Blog #6

In my opinion, this world has become very original and traditional.  It's not traditional to date or marry your same sex.  In Oranges are no the Only Fruit, we are immediately introduced to a woman who adopted a baby, now a young girl, who is trying to make her a servant of God.  I feel like this woman was really just pushing her in the opposite direction though.  At seven years old, children begin to learn things like lying and sinning and they do experience with it.  I feel like the mother always just tried to keep her away from lesbians and gays but really tried to push her to God.  We read when Jeanette was at a young age and met the two 'unnatural passion'ed women, she's attracted to them and her mother makes her stay away. 
Growing up I was raised in a Christian family.  I have always been taught, just like in Oranges are not the Only Fruit, that being gay or intimate with the same sex is a sin.  In my own family, I know that it would not be accepted by any means if I brought a girl home.  As Jeanette's mother did by kicking her out of the house, I would have the same punishment.  Although, you can't help it when you gay.  If you lean that way, you lean that way.  I feel that parents should teach their children right from wrong and if they follow then good but if they don't and the parent has done all they could then back off.  It's not their fault if they like the same sex.

The West Boro Church needs to settle down in my opinion.  They are taking things to seriously and are crossing the line.  They should not be going to funerals, where people are mourning, and disrupting the services.  I feel that if they want to believe that then believe that but keep it to yourselves.  Instead of going up to people in outrage saying that they are going to hell, try to persuade people by talking to them about your own religion. 

Blog #5: The Bluest Eye vs. American Born Chinese

In comparing The Bluest Eye and American Born Chinese I found many simularities.  The first simularity I looked at was the characters in the novels.  Jin Wang is a lot like Pecola because they both want to be 'beautiful.'  Jin Wang wants be white, while Pecola wants blue eyes to be pretty.  They are also both teenagers just trying to fit in. 
Another simularity was the friendships that were made among the characters.  Jin Wang and Wei-Chen become friends almost right away but later in their friendship, Jin treats Wei-Chen badly and Wei-Chen refuses to be his friend ever again.  Later in the comic we learn that this really effected Wei-Chen's life.  This friendship reminded me of Maureen Paul's friendship with the three girls; Pecola, Frieda, and Claudia.  Maureen singles out Claudia and Claudia says something smart, which makes Maureen comment on the fact that they are 'black and ugly.'  They get mad and the friendship is lost.
Finally, the most obvious comparison was discrimination and racism.  In the Bluest Eye, rascism is all around.  In their world, the idea is that the 'Shirley Temple' look is beautiful and anything else is not. Claudia hates Shirley Temple for this but Pecola wants to be just like Shirley Temple.  Cholly discriminates against women where at one time he loved women now he just takes his anger out on them due to his past.  In Pecola's class, the teacher and classmates igonore her because she thinks she's ugly.  She also gets harassed on her way home from school but Maureen steps in and all of the sudden everything is okay because Maureen is light-skinned and wealthy.  We also read about discrimination when Geraldine didnt let Junior play with the lower class blacks only the upper class, neat children.  In American Born Chinese, in the beginning of the comic, the gods and godesses discriminate against the Monkey King of Flower-Fruit Mountain.  They wouldn't let him into the party because of what he looked like even though, he was a king just like them.   In Jin Wang's life, his classmates picked on him and made rumors up about Chinese people.  When Wei-Chen comes to school he befriends him and things get better for Jin Wang.  He finds the courage to ask out an American girl who does go out with him but is then told by a white boy to not communicate with her.  This angers Jin and causes him issues within himself and with Wei-Chen.  Also, another example of discrimination was cousin Danny and Chin-Kee.  Although, Chin-Kee does make it hard to get along with that's still your cousin and blood family you need to love them and respect them regardless of who they are or how they act.  Danny doesn't treat him very nice and even tries to beat him up. 
I think the main theme or quote of American Born Chinese is to just be yourself and don't try to change it.  If people don't like you, so what because the people that do like you are the ones that mean the most and are the best friends. 

Both of these novels relate to our discussion in class through rascism and discrimination within them. 

Blog #4; Racism

"There is no 'cure' for Racism; it will always exist."

This statement (on the in-class worksheet) really caught my attention.  My first and foremost thought was my religion and what/who I believe in.  I am a christian and I do believe in God.  With that being said, in the bible, God declares that there is only one race; the human race, meaning anyone of any color.  God does not discriminate against anyone.  James 2:8 in the bible says, "love your neighbors as yourself." In that verse, it's really saying that treat people how you want to be treated, just like we've all learned in elementary school. It's a simple task, right?  If everyone treated eachother with respect and how they themselves would like to be treated, would discrimination and racism end?  In what I believe, God created this world and brought peace in the beginning.  Then, Satan brought hatred and convinced Eve to disobey God which resulted in the ugliness and hatred of the world. 
If I didn't believe in God, I would take a much different approach on this statement.  In this case, Racism will always exist.  There will always be those parents who don't teach their children how to love everyone and respect everyone of any color.  Then, those hateful children will grow up and teach their own children the same things because they never knew any better.  It's just a continous pattern that will always repeat itself. A perfect example of this is in the Bluest Eye, the character of Junior.  He really wants to play with the black children but his mother, Geraldine, won't let him.  In the novel, she explains the "differences between the colored people and the niggers."  "Colored people were neat and quiet; niggers were dirty and loud."  He was in the light-skinned colored people group. 
The obvious conversation that was created in all texts was racism and will it ever end.  I can see both sides to statement whether it's true or false but I think as long as there is hatred in this world, racism will never cease.

Blog 3

The Book Thief, Liesel Meminger, is portrayed as the main character in the novel next to death as well. We figure out that Liesel is a German girl. She has foster parents, Hans and Rosa Hubermann. When we first meet her, she is shy and young, around nine years old. She is traumatized by her brother who just passed away but her foster father is there to calm her and help her. He also helps her learn to read although he's not the greatest reader himself. Even when she didn't know how to read she loved books. Eventually she begins to open up in the story and becomes a little bit more sociable. She is taught to pretty much bow down to Hitler, just like every German is taught but she does resist to do this sometimes. By Max living with them in the basement she realizes what is happening and how badly the Jews are treated.

I really like Liesel in the story. I like that by the end of it she has her own personality whether it was influenced by others or not. She becomes her own person at the end and has a mind of her own.

Comic in a Comic

As I read Maus, I came to many questions.  My first question I asked myself was "Why did the author put a comic in the comic?"  There could be many answers to this question; maybe it was just to prove a point but who really knows?  It begins to tell a whole new story within the comic.  It seemed as if Artie and his mother weren't very close at all and he was the reason for her death or was it the torture she went through during the Holocaust.  She did lose her first son during that time.  We learn so much more when we look at the pictures and words of the comics.  By looking at the pictures, we realize that there's more to the characters than what their words can say.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was very interesting and an intriguing way to tell a story of the Holocaust.

Hello!  I'm Meghan Mahon and I am a freshman here at Ship!  I enjoy playing soccer for the Lady Raider's and I also like staying in shape.  My major is elementary education and I am in the fourth through eighth grade program. My focus is math and language arts.  Cultural Literature interests me because I've never really studied English and culture in the same class. It is also a requirement for my major.  The last book I read was by Mary Higgens Clark titled Daddy's Little Girl.  I absolutely love Mary Higgens Clark!  I love reading mystery and romance novels.
I think of cultural diversity as a world where everyone is different in their own culture but yet the same in the fact that we all live together and share the world. Today, America is so much more culturally unique and more accepting to the different races. 
In this class, I am expecting to learn about how many people were viewed in the past based off of the literature that was written.