...so-called freedom imposed on people who needed every care and guidance in the world to keep them from the cannibal life they preferred.” —Toni Morrison The Beloved White Outlook of Slavery Toni Morrison's highly critically acclaimed novel, Beloved, intensely scrutinizes the uttermost excruciating moment of the African American heritage, slavery. By way of what Morrison has called “rememory”, the act of deliberately reconstructing what has been forgotten; in this case slavery is the forgotten memory of the African American culture (Gillespie 23). The novel takes place after the Civil War and emancipation, during the period of national history known as Reconstruction. Throughout the novel Morrison gives a strong sense of white dominance with the purpose of exploiting the roots of the Africa American culture to the reader. As well as exploring the effects of slavery on individual characters, individual black families, and the black community as a whole. Beloved documents both slavery's horrifying destruction and survival of the African American people and their culture (Kubitschek 116-7). In Beloved, Morrison develops the story line behind one of the main characters Sethe; a run away slave, a proud and independent woman, and a extremely devoted mother to her children. Though Sethe herself never truly knew her own mother, her motherly instincts are her most noticeable characteristic (Roberson 198-9). With that being said, a particular scene in Beloved forms the...
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...Beloved Research Paper Prompt #5 Final Infanticide, neglect, rape, starvation, and loss are all terms describing what the institution of slavery may result in. These same words, however, can very easily fit to summarize Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a story that not only captures the overall theme of slavery, but also delves into a deeper understanding of what these hardships entail. Within it’s controversial pages, Toni Morrison’s Beloved properly and accurately portrays slavery’s brutality and harsh conditions. It is true that the Middle Passage was the largest migration of any group of persons, but no historian could completely grasp what trials and tribulations that this event encompasses. In Beloved, Morrison demonstrates just one of the many cruelties during the long journey across the Atlantic. Sethe recalls the sexual violence her mother encountered while being brought from Africa and the trauma brought about by such. Both Sethe’s mother and Nan were “taken up many times by the crew” (Morrison 66). During the travel to the New World, women were within a closer proximity to the deck and thus, closer to the white men on board. These black women on board were “prey to captains and crew members who would often rape them”, along with other forms of violence to keep order (Rice 9). Sethe’s mother was so affected by the traumatic experience that she murdered her children that were conceived from the white men raping her. This idea of sexual violence is not an exaggeration...
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...Whiteness, especially the stereotypically Aryan features: blonde hair and blue eyes are held in the highest esteem by society in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Set in the town of Lorain, Ohio during the 1960s, the various characters presented strive to live up to society’s perspective of beauty. It is this struggle to find beauty in the White-dominated world that drives many characters. To many, to be beautiful is to simply not be Black. Universally deemed ugly by almost everyone she encounters, central protagonist Pecola Breedlove yearns to live up to the standard of beauty, to be White, by attain blue eyes. Through the use of racism, the standard of innate Beauty of the White and innate Ugly of the Black is reinforced, questioned, affirmed and dispelled. Although no Whites appear in the book, each character presented heavily feels within their presence. While impossible to change the color of their skin, many characters seek to emulate the White way. The blue-eyed Shirley Temple is idolized and revered as beautiful by many characters, especially Frieda MacTeer and Pecola. White baby dolls are precious treasures, given to little Black girls, with their mothers passing on the idea that these Blonde-blued dolls are the closest to beauty their daughters can get. Property, while rare for the Blacks to own, was the adults mean of attaining society’s standards, with the Black women keeping their owns as tidy and neat and white as possible. In their pursuit of beauty, racism...
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...American Realism The Civil War tore the country apart. Once America was reunited in 1865, there was a lot of healing that needed to take place to correct the wounds Americans had suffered at the hands of their kin. In these years there were still a lot of questions to answer and still a lot of truth to be found out about the nation itself. The questions of the place of African-Americans, white Americans, political Americans and every other kind of American out there was a source for constant frustration and violence. This is the background and the huge dust storm that American Realism rose out of. Prior to the Civil War, America was knee deep in the Romantic Movement which included writers such as Hawthorne, Thoreau, Melville, Poe and Whitman. Their writings focused on the puritan aspects of their ancestors or of the dark romance and psychological perspectives writers such as Poe and Melville used. However, after the war, this movement began to fade and Realism increased as the choice reading of the people. This was due to multiple events and changes in culture that led to Americans looking for something better to relate to. The first event was the end of the Civil War. The Civil War showed the violent intentions men had towards each other and also showed the vulnerability of men and the nation and how ungodly man actually was. However, Realism did not begin immediately after the Civil War but rather took off in the 1880’s. So what happened in the 1880’s then? The 1880’s...
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...BELOVED Toni Morrison ← Analysis of Major Characters → Sethe Sethe, the protagonist of the novel, is a proud and noble woman. She insists on sewing a proper wedding dress for the first night she spends with Halle, and she finds schoolteacher’s lesson on her “animal characteristics” more debilitating than his nephews’ sexual and physical abuse. Although the community’s shunning of Sethe and Baby Suggs for thinking too highly of themselves is unfair, the fact that Sethe prefers to steal food from the restaurant where she works rather than wait on line with the rest of the black community shows that she does consider herself different from the rest of the blacks in her neighborhood. Yet, Sethe is not too proud to accept support from others in every instance. Despite her independence (and her distrust of men), she welcomes Paul D and the companionship he offers. Sethe’s most striking characteristic, however, is her devotion to her children. Unwilling to relinquish her children to the physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma she has endured as a slave, she tries to murder them in an act that is, in her mind, one of motherly love and protection. Her memories of this cruel act and of the brutality she herself suffered as a slave infuse her everyday life and lead her to contend that past trauma can never really be eradicated—it continues, somehow, to exist in the present. She thus spends her life attempting to avoid encounters with her past. Perhaps Sethe’s fear of the past is...
