21st Century American/The American Dream

What does it mean to be a 21st century American in the United States today? I would have to answer this question by first stating that we are definately in an electronically needy time. Although I believe the increase in technology is great in many ways such as: speedier business transactions and educational answers, instant knowledge about a subject, communication posssibilities, and chances to make money faster, I also believe that if we rely to much on technology, when and if something bad happens, like a terrrorist attack or a disabling of electricity that our country could be thrown into a state of panic and be vulnerable as a result. We must not forget where we came from! That is, be able to be functional without technology, as Americans before us did. There is also a major problem in our country with childhood obesity. Youth of today are playing more video games and also losing touch with the hands-on because they are behind a computer more often than my generation and those before me. I believe that this directly effects self-centeredness and isolation. By not communicating face to face these individuals don't get a realistic approach to love, feelings, a problem, or an important decision that must be made. Another concern is the amount of pornography and the myriad of unrealistic messages that are being witnessed over the internet and cell-phones about sexuality. This is definately affecting the morality of our country and sexual fixations are replacing real life one-on-one physical contact that gives meaning and substance to a relationship. If you're lonely you're lonely. How can you fall in love communicating without any personal time together ? We are still hard working, are still able to reach "The American Dream", the rich keep getting richer, and still have a chance to connect again, if we work at it. We are Americans. We can accomplish anything we set our mind's to. I would also clearly state that we as Americans our more intelligent in the 21st century but not the wiser.

FWoman Warior

I found this book to be a little confusing with all of the story-telling happening. Once I researche d some of the themes, things became a lot clearer for me. I liked the use of metaphors such as: "round cakes" and "doorways" to represent the "circle" or "roundness" of Chinese life- the idea that the villagers are connected and responsible for one another's life. I also learned that Kingston uses talk stories. Talk stories often involve the fantastic and fuses realistic events with majical qualities. The first part of the book was the most interesting to me (No Name Woman). I believe this is definately her Aunt that has supposedly committed suicide. I found the story from Kingston's mother to be quite frightening. Her mother's purpose is to scare Maxine into not having an adulteress affair so that she won't bring shame on herself or the village. Instead Kingston has mixed feelings about her identity as an Asian-American and her gender role as a result. Later in this section of the book Kingston puts herself in her Aunts situation and tries to imagine what it was like. She actually writes as if she is the Aunt telling the story. She fantasizes about her Aunt being a timid woman ordered into submission by a rapist. She imagines her harboring a slowly blossoming passion attempting to attract a mans atttention by carefully defining her appearance. She rejects the idea that her Aunt was a wild woman with loose passion, as woman did what they were told by men in their culture. She articulates that her Aunt's greatest crime was stepping out of the role that Chinese society and traditions has proscribed for her. It was sad to here about the Aunt taking the baby to the well for the suicide. The baby had to have been a girl and I'm assuming she did this act out of respect and love for the child as it would have been discriminated against and ridiculed as an outsider and illigitemate all of its life. This proves that there is plenty of discrimination to go around. An individuals twisted desires and need for power can pollute an entire culture with norms and rules.

Beloved, Here I am

My impression of the novel "Beloved" was that it was very realistic to slavery at the time in Kentucky. As Kentucky was a state that was close to non-slave states the owners were a lot stricter. They wanted to dissuade escape and used fear and beatings to do so. The saddest part about Sethe's story was when they came to claim her two boys and Beloved, and she slit all of their throats to prevent them from becoming slaves. Better off dead was how she felt. I thought it was ironic that the owner cried but spat at her feet and called her an animal to make hisself appear as though he didn't care. There were many instances of abuse: the hanging of her mother, the cross burned into her mother's chest, the shacklin, the mothe pieces, when the boys drank her milk, the beating she took while pregnant for telling about the breast milking incident, etc. I found "baby Suggs" an inspiration as she was bold and preached a positive message to other slaves. I don't think she would have been able to get away with that in Kentucky. There is still slavery today going on. For instance, Haiti inslaves its own people. Those that are less fortunate financially are sold and used as workers whom are not allowed to be in the house while the owners are gone. They beat these individuals on a daily basis and you can imagine what else they do. Any type of abuse is bad. It's just a way for twisted and perversive people to get their rocks off. They should walk a day in the victims shoes and see how tough it is to live an abusive life. Putting money in an evil person's hand is bad for society. We sould take their money and inslave them! Beloved was a little strange with the inclusion of ghosts. I believe as a message to be haunted by your past. But one can only be haunted if they give a damn!

