Comparing Unrelated Incidents by Tom Leonard and Half-Caste by John Agard
This essay will be based on comparing and contrasting the cultures of
two poems. The two poems I will be talking about are "Unrelated
Incidents", by Tom Leonard and "Half-Caste", by John Agard. The poems
are based on different cultures, and whether or not it matters what
culture you have.
Both of the poems are structured in interesting ways. "Unrelated
Incidents" is set out in a long column with 38 lines and no more than
four words per line. It seems to be set out like an auto-cue TV
presenters use instead of scripts. There are no sections or verses in
it, whereas "Half-Caste" has four verses which is (in my opinion)
split into two sections - the first two verses consists of John Agard
asking questions and using the word "half-caste" to describe things
where colours are mixed, like artwork and piano keys, and in the
second pair of verses he is using "half-caste" to describe parts of
his body and states of mind. "Half-Caste" has 53 lines and no full
stops. It has what (at a first glance) seem to be random forward
slashes, but I have now realised that it seems to welcome a pause
after each forward slash. In "Unrelated Incidents" there aren't any
capital letters except for "BBC" which is something I didn't pick up
on at first.
The poems are both performance poems and the tone or mood of them are
similar - there is some humour in both poems and they look as though
they should be spoken in an angry sort of way. After watching a video
of Tom Leonard and John Agard themselves reading their poems my
Bryan Stevenson gives a talk about social inequality as it relates to poverty and race. He is a lawyer, as well as the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that works to fight inequalities in the criminal justice system. He has represented many clients, which he refers to as victims, facing life sentences or are awaiting their death sentence. He has represented many large cases and met many large figureheads of civil rights, such as Rosa Parks.
The book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life published in 2003, takes a close look into the lives of different families in the United States and how they are affected by race and social class and how their family lives differ. The Author, Annette Lareau, discusses how social class affects the parenting styles and how these parenting styles are affecting the children. Although Lareau’s book could use a few changes, it is well written and it is a good read to help better understand how social class and parenting styles can affect the lives of different children on a personal level. In
What do the following words or phrases have in common: “the last departure,”, “final curtain,” “the end,” “darkness,” “eternal sleep”, “sweet release,” “afterlife,” and “passing over”? All, whether grim or optimistic, are synonymous with death. Death is a shared human experience. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion, health, wealth, or nationality, it is both an idea and an experience that every individual eventually must confront in the loss of others and finally face the reality of our own. Whether you first encounter it in the loss of a pet, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a pop culture icon, or a valued community member, it can leave you feeling numb, empty, and shattered inside. But, the world keeps turning and life continues. The late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and of Pixar Animation Studios, in his 2005 speech to the graduating class at Stanford, acknowledged death’s great power by calling it “the single best invention of Life” and “Life’s great change agent.” How, in all its finality and accompanying sadness, can death be good? As a destination, what does it have to teach us about the journey?
In the month of March 2016, Women of the World Poetry Slam had Rachel Wiley, a poet and body-positive activist, present her now viral poem called “The Dozens” (Vagianos 2016). This poem was about slams white feminism as a clear indication of whiteness self-defense mechanism. In this poem Wiley included various kinds social events that have occurred in the past years and just to name two: Raven Symone on blackness and Miley Cyrus and Nicki Manji at the VMAs. White feminism continues to become more problematic as the media continues to allow it to be because whiteness makes money; however, intersectionality about race, public imagery, and actual feminism also continues to go viral as the diversity of American become more and more productive.
Ethnic hierarchy is something that states the superiority of the white people then the other
Many people feel like outsiders. In the novel, Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese, it highlights how a character can change as a result of persecution. Saul faces criticism from journalists, with headlines that have racist views. Saul receives abuse from a man he thinks he can trust, Father Leboutiller. Saul’s friendship with the Kellys allows him to listen to other people’s views and receive advice. Criticism, abuse, and friendship have helped Saul develop as a person as a result of persecution.
