In “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Patricia J. Williams speaks of her sons experiences in his school. The ethical problem she brings up is that kids see color as a factor in how they like something. Whereas her son sees color as if it doesn’t matter. In the article, Williams says that her son resists to identify color at all. “‘I don’t know,’ he would say when asked what color the grass was, or, most peculiarly, ‘it doesn’t matter.’” Williams wishes for people to realize that color does not matter. Williams wants people to see that race really matters and people bringing it up that it does not matter, is just proving her point even more. Williams’ audience is to parents of these children in schools. Williams wants these parents to teach them that people have different skin color than you and it does not matter. Parents should do this instead of shushing their kids and waiting to a different time to explain when, in reality, it never comes up. The result of this is what happens to kids like Williams’ son. The kids become to be hurt and not even realize the beauty of color. The pain that these white kids have put on these kids of color, they do not even realize it. These white kids just say it and go on in life without realizing they have cause a lifetime of pain to this other kid. Williams wants parents to educate their kids to make them realize it does not matter and end up waiting too long. Williams says “‘It does not matter,’ they told the children, ‘whether you are
Racism is coming back slowly as the years pass us. The only thing that we can do is to keep our bodies safe from all the danger that might happen. Coates feel like the racism is never going to be gone in the world. Coates really wants his son to realize that he won’t always be there to protect his son. There will be who will want to put him down and make him feel less than other people. Coates states, “You would be a man one day, and I could not save you from the unbridgeable distance between you and your future peer and colleagues, who might try to convince you that everything I know, all the things I’m sharing with you here, are an illusion, or a fact a distant past that need not be discussed” (Coates, 90). Coates feel like there will be a bride that will keep him and son from each other one day. That the son will need to know that he won’t be there in person but there as a spirit to help him. The son will need to be able to notice when he might be in danger, and it's all on him on how he reacts from it. Coates talks about how he heard little kids were told by their parents to act extra good around people. The text states, “All my life I’d heard people tell their black boys and black girls to ‘be twice as good,’ which say ‘accept half as much.’ These words would be spoken with a veneer of religious nobility, as though they evidenced some unspoken quality, some undetected courage, when in fact, all they courage, when in fact, all they evidenced was gun to our head and the hand in our pocket” (Coates,91). Coates is trying to say is that there are people that believe in racism and ain't scared to show it at times. People are knowing seeing more racism now these days, since there is a new president for America, and he doesn’t see all people equal. With the actions/ words that Donald Trump are saying towards people, makes other believe that they can also use that type of language and get away with it. We
Have you ever wondered what people in the Elizabethan Era wore? Fashion was just as important in those days as it is to some people today. What people were wearing mattered to others, and even the government. During the Elizabethan Era clothing, accessories, and cosmetics were all a part of daily life.
Most symbols are mainly straight forward in literature. Clothing, on the other hand, is an exception. We have clothing in our lives daily and that makes it easy to overlook. In Lord of the Flies there are young boys stranded on an island trying to survive. Along the way, they discover that it is difficult to remain civil. Clothing plays a very important role in Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. Clothing is used to represent civilization, order, and rules.
The Dressmaker (2015), directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, explores Myrtle ‘Tilly’ Dunnage’s dramatic return to her small hometown of Dungatar, a ‘dump’ located in the middle of nowhere in the Australian outback. Sent away from the town as a child after being held responsible for a murder, Tilly has returned to seek resolution of her murky memories and to take revenge on those who mistreated her. Now a talented dressmaker, Tilly uses her skills to manipulate the townspeople into revealing the intricate secrets that led to her exile. Throughout the film, powerful symbolism present in fire, mirrors and clothing signifies Tilly’s resolution from past issues.
“Clothes” is written by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. It is a short story about an Indian-American woman, Sumita, who is about to embark on a new chapter of her life, marriage. Sumita, throughout the story, is nervous and confused about what is to come next in her life. The story begins in the women’s lake with Sumita and her friends, Deepali and Radha. The groups of friends are preparing Sumita for her big day, meeting her soon to be husband for the first time.