Representation of the Indian Killer and Identity

I would definately have to go with John as the Indian Killer, as the representation that Mister Alexie makes with the actual phrase "Indian Killer" makes you immidietely think about a white man killing Indians when in fact, it is John whom is an Indian raised by a white family committing the murders. This represents "we are what we have lost". He returns to his people upon his leap from the skyscraper. The belief that Indians are savage and scalp people is represented by the leaving of owl feathers by the murderer(John). The owl feathers identifying the killer as a savage and merciless killer just as the Indians were and still are portrayed. Revenge is a strong theme throughout. Alexie illustrates what can happen when an act of discrimaination occurs. The fact that innocent people get hurt, not the actual abusers, most often.John is and individual that is led by the teachings of his boyhood friend Father Duncan whom is an Indian Jesuit Priest. John hears his voice, can feel him around, can hear the music, and then is driven to killing innocent white people and scalping them, eating their eyes and their hearts to represent that the heart and eyes mean something important. It could be Alexie is telling us that we must be more compassionate and see events and people as they really are and with an open heart. See and be open and fair to all points of view! Look at the big picture! The author texts John carrying the body to a vacant house, illustrates him opting with the different knives, and has him committing suicide in the end to prove a point that not only was he the killer, but that we can all send a message to end prejudice by doing something to stop it! The author educates his readers by using incredible description to bring his desired level of understanding of the topics of revenge, hate, and prejudice. John is back with is people now and can have his true culture back!

Discrimination Act

I am very aware of the amount of discrimination that occurs in the United States. We abolished slavery after the Civil War. It is very unfortunate that those learned behaviors and ignorant belief ideals still exist today. I have personally experienced many acts of discrimination against a citizen. Some not so big and some not so small. But isn't any act of discrimination against an individual a big deal? I believe it is! I believe this because it sends the wrong messages to the youth and those visiting our country. the little pecks can lead too a punch if it happens enough. Of course a murder, beating, or a job dismissal are percieved as some of the worst acts of discrimination. From a personal stand point, what appals me the most is when a group pokes fun at an individual whom is disabled. I have witnessed this on several occasions: the first being in high school when a fellow cross country runner teammate of mine was made fun of because he was in the slow(is this a prejudice comment as well? )class. People on our team would make slurs towards him and play tricks on him. he was (slow) enough that he thought it was funny, as well. Our coach did nothing about it and neither did anyone else step forward. I guess as part of our learned behavior we simply did what we were taught and saw and went along with the crowd. I learned alot from this individual, as watching him take the abuse and go on his Junior and Senior years too qualify for the state meet was unbelievable. He certainly didn't get picked on anymore and we all learned alot from the situation. It just takes one person to have the courage to step forward and back an individual or a belief. Unfortunately it takes something really bad to happen before a change is made or a personal tragedy in the abusers life. On another occasion I witnessed a man in a wheelchair, whom was flailing his hands around and talking with a slur outloud being made fun of by a group of high school youth. It was sad to watch this occuring and the events really pissed me off. I turned towards the kids and told them too shut the -------- up now or they would be in big trouble. Then I told them a story: I recall stating that if that were your mother, father, sister, or brother sitting there Would you be acting as stupid as you are now? I also pointed out that they were the ones who appeared disabled and that the man in the wheelchair had more strenghth than any of them did, as he had to deal with the daily routine of having to live with a handicap. I believe they got the message because they didn't say another word the rest of the bus ride. Learned behaviors can be unlearned, if a person has to face the music! I takes courage to face the music. This is how we stop the ignorant ones.