Ever wondered what gets readers hooked on a book? In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie the authors have many ways to grab the reader's attention by using many techniques from humor to emotional and traumatic to suspense. In the book the main character named Junior is an Indian boy growing up on a reservation. By growing up on the reservation junior makes a choice to leave the reservation and go to a white school which gives Junior obstacles in his life.There are many obstacles that happen even before Junior decided to go to another path with his life. With the obstacles that happen to Junior it creates an emotional and traumatic impact on junior as well as getting the readers hooked to turn the page and keep reading.
In the Norton Reader 13th edition, readers will find an article “In Defense of Prejudice” by Jonathan Rauch. Rauch correctly tells us that rather than trying to get rid of prejudice, we should try and teach people to fight prejudice. Rauch says “stamping out prejudice really means forcing everyone to share the same prejudice, namely that of whoever is in authority” (575). He believes that people don 't need to focus on destroying prejudices, but instead put effort into redirecting it so that they it is used to help people. That would require that everyone put prejudice against prejudice, which would allow everything to be put up to public criticism. Rauch lets it be known that he is gay, and a Jewish man, while using quotes from several historical figures and universities that are well known in society. Rauch talks about times when prejudice was called into question of whether a person’s misguided belief can be taken as prejudice.
Gangs on reservations are just as violent as inner city gangs. There is a ridiculous amount of gangs in the world. There’s a gang in Africa1, Australia2, Asia3, Europe4, North America5, and South America6. Every continent with the exception of Antarctica has a gang on it. Not many people realize there are American Indian gangs, just as violent and menacing as those off reservations. American Indian gangs are continuing to rise just like any other gang7.
Are you part of a community and you don’t even know it? A community is a feeling of fellowship with others because one shares common attitudes, interests, and goals. In the remix text “It Takes a Tribe” David Berreby talks about how college students make “tribes” within their school and tribes against other schools. This text relates to my community because the One Direction fandom could be considered a “tribe” full of fans who are against other fandoms of other artists because they all think they 're the best.One direction is a very popular boy band thats known all over the world and very successful. This community meets everywhere , concerts, schools, and social media etc., since one directions fans are everywhere .In the One Direction
Inside the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie you are constantly being slammed in the face with such depressing matters that are dealt within the book, if it’s not racism it’s death, which there’s a lot of death. Other than being slammed in the face with those things there’s also a lot of hope and dreams mentioned along the way that doesn't just involve the main character but those around him, lastly the main character also comes to realization and acceptance of his true identity towards the end of the novel. There’s a lot that goes on inside this novel and within the characters such as Arnold, Mary, and
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
Race has no biological meaning. There is only one human race; there are no subspecies, no single defining characteristic, traits, or even gene, separates one “race” from another. Instead of being a biological concept, race is a social construct, and a relatively modern one at that. It was created to give light-skinned Europeans an advantage by making the white race superior and all others inferior. Throughout its history, the concept of race has served this purpose well.
The story "Two Kinds" by Amy Tan is about a mother and daughter who have strong conflicting ideas about what it means to have a sense of self. This may be partly due to the mother growing up in China, which is a very different culture than the American culture where endless opportunities are available to anyone who wants to pursue them. Jing-mei's mother wants her daughter to be the best, a prodigy of sorts, and to have the kind of life, full of hopes and dreams that she did not have. In the beginning of the story Jing-mei liked the idea of becoming a prodigy however, the prodigy in her became impatient. "If you don't hurry up and get me out of here, I'm disappearing for good." It warned. "And then you'll always be nothing" (500). After disappointing her mother several times Jing-mei started to detest the idea of becoming a prodigy. The idea Jing-mei's mother had for her to become a prodigy was too much pressure for a small child and was something that Jing-mei was clearly not ready to be. As a result the pressure that her mother laid upon her only made Jing-mei rebel against her mother and she resisted in giving her best. Jing-mei did this because she only wanted her mother's love and acceptance for who she was not only what she could become. Furthermore, Jing-mei's point of view of being the kind of person that one can be proud of was very different from her mother's point of view.
Imagine walking 22 miles to school every single day. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a book by Sherman Alexie following the life of Arnold, also known as Junior, and his struggles as a poor Native American boy going to a wealthy white school. Being poor throws challenges at Arnold in and outside of school, and he must hold onto hope, new friends, and perseverance to escape the cycle of poverty.