The Color Purple

The end of this letter, Celie has learned a lot about who God is and who he is not. Her friend, Shug , enlightened her that God is not a man, but everything that surrounds them, like the flowers and trees. At the end of the letter, Celie is struggling to picture God as anything other than a white male. But the image is stuck in her head and is harder to get rid of than she thought it would be because that is the only image of God she has ever had. But she keeps on trying to get rid of the image and will keep on working at it until she can pray to God without seeing him as a man.
The reason she was turned off by God was because she pictured him as a male and he did not answer any of her prays or helped her in her life. Shug pointed out that men ruin everything; they try to convince everyone that they are the universe and are everything. When people start to believe that they are truly everything, people start to think they are even God. She suggested that every time Celie thinks of God shaped as a man, to erase the image immediately, and keep doing that until you can think of God as everything but a man.

Fires in the Mirrors (2)

Rosyln Malamud, a Lubavitcher resident of Crown Heights really stood out to me among all the people being interviewed. She had a lot of insight on the relationship between the Jews and the African Americans living in Crown Heights. She pointed out the fact that both Jews and African Americans want the same thing out life, they want to be successful, send their kids to a good school. But the two minorities cannot get along because of their different religions and different foods. She as stated that no racial or religious groups want to kill a 7-year-old boy and kill the boy on purpose. The black community is forgetting that it was an accident because they are not thinking rationally. They are making rationally decisions (like killing an innocent Jewish bystander) because they are letting their anger take control.

The two groups are acting like typical humans in the fact that they want revenge. The black community wanted revenge on the Jewish man that killed the seven year old black boy. When they were not going to get it because the driver was going to be allowed to be free, they got their revenge by killing an innocent Jewish bystander. The bystander’s brother, Norman Rosenbaum, then wanted revenge on the black community for his brother’s death. The revenge he wanted was the man that was responsible for stabbing his brother to be locked up in jail. When that did not happen, he and the Jews did not resort to violence, but to protesting. That was the main difference between the two groups. The Jewish community did not resort to violence to get their revenge, while the black community did.

Both groups are determined to make the other group look like the bad guy. The two groups also think that the other group is better off and have more power in the community than they do. For example the black men thought the reason the Jewish man that killed the boy was not convicted of murder was because the Jews controlled the case and set the man free. The two groups will not be able to get along and solve their differences if they do not learn the others beliefs and traditions. Without learning about one another they will not have any respect for one another, which means they will not be able to get along.

Fires in the Mirrors

My first reaction to the movie, Fires in the Mirrors, is who is telling the truth and who is lying. It was exhausting watching the Jewish citizens and the African Americans trying to prove that they were the victims and it was the other side that was the enemy. I also noticed they were trying to justify their actions during the time. For example, Anonymous Young Man #1 justified his action of beating up the Jewish man that ran over the 7-year-old black boy because he was supposedly drunk, according to him. From what we have seen, I have not been able to decide who is telling the truth or who is lying. I am thinking that neither group is telling the entire truth because it could reflect badly on their people. I believe the reason these two groups do not get along is because they know nothing about each other and they will not try to get to know each other. Looking at the facts so far, I side with the Jews. The Jews never lowered to physical abuse against the African Americans, even when the African Americans killed an innocent Jewish man who had nothing to do with the accident.

Autobiography of Malcolm X

I found it interesting how Malcolm X’s time in jail helped him see the way things were and how enjoyed his time while he was there. He spent the majority of his time in jail reading and practicing his faith. From his readings, he learned about the white mans actions and how they were keeping the blacks from reaching their potential. He took it upon himself to aware his fellow convicts (who were black) about the evils of the white man. He tried to persuade the black men that the whites are "the devil" and are brainwashing the black population.

The difference between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. is the way they looked at the situation. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to achieve civil rights through peace and non-violent protests. MLKJ wanted to work with the whites and he wanted to be equal. He wanted freedom and he thought there was a chance that this could happen. Malcolm X thought of the white man as the devil and his goal was too aware the black population of what was occurring under their noses. He wanted to open their eyes to see how white men were treating them. He did not think that the two races could live together peacefully.

Sonny's Blues

The narrator did not always believe in Sonny’s dream to be a musician. He thought it was a waste of time and hated the idea of him dropping out of school to play the piano, he thought Sonny could do better. But at the end of the novel, the narrator went to see his brother play for the first time. He saw the way Sonny played and the way the crowed reacted. At that instance, the narrator realized that Sonny’s music could help who ever listened, by setting them free. The things Sonny had suffered in his life were heard through his music. Some listeners could relate to certain feelings, since most of them were suffering just as Sonny was. Others could learn from Sonny’s mistakes that caused him to suffer. The narrator realized that Sonny’s purpose in life was to play music. Sonny could have an affect on people through his music, like the narrator has an effect on his students when he teaches. Sonny’s music also gave his listeners hope, hope that their lives would be better. They live in a horrible situation, which it is difficult to escape; the music helps and prevents them from being pushed over the edge by the environment they live in. Though the music helps the listeners, it also helps Sonny keep going. Playing the piano allows him to express himself to the audience, but also allows him to release all the stress and anxiety that is bottled up in him.

Ethics

Respecting my elders was one of the first lessons I learned when I was younger. My parents were quick to teach me the proper way to behave around adults. This has helped me now, as I am older and dealing with adults on a regular bases. I know at school my teachers will show me respect, if I give them respect. It is easier in the long run to respect my teachers because we both benefit from it. There was a handle full of troublemakers in middle school, none which had any respect from their teachers. This made their life more difficult than it would have been if they showed their teachers some respect. The teachers could not trust these certain students and they were constantly getting on the teachers nerves and ended out to sit in the hall the majority of the time. I am able to see from my peers, the relationship between the teachers when they show them respect and when they don’t. Respecting my grandparents and especially my parents makes my life much much easier because I am getting in less trouble. Having a sister, we are able to watch what happens when the other talks back to a parent, we see the consequences and know we do not want that happening to us. So we try to behave the best we can, we make mental notes on how we can act more proper. My parents were raised to respect their parents and any other adults, so they passed the knowledge down to me because they think it is an important lesson for everyone to learn. My parents had taught me a lot on how to behave and how to make good choices, they are still teaching me lessons and giving lectures when I make mistakes even at age 18 because they want to prepare me for the world. They want me be able to make good decisions when I am out on my own.

Langston Hughes and Claude McKay

Langston Hughes and Claude McKay were both poets during the Harlem Renaissance. They covered similar topics in some of their poems since they were both at their prime during the same time period. But both poets had different writing styles. Claude McKay wrote his poems in the sonnet form, a style similar to the way Shakespeare wrote. Writing his poems in sonnet form, proved to the white man that African Americans can be creative, artistic, and also are educated if they can have the opportunities. Though Hughes did not write his poetry in sonnet form, he used other creative styles of writing to get his points across. Both men talked about the relationships between the white and black man and how white man's treatment towards African Americans is horrible and unkind. McKay’s, To the White Fiends, is about the blacks not stooping to the white man’s level. He said they could hurt the white men like the white men have been hurting them if they wanted too, but God but them on earth for another reason, and that reason is to bring the light. In Hughes poems, Theme for English B, says he and his teacher are both part of each other, though he is black and the instructor is white. Neither one wants to be part of each other, but they are learning things from one another. But there is not way to put an end to it, it is inevitable to stop because they are around each other. His other poem, Mulatto, is also an example of the relationship between whites and blacks. Both men wanted to use their writing as a way to express what was occurring around them, but the two poets were different because of the style they used to write their poems.