Essay #5

Throughout history it has been shown how women are discriminated against for their gender, they are said to be weaker and not as strong as men are. This has been shown throughout the years. And now it is even being translated into novels. A novel such as The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn.I believe that The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn is a book that was written in a matter that men dominate the story. The main characters of the book happen to be 2 males. Jim and Huck , and the whole novel revolves around both of them. All the women in the novel are women who are made to fit into the category that society puts them into.The critical controversy that I chose to read was the one by Nancy A. Walker , Reformers and Young Maidens: Women and Virtue in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. When I began reading the book I personally did not pay attention to all the main points that Walker brought up, but as I started reading her argument I realized that she was right.

A quote that I found very intresting by Nancy Walker was when she was staing what she felt aout the book. The object of praise, banning and veneration during the hundred years since it's publication, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has not commonly been considered a novel about women in the nineteenth century american society. Men occupy center stage in Huck Finn; women stand toward the back and sides of the novel, nagging, providing inspiration , often weeping or hysterical.(477)
I agree with what she is saying in this quote, in this book Twain made all the women stand back and made them seem annoying and not important. Both Miss Watson and the Widow Doulgas are the caretakers of Huck, and they both seem to give into society’s view of a womens role back in the day.

At the beginning of the book Huck always felt that Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas were always nagging him and wanted him to reform and try to fit in better. As we all know Huck is someone who has had a rough childhood, he grew up with a drunk father and falls a lot into peer pressure. In the book Widow Douglas plays the role of a women with a caring heart who really cares for huck, she just wants to make him a better person and make him have religious beliefs like herself.
The widow Douglas , she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out.(33)
He didn’t lke the idea of someone trying to help him become a better person, as he went on describing her he made her seem somewhat annoying. The role that she played was played out to be a women who just jkept nagging him, when in reality she was just trying to make him a better man.

And he did the same for Miss Watson.
Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, had just come to live with her, and tooka set at me now, with a spelling book. She worked me middlinghard for about an hour, and thehn the widow made her ease up. I couldn’t stood it much longer(33)
Judith FetterleyAmerican literature is male. To read the cannon of what is currently considered classis american literature is preforce to identity as male.... Our literature neither leaves women alone nore allows them to participate.(477)

I still have more details and more paragraphs to add, and for some reeson the formating is not working right=(

Blog #10

My thesis would be- I believe that The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn is a book that was written in a matter that men dominate the story.

Nancy Walker
The object of praise, banning and veneration during the hundred years since it's publication, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has not commonly been considered a novel about women in the nineteenth century american society. Men occupy center stage in huck Finn; women stand toward the back and sides of the novel, nagging, providing inspiration , often weeping or hysterical.(477)

Judith Fetterley
American literature is male. To read the cannon of what is currently considered classis american literature is preforce to identity as male.... Our literature neither leaves women alone nore allows them to participate.(477)

I agree with both the qoutes , the first qoute targets The Book huck Finn while the other qoute talks about gender roles in literature in general.

Blog #9

Last class we got to discuss the issue that Cotati dealt with a few weeks ago regarding one of the councel members that dressed in blackface and post it up on his blog. I was personally shocked that someone of such high power would go this far in an issue that has to do with race. This came of as racist to me, i feel that he went to far, painting his face a different color to try to appear as a black male, not only that but also wearing the afro. It was as if he was making fun of them, he showed disrespect to the african americans. Not even after Obama got eleceted president did people's mind of poking fun at other people change.