This short story is about a young Indian woman named Sumita, her impending arranged marriage and subsequent trip to America, which is symbolized by the color and type of her clothes. The author utilizes color symbolism to express the emotional changes that Sumita is going through and how she uses colors to keep her grounded with her Indian beliefs during her transition from girl to bride-to-be to an Indian-American to widow. There are many examples of colors that represent established Indian beliefs and religion are mentioned throughout the story.
Reading the content in this book made me get a picture of what it was like to be a colored person in this time. My eyes were opened to the meaning of the word “nigga”. Nigga is such a derogatory term, yet now-a-days it is used by people so much. Kids in this generation use it as a term of endearment when they see their friends, or they say it when they are shocked by something. Frankly, I don’t believe they know how serious it really is. The fact that white people could look at a person and see less than a human being when they did nothing wrong distresses me. They (white people) treated them as if they were property and below them. Even though we don’t have racism to this extent
This book tackled many situations that people of color face on an everyday basis. For example, in one situation Coates and his son were faced with mistreatment. A white lady pushed Coates son, rushing him to hurry up, in an act of showing who was boss, the author tells how he became upset with the situation. What ended up happening was that because of the way Coates defended his child people began to scream at him and threaten to call the police for his behaviors. He states that he faced a state of shock, he was unaware, how cruel people could be and how much power white people attained. (94) This example shows how people misjudge a person of color it doesn’t matter if they did something right, they are being called out just by the pigment of their skin. It goes to show that the statement Coates said was true “not being violent enough could me my body. Being too violent could cost me my body.” (28) Either way one may look at a situation, for a person of color, it can go bad and seeing through the eyes of this author we become aware that social racism still exists in today’s
Alexander writes, “I have a specific audience in mind—people who care deeply about racial justice but who, for any number of reasons, do not yet appreciate the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color… I am writing this book for people like me—the person I was ten years ago” (p. xiii). By writing to an audience of readers who are not
In The Emperor’s New Clothes, the Emperor asked two weavers to weave him a cloth of extreme beauty and wealth -- something that said, “I am Emperor.” What the Emperor did not know was that these weavers were impostors who in the end made him look very idiotic with his “extraordinary dress” of absolutely nothing! However, he did not choose to see that what he was wearing was clearly nonexistent, instead he chose to believe that he was of higher standing than anyone else in his city.
This was the argument between the two groups after which they went to Madame Re-Re’s beauty salon to clash and express their feelings in a musical and dance fashion. The song and dance off ended with both groups coming together to show that it is petty and when all is said and done we are all black, no matter what shade. Taken from an unknown source that said, ‘color issues within the race will hurt more than any issue with someone outside of the race.’ You would think that we would all be willing to fans happy to accept our own race but sometimes it’s totally different. In ‘School Daze’ Lee shows the black man and his refusal to recognize his African roots. An article titled ‘A house is not a home: Black students responses to racism in university residential halls. Says black kids have a more negative attitude towards each other than those of the white race. This is evident in School daze as it is an all-black college and you think it would be peaceful but it was the total opposite. School Daze also touches on the black man and his refusal to recognize his African roots, Dap, gets into many heated discussions on campus trying to enlighten his fellow
He tells the story of a young African girl in order to make the audience feel sympathy. He writes, "She can no longer attend the all-Negro school in her neighborhood because her mother died only recently after a car crash. Neighbors say if the ambulance hadn't come so late to take her to the all Negro hospital the mother might still be alive." This story is told so the audience will understand the blatant disregard for African American lives. It is told to make people realize that a change needs to be made and
A popular notion says a child is born “color-blind” and remains color-blind until they reach adolescence. The problem with this concept is that people believe it to be a positive idea. However, it actually presents a damaging ideology – it suggests that race should not be a factor when trying to determine the type of person an individual is. I see it as an unsophisticated approach to view people because race is a vital part of our existence. Race is an attribute that makes individuals differ from one another, and the problem is not the differences in the colors of our skin. The problem is that we attempt to detach ourselves from the reality of being racially different. Racism will seem to inevitably exist, and in order to even try to end the malice, parents should begin teaching children about racism the right way.
Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.
The short store “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman.