When humanity is faced with a great challenge, inevitably they always find a way to thrive. It seems that no matter what happens, no matter how bleak a situation becomes, there is always someone who is willing to fight back. This mentality has been all but lost in humanity in the short story “Amnesty” by Octavia Butler. Throughout the story we continually find out more information about the ways that humans as a whole have been changed by the arrival of an alien species known simply as Communities. Through the analysis of this short story I will delve into why the main character is an exception in this story by examining the position of power she has taken and how she is using this position of power. While Noah seems to be a victim of her circumstances …show more content…
While the argument that Curtis makes is a fair interpretation of the situation, it is not an interpretation that I agree with. While the idea of misinformation is made clear in the wide array of questions posed to Noah in her interview scene, I do not believe that being more informed would have any significant impact on the majority of the population and the fear and panic would have continued to spread throughout the population. One of the clearest examples of this that can be seen near the end of the story has to do with the United States Government. Noah makes it know to those in the interview that the government knows exactly how powerful the communities are and understand exactly what their place in a sort of new world order is. Noah states, “Only my military captors and the aliens seemed to know about it. The aliens told me before they let me go. My military Captors gave me hell for knowing about it” (Butler 183). Noah is referring here to the fact that after a nuclear strike against the communities was launched, exactly half of the arsenal was placed in extremely sensitive government building around the world as a sort of show of good faith and a warning. The governments of …show more content…
Peter Stillman in his article “Dystopian Critiques, Utopian Possibilities, and Human Purposes in Octavia Butler 's Parables” argues that Butler establishes a world that is nothing but darkness and despair for the lives of those that live in it (15). While I agree that for most people in the setting of Amnesty, it is much more likely that the future is dark I believe that Noah is the perfect example is not all encompassing. Throughout Amnesty Noah shows and tries to get the potential employees of the communities to understand that they can have a bright future if they are simply willing to stay open minded. She does recognize that most of the people she is interviewing come from particularly tragic backgrounds, such as James Adio who Noah notes, “was the oldest of seven children, and the only one who had reached adulthood so far. He needed a job to help his younger brothers and sisters survive” (Butler 160). She counters this by explaining to them how well off she is financially, “I’m wealthy myself. I’m putting half a dozen nieces and nephews through college. My relatives eat three meals a day and live in comfortable housing” (168). These stories show that even in a dystopian world such as this, there is hope to move up and have a better life, no one must be condemned to fail from the start. Noah could have used the
I think that the strongest message on immigration was in the poem “Legal Alien” by Pat Mora. “Legal Alien” really shows how hard it is for people that are bi cultural.
She is the daughter of Carl Edmund Atwood, who was a zoology professor, and Margaret Dorothy Killam, who was a dietician and nutritionist. She had two siblings, one younger sister and one older brother. Atwood started writing when she was sixteen years old (Ingersoll, Earl G). In the article, it states that Margaret did not become serious until she was at the University of Toronto in the late 1950’s. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction.
left decided that the problem was the individual, that all men are equal in all
In the Grapes of Wrath, and in the present time, the general public has set the less fortunate apart from themselves without even realizing it. “I’m seeing more apathy on the part of people. I think people used to feel badly. And now, I think people feel bothered. That’s a dangerous shift.” (Cannon 1) What she means is that at one point in time we used to care for the homeless. We used to try and help them out. Now we don’t care and we just want to get rid of them. This is very similar to the situation in the Grapes of Wrath. At first they wanted thousands of people to come and work, but when they actually started coming, the general public wanted to get rid of them. “And the men of the towns and of the soft suburban county gathered to defend themselves; and the reassured themselves that they were good and the invaders were bad, as a man must do before he fights. They said, these Okies are dirty and ignorant. They’re degenerate sexual maniacs. These Okies are thieves. They’ll steal anything. They’ve got no sense of property rights.” (G.O.W. 363) This was the general publics’ feeling towards the Okies, even though they asked them to come there in the first place. What the people don’t understand is that the Okies are being forced to steal and the general public is the one who is forcing them. In the Grapes of Wrath, and in the present time we, the general public have shunned the less fortunate. It isn’t that we want them to be poor, but we have a hard time fitting in with them.
Illegal immigrants are a fragment of a immense and controversial group. They are also known as being illegal aliens, irregular migrants, undocumented workers, or as the French call them, Sans Papiers. Over the years, questions and concerns have been raised as to rather society should have to provide and promote to meet their healthcare needs. A group that is called the nationalist argue “no”, because they have no right to be in the country they reside, they have no rights to the country’s benefits. Meanwhile, an opposing side called humanists say “yes” to providing them with healthcare benefits. The reason they suggested being basic human rights, or all people are entitled to all access to healthcare. Then, there is the author James F. Dwyer who has his own method.
