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Sweat
It is easy to see why a person would find "Sweat" an offensive story.
Many who read this story will find that the style in which it is written to be
degrading to the African American race. However, this assumption has little
backing. Zora Hurston is clearly relaying a story that tells of her time. To
say "Sweat" is stereotypical is to deny the fact that this is the way things
were at one time.
For a person to acknowledge the way things were is to merely recall
history. Why should a race be ashamed of their history? They would better
their own values by taking this story for what it is worth. Not only does it
tell of their ancestors way of life, but it shows how things have changed for
the better.
If one could not write stories about their experiences in the past the
public would be unknowing of its culture and heritage. Hurston even used
reference to Jewish people in this story. They also were slaves and were faced
with over four hundred years of hardships and inequalities. It has not been
known for the people of the Jewish faith to be insulted by the Bible which tells
their stories. In fact, they use it as a way of life. It serves as a learning
tool that proved how strong they were and how much suffering they had to endure.
When they are faced with problems they relate back to stories, just as this, to
find that strength once again.
Mrs. Hurston, being a African American herself, should have the right to
tell a story of her heritage without being persecuted. The fact that that is
how African Americans spoke during that time should not be cause for
embarrassment. It is just a fact of how things were. When relating a story
from a certain time period, it should be written in the dialect used at that
time.
The people who find this story demeaning are obviously choosing to not
believe this is how things were. If you change the facts, you change the
history. People of all nationalities have parts of their heritage that they
would rather not admit to, but a mistake made should be noted and then changed
if possible. It should not be forgotten due to its unpleasantness.
The more African Americans are ignored for their differences, the more
they have to set themselves apart from the "typical" white American. For example,
black people were given equal rights and equal opportunities in the working
world with affirmative action. These things were obtained through the request
This type of "narrative" writing gives believability to the people, and a sense of realism to the story.
The Jews have been the only people accused of deicide and this caused hatred from Christians. During the diaspora, the Jews settled in the Mediterranean countries, although they settled as far away as Europe. Constant uprooting prevented the Jews from becoming agriculturalists and pastoralists, therefore they worked at trades. During the middle ages, the Jews made ornamental glass objects and worked at money lending. They were seen as prosperous and resented by the people of the countries where they settled. Resentment built against the Jews by the less prosperous people of the settled countries. The attitude of the Christian church was summed up, from our lecture, by John Chrysostom who wrote: “The Jews are the odious assassins of Christ and for killing God there is no expiation possible, no indulgence or pardon.” The churches were reluctant to help the Jews during the holocaust because of the long-standing hatred. The Jews caught in German-occupied areas after World War I had little help except for few organizations and many countries did
One of the most devastating blows to the Jewish people was the rise of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism was based on Christian anti-Judaism: “The deicide accusation, the supersession myth, the supposed moral turpitude and deserved punishment resulting from the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, as well as economic be...
The last theme was how different and similar many of the interviewees’ lifestyles were. Some tried to really retain and practice their parents’ culture. Others sort of went their own way and tried to live their own lifestyle. It was also interesting how different the social classes were that they originally came f...
In these essays, the authors are telling a story about the characters life. The stories are directed towards the audience to express the kind of pain and suffering the characters went through to learn and apply what they had been yearning for.
Values -Everyone has them. Where do those values come from? In literature, one can find the answer to that question by taking a close look at characters and their values. They can be compatible to real life experiences. Look at the two stories, "Abuela Invents the Zero" by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. The main characters in the stories are Constancia from "Abuela Invents the Zero" and the Four March sisters, Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth from Little Women. These two stories demonstrate how Experiences can shape, and change values.
For more than two thousand years anti-Semitism has plagued the Jews, however, the term has only been around for about thirty years (Strack 594). Due to the hateful accusations and of those who did not understand their religion, Jews, as a scorned people, gradually became more exclusive and intolerant of other religions. Because of Judaism’s strict adherence to their own beliefs and unwillingness to consider any alternatives, Muslims and Christians have scorned and persecuted Jews.
In conclusion, it is hard to grasp the true meaning of the story unless the story is read a second time because of the author's style of writing.
Last but not least, O’Connor confirms that even a short story is a multi-layer compound that on the surface may deter even the most enthusiastic reader, but when handled with more care, it conveys universal truths by means of straightforward or violent situations. She herself wished her message to appeal to the readers who, if careful enough, “(…)will come to see it as something more than an account of a family murdered on the way to Florida.”
Everyone in the world belongs to a subculture. Each subculture has its own sets of traditions, relics, and artifacts. Relics and artifacts are symbolic, material possessions important to one's subculture. Relics are from the past; artifacts are from the present. These traditions, relics, and artifacts help shape the personalities of individuals and how they relate with others. Individuals know about these items through storytelling in the subculture. Families are good examples of subcultures. My family, a middle-class suburban Detroit family of Eastern European heritage, has helped shape who I am through story telling about traditions, artifacts, and relics.
of information about where they came from and why they live the way they do.
"A value determines what a person thinks he ought to do, which may or may not be the same as he wants to do, or what is in his interest to, or what in fact he actually does. Values in this sense give rise to general standards and ideal by which we judge our own and others conduct; they also give rise to specific obligations” (CCETSW,
I frankly confess that I have, as a general thing, but little enjoyment of it, and that it has never seemed to me to be, as it were, a first-rate literary form. . . . But it is apt to spoil two good things – a story and a moral, a meaning and a form; and the taste for it is responsible for a large part of the forcible-feeding writing that has been inflicted upon the world.
A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (“Narrative,” 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (“Narrative and Informational Text,” 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence.
One of the concepts explained in The Power of Myth is the stages of human development. Campbell states that “As a child, you are brought up in a world of discipline, of obedience, and you are dependent on others. All this has to be transcended when you come to maturity, so that you can live not in dependency but with self-responsible authority” (Campbell 87). Thor and Santiago both experience the stages of human development, from dependence to maturity. In The Alchemist, Santiago decides to become a shepherd and travel the world, disobeying his parents who want him to be a priest. When his father says “Amongst us, the only ones who travel are the shepherds”, Santiago makes up his mind to become a shepherd. (Coelho 9). In Kon-Tiki, Thor was disappointed and discouraged because his theory is rejected and ignored by people. However, soon, he decides to sail the sea with few other people to show that his theory is right. Thor says to his friend, “I’m so sure the Indians crossed the Pacific on their rafts that I’m willing to build a raft of the same kind myself and cross the sea just to prove that it’s possible” (Heyerdahl 23). Santiago’s making his own decisions and Thor’s taking action to get out of his helpless situation show their developments to the more mature human beings.