Beneatha differed dream.

The American Dream is one of the leading causes of oppression. I have an ambition but it differs from the American Dream. I want to express myself, not remain dormant to adhere to that stereotypical wife who just sits in the kitchen and makes it her goal to only tend to the family's needs as I am one for "whom Bread-Food-is not enough" (65). The American Dream is simply not enough. Langston Hughes addresses this issue is his famous poem "what happens to a differed dream"

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode? (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175884 )

My dream is differed. I want to be a doctor but even though Mama was more lenient to that than investing in a liquor store, brother still got his way and as a result my financial needs to tend to my education was not met.

I said that I wanted to be a doctor, but Walter said that I should stop being crazy and "be a nurse instead like other women-or just get married and be quiet" (38). Equality used to define the American Dream but now the dream has been forcibly pushed and shoved down onto earth-to reality- where it has been poked and prodded until it became the root of stereotypical norms where the sentence "snobbish rich white people [and] snobbish rich colored people" (50) maintains no parallelism.

In a world where day by day protests for women's rights increases and still fails to plant gender equality, how are we expected to rise from this tampered mentality? How are we supposed to step out of this familiar circle or in other words this "mirage" (134)?

"It isn't a circle--it is simply a long line--as in geometry, you know, one that reaches into infinity. And because we cannot see the end--we also cannot see how it changes. And it is very odd by those who see the changes--who dream, who will not give up--are called idealists...and those who see only the circle we call them the "realists"!” " (134)

 I believe that we must dream until finally one day our goal for equality is achieved and implemented into reality for if we remain realists, we will remain in this cell forever.

           
                                       

Living in a dream from hell

A long time ago we cried over the fact that the money tree was in fact just a normal tree given a  deceiving name; money doesn't grow on trees. Instead, according to The Diamond As Big As The Ritz by Fitzgerald if you're lucky enough, you might just stumble upon a diamond the size of  "the Ritz-Carlton Hotel" (Fitzgerald 78). The rhetoric use of symbolism of colors and the name itself is used to convey that the root of corruption is in fact wealth. Wealth comes in many forms: love, greed, and the most obvious, dollar bills. This particular satire also uses irony to illustrate how wealth and corruption go hand-in-hand as its not a "once upon a time" a man found a way to escape reality and lived happily ever after, more like I'm-gonna-die-since-I-was-exposed-to-these-unrealistic-riches. With wealth comes a great power of superiority, unfortunately the diamond represents obstruction from reality. It is true that in today's world there are many flaws, but it is also true that living too deeply in a dream can also hinder an individual.

The Washington family live in a place full of pink elephants and where everyone is deemed as inferior. They live to shower in their riches, but at the same time due to their isolation, they are poor in the sense that they do not comprehend what reality even is. Due to a disconnection from the rest of the world, their thought process is much different. To explain, any sane person would agree that murdering people for his/her benefit is NOT okay, but Kismine and her family seem to view this as alright. They think that it would be only fair that they should too get as much pleasure as possible. 

At the end of this short story, the location of the Washington's secret house is found out and bombed by planes. At this point having lost everything, Braddock tries to bribe God saying that he will give him a cathedral in return for clearing the havoc. Unfortunately, Braddock is no Moses and was declined. 

                                           

                                                           

The Fantasist Gone Wrong

I'm pretty sure everyone has/is going through that familiar overwhelming whirlpool of work..due dates...tests...grading...ACT/SAT...and aaahhh! At times like these, I just can't take the stress and go to sleep with the thought "let the chips fall where they may" in hopes to escape and go to dreamland to perceive everything as bright, serene, and...fake. Sometimes its okay to dream, other times (or most the time) you have to get up and face reality.

Dream is a formulation of ambitions,ideals, and in some cases perception whereas reality is real. We as human beings have an innate desire to strive for our dreams. Here's the tricky part, life's purpose is to turn our wishful perceptions and turn them into reality. But what happens when instead of "living your dream" you are as a matter of fact "living in your dream"? 

Psychologists, Patrick Mcnamara addresses this issue and defines it as "false awakening" and when people go through this they are accompanied with an eerie feeling. "The eerie-ness is not surprising given that the experience undermines the belief we all usually have that we have direct contact with reality. It is certainly a shock to realize that you can be going about your day when in fact you are only dreaming." 

