...“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become …” (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) the only story, the standard story, and the “normal” story. Everyone has their own tale and position on life. People have different races, opinions, genders, outward appearances, likings, and personalities. Though this is a great thing, we are judged and told who to be according to the communal stereotypes. We are all labeled according to all of these things creating a cage for us to live in. Our society may seem like a place of equality, but is it enough to think that? Everyone has different viewpoints and nobody completely agrees. As an Asian-teenage female...
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...Usually, I would just try to ignore the harsh comments and raised voices. When anything presented itself to them, they would almost aspire to choose opposing sides of the situation just so they could battle about it. My mother instigating most fights, would strongly verbally attack my father saying, “You can’t keep treating the kids like that” or “Why are you so ungrateful for what I do for this family.” When my dad barriers were penetrated by any aggression, he only became more annoyed with the situations and wanted to prolong their nasty fights. Very set in believing perpetual correctness in most issues, I don’t remember the last time she apologized for something, even if blatantly wrong. With the constant fighting, my dad developed a short temper and would verbally explode on my mom in fights, yelling till his throat burned in pain the next morning. “You can’t keep getting angry at me when you make more mistakes than I do,” my dad bitterly yelled at my mom. I didn’t notice immediately, but my dad started to sleep on a couch in a different room from my mom. When I did notice, I initially didn’t think much of him doing so because he would usually tell me he didn’t want to wake up my mom after she fell asleep. So naive to my parents deep seated unhappiness, I didn’t see how quickly they separated, growing farther and farther apart. I finally realized the dysfunction of my family life while having dinner alone with my dad. He revealed to me that, sadly, he couldn’t remember the...
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...All orphans have their own story, some rougher than others. In the movies, you always see a happily ever after. In this case, it is the complete opposite. “BEN! BEN! Where are you?” “Taylor I’m sleeping in the trunk of the Coop.” said Ben as the wind slammed the passenger door shut. That was their name for their 13 year old Mini Cooper, the only thing their mother left them. Their mother made a caustic mistake by leaving them when Taylor was only eight years old. Their father died before Ben was born. Their mother left them for a job because she did not have enough money to support the children. Instead of finding a home for her kids, she threw them in an orphanage. Nick is an 18 year old who attends the same school as Taylor. He has long...
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...the United States media, there are common stereotypes of females in films that are presented in the short story by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More. I believe that the roles of Asian Americans are limited in films, such as gender and sexuality, by stereotyping females. Asian Americans are being portrayed as negative images through various media, from books, films, plays, and even television. “The audience would realize that media views Asians and Asian Americans as others that include exoticized women, asexual men, a yellow peril threat to the United States” (Ono & Pham, 2009). Throughout this essay, I am referencing the article by Fong, Charlie Chan’ No More, and Moon, a poem by Marilyn Chin, where they both talk about sexuality and gender. “Asian women, have often been depicted as almost completely sexual” (Fong, 177). In the short story as well as the poem, they can manipulate the messages of gender and sexuality of Asian American females that are being represented in both stories. Throughout Fong’s short story, there is a lot of controversy whether or not Asian American females are being portrayed with negative images, for example as sex objects. I also researched instances on the counter actions taken by Asian American females that protest the negative images, such as the dragon lady. I believe that Asian American females are being portrayed with such negative images, such as sex symbols in Fong’s short story. In Fong’s short story, I am able to indicate the issues, such...
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...Goodmorning, have you ever truly considered how much you allow prejudices to affect your first impressions of others? Does “Aboriginal man” sound more threatening and imposing than “man” alone? Perhaps the word aboriginal carries negative connotations? For decades Aboriginals have been associated with stereotypes and prejudices claiming they are a culture of violent, lazy and unstructured primitives. But on what basis? Has anyone ever questioned the validity of these stereotypes or even the origins of them? Well if i could direct your attention back to term 1, when we explored the short story ‘Kill to Eat’ written by Kath Walker. The short story worked to reject these fictitious stereotypes and in doing so created a voice for the Aboriginal people. The stereotypes were combated through the author's skillful use of both text structure and language features alike. The voice provided in the text is most influentially characterised by the authors use of point of view. Kath Walker was an Aboriginal-Australian poet, educator and campaigner for Aboriginal rights. The text is a recount of her time as a child, when she was most impressionable. This is important as the first person perspective encourages the reader to put themselves in the same situation. Given that the author is targeting people who hold prejudices it is assumed they have little to no idea of aboriginal life, and just like the impressionable little girl they must discover their own way and come about understanding...
