancock, the more they began to appreciate her as an individual, and the happier Miss Hancock became.
Skin complexion is a physical feature of an individual that cannot be changed. For example, Emma is very unsatisfied with her skin complexion and she internalizes her pain very deeply. She feels she could escape the pain she experiences at home, school, and in her neighborhood if she finds a way to lighten her skin. As a result, Emma uses products such as cream and ointment to bleach her skin in hopes of having a lighter skin complexion. However, she is unsuccessful with lightening her skin and continues to encounter negative experiences of discrimination. Skin color is different than other physical features such as hair which can be straightened, curled, or styled in a variety of ways. The reasoning behind Emma’s motives for lightening her skin is the perception and value of lighter skin in
Have you ever felt bad about your body image or had low self-esteem? In the short story “Flowers and Freckle Cream” The girl had a lot of freckles and she wanted to get rid of them. So, she bought freckle remover cream to get rid of them. When she put on she didn’t realize that if you are in the sun it will reverse the effect causing you to get more freckles. She ending up feeling worse about herself. In the Poem “Same Song” The girl felt bad about herself so she did many different things to look better. Her brother worked out a lot so he could have a better body image. so she ended up having low.“Flowers and Freckle Cream” and “Same Song” both develop the theme of self-esteem and body image.
I chose to watch the movie Stick It which is an original screenplay. Moreover, it is about a troubled girl, Haley, that gets in trouble with legal matters again and decides to take her punishment to returning to her old life of gymnastics on a team. Haley used to do gymnastics, but she ran away from the sport leaving her team behind to lose. Now she returns to her old life on a new team under a popular coach, Burt. The movie is about Haley going through obstacles of her past coming up, her future, and helping her friends become more confident and less uptight. She also helps all of them at an important event scratch which is not doing the gymnastics act but just like touching the bars but not doing flips. Thus, she helps all the girls win and
Clothes are a semiotic sign within human culture that delineate status, class, and self-expression of the wearer. William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Macbeth explores themes of power, wealth, and worth. A myriad of passages within the text utilize clothing to convey ideas regarding authority and ability. The motif of clothing reveals character’s judgments toward each other as well as toward themselves. Ultimately, the motif of clothing functions to magnify themes such as power and status, and reveal character’s attitudes.
...taphors, and the simplistic approach are all ways she used to express the feelings of a young fifteen year old girl, wondering when they will grow into their bodies and out of the awkward stage they are stuck in. She beautifully illustrates the longing for that perfect dress which will solve all of their problems for even just one night. But even after it is said and done with, and we have grown into our skin, we will more than likely not be perfect by Cosmopolitan standards, but perfect just the way we are supposed to be.
Clothing also began to change dramatically; people began to rebel against societies ideas on what is appropriate making a revelation in variety of clothing men could choose from. Patterns such as checks, stripes and argyle also became widely used by fashion designers. Along with new patterns, colours also began to make an appearance with pastel colours also being used. Around the same time, a ‘pink rage’ took effect. This involved men wearing pink in their outfit through the form of tops and ties to help break gender stereotypes, which was a big issue at the time. Boys were expected to be strong, silent and assertive opposed to women who were portrayed as weak and emotional. They also expected women to be the least intelligent of the couple to help make the male feel smarter and more
Millhone’s personality is “free spirit” and a tomboy type of character in this novel. She tends to avoid the typical female gender orientation by wearing mostly jeans, shorts, and, most importantly, turtleneck sweaters as a normal part of clothing attire when she begins her day with a morning jog: “A pair of shorts and an old cotton turtleneck. I’m really not a physical fitness advocate” (Grafton 67). In this manner, Millhone is not a woman that is overly concerned with her appearance, which gives her a carefree quality in her behaviors. This aspect of Millhone’s character defines a tomboy personality that cares very little for the traditional “feminine” gender role.
sn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different…” A pretty face will age, a perfect body will change and likewise “a man” will change with time. Age is something that time has brought upon us, be it a woman or a man, the development of individuals over time has always enthralled me. Lately, in pursuit of answers myself I came across a piece of literary work Summer of the Seventeenth doll. A pioneering play of the 1950’s written by Ray Lawler which encapsulates the ideals of masculinity and its changing form. The story revolves around the seventeenth mark of an annual tradition wherein two masculine sugarcane cutters, Barney Ibbot and Roo Webber, travel south to
Human being personal secrets can be shown through style choices. Those choices are not often organic. Back then in the early years, each individual always wanted to have a unique style. Each individual would adjust their styles, to their own way. Several of those unique styles became much known. Those same styles were copied by increased amount of people. As the days passed, fashion became to be more open. Style can have many definitions. At certain times, is classified as the all time adjusting development. Styles being looked at today have more power on the life of individuals. Wardrobe has became an important portion of self realization of each individual. It can start from losing an extremely primary bodily, mental and public view of an individual’s life. The agreement realized by the way of the blending of the inside and their outer world of an individual, it can become extremely tough to state that style is only about appearance. Wardrobe is mainly a covering planned to be wear on a individual's body. This covering is a need that is essentially by the standards of public behavior. This need transports a lot of selection into the lives of a individual and put together their figure moreless finish. It is not about individuals supplying style; its all about style being a slave of individuals .