Aileen Patoc
Cyrus Takahashi
Chelsea Yagi
Kelli Yamane
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Harlem Mind Streets
1991. Many plays and novels use contrasting places (for example, two countries, two cities or towns, two houses, or the land and the sea) to represent opposed forces or ideas that are central to the meaning of the work. Choose a novel or play that contrasts two such places. Write an essay explaining how the places differ, what each place represents, and how their contrast contributes to the meaning of the work.
Between the busy streets of Harlem and the vast emptiness of its unused sewage pipes, Ralph Ellison’s nameless protagonist in Invisible Man preferred the isolation of the underground pipes. Here, he no longer feared the cruel judgment of others, no longer maintained his guise of blind submission to please those in power. He may have been alone, but now that he felt free enough to accept his culture, he could understand who he truly was and could take pride in his identity at last.
Throughout this character’s life, he always felt an inner turmoil. He knew what he wanted to be-rich, intelligent, respected-yet, he felt that who he was, in other words, an African American, was holding him back. In many cases in his hometown in the South, this was true because though abolished, remnants of segregation still remained. Later on, when he moved to the North, specifically Harlem, race did not matter. However, he still carried his shame of his cultural identity and did everything in his power to push it to the side. He did not accept who he was. He was weak. He tried to compensate by gaining social status and power in the community, yet when it crumbled, he was again lost. When inadvertently enveloped in a race riot, he plummeted into an unlikely sanctuary; Harlem’s forgotten network of underground pipes. He wandered for days and realized the futility of his efforts to ignore his identity. He came to accept and embrace his culture.
Throughout the course of the story, the reader is able to make the connection between Harlem and darkness and the underground and light for right as he was falling underground, Harlem was thrown into social chaos. It was a dark, desperate time as the once homogeneous community was divided by race. The African Americans who lashed out at the white citizens felt justified in their actions and believed that they were protecting themselves and their families. They felt as if all of the actions of the white community had ulterior motives to establish superiority over the black community. Harlem mirrored the nagging thoughts and fallacies of the main character’s mind. Thus, it represented his inner turmoil as he struggled with acceptance.
The underground represented enlightenment and acceptance within the character. In the pipes underground, he was alone yet he felt free. He did not feel oppressed or inferior or helpless. He felt brave enough to examine who he was. He eventually took pride in his African American heritage and the reader notices that he is now a stronger character because of it. He was now confident in his identity.
In his time in Harlem, the character constantly felt that he was considered inferior because of his African American heritage. He spent years shunning it and he felt an inner turmoil since he did not want to accept who he was. It was only when he was completely isolated underground when he felt the courage to accept his heritage and take pride in it. Invisible Man’s predominant theme is the sense of identity. When contrasting between Harlem and its underground pipes, darkness and light, inner turmoil and confidence, Ellison argues that a strong sense of identity is not possible without acceptance that originates from within the individual himself.
Between the busy streets of Harlem and the vast emptiness of its unused sewage pipes, Ralph Ellison’s nameless protagonist in Invisible Man preferred the isolation of the underground pipes. Here, he no longer feared the cruel judgment of others, no longer maintained his guise of blind submission to please those in power. He may have been alone, but now that he felt free enough to accept his culture, he could understand who he truly was and could take pride in his identity at last.
Throughout this character’s life, he always felt an inner turmoil. He knew what he wanted to be-rich, intelligent, respected-yet, he felt that who he was, in other words, an African American, was holding him back. In many cases in his hometown in the South, this was true because though abolished, remnants of segregation still remained. Later on, when he moved to the North, specifically Harlem, race did not matter. However, he still carried his shame of his cultural identity and did everything in his power to push it to the side. He did not accept who he was. He was weak. He tried to compensate by gaining social status and power in the community, yet when it crumbled, he was again lost. When inadvertently enveloped in a race riot, he plummeted into an unlikely sanctuary; Harlem’s forgotten network of underground pipes. He wandered for days and realized the futility of his efforts to ignore his identity. He came to accept and embrace his culture.