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...Chapter1 Introduction Feminism is not one unitary concept; it is instead diverse and multifaceted grouping of ideas and indeed, action. The basis of all strands of the concept may be stated as that it concerns itself with women’s inferior position in society sand with the discrimination encountered by women because of their sex. “Feminism is a doctrine suggesting that women are systematically disadvantaged in the modern society and advocating equal opportunities for men and women.”(The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, second Ed). The term includes many loose like liberal feminism, Marxist and socialist feminism, radical feminism. Liberal feminists work for equal rights for women within the framework of the liberal state; they did not question the structure –economic or political-of the state but they demand the rights and privileges given by the state should be equally shared by man and women. Marxist and socialist feminists’ link gender inequality and women’s oppression to the capitalist system. Women suffer a double exploitation as women and as members of the working class. Radical feminists disregard all questions of political and economic dispensation to concentrate on the roots of the problem. The central root of the problem is the system of patriarchy which leads to all kinds of discrimination against and devaluation of women. Politico-economic questions are not the roots but only auxiliaries. The concept of gender is the real villain and has to be demolished. Lately...
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...critical theory today critical theory today A Us e r - F r i e n d l y G u i d e S E C O N D E D I T I O N L O I S T Y S O N New York London Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN © 2006 by Lois Tyson Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑10: 0‑415‑97410‑0 (Softcover) 0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑0‑415‑97410‑3 (Softcover) 978‑0‑415‑97409‑7 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Tyson, Lois, 1950‑ Critical theory today : a user‑friendly guide / Lois Tyson.‑‑ 2nd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0‑415‑97409‑7 (hb) ‑‑ ISBN 0‑415‑97410‑0 (pb) 1. Criticism...
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...Instructor’s Manual to Accompany The Longman Writer Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook Fifth Edition and The Longman Writer Rhetoric and Reader Fifth Edition Brief Edition Judith Nadell Linda McMeniman Rowan University John Langan Atlantic Cape Community College Prepared by: Eliza A. Comodromos Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey New York San Francisco Boston London Toronto Sydney Tokyo Singapore Madrid Mexico City Munich Paris Cape Town Hong Kong Montreal NOTE REGARDING WEBSITES AND PASSWORDS: If you need a password to access instructor supplements on a Longman book-specific website, please use the following information: Username: Password: awlbook adopt Senior Acquisitions Editor: Joseph Opiela Senior Supplements Editor: Donna Campion Electronic Page Makeup: Big Color Systems, Inc. Instructor’s Manual to accompany The Longman Writer: Rhetoric, Reader, Handbook, 5e and The Longman Writer: Rhetoric and Reader, Brief Edition, 5e, by Nadell/McMeniman/Langan and Comodromos Copyright ©2003 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Instructors may reproduce portions of this book for classroom use only. All other reproductions are strictly prohibited without prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Please visit our website at: http://www.ablongman.com ISBN: 0-321-13157-6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - D O H - 05 04 03 02 CONTENTS ...
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...Instructor’s Manual and Test Bank to accompany A First Look at Communication Theory Sixth Edition Em Griffin Wheaton College prepared by Glen McClish San Diego State University and Emily J. Langan Wheaton College Published by McGrawHill, an imprint of The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright Ó 2006, 2003, 2000, 1997, 1994, 1991 by The McGrawHill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. The contents, or parts thereof, may be reproduced in print form solely for classroom use with A First Look At Communication Theory provided such reproductions bear copyright notice, but may not be reproduced in any other form or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. PREFACE Rationale We agreed to produce the instructor’s manual for the sixth edition of A First Look at Communication Theory because it’s a first-rate book and because we enjoy talking and writing about pedagogy. Yet when we recall the discussions we’ve had with colleagues about instructor’s manuals over the years, two unnerving comments stick with us: “I don’t find them much help”; and (even worse) “I never look at them.” And, if the truth be told, we were often the people making such points! With these statements in mind, we have done some serious soul-searching about the texts that so many teachers—ourselves...
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...C h a p t e r 1 Prewriting GETTING STARTED (OR SOUP-CAN LABELS CAN BE FASCINATING) For many writers, getting started is the hardest part. You may have noticed that when it is time to begin a writing assignment, you suddenly develop an enormous desire to straighten your books, water your plants, or sharpen your pencils for the fifth time. If this situation sounds familiar, you may find it reassuring to know that many professionals undergo these same strange compulsions before they begin writing. Jean Kerr, author of Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, admits that she often finds herself in the kitchen reading soup-can labels—or anything—in order to prolong the moments before taking pen in hand. John C. Calhoun, vice president under Andrew Jackson, insisted he had to plow his fields before he could write, and Joseph Conrad, author of Lord Jim and other novels, is said to have cried on occasion from the sheer dread of sitting down to compose his stories. To spare you as much hand-wringing as possible, this chapter presents some practical suggestions on how to begin writing your short essay. Although all writers must find the methods that work best for them, you may find some of the following ideas helpful. But no matter how you actually begin putting words on paper, it is absolutely essential to maintain two basic ideas concerning your writing task. Before you write a single sentence, you should always remind yourself that 1. You have some valuable ideas to tell your reader,...
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