There are three reasons Lucas commits suicide, and each reason teaches an important lesson to Alice. The first reason is that Lucas felt that he had no identity and did not fit in with his peers and other social groups. Secondly, Lucas was not able to commit to relationships. The final reason is that Lucas felt a lot of guilt for attempting to rape Alice. While all of these reasons negatively affected Lucas and were the reasons behind his suicide, they also taught Alice valuable lessons which allowed her to make improvements to her life. If it was not for the lessons in identity, cultural perspective, and self worth, Alice would not have been able to move forward with the changes in her life.
In the story of Good Hair, Lucas’ lack of identity was one of the main reasons that he committed suicide. In his suicide note, Lucas references not being able to fit in with any of the cultures in his school. This made it difficult in his life and created issues with Lucas dealing with who he was and where he belonged in society. This issue with his lack of identity created hatred and tension internally because of the people he surrounded himself with. “I felt I could never find a place where I could be myself and be accepted”, said Lucas in the letter. This statement shows the loneliness that Lucas felt with not being able to be a part of a group. His identity and the label that he tried to pigeonhole himself into did not exist and because of it, he could not feel complete. Also, Lucas states in his letter, “...trying to fit in, pretending I was something I wasn’t”, was what persuaded him to buy the sailboat that racked up the credit card debt for his parents. The push to feel accepted by associates and his parents was something that he wi...
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...re hurting her in society and in her personal relationships.
The commitment of Lucas to share his last words with his sister shows a deep love and respect for the one that he caused so much pain. The identity that he created in his death is one that shows weakness and a falsehood of what success truly is. Alice’s healing of her own scars starts with her realization that denial of the events of her past have also stopped her from living for the future. With this final set of circumstances, Alice, now can become the person that she truly sees her self to be; An independent black professional woman who does not fit the mold that society has carved out for her to be. Lucas has given her the freedom to create her own identity and the freedom to use his life mistakes as lessons for her own well being and survival of identity issues, societal views, and her relationships.
Both Alex and Clinton struggle with problems of their family and others. Alex feels as if he is treated different when hes is, but thats not what he wants everyone to treat him as,by his family, Jennifer, and other people. Clinton is treated as an outcast, his friends don’t want to hang out with him no more and his little sister treats him as a monster. He begins to realized what he ha...
However, instead of allowing the corruption and grief of losing a significant figure in her life completely consume her, Leah embraces a new culture and turns to another male figure, her husband Anatole, for guidance. With new surrounding influences, Leah encounters various forms of separation, whether it be from her birthplace, father, or husband, and accepts all the drawbacks and loses that come along with the isolation. At the same time, Leah also challenges herself to overcome the loss and succumb to the loneliness that could potentially bring her closer to a new aspect of life never explored before. Through it all, Leah turns her experiences with exile into bittersweet memories sprinkled across the time span of her life for each rift allowed her to obtain a sense of self identity during periods of time free of human contact or, in Leah’s case,
Suicide is an unfortunate end of the life of a person who is undergoing great suffering. This person usually can no longer deal with his or her problems and falls back on what seems like the only way out: death. This is never the right choice as there are always other options. Although many options are drastic, they are better than death. In the novel Fifth Business, Leola falls into a deep depression as all the things that are keeping her together, in her not overly successful life seem to suddenly disappear. She finds out that her husband, which is very demanding of her and who she tries to impress constantly, was in fact cheating on her. On page 183, her husband’s deeds are revealed: “He was explicit about his sexual needs... there where two or three women in Montreal whom he visited.”. Leola could not take this news and because she saw no other way decided to resort to suicide as is described on page 188. “Leola had cut her wrists and laid herself down to die in high Roman fashion, in a warm bath... she had made a gory but not fatal job of it.”. Leola could have had many other wa...
This movie has been reworked from Maya Angelou’s best selling novel and the story takes place in a bigoted town in Stamps, Arkansas where Maya and her brother, Bailey, grow up with their grandmother and uncle. The Angelous were African Americans, they had to deal with racism from the infamous Ku Klux Klan and the other Caucasians in town. Despite disdain from the Caucasians, Maya also has familial problems. She travels back and forth between her mother’s and grandmother’s house not being able to situate herself in either’s home. However, Maya perseveres. She begins school and excels in academics. The turning point of the movie is when Maya is sexually assaulted, consequently, she withdraws into total silence. It is with the help of her kind teacher that Maya is mentally restored to herself: enthusiastic, joyful and bright. She makes an emotional valedictory speech at her graduation where she expressed her feelings and emotions towards her friends, fellow classmates, teachers and life at Stamps. Her eventful time from her youth to her graduation serve to teach a person to define themselves, not for others to define a person.
At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and
...ing her life, he is able to control something and finally rid himself of some of his torments.
...her father’s intense racism and discrimination so she hid the relationship at all costs. Connie realized that she could never marry an African American man because of her father’s racial intolerance. If she were to have a mixed child, that child would be greatly discriminated against because of hypodecent. One day, Connie’s dad heard rumors about her relationship so he drove her car to the middle of nowhere, and tore it apart. Then, he took his shotgun and went to look for Connie and her boyfriend. Connie was warned before her father found her, and she was forced to leave town for over six months. Connie’s father burned her clothes, so she had to leave town with no car, no clothes and no money at sixteen years old. Connie had lived in poverty her entire life, but when she got kicked out she learned to live with no shelter and sometimes no food at all.