Throughout the course of the story, the reader is able to make the connection between Harlem and darkness and the underground and light for right as he was falling underground, Harlem was thrown into social chaos. It was a dark, desperate time as the once homogeneous community was divided by race. The African Americans who lashed out at the white citizens felt justified in their actions and believed that they were protecting themselves and their families. They felt as if all of the actions of the white community had ulterior motives to establish superiority over the black community. Harlem mirrored the nagging thoughts and fallacies of the main character’s mind. Thus, it represented his inner turmoil as he struggled with acceptance.
The underground represented enlightenment and acceptance within the character. In the pipes underground, he was alone yet he felt free. He did not feel oppressed or inferior or helpless. He felt brave enough to examine who he was. He eventually took pride in his African American heritage and the reader notices that he is now a stronger character because of it. He was now confident in his identity.
In his time in Harlem, the character constantly felt that he was considered inferior because of his African American heritage. He spent years shunning it and he felt an inner turmoil since he did not want to accept who he was. It was only when he was completely isolated underground when he felt the courage to accept his heritage and take pride in it. Invisible Man’s predominant theme is the sense of identity. When contrasting between Harlem and its underground pipes, darkness and light, inner turmoil and confidence, Ellison argues that a strong sense of identity is not possible without acceptance that originates from within the individual himself.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Burning Desire
Prompt 2: Choose a character in a novel or play of your choice (from the AP List!) and write about the conflict(s) that arise since they are in conflict with the society they are from. This may be socially, religiously, and/or morally. Dig deep! You should also address whether your character comes to a good/bad fate due to this conflict(s).
He ignored society’s rules and followed his instincts. A harmless act yet abhorred by society. Guy Montag of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was caught in a social turmoil. He was a fireman; a man whose job it was to hunt out all books and destroy them by burning them. Now, in a greatly censored society, he is searching for answers in the very place he is forbidden to even glance at. By looking for the truth in books that the government had banned years ago, Montag is shunned and outcast from the only place he ever knew.
In Bradbury’s world, all books that evoke negative emotions are deemed as unfit to read and therefore claimed as contraband. The only books that have survived the government’s mad censorship were generally worthless and brainless entertainment. Therefore, the people of this time have lost the art of reading comprehension. It was not enough for Montag to merely be a fugitive with illegal books in possession. He was a fugitive with contraband that he could not even understand. He was frustrated that none of the books made sense to him. Countless times, he felt ready to give up and confiscate the books himself, yet he had an innate attraction to the intricacies of the written language that he had never previously been exposed to elsewhere. Thus, he felt conflict within himself. He longed to understand, yet he barely had the patience or knowledge to do so.
However, regardless of his comprehension skills or efforts in reading these books, he was condemned just for having them in his possession. If captured, he would be sentenced to death. Nevertheless, Montag desperately wanted to help his fellow citizens because he knew that censorship would lead them to ruin, yet they shunned him. He carried the burden, the knowledge that self-destruction was inevitable, alone. He felt helpless while he witnessed the destruction of his world from afar.
Guy Montag had nowhere to run, no friends to turn to, no one he could trust. He was isolated because he was caught in a world where ignorance was promoted by the citizens and knowledge was punished by the government. This was the only world he knew, but he willingly turned his back on it. He looked for salvation in the books he burned and instantly found confusion and heartache. Yet, his curiosity and innate desire for knowledge made him persistent enough to continue searching for the answers he and previous generations have been deprived of in the place everyone else was scared to look.
(37 minutes to write the essay)
He ignored society’s rules and followed his instincts. A harmless act yet abhorred by society. Guy Montag of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 was caught in a social turmoil. He was a fireman; a man whose job it was to hunt out all books and destroy them by burning them. Now, in a greatly censored society, he is searching for answers in the very place he is forbidden to even glance at. By looking for the truth in books that the government had banned years ago, Montag is shunned and outcast from the only place he ever knew.
