Staples's Journey To Success

1129 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Overcoming obstacles and challenges

Jules Michelet once stated, “Achieving a goal is nothing. The getting there is everything.” This quote reveals that all goals are not hard to achieve, it is the journey that is difficult. These factors can either hinder individuals from achieving their goals or some use the negative as a stepping stone. According to “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples and “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, this quote becomes relatable. Staples and Tan experience many internal and external factors that impeded their goals. For instance, Staples experience many racial and gender-based conflict on his road to success as Tam face many language-based and literacy-based barriers preventing triumph. Although Tan and Staples encounter various hardships on their journey toward success; instead of quitting due to frustration, the two creates a greater force towards achievement. …show more content…

For instance, Staples faces many stereotypes. He is a journalist who is consistently judged due to his appearance. In paragraph 1, “As I swung onto the avenue behind her, there seemed to be a discreet, uninflammatory distance between us.” Staples creates an image by describing himself as a monster but his description is based on how the outside world see him. He considers his presence a cause for altering others emotion. According to Stereotypes by Rachel E, “In the United States, some of the longest-held and potentially most detrimental stereotypes are those about African Americans.” This relates to Staples crucial journey to greatness. Staples was perceived as a mugger, a murderer, and a rapist because of his outside image and how others viewed

Show More
Related

  • Multiple Experiences In Brent Staples's Black Men And Public Spaces

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racial prejudice began an undoubtedly winding journey, meandering through decade after decade. In the Norton Reader 14th Edition the personal narrative "Black Men and Public Spaces" by Brent Staples describes the multiple experiences he had with being racially stereotyped and how it affected not only him, but also other black men in society. His specific experiences become imperative to the meaning and all inclusive power of narrative, bringing to women 's attention that not all black men pose a threat. By revealing his emotions, Staples creates a multifaceted narrative expressing the effects of the misfortunate events of his life by using imagery and specific diction.

    Read More

  • Howard Zinn Chapter 17 Analysis

    1507 Words  | 4 Pages

    Through every single obstacle a person went through no one gave up. Colored people did not lose hope in becoming equal to white people because they knew they were capable. What the author was trying to prove was exactly that. Although blacks were slaves and were always belittled by white they proved to be more than what the whites thought they were capable of. They stood up for themselves and they did it in several events that occurred in the book. For example, in the chapter a black teenager, James Crawford, was not slightly intimidated by a deputy registrar that attempted to sound intimidating. In the conversation the registrar made some menacing remarks to this young African American teenager saying he would put a bullet through the teenagers head. Not afraid at all, Crawford valiantly told him if it happened he would be dead, but people would come from all over the world. This young man was not afraid to stand up for himself and was not going to tolerate it in any way. Malcolm X was another inspiration to African Americans for the way he stood up for them. He had a strong connection with the people who were influenced by him. In late 1964, Malcolm X told a group of black students from Mississippi, “You’ll get freedom by letting your enemy know that you’ll do anything to get your freedom; then you’ll get it” (Zinn 461). This quote connected to how

    Read More

  • Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

    1783 Words  | 4 Pages

    At some point in any person’s life he or she will be the victim or victimizer of stereotyping. This all too familiar aspect of society is one of the most unfortunate occurrences in life. For many, the harsh generalizations that stereotypes are based on crush the spirit of free will. Yet there are some brave people who choose to counter these stereotypes and live life as they choose, despite what judgments may come. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character, Janie—an African American woman of the 1930’s, struggles with accepting the stereotypes that affect her life. She tries to fit in with them at the cost of her happiness and self-expression. Through her revelations and life changes that defy these stereotypes the audience discovers just how damaging and self-defeating stereotypes can be. Stereotypes can lead to loss of cultural pride and loss of self-expression because they are often based on racist and or sexist generalizations, people feel obligated to fit in with stereotypes, and people lose a sense of independence when they try to follow a stereotype.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples

    250 Words  | 1 Pages

    Brent Staples is the author of “Black Men and Public Space”, a story in which Staples shows readers his experiences in situations where discrimination occurs. Brent Staples brings awareness to readers on how African Americas receive unfair treatment. Staples uses anecdotes to portray the behaviors of the people he encounters; the received behaviors are a result of stereotype. Because Brent Staples is African American, many people mistaken his character and judge him based on the wrongdoings of other individuals from his race. For example, getting chased by security because the office manager called and when the proprietor returned with her large dog, they both consider his presence as a threat. Not only did this happen to Staples, but it also

    Read More

  • To Kill A Mockingbird Stereotypes

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    For example, a teenager in today’s socialistic normalities are thought to be selfish and so absorbed in their phones they miss out on everything around them. However, not everyone is like that. The only reason someone thinks about a stereotype being fact is because the ones apart of the statistic are the ones who are the loudest and are easily pointed out. Mitch1991 claims in a Teen Ink article posts “Loud, obnoxious, rebellious, out of control, and up to no good… these are just a few of a wide number of stereotypes that are attributed to American teenagers. What is it about teenagers that make the rest of society seem to turn against them?” He has a very reliable point because he is living the stereotype first hand. A teenager is not alone in stereotyping of age. Elderly people are stereotyped as well. These may include being ignorant of what is going on, not being able to learn anything new, and being weaker at everything than younger people. Although these may be true for some people, they are still not true for everyone. Similar to how not all things people say about teenagers are true. This post he made matters because stereotyping does not just stop at the adult level or the color or race of a person level. It expands way past that. This is similar to how the Finch kids are treated at Cal’s church; unfairly and judgeful. Grouping people together like a teenager or elderly person is today or how the Finch’s are in the book, are one in the same because both have been stereotyped and not completely truthful for