(For more: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dream-catcher/201106/dream-and-reality)

Daisy (from The Great Gatsby) is a perfect example of this. She fabricates her surroundings as if she were in a dream where all troubles are forgotten along with the truth. She happily cheats on her husband. Tom (given that Tom does as well, but that's not the point). She is happy with Gatsby and does not think ahead whereas Gatsby is sure that Daisy and him will get married. On the day of confrontation, Daisy is finally hit with reality and does not know what to do, as if she never actually "intended doing anything at all" (132 Fitzgerald). She dreamed of a life full of personal desires never thinking ahead to turn them into reality. but instead making her perception into reality.

                                     

Are you catching your dreams or are you fabricating reality?

White Lies

What are some occasional white lies most of us incorporate in to our daily lives? "I'll be there in five minutes!" (Yea, more like in a half an hour, I just don't want you to worry) or what about "I'll do my homework as soon as I get home" (or at 9 pm) oh and lets not forget the famous "I worked out for hours." These lies can end up being harmless, but in some cases they can be disastrous. Experts claim that in the end, there is little difference between  a "little lie (complementing the socks your Grandma gave) to a big lie ( covering up an extramarital affair)" (Ulrich Boser health.usnews.com). 

In the The History Teacher by Billy Collins, the teacher should have created a real sense of emotion when explaining the past wars and disasters so that his students can benefit and not let history repeat itself. But instead, he uses a series of understatements by describing the Ice Age as nothing more than a "Chilly Age, a period of a million years when everyone had to wear sweaters" (Collins 1). He does this to try and "protect his students innocence." He is fighting in a losing battle as he is trying to protect the innocence of those who are not even innocent. A playground symbolizes youth and innocence so its ironic how that innocence became the basis of "torment." The setting is used to illustrate how innocence cannot be persevered. What the teacher seems to believe is a white lie, is in fact detrimental as he is obstructing his students abilities to learn from the mistakes of previous generations. 

Innocence is collapsing and it is going viral. It is a disease and everyone is going to be effected by it. 

                                         

I am not innocent, so hurt me with the truth so that I can proliferate from it.

 

                                    

 

Evolution Of Punctuation

Throughout centuries punctuation though present, has found a way to morph into several forms. From Shakespeare's famous "How fare thee?" to the average "How are you?" and finally to the evolution of "Waddup?" Even though these sentences ultimately mean the same thing, in today's time, you will rarely ever find someone incorporating Elizabethan language in his/her day-to-day life. Henry Hitchings, the author of the article Punctuation, Social Media, and Evolving Rules of Communication  claims that change in culture reflects change in language. He further elaborates by mentioning previous used punctuation marks such as the "Pilcrow and the hedera" which along with culture also evolved and new marks were/are introduced. As Hitching says, "Punctuation comes and goes" but it never disappears.
                              

Too many grammar restrictions can be seen as "feigning liberation" as it has the ability to make an individual intimidated by the various rules of grammar and overall feel as if grammar is "tightening the leash"  on creativity. If grammar were to cut down its rules, it would leave "a trail of possibilities" (On Punctuation by Elizabeth Austen) for an individual to express his/her thoughts. Furthermore, Amanda Cosco conveys how twitter, a popular (meaning comfortable) means of communication can make one a better writer. In her article How Twitter Can Make You a Better Writer, Cosco is able to point out the perks of Twitter's tight word count as it forces people to be "concise and less flowery" as you wouldn't want to waste "your precious characters on "very" or "really" when you could actually be saying something substantial." This in turn results in the denunciation of the overall issue of wordiness.  It's true that there are many unintelligent tweets, but it's also a known fact that many famous poets such as Andrea Gibson benefit from tweeting as it also can be used as a "testing ground for more developed writings."  In the end, Twitter is accessible to anyone who wants it as it creates a leveled ground. Tweets can range from being unnecessary to beautiful, it depends on how you want to express yourself as "a tweet is essentially a thought gone public" (Cosco 8).  

                                             

Free Fallin

One thing we desire - whether from stress or judgement- is to be free. One may feel trapped by higher authority and their ideals as he/she may not like being ordered around and feel controlled.

"Elbows bent, hands on shoulder, [Pecola] flailed her arms like a bird in an eternal, grotesquely futile effort to fly. Beating the air, a winged but grounded bird, intent on the blue void it could not reach-could not even see- but which filled the valleys of the mind" (Morrison 204).