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...Boots in the World’ Brian Caswells short story, ‘The Best Boots in the World’, is based on a young basketball diehard, Mikey. Caswell uses techniques to alter the readers and make them realise that life is not always about getting what you want. Mikey buys a pair of Air Jordan’s that then lead him to understanding this. Using techniques such as imagery, foreshadowing and stereotypes, the author creates believable characters. Imagery is a technique that uses figurative language and descriptions to represent objects actions, ideas and people. Caswell uses this technique well when he describes The Youth smoking. This gives readers the impression that this character is not to be reckoned with. As he describes the youth this gives readers more information about the attitude and personality of the Youth. Caswell uses...
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...Influences on Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Work In the late eighteen hundreds, America was no longer a fledgling nation, now well established and rapidly evolving on the inside. These forces of change are most clearly exemplified by literary works in this time period. The short story “The Lynching of Jube Benson”, by Paul Laurence Dunbar, is a reactionary piece to the new forms and mediums of racism taking flight during this time. While lynching was not invented during the late eighteenth century, lynching reached the height of its popularity with the emergence of the first Ku Klux Klan. The primary target of this lawless group were African Americans. The state of this practice is criticized in the Dunbar’s short story. Upon reading of the...
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...Breaking the Stereotype In his writing “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” Sherman Alexie explains how he taught himself how to read through a Superman comic at the age of 3. He did this by imagining what the illustrations were portraying and then putting words to the pictures. He then became fascinated with reading at a young age and began reading anything and everything he could get his hands onto. He got his fascination of reading from his father who read a lot as well. Growing up Alexie was exposed to piles of books throughout his home. These included murder mysteries, gangster epics, basketball biographies and anything else he could find. In this writing about his childhood Alexie makes it very clear that as a minority he refused to fail and fall into the stereotype surrounding his Native American heritage. He knew he wanted to learn, and that he loved to read. According to the writing, most Indians in that time were expected to be short, quiet and uncommunicative in-front of their non-Indian teachers, and did not want to speak up or seem smart in the classroom, especially at the young age Alexie was. Therefore they were comfortable around other Indians but came off as completely un-intelligent around non-Indians. He always spoke out in class and asked questions, he was not afraid to stand out, because he knew it was not necessarily a bad thing. Alexie describes a smart Indian viewed as “a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians...
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...impressions are comparable to the idea of Stereotypes, or preconceived notion placed on a certain groups of people . In Celluloids Indians Jacquelyn Kilpatrick describes stereotypes as such, “‘ [s] tereotypes are evaluative concepts about status and roles and as such are central to interpreting and evaluating social groups including one’s own.”’ (xvi) Using this idea Kilpatrick explores “the social, ideological and political construction” (xvi) of stereotypes in literature, film and politics in accordance to different perspectives. In short we explore how the interpretation of film and literature relies on the perspective in which it is told, as different perspectives manifest different stereotypes. Prehaps some of the most prevalent examples are Literary works. These works often stem from stories of experience in encounters with Native Americans. Many of these literary...
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...For decades Aboriginals have been associated with stereotypes and prejudices claiming they are a culture of violent, lazy and unstructured primitives.However this is a false representation of the cultural group, and will be disproved through given insight to the Aboriginal cultural values, experiences and beliefs. The most common misconception concerning Aborigines is that they are abusive and excessively violent. Although this concept in itself is completely subject to specific individuals, the Aboriginal culture and the underlying rules directly shun any act of needless killing. The text 'Kill to Eat' written by Kath Walker and previously looked at by the class, indicates that this rule was and is "one of the strictest laws of the Aborigine". The short story exemplifies what happens when the rule is broken, there is no excuse for killing for the sake of killing, and resulted in the guilty party having no access to hunting. The strict law derived from the heart of the culture in no way promotes needless violence but on the contrary forbids it. This rule is specific to that of the animals, it is unquestioned that the rule and punishment will be far more weighted had the violence or killing be against of their own kind. Granted that violence among Aborigines was common it would be fair to say that it in no way sprung from their cultural beliefs but very likely from an outside source. The prominent misconception that they are violent and abusive is in no way a representation of...