Peer REviwe For Essay #4

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a book that has caused a lot of controversy throughout the years. From the day that it was published until now. Mark Twain published this book in 1885, with the intent to let people now how life was back in the day. People are very skeptical when it comes to this book for the fact that it demeans African Americans by using the word “nigger” numerous times. Back in the day the word “nigger” was just a word that could be said without people giving you a second look. This word was mainly used by the whites towards their slaves. Slavery was big in the nineteenth century. I believe that Mark Twain knew all the controversy that this book was going to cause and he chose to still publish it for the fact that he wanted to maintain the realism and the historical accuracy of this period of time.
African American didn’t have an opinion or a voice, they were always told what to do and were unworthy. At times when I would read the book I would feel bad for the names that they were getting called. At times I felt that it was too harsh to be published but thinking about it it’s just informing us of how it really was. This is what really was being said and how they were really being treated.
Times have changed drastically, and it’s almost as if Mark Twain knew that this change was going to occur, like if he wanted us to get a real good look at how African Americans had to go through. Many people can take this book as being racist but it all depends how you look at it.
When schools allow students to read this book I think that it should be made clear to everyone that the word should not be interpreted as it is now, which now a days it is meant to be something demeaning and racist, but to understand the way Mark Twain wrote it. Which he was trying to tell us how it was used back in the days.



These are jsut like the main topics to my paragraphs i still need more details and examples=)

The N word

For my paper i will be writing of how i portrayed the N word being used. Back then this word took a lot of offense, it was a word used to categorize an african american person in a very demeaning way. I personally think that now a days people are more open to the word and have come to understand that it was a word that was used back then and shouldt be used now. Thats why i think that some schools are ok with the book. For the reason that Mark Twain wrote this book back in 1885. In my paper i will adress how many and in what ways the word is adressed.

Blog #7

The video that we watched was very upsetting to me. I realize that the police officer was doing his job but he didn't have any compassion to the situation what so ever. I feel that he really abused his power of authority. Once he heard what was going on he should have been understanding and let him go see his mother in law in her last minutes before she died. The officer was just telling him everything that he could do, like give him a ticket, tow his car, and even take him to jail. Instead of just giving him the ticket was was just provoking him to get more upset, because even after Moats was calm and not talking back the police officer just kept on going. I think Moats did a really good job with keeping his cool. Racism was definitely a factor in this incident, if this happened to be a white family i think that things would have ended a lot different. I am glad to hear that the officer has resigned.

Blog #6

A minstrel show is a show were white peopel paint there faces black and amuse other people by making fun of the black folks.I really dont think that Jim is a minstel. I mean there are times were his comments and beliefs are a little out there and i guess that is the only humourous part but other than that i dont condiser him to be portrayed as a minstrel. Maybe later on in the book there will be more incidents were Jim is shown as a minstrel. Right now Jim is portrayed as a characeter who is smart but in a way still very childish. Even though he is older than Huckleberry Finn, he is still being told what to do in a way.

Blog #5

Racism is always going to exist in one way or another. People are always going to view this topic very differently. I personally think that their is always going to be racism in this world. You see it in everyday life. If a group of hispanic guys walk into a store where a white person is working all the attention is going to go to the group of hispanics, just because they are taht race. On the other hand if a group of white guys walk in they are going to be greeted and asked if they need help with anything. I have seen this happen many times. Over spring break since i worked a lot i observed my boss. I know she is not racist because she has me working there and another hispanic girl. But at times when we have a group of hispanic kids she tends to stick around and see what frames they look at and i dont think she does it on purpose its just something that she does. Close minded people are always the ones that never try and see things in a different perspective.

Language Barriers Essay #3

Being able to speak English is such a necessity here in the United States, you are always going to need it to get around anywhere. As I was growing up I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to be able to speak both Spanish and English. Growing up and being bilingual has come to my advantage in so many different ways. I have seen people get discriminated against because their English isn’t the perfect English. The way you are perceived has a lot to do with the way you carry yourself and the way you speak and handle situations.

I feel that being bilingual has helped me in so many ways. One being my job, I have been working as a receptionist at an eye doctor in Calistoga for 3 years already. The majority of the people in Calistoga are Spanish speakers, and the Dr. does not speak Spanish. So this is where language becomes very valuable. I feel really good being able to help someone when I translate. Knowing that I just made their day that much easier by being able to help them. And I know from experience how hard it can be not being able to express yourself because you can’t speak the language.