Morrison uses imagery in this passage to illustrate the strong desire that consumes Pecola to achieve her dream-to be a part of the white standards.Usually, when you see a kid acting like a bird, you would think that they're just fooling around and laugh it off. The imagery is recognized to challenge this thought- process as Pecola is not just playing, she's desperate. Pecola desperately flaps her arms so that somehow she could miraculously fly and reach the blue sky. The blue sky symbolizes white beauty. In a culture where white beauty is dominant and black beauty is ignored, it is impossible for Pecola to live her dream.

A simile is used to compare Pecola to a bird. A bird symbolizes freedom, which is exactly what Pecola strives for. She wants to be free from the "ugliness" and obtain blue-eyes. Unfortunately, even when she thinks she finally has blue eyes, society does not see any difference and because of this she is driven to madness as the pressure becomes to overwhelming.

Furthermore by contrasting the situations of Pecola and Cholly, Morrison is able to elaborate on the dangers of too much freedom. Cholly ended up becoming free to the point where he could do anything he wanted and get away with it. In the end, his freedom drove him to insanity.

Cholly's cause of madness was too much freedom whereas Pecola's was the opposite.

                                                     
                  

In this animated image, the birds (symbol for freedom) are frantically flying, having no sense of direction. This shows how to a certain extent, some sort of guidance  is necessary as too much freedom is harmful.

They Are Flowers For Those Who Want To See Them

So I searched up the literal definition of a weed and Google claims it is a "wild plant growing where it is not wanted " I connected this definition to a particular weed- a dandelion. If they are so unwanted then why do kids get excited when they find one and blow on it? Its pretty ironic because when I was little I used to say- "Look! I wish!" instead of "Look! A dandelion!" I used to think of it as good luck or hope, but in a general perspective it is just a weed- ugly and unwelcomed.

This week in class, we discussed the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Pecola questions why people look at dandelions as weeds. She acknowledges how people make "dandelion soup..dandelion wine, yet nobody loves the head of a dandelion" (Morrison 47). Though society claims dandelions are ugly, Pecola thought otherwise. In a way, the dandelions represent Pecola and the African American community. The people label them as "ugly" yet need them for their own work. Pecola is a young black girl who is raised with no sense of self- value, just like the dandelions. She is a dandelion who hopes to have blue eyes and blond hair, so that she can be pretty.

Dandelions are not actually ugly, but perspective can morph this idea of true beauty into something it is not. Beauty is art, it has many different perspectives just like a dandelion- some look at it as just an ugly weed, while others (like Pecola) are attracted to it.

In the Hunger Games, Katniss looks at a dandelion as symbol for hope. After Peeta gave her bread to feed her family, she saw three dandelions. She realizes that she could feed her family with food from forest gatherings. Katniss looked at the dandelions as a survival tool whereas society just deemed it useless.
                                   
                                    
                                                 

" Beauty is power; a smile is its sword" - John Ray

This week in class, we discussed beauty and how media has condensed the overall definition of it. We claimed that media is to blame for this issue as it continues to idolize beauty through the most unlikely sources we tend to overlook- such as toys! Media is toying with the meaning of true beauty- see what I did there? We compared a modern day barbie doll to a 70's doll and noted that the modern doll reflects how a "beautiful" woman should look in the eyes of society. By creating such a toy doll, the false definition of beauty is unconsciously encrypted into an individual's mind from a very young age. 

With the amount of blame media gets from the crowd, I always wondered whether they  actually ever even said something which was infact a 100% true. After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that yes they have. Media- or more specifically SOCIAL media has successfully made the definition of beauty diverse. Social media can be seen as the ground where individuals from different backgrounds and perspectives converge. 

 From what I've seen, the most effective way to boost or lower someone's self esteem is through the comments from others.  I think we all can agree that when we upload a picture and receive complements, we feel pretty darn good. This leads you to take more pictures, which overall leads to a more confident smile. It is a known fact that people's opinions can seriously affect the way we judge certain things, why not use this piece of information in a more positive aspect?

Dove conducted a survey and found that after social media gained its popularity, there was an approximately 70% increase in the total number of people of who are now content with the way they look. 

                                     

"It [social media] impacts beauty because there is an opportunity to redefine it."- Jess Weiner

The Impunity Crisis

In 1776, The Declaration of Independence was born and drawn up by the citizens of the United States who mutually felt oppressed by the government and its numerous restrictive laws. The purpose of the declaration was to create unity among the people and right the wrongs, yet it did not live to its full extent.

