SELF-AWARENESS THOUGH FILM 1.
The protagonists and social conflicts in the film The Visitor offer
dynamic opportunities to explore lived experiences that are different than the
ones that are part of my personal biography and history. All of the charters in the
film are not only unique from one another, but also inhabit worldviews,
understandings, and familiarities that could not be more different from the
upbringing and life that I have known. Walter Vale is a widowed, single,
white, male academic professor who is nearing the end of his professional career.
Walter has a grown son who lives in London and feels unfilled at work, expressing
towards the end of the film that ‘he pretends.’ As an ageing, widowed, single
white
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Walter Vale is the vehicle through which the story of the compassion of one
man helping other people suffering the adversity of political persecution is
told. Through his empathy for others less fortunate and privileged than himself,
Walter Vale attempts to use all of the resources at his disposal to make life better,
for Tarek and Zainab, the foreign couple who completely take him by surprise
SELF-AWARENESS THOUGH FILM 2.
by occupying his apartment, then for Tarek, when he is arrested and detained, and
finally for Mouna, Tarek’s mother. Although we first meet Walter as an isolated
and detached man, he soon surprises everyone he comes into contact with by
offering them his apartment, his support and desire to serve them in whatever
difficulties they find themselves in. Walter Vale is unique in his selflessness and
his openness and appreciation of the cultures of Tarek, Zainab and Mouna, as
evidenced by his interest in their culture, music and assisting them in their political
plight. Through Walter, I was able to ask myself whether I could extend myself so
altruistically, and, at the expense of time and money to help complete
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As a white person, Walter understand that he
‘may be an unintentional abuser with the potential to inflict hard through a lack of
knowledge of Tarek, Zainab and Mouna’s experieces of racism related stress.’
As an academic who has studied economic growth in developing
nations, Walter is conscious and critical of the injustices perpetuated by his
country’s unfair immigration policies which allows ‘good people’ to
be detained and deported. Walter represents the lens through which the viewer
can see how political oppression is meted out against innocent people like Tarek
and the privilege of white men like Walter, who despite their class, age and social
status and education, are willing to support and advocate for Tarek against the
unjust and racist structural injustices of the immigration policies in America.
In the beginning of the film, Walter’s piano teacher retaliates against his
firing of her by reminding him that it is very difficult for people of his age and
lack of experience to achieve success in learning how to play a new
Growing up we often fail to recognize the ways in which we are privileged and the opportunities we are given due to these advantages. In the essay “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh discusses the privileges of being white and the ways she has experienced advantages because of her race. Throughout the essay, McIntosh allows readers to explore how she has been given opportunities due to specific traits she has in her “invisible knapsack”, privileges she once had taken for granted. As she shares her personal experiences throughout the essay she invites the reader to participate in discovering which items their knapsacks carry. Similar to McIntosh, I also have invisible items which have been unknowingly beneficial to me throughout my life. Until recently I have failed to recognize the impact these items have towards other aspects of my life. I have been gifted these privileges merely through inheritance. Some of the most profound characteristics I am especially grateful for are my gender and geographic location. These privileges that I have been given by chance have had cumulative effects on my life experiences.
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this situation, so he decides to use the $10,000 check for an investment in order to exceed his primitive state. In mid-morning, he excitedly asks his family about the check’s arrival, “Check coming today?” (Hansberry I.i.868). The check is one of the few reasons that forces Walter to get up each morning, so he will eventually be able to obtain success and self pride. Walter views the check as the only solution to all of his problems, so once Mama receives it, Walter confronts her and begs for her “financial” support. Walter exemplifies his sudden, new-found confidence to Travis when Mama unexpectedly entrusts him with the remaining $6,500, “…your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that’s going to change our lives” (II.ii.885). Walter is finally ready to realize his dream, and he has all the possible confidence he can acquire. He foresees the significant change that awaits his family when the money is invested. Unfortunately, nature has different plans for the Youngers. Whe...
Walter Younger is the biggest dreamer of the family. As the man of the household, he holds the most responsibility since he has to supply for his wife Ruth, son, mother and sister, which is a very demanding task since there are so many people living in such small quarters. His dream is to acquire wealth with his friends in order to support his family, and eventually have enough to give his family a better life and set his son up for a successful life. Throughout the movie, he focuses on quick fixes to any situation that arises. When the neighborhood’s improvement association offers to buy the family out of moving into a white suburb of Chicago, Walter wants to accept the offer because the family needed the money...
