Brandon Teena is the main character in Boys Don’t Cry. He is a boy that, as he himself proclaimed “had a birth defect or something”, meaning that he was born a girl. Throughout the movie, he is searching for acceptance, for somewhere that the way he is doesn’t matter. This is first shown to the viewer when he moves out of Lincoln, Nebraska, to Falls City, Nebraska. At the end of the film, Brandon Teena is brutally raped and later murdered. Though Brandon’s fate was in no way his fault, nor does it excuse or forgive what happened, Brandon brought his fate upon himself because he knew that the culture where he was living explicitly rejected and hated people like him. Brandon also kept trying to prove to himself that he really was a man, but he never truly satisfies himself. He also has many dreams that he lusts after but never does anything to accomplish. These things, in the end, are how Brandon Teena brought his fate upon himself.
Brandon knew that people in the area hated people like him because when he first shows up in Falls City, it is late at night and there is a party. All the guys are participating in an invented sport called bumper skiing. The guys that Brandon has connected with are loudly proclaiming that “faggots” couldn’t do such a sport, and they encourage Brandon to do it. The next morning, Brandon doesn't know where he is, so he calls the friend who helped him dress like a boy at the beginning of the film. The friend is upset with Brandon and tells him, "Now come straight to my house. No bars, no stealing, and no girls." Brandon knows he is in trouble and in an area where no one likes him, but he is unafraid. At the end of the film, when John and tom are beating Brandon, they tell him that it's all his fault becau...
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...ants to start a trailer park. When Lana asks to have sex with Brandon, he tells her to be patient. Brandon has no sense that these dreams might never come true, as he blindly chases after them without thinking. When Brandon is hiding from John and Tom, he burns the pictures he took of everyone while he was there, symbolizing his realization that if he had been more careful in his dreaming, he might not have landed in the situation he was in.
In conclusion, because Brandon knew he would be hated for what he was, keeps trying to prove himself too much, and flaunts his dreams, what happens to Brandon has been brought upon himself. This doesn’t justify what happens, and it does not in any way put the blame on Brandon, but it is true that Brandon had many warnings and many opportunities to escape the terrible situation he was in, and he didn’t take any of those options.
that the shy man is a thief he is trained to keep quiet and not say a word to no one so when blackie gets sold to
To prove that he is a valiant father, Walter Younger disregards his own desires and moves his family into a better home. Doing this, Walter sets an example for Travis, encouraging him to go after his dreams. In the process, Walter causes a racial conflict with the white community and learns to stand up for what he believes in. From the personal growth of Walter Younger one can see the significance in fighting for what’s important, as well as, making sacrifices for those that one
Lily gets to stay in a home that makes her feel loved. She writes down her story, including her thoughts and emotions, into a book that was given to her by Zach.
The first five minutes of the film already begin to explore social stratification and the social inequality thereof. Michael and Steven are brought to a church school by Stevens father, where he hopes to gain favor with the football coach and ultimately enroll the two boys in school. While he is conversing with the coach, Michael and Steven begin exploring the property where they stumble across a cart of unlocked crate full of basketballs. “White people are crazy,” Michaels states. This statement implies that the community where they reside is socially- and most
...nding, Josh recongnized one of the girls from school and unwittingly hopped out of the car calling her name. This girl quickly ran off embarrassed, as Josh stood momentarily confused by her actions. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as men surrounded and beat him. Luckily only a bruised body and ego were left to remind him of the incident. This experience educated Josh to the regional diversity that surrounded him.
Eric is a 6-year old African-american male who was raised in an impoverished inner city neighborhood in Chicago. Drugs and violence surrounded his daily life. With a single-mother who involved herself in a series of relationships with abusive boyfriends, Eric found himself beat with a belt, and may have been sexually assaulted. His mother was not home that often, and he was forced to sit outside on the stoop so that his grandmother, that also lived with them, could sell drugs. His mother was uneducated and supported the family with her public assistance grant. He has never met his father, and his uncles are in jail. His father was convicted of robbery and drug charges but Eric was told that he was shot to death in an attempted robbery. He dreams of one day avenging his father's death and acts it out when he plays alone. He has a history of terrorizing animals and killed the family cat. He also did poorly in school, being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. He is constantly involved in fights and has no companions. When home, he mostly involved himself in action movies and cartoons. Eric b efriends a boy who lived next door to him. One day he steals the boys bicycle and when the family comes to claim it, Eric threate ns the boy by saying that he was going to kill his baby brother. A few weeks later, Eric broke into the apartment and assaulted the baby, beating him nearly to death.
Some Boys by Patty Blount is the story of a girl who is raped by a school sports star, Zac, and then is ostracized by everyone around her and branded a slut. It is a familiar story, we hear about it far too often in the press. It’s an important story, reminding us that we must keep having discussions with teens about what sexual violence and sexual consent is and what it isn’t.