After its success, social impunity was discovered. People took out the "man" in "mankind" and misinterpreted it as being only directed for men. Therefore, the dehumanization of women was still unofficially apparent. In the Incidents in the life of a slave girl, Harriet Jacobs addresses this issue by exposing the mental and physical hardships of a slave girl named Linda. Linda defies her owner by running way so that she could gain freedom. In return, Mr. Flint  (Linda's master) orders a hunt and announces that anyone who returned her to him would receive an award. Due to this, Linda's great idea of freedom morphs into a state of being "freely" trapped in a closet for 7 years. Free, yet not free. 

Free, yet not- this is what Stanton sees after the the Declaration of Independence. It did not affect the lives of women in any way. "He had oppressed her on all sides" (Stanton 39) Society saw this and graciously granted impunity. Thus, the Declaration of Sentiments was born. Its purpose was to permit women immunity from the oppressor and thus, create true unity among the people. Unfortunately, just like the Declaration of Independence, the Declaration of Sentiments did not live to its full extent. 

In the non-fiction article, Black Men and Public Space published in 1986 by Brent Staples, (way after the declarations were installed in our government) is about a black man who is forced to be alert of his actions and understand the cause and effects of them just so that people can feel "safe" or comfortable around him. When Staples and a women were the only two on the street late at night, the women speed-walked away from what she clearly interpreted as "the danger zone". Society granted impunity to the women thus, making it okay for her to not look at the man as a rightful equal.

 Due to the stereotypical environment we are raised in, it has become almost impossible to not judge someone based on their race. As a result of the increasingly large amount of  inequality faced in our world. impunity is also increasing. 

 "What I fear most is power with impunity. I fear abuse of power, and the power to abuse" -Isabel Allende

                                                        

Good guy, bad guy

As the story of The Scarlet Letter came to an end, I could not help but question whether or not Chillingworth was even the villain or not. His death was not intensified or extravagant, instead he just "vanished from mortal sight" (Hawthorne 254). 

I came to the resolution that though Chillingworth was to some extent portrayed as the evil villain, he was not in actual. He was just a man trying to find a purpose in life. Unfortunately, his purpose was revenge on the kind man (Dimmesdale), thus making him seem antagonist the audience's eyes. 

Though the audience must understand that through Chillingworth's point of view, Dimmesdale was the dishonorable one since he was the reason Hester cheated on her husband. 

In one of my favorite series: Divergent, one of the characters is a women named Tori. She is of the dauntless faction and is portrayed to be on the good side. Her brother was killed by Jeanine Mathews- the head of the Erudite compound. In return, Tori made it her personal vendetta to kill Jeanine. 

This is how Chillingworth and Tori show a stark contrast. Though they both found the same purpose in life: revenge, Chillingworth wanted revenge on the good guy, therefore he was marked as the bad guy whereas Tori wanted revenge on the bad guy, therefore she was marked as the good guy. 

In the end, it all depends on judgement. Usually, the "cheaters" are the one's who receive the hate, but due to the fact that in The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses pretty connotations to label Dimmesdale and negative connotations to label Chillingworth, the audience is involuntarily obligated to brand Chillingworth as the malignant character.  

                           

                               

Female Sports Women Are Marked

Many women have portrayed their extraordinary prowess to the world by achieving their goals, yet they go unnoticed. For instance, there is a woman in Australia named Elise Kellond- she won the World cup Football (soccer) All-Stars team in 2011, yet many Australians don't even know who she is. What's the point of winning the World cup when the world, let alone your home country does not even recognize you for your achievement. 

Most of us have heard and seen amazing sport accomplishments made by players all around the world. These players (both men and women) strive to reach the top of the ladder with great success stories, yet why is it that ~eighty percent of people devote their conversations to men's sports only?

 In an article written by Nikola Gow she also questions this issue in Australia and hypothesizes that "This could be due to the sexism of those running media outlets, women’s sport being less popular or the lack of financial gain for the media in promoting it." 

This issue relates to There Is No Unmarked Woman by Deborah Tannen, as she claims how women have become "marked." Though Kellond was given a chance and actually did get to live her dream, she did not become that popular in the media. This is probably because she is a female and is therefore marked in some sort of way to not associate herself to sports. I really hope it doesn't come to the point where female players must disguise themselves as a guy, like Viola from She's The Man and join an all guys soccer team to prove how good they are and finally get noticed (though that would be pretty amusing to see).   

                                                    

Sinful Hypocrites

Is it unethical to question whether or not something is a sin? Is this question a sin itself? Some people from different cultures claim to be religious because of their preachings to God. I question this claim as I have met many who talk about how they undergo their festivals for the remembrance of God.  They talk about how they celebrate, but when I ask them the actual point of the festival like the story behind it, they act oblivious to my question or give an answer to a completely different question. Because of this, I feel that many have forgotten the overall purpose of some festivals. How can someone preach God while he/she is committing a sin by claiming to be religious, yet not knowing the root of the godly celebrations- hypocrites.

