An Account of Experience with Discrimination-
1. The person was raised when they were young and for much of their life in a community that believed blacks were a "lesser race", and many of them were also slaves. They were brought up this way and that's how they lived and acted their whole lives every day, so it was a very awkward and hard transition for many people and slaveholders to make, but also a hard transition for slaves. The laws may change in a year, but a community can take a lifetime to alter. Cultural beliefs don't vanish like paper or laws, they hang around in the backs of people's heads, similar to the slow transition in modern times to be more accepting of Mexican culture for instance, whom are now the discriminated against.
2. It gives a direct relationship and a personal experience. This is Sojourner Truth telling the reader how she felt and experienced racism and discrimination, which tells the reader first hand about her experiences on "the front lines" so to speak. A reporter or biographical author, etc. simply is giving a summary or status of a situation and experience with no connection or not a real personal connection to the story. A reader feels more empathy or reaction when an author is or had actually experienced what they are writing and I think it is very important to have a direct connection with your writing.
University Days
1. Thurber the way I see him is kind of a goof. He doesn't act correctly in class, he never understands what he's doing, he can't get the simple things done, and he just messes up all the time. But the way the author constructs his story, you feel sorry for him, and feel like even though he's always messing up, Thurber is really a good guy and smart too. I think in his story Thurber just wasn't really the strict and "stream-lined" student his teachers expected and maybe Thurber just wasn't cut out for that kind of education. When they did their marching drills, or look through their microscopes, etc. Thurber couldn't function like the other students and he somewhat failed in the eyes of his university I think. But, the university I think didn't live up to Thurber's expectations because they weren't the easy and nice classes he expected. I think Thurber just wasn't prepared in his mentality to handle this and was still growing really. These mentalities meant Thurber never exactly fit in or did his work correctly, but he almost did. Eventually he succeeds after he's really tried and worked hard, he finishes his classes and graduates, which I think is the theme of the story.
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ReplyDeleteHi Charlie! I thought the same thing about University Days and I really enjoyed reading it. I also think it seems like Thurber was expecting his classes would be more serious than they turned out to be. Once he made conclusions about them, though, he just blew them off and ended up taking a lot of shortcuts, like when he had someone take his swimming test. He had determined which classes weren't "real" and knew some of them weren't required for any good reason.
ReplyDeleteI kind of felt bad for Thurber as well. However, i disagree with one part of what you said: you wrote that Thurber was not cut out for that type of education but in then in the end he does well and passes all of his classes. The classes he took were obviously not what he was used to and they were difficult for him, however I would not say that he was not cut out for them because he was in the end successful.
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