Alice Walker is vital to the ideas of literary traditions because she is a writer who speaks about how she feels. She writes from what she knows, not what she has learned. Walker, in her stories expressed the problems that may have kept a group in people from achieving what they wanted in life, but still managed to show that these people still had joy in their lives. Her works should continue to be incorporated into Literature on the college level in order to maintain for those who do not understand the plot of African Americans the struggle they faced. She is a powerful force in the Literature that can stand with the likes of Shakespeare because she presents her works in a manner to make the reader think about what life and what is really important. All three of these short stories support the main thought in this essay because Walker as a writer, wrote from what she knew; she grew up in a culture where African Americans seemed to be enslaved to their race which in turn, forced them
Around one million people in the United States commit suicide every year. To put that in perspective, it’s around one death every forty seconds. It can happen to anyone, it doesn’t discriminate based on race, age, or gender. It tends to happen to the people we least expect it too. There are many reasons and causes for suicide. It can happen all of a sudden or it can take years for someone to take his or her own life. The main causes for suicide are depression, stress, and drug abuse or alcohol problems.
influence all her life and struggles to accept her true identity. Through the story you can
When she first is confronted by the problem or race it hits her with a thump. Bob takes Alice to dinner where she states, “I don’t want feel like being refused” (55). Alice does what she can to avoid the face of racism. She lacks the integration within the different community, which gives her a one-path perspective. While going to the restaurant with Bob, he asks, “Scared because you haven’t got the white folks to cover you” (55)? She doesn’t have the protection of her friends or her parents to shy away from the truth of her being African American. She is hiding behind a mask because she’s passing as white. She’s accepting the assumption that she belongs to their culture. When she goes out, “with white folks the people think you’re white” (60). But, when she goes out with Bob there is nothing to hide behind. She’s confronted with the truth. Already feeling low about the restaurant, and getting pulled over by the cops, she uses her wealth to get out of the situation. She says, “I am a supervisor in the Los Angeles Welfare” (63). The power of her family shows that she be treated better by the cops and others in the
Lex Luger, a retired wrestler and television producer, reflects that “Many times, the decisions we make affect and hurt your closest friends and family the most. I have a lot of regrets in that regard. But God has forgiven me, which I am very thankful for. It has enabled me to forgive myself and move forward one day at a time.” Luger believes that you shouldn’t dwell on what you’ve done but grow from it and move forward with your life. At times, we can feel taken for granted, but there is always a way to move beyond the situation and feel better about ourselves. Dee, Alice Walker’s main character, has hurt both her mother and sister, but Mama, as all mothers do, overlook their children’s shortcoming and forgive. Dee unappreciative her whole life not caring about the hard work her mother and sister Maggie has put in to help her have a better life, making sure she had and education and was able to go to a good college in Dee wanted to do was forget about and where she came from only caring about herself; which drove Mama and Maggie to shift a lot in the story. Mama finally becoming of herself speaking up for Maggie you would say her overlooked daughter. While Maggie got a sense of happiest on the inside to finally ends up with the quilts compared to always having Dee get any and everything she wants. Now Dee has realize that her bratty and spoiled ways aren’t
Tracy’s identity development is heavily influenced by her new friendship with Evie from that moment on. Evie is so popular, but she makes very poor choices and Tracy follows her lead because she wants to seem just as “cool” as her new companion. This is a type of peer pressure that affects many teenagers daily.... ... middle of paper ... ...
A person’s identity is shaped by many different aspects. Family, culture, friends, personal interests and surrounding environments are all factors that tend to help shape a person’s identity. Some factors may have more of an influence than others and some may not have any influence at all. As a person grows up in a family, they are influenced by many aspects of their life. Family and culture may influence a person’s sense of responsibilities, ethics and morals, tastes in music, humor and sports, and many other aspects of life. Friends and surrounding environments may influence a person’s taste in clothing, music, speech, and social activities. Personal interests are what truly set individuals apart. An individual is not a puppet on the string of their puppet-master, nor a chess piece on their master’s game board, individuals choose their own paths in life. They accomplish, or strive to accomplish, goals that they have set for themselves throughout their lifetime. Individuals are different from any other individual in the world because they live their own life rather than following a crowd of puppets. A person’s identity is defined by what shaped it in the first place, why they chose to be who they are, and what makes them different from everybody else in the world. I feel that I have developed most of my identity from my own dreams, fantasies, friends, and idols.
Suicide has become one of the many means that problematic individuals take into consideration to exempt from an unpleasant or oppressive situation. Suicide can be generally defined as the act of causing one’s death usually out of despair. People who are likely to commit suicide are those who suffer from severe mental illnesses and are involved with alcohol and drugs. Other than that, individuals who are experiencing unemployment and divorce can also be possible victims to commit such act. Based on the study done in the year 1997, an average of fifteen-percent who are clinically depressed ended up committing suicide. Furthermore, suicide was the eighth leading cause of death in the US (“Suicide”). It is prevalent for depressed individuals to consider suicide when major issues in life do not work out well. The big question is, what makes a person thinks that ending his or her life can help oneself to escape from the reality when life has so much more to offer?