                            

Similarly in The Scarlet Letter, Hester commits a moral crime and Puritanism follow a very strict moral code. They claim themselves to be simpletons yet they walk around in fancy clothing. They look at Hester- the adulteress-  in disgust and treat her and her daughter, Pearl as the lower ranking class of society. They look at Pearl as the spawn of the devil and who gets ignored by everyone. Ultimately, Pearl acquires the unofficial label "Outcast." The Puritans are known as religious people so I am confused as they must have been taught from the Bible to treat everyone as equal. By not following what they themselves promote, they become sinful hypocrites as well. This is how we maintain a common ground in our way of thinking between the past and the present- both look for sin in the bigger picture, not paying attention to the tiny aspects for any trace of sin.

Stereotyping to the max.

This week in class, we talked about a book named Black Men and Public Spaces written by Brent Staples. We discussed stereotypes and its profound affect on the victim to whom the stereotype is being directed to. Staples only way to make people less frightened by him was when he listened to Beethoven, he essentially does this to contradict the stereotype that is being labelled to him by the passersby's so that they themselves feel more comfortable standing next to him.While Staples decided to look more approachable, a lot of other people will just act like the stereotype so that they won't look too suspicious and indirectly be asked why they aren't acting "normal." Society has been branding people to the point where individuals want to hide their true identities-the only way requires them to hide inside the stereotype itself. 

 A few months ago, I remember talking to one of my classmates who was an African American girl. She said that the she wasn't a part of the "black crowd" because she does not act like one. Of course, she said this in a light-hearted manner, but nevertheless she said it, which made me wonder why these crowds or 'cliques' are created. An American philosopher named Walter Lippmann answered this question by claiming that the we live in a very complex society and "are not equipped to deal with so much subtlety, so much variety, so many permutations and combinations. And although we have to act in that environment, we have to reconstruct it on a simpler model before we can manage with it"  (Lippmann). I do agree with Lippmann's claim, but I feel that we finished reconstructing a "simpler model" a longtime ago and we just stopped there, altogether stopping the whole proliferation of acceptance of these multiple identities, hence how stereotyping started.

                                
In the end, all I can say is that if we absolutely just NEED to stereotype then instead of falsely stereotyping people, why not just listen to stick-man #2 and stereotype about how stereotypes are not always right. 

Read All About It

I had a few ideas for my first ever blog, but they were all garbage. I had a lot of work to do and I was getting nowhere so what do I do? I put my earphones in and block out the world with one of my favorite songs, Read All About it by Emeli Sande. The song was in the middle of "if no one ever hears it how we gonna learn your song?" when a light bulb went off in my head. 

This week, in class we discussed the book The Glass castle, written by Jeannette Walls. Walls portrays to her readers her past through her writing; the poverty, the alcoholic father, the sexual harassment, everything. After years of hardship, Jeannette was finally able to build up enough courage and escape to New York where she gets a fresh start; a new life. There, she wrote and published her memoir, finally ready to let the world read all about it. A group of young talented dancers, using a shadow theme, choreographed a play on the song Read All About It. 

 The connection between this song and the memoir is that both the protagonists express their struggles through storytelling and use resilience to lead a happy life. They turned their sad memories into a work of art. Also, they portray that unless you are not human, there is always going to be a point in our lives where we are faced with a difficult choice or sacrifice. What we must do is stand our ground and face it. Just deal with it. In the play, the wife loses her husband in a war and is left alone to raise their child. Though the mother is broken from the inside, she does not let it eat her whole. Instead, she and her daughter "sing away the blues" and stand up to the wind of hardships. In this shadow theatre, the war signaled the end of a life, but also the start of a new one. The mother used her traumatic experience as a life lesson and found a solution to surpass it. Finding strength and comfort from each other, the mother and her daughter used "the light to fight the shadows". 

In one of the TED talks, a man writes how " life will throw you your share of curve balls all the time. But it is your choice and reaction that you can either get hit by it on your face, miss it or lean into it and whack the hell out of it" (Sayeed 9). Do something, but do not give up (I know that sounded cliché, but I do believe that it is accurate), or else it will be like you are giving in to your fears. Life is too short to be wallowing over something, just confront it and get it over with.