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Just Walk On By

    628 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the essay, “Just walk on By,” Staples speaks of the struggle he and black men go through with society and their stereotypical view of black men. The way the minds of individuals were shaped are seen in this essay. Staples elaborates when speaking of his own experience as a writer, sympathy and stereotypes are Staples main argument; he makes individuals aware of the struggles black men endure due to stereotypes and the way they are portrayed in them.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Stereotypes In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    “When people rely on surface appearances and false racial stereotypes, rather than in-depth knowledge of others at the level of the heart, mind and spirit, their ability to assess and understand people accurately is compromised.” (James A. Forbes) In the world, many people label and stereotype other nationalities, races, or cultures. Some do this simply to compare their culture to others’, but some label people a certain way to make them feel bad about themselves. Occasionally, groups of people don’t like the way the are labeled or stereotyped, so they work together to change the way they are perceived. Steinbeck shows how labeling and stereotyping influence how people look at the world by making the characters quick to judge one another based on their actions.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Brent Staples's 'Black Men And Public Space'

    745 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this narrative essay, Brent Staples provides a personal account of his experiences as a black man in modern society. “Black Men and Public Space” acts as a journey for the readers to follow as Staples discovers the many societal biases against him, simply because of his skin color. The essay begins when Staples was twenty-two years old, walking the streets of Chicago late in the evening, and a woman responds to his presence with fear. Being a larger black man, he learned that he would be stereotyped by others around him as a “mugger, rapist, or worse” (135).

    Read More

  • Sambo Stereotypes

    306 Words  | 1 Pages

    Modern stereotypes are violent, brutish African American male. The female is lazy and the Welfare Mother.((Peffley Hurwitz & Sniderman, 1997). Recent studies of racial stereotype is 1991 in Los Angeles when police beat Rodney King an African American and they responded to a domestic dispute among African Americans known as Right out of Gorillas in the mist. (Plous & Williams, 1995, p. 812). In 1992 a director of Alcohol and drug administration referred to the youth as monkey in the jungle. (Plous & Williams, 1995, p. 812 ).

    Read More

  • Harlem by Langston Hughes

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    African-Americans living in the Harlem area while explaining what happens when their life goals and

    Read More

  • Self Fulfilling Stereotypes

    297 Words  | 1 Pages

    The article “How a Self Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Your down Performance” main’s concept is to show the common negative stereotypes and how they can affect you. The author Shankar Vedantam shows the concept by giving real life examples. Such as how if a man and women have the same SAT score, that the man is more likely to be chosen due to the greater success he may produce rather than the women. The author then goes to defend against these stereotypes with statistics that shut down the other side of argument. The author continues with this throughout the article

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Sports

    1929 Words  | 4 Pages

    A majority of these stereotypes are negative, but most of them eventually change over time. The most prominent stereotype is African-Americans being seen as less fit to accomplish the same things as the Caucasian kids. In portraying this message through a movie that revolves around a football team, this ‘less fit’ status is mostly witnessed where the African-American kids are not as good of football players as the Caucasian kids. Aside from this, there is also an overwhelming amount of blatant racial prejudice from other teammates, students, and community members towards the African-American players. A majority of these community members that participate in this blatant racial prejudice are also stereotyped by the creators of the movie. They fit the stereotype of what one would imagine when thinking of a white southern in the slang they use and their attitude towards African-Americans, which is greatly negative. The two stereotypes mentioned above work together to create a lot of the controversy and animosity that is seen in the film. For a majority of the film, these stereotypes remain constant. However, near the end, as the team and the town begin to unite together to fight this prejudice, these stereotypes start to change. This change was not easy and was only accomplished, because of the relentless effort of the African-American players fighting for that change,

    Read More

  • Hung By Oppression

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    Brent Staples also published an essay titled “Just Walk On By: Black Men in Public Space”, he discussed the prejudice and stereotyping he faced over something he could not control- his skin. He writes about how he is viewed in society, and though he never directly references oppression, it is evident that Staples faced it in his daily life, on multiple occasions.

    Read More

  • Freedom Of Religion In The United States

    711 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stereotypes are exaggerated beliefs usually associated with a group of people and based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Stereotypes generally begin with a particular belief about an undesirable characteristic of group. One of the dysfunctions of stereotyping is prejudice (Intro to Sociology, pg 262-263). Prejudice is everywhere. When we look upon prejudice, it's through every aspect of society. J.J. Cole states that, when she became into adulthood and graduated high school, she realize that people were having issues of disrespect base upon their race or ethnicity, including with their gender, likelihood, and their life

    Read More

  • Never Giving Up Research Paper

    275 Words  | 1 Pages

    “Without commitment, you’ll never start, but more importantly, without consistency, you’ll never finish“(Denzel Washington). Success or prosperity is not from the color of your skin, although one's skin may make the process somewhat harder nor the amount of money someone might be born into. Never giving up is almost perfectly derived from success. Never giving up is an essential aspect in becoming successful in this world, no matter what county, education or occupation you may have or want.

    Read More

More about Staples's Journey To Success

Open Document