Blog Post Assignment #7 - The So Called American Dream

My American Dream

The term "American Dream" has come to mean both less and more than the sum of its words. For some, the simple pursuit of the Dream has lead to excesses. Others see it as unattainable. For the few who have reached the goal, this shining beacon has meant little but disappointment. In my opinion, the American Dream is to be happy and to live comfortably while exercising your rights as an American citizen. The concept of the American Dream is so important because it allows individuals to expand as well as tell the morals and lesson of determination to achieve their dream as an American. My American Dream is to live a wealthy and productive life as an aspiring woman of business who promotes equal opportunities for women. 

Blog Assignment #6- Good Friday

What Is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday, on which Jesus Christ was crucified. It is a Christian religious holiday recognizing his death at Calvary.

What Does Kindness Means To You?

To me kindness means being kind to everybody no matter who the person is or what the situation may be. It also means greeting people with a positive and friendly attitude as well as generous.

How does doing something nice for someone makes you feel?

Doing something nice for someone makes me feel happy. Knowing that I did something nice for someone fills me up with joy and excitement. By doing a small kind act or something nice for a person can make a person day so much better.

You could show kindness to strangers by....

There are several ways you could show kindness to strangers. Simple yet kind acts are opening and holding a door for a stranger, giving a homeless person loose change, and giving away food and clothes to charities and organizations for the poor.

Chapter 8 & 9 Quotation Assignment

 Chapter 8 - Quotation 1 - Page 66 Paragraph 1

"“Any advice?” I asked him. “It doesn’t matter anymore,” he said. “Just do the best you can. But it won’t matter.”"

Question 1- Does the quotation indicate a conflict? If so, what conflict?

This quotation does indicate a conflict. The conflict is between Grant and his old school teacher Matthew Antoine. Even though Grant thought as a teacher he could change things for the better for the next generation through his teaching, Matthew Antoine disagreed. Matthew Antoine believed no matter what Grant did or how hard he tried, his best efforts would eventually fail.

Question 2- Does the quotation characterize Grant, Jefferson, or another character? If so, in what way does it characterize?

This quotation characterizes Matthew Antoine as a negative man that believes in black failure. In Chapter 8, we learn that Matthew Antoine is Creole. He admits that he feels superior to blacks and inferior to whites and that all black people are destined to fail because of the society they live in. By saying that statement to Grant it shows everything he believes in about black failure.

Chapter 9 - Quotation 1 - Page 71 Paragraph 3

"The cell was roughly six by ten, with a metal bunk covered by a thin mattress and a woolen army blanket; a toilet without seat or toilet paper; a washbowl, brownish from residue and grime; a small metal shelf upon which was a pan, a tin cup, and a tablespoon. A single light bulb hung over the center of the cell, and at the end opposite the door was a barred window, which looked out onto a sycamore tree behind the courthouse. I could see the sunlight on the upper leaves. But the window was too high to catch sight of any other buildings or the ground."

Question 1- Does the quotation provide detail about the setting? If so, what type of description does it provide? How does the setting description classify the time period?

This quotation provides detail about the jail cell setting that Jefferson is currently living in. By listing everything in and around the cell and imagery readers can see and or imagine Jefferson's living quarter. The setting description classifies the time period by allowing readers to imagine jails and prisoner's living quarters during that time period.

Question 2- To what contemporary issue(s) do(es) the quotation connect?

Although times have changed drastically, most jails and prison cells or living areas still look the same is the contemporary issue that the quotation connects to. Prisoners are still locked away in small animal like cages with little lighting and unsanitary toilets and sinks.

Chapters 4 & 5 Quotation Assignment

Chapter 4 - Quotation 1- Page 22 Paragraph 1

"After entering the town, which was marked by the movie theater for whites on the riverbank side of the road, I had to drive another two or three blocks before turning down an unlit road, which led back of town to the colored section."

Question 1- Does the quotation provide detail about the setting? If so, what type of description does it provide? How does the setting description classify the time period?

This quotation provides details about the setting. It uses imagery and selective word choice to describe the setting. By the town being segregated and divided into sections indicates the time period which was during the time period when coloreds did not have the same rights as whites.

Question 2- To what contemporary issue(s) do(es) the quotation connect?

In that time period coloreds were segregated to the colored section of town. The contemporary issue this quotation connects to how black people are still divided into sections. In this day in age or time period some blacks still are sectioned off into "hoods" or poor urban areas whereas whites live in nice neighborhoods, suburbs, and gated communities.

