Sai's Blog Vol. 2

One com mon theme present in  all  the books in this week is to highlight the different viewpoints and differences minorities  have  living in the United States and the problems many  must  cross in order to be accepted in the country.  In  The  Round House , this common theme is explored by the viewpoint of  Joe,  a 13 year old  Native American taking matters to his own  hands in trying to find out what happened to his mother.  Such a viewpoint shows the experience of living in a reservation environment, where the residents are seen by the rest of the American population as  isolated, such as when a woman in chapter 1 remarked “Don’t you Indians  have your own hospital over there?” Reservations are also legally seen as separate countries in  foreign relations, which is reflected in his father’s work in trying to win court cases in a disadvantaged position.   Another issue is that is ...

The principle of eminent domain has always been in a bit of a tangle when it comes to the other principles present in our constitution. The government rhetoric of eminent domain is a noble one: it is up to the government to seize property in order to benefit communities in need, but today, such acts of domain rarely seem to fit the  o nce upon a time  fairy tale idea of the law, instead catering to some other force or private company and not to the people who are often forced off the land. One notable event that has contested the idea of eminent domain is the Dakota pipeline making the Sioux tribes living off the land be relocated, making a similarity between the times when the United States sold off native land to settlers in the name of freedom, wealth, and Jesus. Other instances of eminent domain can promise to rejuvenate declining towns, but they rarely come to fruition, often leaving the lots empty - sea of decaying asphalt, rather than a town with new lifeblood. The...

“Mama, you know  it's  all divided up. Life is. Sure enough. Between the takers and the “ tooken .”   The Raisin in the sun prominently portrays the reality of what life can be like when you are stuck in a system of oppression in multiple ways. Each character, however, still have their own dreams in which they see as ideal in order to escape such boundaries that they wish to escape. Such dreams are detailed in the story as being impossible to obtain, however, relating to the poem the title of the book is based from: “What happens to a dream deferred?”   Mama is old-fashioned in her dreams, which was already completed when she was young: to achieve freedom from slavery. Back in her day it was a difficult, if not possible, task to accomplish, however she managed to be free and have a family, something which see tries to maintain in the story, as well as not approving her children’s further dreams as she sees them as too lofty. Benetha contrasts to both ...

Today, Detroit, despite its large Black population, is a city that still is segregated in an economic sense, with many of the areas in a worse of financial situation being home to many of the Black population. This is further present in the Metro Detroit area, with many cities having many people of African American descent contrasted with cities that have minuscule representation of African Americans.   Historically, the white supremacism had a large presence in Detroit, many being part of a movement known as the Black Legion. The organization split off from the Ku Klux Klan from the 1920s and reached its peak during the 30’s, where it was reported that it had up to 100,000 members in its ranks. It attacked African Americans, Catholics and organized labor movements, many notable ones being union leader George Marchuk and African American Silas Coleman, whose murder was committed alongside Jessie Owens setting four world records. The legion grew its numbers by performi...

I previously ended my blog last week with a question: why is Gatsby yearning for love with Daisy? Originally, I gave some vague personal thoughts on the answers to the question with limited knowledge of the book.    After reading the entire book, I can say and further expand on the original concept of last week’s blog, as Gatsby is a representation of the upper middle class who chooses to try to ascend into the upper classes. Gatsby sees Daisy as an opportunity to advance his status by marrying into the rich, often at the expense of the poor, which led to his early demise. By being in love with Daisy, he seemingly excuses the death of Myrtle Wilson by stating “I tried to make her stop, but she couldn’t, so I pulled on the emergency brake.” The actions of this led to him being attacked by the poor for siding with the rich, the poor being personified by Mr. Wilson.   We also see further connections to how the West Egg and new money is seen as shady and illegit...

The modernist movement is a defining feature of the Great Gatsby, as throughout the novel we see many references to old money being compared to new money and its effects in the plot of the novel such as the aristocratic old guard rooted in the East Egg compared to the new and attractive West Egg. This idea of old and new money being in which how the rich acquired such money: by inheriting parental wealth or by becoming rich by your own means. This is shown in the setting of the story, the East Egg being home to Tom and Daisy people who inherited their wealth from birth, while Gatsby lives on the West Egg, as while he supposedly inherited a lot of money from his parents and ancestors, he had to reclaim his money in buying the mansion after the war.   It is suggested in the story that new money is not achieved by inheritance, but accumulation of money, often in sketchy manners. Mr. Wolfsheim became wealthy by “fixing the World Series” while Gatsby said that he “was in th...

America as a state was made for the white people in order to serve the American idea of owning and making a profit off land, a practice that existed since its inception and has been going on until this very day. The American ideal is however a detriment to the black people who happen to live on this land, and such, has made me join the Seven Days in order to break the cycle of oppression against the black people of America. The black man has always been attacked by the whites, so much so that it is vital to the identities of such to demean us and lynch us.    I did not join the seven days to terrorize black people, or to give suffering to my fellow kin, I joined to make a point, that point being that we are going to take back our rights by showing an example of what they do to us, only then will they learn. My father died in an accident when I was four, and yet his very life was compensated for 40 dollars, such is the mark of the American dream, where the lives of such...