When I say I know from experience I am referring to my dad. My dad
understands English and he speaks it to but he doesn’t speak the perfect English. And at
times I know that it is very hard for him to communicate in English and get his point
across when he really doesn’t know how to explain himself correctly. So he feels that he
is not being taken seriously. That’s one example, I also have aunts and uncles who don’t
understand a single word in English. I know they feel unworthy because they can’t speak
it. And people do take advantage of people who don’t understand. So when I am at work
I think about my family and try to help the patients out as much as I can, because I know
that I would want someone to do the same for my family.

Blog #4

As a child, kids are influenced by everything around them. And this type of ad that we are looking at right now sends a very bad messege to young children. They give the misconseption that everyone needs to look and be a certain way. There is already a pressure to be a certain way in the media and now to get a barbie and have her be overweight, now that is obviously targeting children, and they are going to feel a pressure to be thin. The quote that is discussed is such an eye opener, because kids said that being overweight is worse than haveing some kind of dissability. On the other hand being overweight can lead to obesity. So the messeges that need to be sent out asr the messeges to just to be healthy.

Blog #3

This video was very realistic. It was comparing the life's of two different boys, a rich American boy and a poor Chinese boy. Obviously their life's are very different , it shows both sides. On one side we have the American boy who just bought shoes, he doesn't really know how much work went into them being made. On the other hand we have the Chinese boy who is actually making the shoes. These two boys seem to be the same age, but are living very different life's. This video was like a reality check, to appreciate everything we have.

Education is a big part of your life whether or not you take advantage of it. The
key behind education is motivation. If you are motivated to do something you will you it.
When people believe in you it just makes this difficult experience that much easier. In my
educational experiences there has been many times were I have been underestimated and
it really does put a lot stress to the rest of your life. One of my biggest challenges was the
decsesion of whether or not I was going to continue my education after high school.
Senior year is supposed to be a year full of fun times and no stress. WRONG!
That’s what I had in mind for my senior year but boy was I wrong. This was the year
were I had to make some of my biggest descions that were going to affect the rest of my
life. I had never really thought about life after high school, I was so sheltered and had no
idea of the real world. I had never really thought about what I was going to do, I had no
idea of whether or not I even wanted to go to college. Most of my friends already had an
idea of where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. I felt so lost.
I finally decided that going to the Santa Rosa Junior College was going to be the
best thing for me. I would be close to home and better off financially. This is when is
started to feel like I wasn’t good enough. My own friends were telling me that the choice
of going to a community college was a bad idea, since I was still going to be living at
home I wasn’t going to get the college experience and that the education wouldn’t be the
same. When they realized that what they were saying was making me feel bad they said
that they thought that if is stayed and went to the J.C. I was just going to get tired and
drop out and work. I felt so bad, my own friends weren’t supporting me I literally felt
alone. I talked to my parents about what was bugging me and it was then and there that I
realized that I needed to stop caring about what they thought and to start thinking about
myself. I knew that this would be better off for me in the long run.

In my personal opinion I believe that students should be able to wear clothes that they want to wear. Of course the clothing has to be appropriate. But for example the video of the student who wasn't able to wear the Obama shirt, I think that was wrong. The shirt did not entail anything bad or disrespectful in any way. The young boy demonstrated other shirts that he had worn before, which had wrestlers and indicated violence. He never had a problem wearing those to school I really don't understand why the Obama shirt would be any different. I think it all comes down to the racism that is still going on in this world. People should just be accepting and be happy that we are going to have change.

I have a lot of favorite songs, every week i have a new favorite song, so choosing one would be very difficult. I do have a favorite genre of music, I really enjoy listening to pop and rock Latino. Artist like Kalimba, Reik,Camila,Motel and Mana are just a few examples of the artist that i enjoy listening to. I'm the type of person who pays attention to almost every word of a song, i like relating to songs and making them personal to me. The rhythm and voice also has a lot to do with it. All these artist that i mentioned expand with there music. They have some songs that are very romantic and others that aren't. It just all depends in what mood you are in.