Walter, however, was taken advantage of due to his naive nature of believing as a black man that he could become rich. Walter has the ideal life planned out for his family because he has the dream of being able to provide for them and become rich, for example sending Travis off to any college of his choosing. One of these dreams aso includes being able to live in the house that Mama plans on having the family move into. The Younger family believed that they were going to get the house, but a man of the name Mr. Lindner attempts to stop the family from moving in and crush their dreams by not wanting them to move into the new neighborhood. This was solely due to the Youngers race and was very oppressive for Walter and all of his dreams that he had planned out. Mr. Lindner explains to the family that, “It is a matter of the people of Clybourne Park believing, rightly or wrongly, as I say, that for the happiness of all concerned that our Negro families are happier when they live in their own communities” (Hansberry 100). Since the neighborhood doesn’t want the Younger family based on their race, they are making Walter realize his American Dream for his family very difficult to be obtained since he has imagined so many good things to happen. This oppressive and racist views from Mr. Lindner and the new community emphasize the setback
was fighting a fire on duty as a firefighter, Derek blamed “blacks, brown, yellows, its all their fault” and that lead him down a dark path. Disgruntled and confused, Derek became a leading member in a Neo-Nazi group, which he called the D.O.C. Danny, his young brother, watched, listened, and breathed every word Derek spoke. He too bought into the world of hatred. During the time Derek spent in jail for killing three black burglars, Danny tried to do everything possible so his brother would respect him when he got out. But the time in jail transformed Derek. He rethought his whole life when his former black principal visited him in jail to ask, “Has anything you’ve done made your life better?” (Kaye).
...hat I'll do.” This shows the true feelings of Brandon and how others effect his life and what it does to him, it shows that heterosexuality is the expected and that since he goes against it, his is picked on and out –casted because he goes against the norms.
However, Matt Fowler had different reasoning for his actions. After burying his twenty-one year-old son who was just on the cusp of graduating college, he finds that Strout, his son’s murderer, has been released on bail pending trial and until then he has resumed his normal life. Watching his wife not only mourning the loss of their son, but also having to see the killer in daily activities, has caused a mental and emotional strain on their life. The affect on Fowler’s family that Strout is walking around free and seemingly unconcerned is one of the main reasoning that is posed when Fowler and his friend Willis T...
Mama’s dreams were first deferred when she moved into the small apartment that the Youngers family stay in through out most of the play. She became too busy that she couldn’t accomplish her dream. She also could not for fill her dreams since she did not have enough money to do so. Her dreams were even more shattered with the death of her husband, but when she got the money from her husband’s death her dreams then became a reality again. Mama wants Travis to be happy and play in the garden but she cannot do this since they live in a dirty ghetto.
Maxine finds out that she is not invited to a meeting that the president is having and she gets upset because she should be at that meeting. When she gets to the meeting people are shocked to see her there because they know that the President did not invite her. When the President sees her he is shocked too and then Maxine starts to talk about the problems there are in the country at the time. At the meeting they start talking about the riots that are going on and how it is the Justice Departments fault for not controlling the cops and their violent
The movie begins with Jamal Wallace, one of the main characters in the film, playing basketball with his friends. They notice somebody looking down at them up from the top floor window of a nearby apartment building. Jamal’s friends dare him to go up and sneak into the apartment and bring something back to prove he really went in. The man who owned the apartment was William Forrester. When Jamal sneaks in, he is caught by William and Jamal mistakenly leaves his backpack behind while fleeing. Later Forrester drops Jamal’s backpack onto the street. Jamal finds that Forrester had written notes in Jamal’s journals. Jamal later returns to Forrester’s apartment and requests that he read some more of Jamal’s writing. This is when their relationship begins. Jamal begins regularly visiting Forrester and t...
He defines the show as “getting dumber” and “meaner” and how the present prevailing violence was occupied with complex discussions about Brad and Doris’ hopes and dreams for the future. He reminisces about his sentimental moments with Doris and how she used to be as compassionate and how she used to organize community events and volunteer, claiming “That was Doris.” The current Doris in contrast, is exceedingly selfish. She exasperatedly berates Brad for sheltering the corpses claiming their physical pain is lesser than her emotional distress over a dirty porch. She continues to rant about how his shortcomings has forced to “[live] the wrong life.” This comment accuses Brad’s compassion for the morphing backyard and emphasizes the importance of conformity for Doris to appear normal as she lists off neighbors that are perfectly assimilated. Brad momentarily loses confidence in his pursuit of compassion in fear of losing Doris but regains confidence as he truly believes that if speaks of his idea in a vibrant and entertaining manner Doris will revert back to her generous self. Saunders thereby highlights how an individual’s altruism is also an omnipresent force although futile since Brad is “locked out” thus symbolizing his displacement as a main