Response to Indian Killer

I really enjoyed the book as it was a story that reflects and reveals the prejudices and revenge that are faced in cities across the United States on a a daily basis for many citizens. Ignorance and learned environments have always been around. These are the causes of prejudice and the violence associated with this sometimes horrid examples of revenge. John Smith heard Father Duncan's voice and saw him in his dreams. He felt Duncan around him. He kept his feelings inside after Father Duncan dissappeared into the desert. He felt as if he was being poisoned. He imagined what living life on his real mother and fathers reservationwould be like, but he didn't know where they were or where the reservation was. He didn't know who he was. He only knew that his life was unreal because he was an Indian living in a white mans world full of hate and prejudice. Eventually he lost control and started a violent streak that was directly aimed at that prejudice, in the form of revenge. Even though he was educated, he couldn't stop until he finally flew off of the last skyskraper built in Seattle which he had helped build. In John's mind he could now get to know his parents in the great reservation in the sky. This particular book demonstrated the hatred which exixted in th 90's, especially towards the Indians in the Seattle area. He started the war by brutally murdering his victims. (i.e.) removing their eyes, eating their hearts, stabbing them repeatadly, and then leaving his calling card of the owl feathers behind.( The sign of a relentless and merciless hunter). To me this represented his true hate for the white man. Many examples of hate and prejudice were prevelant throughout the book: He was called Chief,the incident on the bridge, Aaron and his father shooting at the Spokane gathering lilies, the white man getting battered on the football field by Jesse and his Indian friends, the homeless couple getting beat by Aaaron in the doorway, and even the different Indian tribes using terms like salmon fishers and sheep eaters showed anomosity. I liked the authors connection when he described the different types of Indians at the basketball tournament. To me this showed a picture of all the different mixes of Asian, black, white and how they had conformed to a new way of life constantly laughing and appearing to be happy. The horrid part was the amount of poverty and degregation that existed among the Indians who had not conformed faced, as they couldn't forget the past and held onto the beliefs of their ancestors at all costs. To me it would be hard to give up my culture and belief system, especially if my freedom had been violently taken from me. We as citizens fight terrorism and have fought many battles in the past to retain our way of life. Would I conform if it were taken by another country? Would you? Would we continue to revolt years later knowing that it was our ancestors that were changed and that the people we know live with weren't responsible? These are very difficult questions for me to answer. I can imagine how they felt and how the Indians and other cultures whom are terrorized and prejudiced against today feel. Isn't it a shame that we can't all live together in a society that love comes first? If you really think about it, there's no reason to be prejudic or think you are better than any other person or culture , because there will always be someone more intelligent, better looking, or that has more. Make sense?

Reader Response: Fear and Loathing

I feel that the book fear and loathing was just that a lot about the paranoia of the effects of the drugs on Hunter and his attorney and a lot of hatred for political and law enforcement authority figures. Somebody has to be responsible. If everyone took their attitude about life our country would be even more morally corrupt then it allready is! I do recognize the underlying message is to escape the responsibilities of being a man and facing your individual fears, accepting them, admitting them and changing to become a a better person. After reading the article about Hunter Thompson in Playboy about his interview, I was also shocked to notice that he was actually telling us about the characteristics of his own belief system(although to me it is a bit unrealistic ) and his way of viewing others that didn't share his personal thoughts and actions the same way. I would describe the book as a true story with a lot of areas that also seem very fictional because of the connotations about his drug use and the explosive behaviors resulting from the effects and misguided belief systems again resulting from the side -effects.He did suffer mental anguish because not everyone could adapt to the way he viewed things and the drug use. There are problems in our country but there are also responsible ways to go about making the proper and necessary changes for improvement. I learned alot about Hunter S. Thompson and am very happy that the book was assigned. I hope his sacrifice pays off some day! He's certainly not helping anyone from his grave. Freedom? At what price?