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...also their view of other people around them. Because of this writers feel that they need to convey the importance of finding one’s own identity then taking the time to learn and respect other people’s identity. Then also how dangerous it can be if we let stereotyping cloud our judgements on ourselves and those around us. Some example of texts where writers that explore this theme are, the poem “Bred in South Auckland” by Glen Colquhoun, the poem “Search for my Tongue” by Sujata Bhatt, the short story ‘’On the Sidewalk Bleeding” by Evan Hunter and the short story “After you my Dear Alphonse” by Shirley Jackson. These four texts can be separated into two groups. The first group is the way that stereotyping can affect people’s view on their own search for identity in both positive and negative ways. This would be the poems, “Bred in South Auckland “and “Search for my Tongue”. The Second group is the way that stereotyping can affect people’s view on others identity which would be the short stories, “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” and “After you my Dear Alphonse”. The idea of stereotyping affecting the search for identity in ourselves is seen in the poem “Bred in South Auckland”. This is an open and proud poem about a young man who lives in South Auckland and is a mixture of the...
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...The short stories “Indian Education”,“The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn’t Flash Red Anymore”, “ Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock” and “The Trial of Thomas Builds the Fire”, all reflects on the Indians past and how it constricts their future. The Native Americans feel restricted by the past and constant discrimination from the rest of the world, hindering their own success. In “Indian education” Victor deals with constant discrimination throughout his youth, his fellow classmates give him trouble and his teacher is especially hard on him. The title “indian education” can be seen as ironic as Victor learns many lessons in school while none of them being academic. The lessons he learns didn’t come from what was taught in the class room but rather how to deal with hardship personally. Making him a much stronger emotionally as a person than any of his peers. This recurs throughout the rest of the stories as Victors spirit shall not be broken and Victor goes above and beyond the others proving his own intelligence. His teachers interpret this as a sign of disrespect which contrasts their own idea of a stereotype for Native Americans as uneducated delinquents who just grow...
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...Understand Me When you think of blind people, what is the first thing that comes to mind? For the narrator in “Cathedral”, he thinks of the stereotypical blind people that one would see in movies or TV programs. “Cathedral” tells a story depicting stereotypes and ignorance through the eyes of the narrator when faced with an uncomfortable situation with a blind man. He is not depicted as a stereotypical blind man, but as a normal human. He shows the narrator along with the readers that being blind doesn’t hold him back from living life at the fullest. In Raymond Carver’s short story “Cathedral”, he uses a blind man and the narrator not only to illustrate how stereotypes, specifically towards the blind, can prevent one from seeing and comprehending...
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...the Identities of Women During the late nineteenth century, there were many stereotypical attitudes regarding the roles of gender and the identity of women. Men were usually portrayed as the “breadwinners,” as well as the well-educated and the sole foundation of the family. Men had to show their masculinity by being the very upper-hand of the family. Women are portrayed as sensitive, sweet, caring, faithful, moody, naïve, etc. As a way to complete them as a whole, women needed men in their lives. However, women held the least power of the family and believed that they only had a purpose of being housewives. The ideal images of gender roles between men and women, and the identities of women can lead to stereotypes that are associated with Kate Chopin’s short story “Desiree’s Baby.” In “Desiree’s Baby” by Kate Chopin, gender played a big role in the life Desiree as well as Armand Aubigny. Desiree was described as “beautiful and gentle, affectionate and sincere— the idol of Valmonde” (1). Desiree was illustrated as if she was down to earth and had a very warm personality. At first she was nameless, like most women when they are first named by their primary families and renamed when they get married. Desiree nameless when she was first found by the Valmonde family, and then they took her in as their own and she adopted their family name. Desiree undergoes another name change when she later marries a wealthy man by the name of Armand and inherited the family name of Aubigny...
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...The topic of stereotypes is also explored through literature. For example, in the poem, “Labels”, the speaker describes how she is like a chunk-style vegetable soup; she is made up of many different parts. The speaker is not able to fit under just one label because she isn’t just one thing. But remember not to judge people like you might judge a vegetable soup, just by looking at it, people are more than they appear to be. The poet writes, “Grouping folks together / is an individual waste. / You can’t know me by just a look, / you have to take a taste.” (Holbrook). This quote supports the definition of stereotypes by the speaker expressing through figurative language that people are not just their appearance, they aren’t always what they may...
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