Chapter 5 - Quotation 1- Page 29 Paragraph 4

"This was my school. I was supposed to teach six months out of the year, but actually I taught only five and a half months, from late October to the middle of April, when the children were not needed in the field."

Question 1- Does the quotation symbolize the lack of freedom of a black person at this time? Does the quotation symbolize the history of oppression of a black person? If so, to what part of history does the quotation relate?

This quotation does symbolize the lack of freedom of a black person at this time. Young black students could not learn all year round in a learning environment like young white students. Young colored students and colored teachers were limited to teach and learn only five and a half to six months in a small church for school to take place in. This quotation symbolize the history of oppression of a black person. Although blacks were free many men, women and young children had to work longs day in a field instead if learning and getting an education like the whites.

Question 2- Does the quotation provide detail about the setting? If so, what type of description does it provide? How does the setting description classify the time period?  

This quotation does provide details about the setting and classify the time period of black oppression, limited or lack of freedom for blacks, and unfair laws.

Chapters 4 & 5 Discussion Questions & Answers

Chapter 4 Discussion Questions & Answers

1. In describing Bayonne, the narrator mentions that the town’s major industries include “a slaughterhouse, mostly for hogs.” How does this echo and expand on the public defender’s summation in Jefferson’s trial in Chapter 1?
When describing Bayonne, the narrator mentions that the town’s major industries include “a slaughterhouse, mostly for hogs.” This further emphasizes and expands on the public defender's summation in Jefferson's trial which occurred in Chapter 1. This also echo the public defender's summation in the trial. Just like the hogs being killed in the slaughterhouse, Jefferson which was compared to a hog earlier in the story ,will be killed or slaughtered like an animal.


2. Several times in the course of the novel, including Chapter 4, the narrator expresses the
need to get away from the town where he lives.  Explain why he feels compelled to flee and what keeps him there despite the urge to leave.
The narrator feels compelled to flee because of the burden of changing Jefferson  to a man before he dies is weighing in heavy on him and he feels like he wouldn't be able to help him nor where to start. Several times in the course of the novel, including Chapter 4, the narrator expresses the need to get away from the town where he lives. Despite the feeling and urge to flee or to leave the love of his life Vivian keeps him there.

Chapter 5 Discussion Questions & Answers

1. Grant is in a foul mood in this chapter, and he appears to lash out at the children. Why is he in such a terrible mood? To whom does he compare the students in his diatribe, and what is the point he is trying to convey to them?

Grant is in a foul mood in chapter 5, and he appears to lash out at or take his frustrations out on the young school children. I believe he is in such a terrible mood because he is thinking about how he has the duty to try to change Jefferson before he is killed. Grant compares the children or students to Jefferson in his diatribe. The point he is trying to convey is that if they don't take the opportunity to become educated and learn how to grow up to become respectable young men and women and not compared to unintelligent hogs.

2. The unspoken “rules” that govern social relations between whites and black in the segregated South require blacks to intuit signs and meanings. In writing of Farrell Jarreau, the black handyman for Henri Pichot, the narrator says, “To learn anything, he had to attain it by stealth or through an innate sense of things around him.” How does this kind of stealth undermine one group’s sense of humanity and keep members of that group in a subservient position?
The unspoken “rules” that govern social relations between whites and blacks in the segregated South require blacks to intuit signs and meanings. In writing of Farrell Jarreau, the black handyman for Henri Pichot, the narrator says, “To learn anything, he had to attain it by stealth or through an innate sense of things around him." This kind of stealth undermines one group's sense of humanity and keep members of that in a subservient position by demeaning blacks or colored people as if there are not equal or important enough to engage in a conversation with whites to deliver a proper message to others.

Introduction

My name is Jumiya Tyteonna Baker. I am currently attending Ben C. Rain High School and I am in the 11th grade. I am pursuing a honors diploma. I am an Executive Board Member of Future Business Leaders Of America and Microsoft Office Specialist in Microsoft Word 2013, Power-Point 2013, and Excel 2013. I'm also in several chorus programs. I currently work as a MCPSS intern at Norton Lily International. My Hobbies include singing, writing, reading , and dancing. My favorite colors are red and black. By being in Mr. Rease Class I plan on becoming a better writer & student by the end of the semester.