In Bradbury’s world, all books that evoke negative emotions are deemed as unfit to read and therefore claimed as contraband. The only books that have survived the government’s mad censorship were generally worthless and brainless entertainment. Therefore, the people of this time have lost the art of reading comprehension. It was not enough for Montag to merely be a fugitive with illegal books in possession. He was a fugitive with contraband that he could not even understand. He was frustrated that none of the books made sense to him. Countless times, he felt ready to give up and confiscate the books himself, yet he had an innate attraction to the intricacies of the written language that he had never previously been exposed to elsewhere. Thus, he felt conflict within himself. He longed to understand, yet he barely had the patience or knowledge to do so.
However, regardless of his comprehension skills or efforts in reading these books, he was condemned just for having them in his possession. If captured, he would be sentenced to death. Nevertheless, Montag desperately wanted to help his fellow citizens because he knew that censorship would lead them to ruin, yet they shunned him. He carried the burden, the knowledge that self-destruction was inevitable, alone. He felt helpless while he witnessed the destruction of his world from afar.
Guy Montag had nowhere to run, no friends to turn to, no one he could trust. He was isolated because he was caught in a world where ignorance was promoted by the citizens and knowledge was punished by the government. This was the only world he knew, but he willingly turned his back on it. He looked for salvation in the books he burned and instantly found confusion and heartache. Yet, his curiosity and innate desire for knowledge made him persistent enough to continue searching for the answers he and previous generations have been deprived of in the place everyone else was scared to look.
(37 minutes to write the essay)
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
What I’ve Done and Who I Am
After reciting his speech, the speech that made him famous throughout society, the socially elite men of his community presented him with a briefcase. The briefcase contained his future, his aspirations, his identity, for inside was a full-ride scholarship to the leading Negro college in the state. Everything he had ever wanted to be was now achievable with this scholarship. However, as the main character of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man told the journeys of his life, he found that who he considered himself to be, his identity, changed as he likewise changed in ideas and purpose as reflected by the briefcase.
The briefcase symbolized one of the recurring themes in this novel, which was the idea of self-identity. The main character often struggled with this concept and, ironically, he was never given a name. The reader was forced to think of the main character in a different and ever-changing light because his identity was not tied down by a name. In being so free, the reader’s perception of the main character changed just as swiftly as his own.
His perceptions of his identity were reflected by the contents of the briefcase, one of the few things that remained constant throughout the story. The reader sees that the main character often mistook his title for his identity. He had his briefcase the first day of college and the day he was expelled and looking for a job in the North. During this transition period, he took out all of his school documents and replaced them with job applications. It was a simple action, yet the reader witnessed as he changed his self-image from student to aspiring businessman. He had his briefcase each time he went to speak for the Brotherhood, an underground society that pushed for social equality by way of non-violent gatherings and speeches. When he considered himself a Brother, he carried the Brotherhood’s doctrines and pamphlets and plans.
In the end, during a rally that became terribly violent and out of hand, he falls into a manhole while being chased by his enemies. In the darkness, he finds matches and uses the paper inside of his briefcase as a torch to navigate a way out of the underground labyrinth. He pulls out the papers; everything that he ever believed represented who he was. It took him days to find a way out, but in this time, he realized the futility of his endeavors. Though he appeared confident in himself, there was the underlying feeling of always trying to be someone that would find favor from those in power. When he burns the documents within the briefcase, it symbolizes, not a lack of self-identity, but instead, a realization that he is more than just those past aspirations. From this point on, Ellison does not mention the briefcase again.
The nameless protagonist is first presented with a briefcase; the briefcase that will hold all of the things he ever associates himself with. He was a student, an aspiring businessman, a Brother. These were his titles and he mistook them for his identity without really understanding why. The briefcase was a constant symbol throughout Invisible Man of his believed identities, which only disappeared after his moment of realization.
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