The poverty that poor black Americans experience is often different from the poverty of poor whites. It is more isolating and esoteric. It fans out of family homes and inundates the entire neighborhood; the streets, the schools, the grocery stores, the community centers. A poor black family, in short, is much more likely than a poor white family to live in a neighborhood where many other families are poor. Creating what is called the "double standard" of poverty. “The sense of privilege that he [Marks], a multi-generation white class guy has to share his wisdom with all of those ‘poor black socially-orphaned children out there in the West Phillies of the world’ is astounding” (DNLee 256). Assuming that those children have no direction is a misconception that many white privileged Americans assume. And that assumption is why the life chances and opportunities of people of color in the United States are limited as compared to whites. Place continues to be a defining characteristics of the opportunity structure. Children growing up in more privileged neighborhoods often ponder what they will do when they grow up; as were poor children ponder on if they will even have the opportunity to grow up. The privileged are so blind that even they do not realize it, and they do not see that others are not privileged. As Cinderella’s privileges and opportunities were taken from her, her chance at the ‘good life’ was too. The element of the good life, however defined, is only accessible to those who are
The two articles that had a profound impact to my understanding of race, class and gender in the United States was White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and Imagine a Country by Holly Sklar. McIntosh explains the keys aspects of unearned advantage (a privilege that one group hold over another) as well as conferred dominance (the act of voluntarily giving another group power) and the relationship that these factors hold when determine power of a social group. Additionally, the purpose of McIntosh’s article was to demonstrate the privilege that certain individuals carry and how that translates to the social structures of our society. Furthermore, conferred dominance also contributes to the power of the dominant group
Walter began to use the drum as a way of positively coping with his depressive symptoms. He begins to develop coping skills and his life starts to shift into a mode of engagement, connections, and meaning. As Walter connects, he develops insight on his depressive symptoms and lack of motivation. The scene in which he tells Mauna “The truth is I haven’t done any real work in a long time” is his ability to self-identify the negative impact that his depressive symptoms had on his life including his job as a teacher. Having awareness is the first step towards
... the realization that he does not need a liquor store to make him happy. He needs his family to be happy in order for him to be happy. Walter matures throughout the story, and his American Dream disappears, and new dreams appear.
Living in a poverty stricken area, Walter can only think about one of the many things he lacks, money. On the contrary, there are African Americans on the other side of Chicago who do have money and run large businesses. This pushes Walter to not only want to provide more for his family, but also dream big and become determined. The only way that he sees fit for him to make his dream come true and earn more
...the deeds done for your family. Instead of choosing to give up the home his mother purchased for the family Walter stands up and chooses not only a better home for his family but also a better life. He chooses to keep a place his mother purchased that went against his dreams to provide his son with a real home and in doing so he finally and truly understood what it was to have his manhood restored.
Mama talks to Walter about her fears of the family falling apart. This is the reason she bought the house and she wants him to understand. Walter doesn't understand and gets angry. "What you need me to say you done right for? You the head of this family. You run our lives like you want to. It was your money and you did what you wanted with it. So what you need for me to say it was all right for? So you butchered up a dream of mine - you - who always talking 'bout your children's dreams..." Walter is so obsessive over money that he yells at his mom for not giving him all of it. He doesn't know that what his mom is doing is for the family. He thinks that having money will make the family happy, when in reality the family doesn't need anymore than what they have to be happy.
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and say, Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job ... that ain’t nothing at all” ( Hansberry 1755).
...se. Still Walter will face many more roadblocks, but perhaps his shattered life may begin to repair itself, even without financial security.
... love and happiness of one’s family. Walter changes from being self-centered to self-less. He gives up his dream of having a liquor store when Willy Harris runs away with the money. Walter does that so the Younger family can fill their lives with joy and do not have to struggle anymore. This is the biggest sacrifice that Walter makes for the family. This theme also applies to everyday life. Many people sacrifice their wishes and dreams that they have, so they could help their family through tough times and always keep a smile on their faces. Love, sacrifice, and happiness is a part of everyday life.
This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the 'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a 'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family.
“Physical abuse is any intentional and unwanted contact with you or something close to your body. Sometimes abusive behavior does not cause pain or even leave a bruise, but it’s still unhealthy” (e.g., “types of abuse,” n.d., para. 1).