Racism is Ignorance and Fear
Racism is really another word for ignorance. It's another way of saying that nature should have had only one type of flower or tree. It's another way of looking at the world with your eyes closed to diversity and change. Racism is another word for fear. Fear of the unknown is understandable, of course, and for many of us those of different races and creeds are the great unknown. Most of us are brought up in a particular environment with a particular type of people. For example, let me give you some statistics that I got from the US Census Bureau, on a large scale we have a total of 2,100,562 people in Utah, 1,999,509 of which are white that is 95%. There is only 18,613 total blacks, that is not even 1% of the population. The other majority is of course the Hispanic population but they also only have about 4%. So we may come in contact with these other races, but it is almost just a ?passer by? situation, most the time not even becoming acquainted with them let alone getting to know them on a personal level. So we think ?there goes a different person? and most the time different to us can be viewed as negative.
Often we do not put those thoughts into words. We simply, as it were, stick to our own. We are comfortable there and it is where we belong. We often repeat our parents' philosophy on race and that too is understandable. They set our standards and we often, unthinkingly, adopt them. Some of us may be more aggressive in...
One of Beverly Tatum's major topics of discussion is racial identity. Racial identity is the meaning each of us has constructed or is constructing about what it means to be a white person or a person of color in a race-conscious society. (Tatum, pp Xvii) She talks about how many parents hesitate to talk to their children about racism because of embarrassment and the awkwardness of the subject. I agree with her when she says that parents don't want to talk about racism when they don't see a problem. They don't want to create fear or racism where none may exist. It is touchy subject because if not gone about right, you can perhaps steer someone the wrong way. Another theory she has on racial identity is that other people are the mirror in which we see ourselves. (tatum pp18) 'The parts of our identity that do capture our attention are those that other people notice, and that reflects back to us.'; (Tatum pp21) What she means by this is that what other people tell us we are like is what we believe. If you are told you are stupid enough you might start to question your intelligence. When people are searching for their identity normally the questions 'who am I now?'; 'Who was I before?'; and 'who will I become'; are the first that come to mind. When a person starts to answer these questions their answers will influence their beliefs, type of work, where they may live, partners, as well as morals. She also mentions an experiment where she asked her students to describe themselves in sixty seconds. Most used descriptive words like friendly, shy, intelligent, but students of color usually state there racial or ethnic group, while white students rarely, if ever mention that they are white. Women usually mention that they are female while males usually don't think to say that they are males. The same situation appeared to take place when the topic of religious beliefs came up. The Jewish students mentioned being Je...
Upon reading Raymond Carver's short story of the Cathedral one will notice the literary devices used in the short story. When analyzing the story completely, one then understands the themes, motifs, metaphors, and the overall point of the piece. This leaves the reader with an appreciation of the story and a feeling of complete satisfaction.
...nd optimistic" (Watson 114). The few critics who have written specifically about "Cathedral" tend concentrate on that optimism, seen at the end of the story with the narrator’s "esthetic experience [and] realization" (Robinson 35). In concentrating on the final "realization" experienced by the narrator, the literary community has overlooked his deep-rooted misunderstanding of everything consequential in life.
...l of open-mindedness. “Cathedral” concerns the change in one man’s understanding of himself and the world. From the start of the story the narrator is restricted in his understanding to accept the blind man just as his wife has. He cannot fully wrap around the idea of what makes Robert so special. Until, that is, that the narrator starts drawing the cathedral which starts off as a house almost, and expands into something grander. This short story allows us to realize that the world is greater and further detailed than what we consider it in our confined minds. And that in fact we should never assume that there is nothing more to what the eye can see. It simply states that we shouldn’t form an opinion on someone or something based only on what you see on the exterior, because usually after taking the time to explore, the person or thing will not be what you expected.
Let’s start with the definition of racism. Racism refers to the belief that race is the primary determinant of human capacities, that a certain race is inherently superior or inferior to others, and/or that individuals should be treated differently based on their ascribed race.
The Belgian novelist Georges Simenon had an astonishing level of literary productivity. During his career he published more than 400 books. It turns out that his appetite for sex was equally as impressive. “Most people work every day and enjoy sex periodically,” Patrick Marnham writes. “Simenon had sex every day and every few months indulged in a frenzied orgy of work.” While living in Paris, Simenon frequently slept with up to four different women per day. His second wife estimated that during the span of his career he had over 1,200 sexual partners.
“Cathedral”, written by Raymond Carver and “A Pair of Tickets” written by Amy Tan are two stories very different from each other. They share only a few similarities. The main similarity in the two stories is the plot. In the two stories, they are both meeting someone important for the first time. Although the plot is the same in both stories, the characters in Cathedral and A Pair of Tickets are very different from each other.
At first glance, one might assume Raymond Carver’s "Cathedral" illustrates the awakening of an insensitive and insulated husband to the world of a blind man. However, this literal awakening does not account for the fact that the husband awakens also to a world of religious insight, of which he has also been blind. The title and story structure are the first indicators of the importance of the religious thesis. It is also revealed when one examines the language and actions of the characters in the story. Finally, Carver’s previous and subsequent writings give an overall background for the argument that "Cathedral" has a significant religious import.
In both stories the main characters were disengaged. In “Cathedral” The husband was disengaging with his wife he mention he found himself thinking what a “pitiful live” the blind man’s lived, he says:
This story is about how the narrator is unable to see what life is really giving him and finds it through a blind man’s eyes, the friend of his wife. Cathedral is a touching story, in my opinion, as it reflects on what many of us, society, take for granted. It shows how important it is to give people a chance and to be able to see the true meaning of what surrounds us even if it is not important to our personal life. Throughout the short story, Carver uses several figurative language to expose the theme of the story.
The case would be approached with the notion that a persons' way of thinking affects their feelings and actions regarding any particular situation. Approaching the case from this perspective forms the basis for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The CBT approach allows the individual to develop a positive response to life challenges even though the situation may tend to remain similar. CBT focuses on learning, unlike other psychotherapeutic approaches which rely in abundance on analyzing and exploring individual's relationship with their immediate environment. The therapist’s role in CBT is to guide the patient through a learning process on how to develop and implement new methods of thinking and behaving throughout
With this in mind, “Cathedral” is a story about a blind man who visits a married couple for the first time in ten years. Carver introduces the blind man’s name as Robert. He has formed a great relationship with the husband’s wife by passionately communicating with her through mailing letters and tapes. Unfortunately, these actions force the husband to become extremely paranoid of Robert coming to visit his wife. These events can infer that their marriage is unstable and the wife is potentially attempting to seek attention or a stronger e...
Racism and prejudice has been present in almost every civilization and society throughout history. Even though the world has progressed greatly in the last couple of decades, both socially and technologically, racism, hatred and prejudice still exists today, deeply embedded in old-fashioned, narrow-minded traditions and values.
This belief can have an enormous effect over the way that one group of people treats another. In retrospect all racism entails is the idea that because of someone's skin colour or religion they are an in-superior race of the. Racism is a blatant form of prejudice. People who are prejudice are people who have strong feelings against certain types of people before they have even met them. Prejudice means 'pre-judgement' and society.
First, let’s consider the economic challenges that young adults face today. Most people would agree that young adults suffer the most with our current economic circumstances. With the rising costs of attending college many young adults ponder not