Every human being needs certain rights to survive. There are the fundamental ones; food, water, air, shelter, but there are also other ones that are equally important to survive: love, communication, compassion, freedom. In many dystopian societies one of these fundamental needs are missing because the society is afraid that they will break the control that they have over the people. In the novel The Handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood the society is no different. Narrated by a woman named Offred who once was happy who had a family and a job, she shows the reader that to keep people quiet the society takes away people 's freedom, their ability to choose, their ability to be with and talk to who they want, even their ability to read and write,
These contemporary issues of acceptance and privilege are ominously present in this novel as well as in the real world. Nadira came up with the courage to go out and explore possibilities to free Abba, setting aside her personal needs. She breathed. She took deep breaths and fought through issues of diversity because that is what she was told would get her through tough situations. After receiving a new application for residency, the family knows they have been accepted and they even use the word “home.” “And we do as he taught us. We hold our breaths, then let them out, bit by bit. We push forward, into the unknown. Go” (Budhos, p. 159). So much is left unknown, but her family and her community accept Nadira and most importantly, she accepts herself.
As a modern day philosopher, Axel Honneth, in his book, Freedom’s Right: The Social Foundations of Democratic Life, addresses the normative reconstruction, or the empirical observation and development of the norms already existent in social history, of the three spheres of personal relationships, which he considers to be friendships, intimate relationships and families. I will look at his analysis of friendships through history. Axel Honneth is trying to argue that friendship has become a sphere of social freedom (individuals require others to fulfill the aims of their activities (125)), a social institution (the behavioral norms, repetitive activities, and expectations make the institution (45)), and a social relation over time and gives reason to why friendship is valuable in addition to the possible controversy friendships encounter such as capitalism. I will explain this reasoning later in the paper. Honneth initiates the chapter with describing the history of friendship and how it has changed over time.
The United States is known to have one of the most accepting immigration in the world. It has contributed to the country's population growth as well as social change. However, the policy remains to be a controversy because of the topic that is illegal immigration. According to the Department of Homeland security in 2010, there are 10.8 million illegal immigrants residing among the 300+ million Americans. Since then, the number has grown to 11+ million people. The U.S. Congress has always sought to find the solution for illegal immigration, with amnesty being an option. If enacted, an amnesty will give unauthorized immigrants a path to legalization and eventually citizenship. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) is a prime instance of amnesty, with some 2.7 million people gaining legal status during the Reagan office. With the immigration policy being contested in Congress, a solution to illegal immigration via amnesty should be considered as it may benefit the country's labor force and economy, control the influx of immigrants in the country, and provide the opportunity for the currently illegal immigrants to become productive members of America.
In the poem, “legal alien” by Pat Mora, pat talks poetically about her culture and her ethnicity and some people fail to see both sides and only see one side; all the less she; herself sees both sides of her culture. She herself I assume is a Latina and is considered legal thanks to her parents. All the better, she has the best if both worlds. She has her Mexican side and her American side. But she also expresses her problems like I previously stated, that she is not considered a Latina. She was told “you may talk like me but you are not like me.” it supports my thesis which was the one I just wrote by stating how even if you're from both sides you are just in between; you're nothing but just a nobody to them. Some people may accept you as
The judgement I can make about Tom’s saving Luc’s life is because he did feel bad. Tom felt bad for killing a boy his age since they both had such long lives to live. He knew especially losing a family member was harsh. He thought what Luc’s family would go through. Tom knew since his mother passed away as stated earlier in the book. “Tom was born Canadian, but never knew his mother for she had died when he was born” (p.24). Also, the two boys were the same age, understood similar ideas, and experienced similar feelings. Tom was able to feel for Luc. “‘No!’ the boy yelled. ‘His rifle was empty; he’s unarmed. You can’t kill him. He’s a prisoner’” (p.207). Tom kind of knew that this “man” wasn’t really a man. He wanted to save Luc, especially
According to Dorothy Q Thomas in her article bringing, human rights home “The most obvious value of human rights in the post-Holocaust world has been to set a limit on government power and shine a light on its abuses. The limit comes from the revolutionary idea, conceived in the immediate aftermath of World War II, that all governments are constrained in their actions by the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of their people” Neo-Nazis cannot remerge in the United States .The president of the United States cannot be the new fascist leader and cause the extermination among race. Due to the existence of Human rights, the propositions of Donald trump on the possibility of creating mass deportation and excluding the Muslim community cannot
A Non Governmental Organization that works for human rights issues that interested me is, Amnesty International. I have been hearing many good things about this organization, so I decided to find out for myself what Amnesty International really does for human rights. My mind was blown away at how much they do to further human rights after my research. It is an organization that fights for civilians caught in the crossfire between warring groups, fights for a total ban on torture, and fights against any form of discrimination.
There is an estimated 12.5 million undocumented immigrants currently in the United States and this estimate is growing rapidly (fairus.org). Everyday there are immigrants that come into America without following the legalization process to become a Citizen. Illegal immigrants who come into America in an illegal way do not deserve citizenship while other immigrants take the time for their reward. The illegal immigrants are causing problems to America as a whole, along with problems to Americans themselves. America has to make up for the flaws of these crime breaking immigrants. There is an economic impact of illegal immigration in the United States also keeping wages lower for American workers (procon.org). Furthermore, there is a security
A social justice problem that contributes to Arleen's cycle of eviction is the fact that the housing market does not accommodate families living in poverty. Arleen's only real hope of breaking the cycle of eviction is for her to return to the housing voucher program she was once