Analysis Of There Are No Children Here

These issues of social control all work singularly and in tandem with each other to create a system where the young boys in Oakland mostly become self-fulfilled prophecies of criminals, drop outs, or gang members. Even I, despite my white

To show first hand to the whites the inequality’s and hardships that the blacks face, the entire first section is in a narrative and a descriptive format. The use of these types of essays lets the readers feel more involved in the story and feel things for themselves. Split into two sections within itself, this first paragraph juxtaposes two stories — one about a “young Negro boy” living in Harlem, and the other about a “young Negro girl” living in Birmingham. The parallelism in the sentence structures of introducing the children likens them even more — despite the differences between them — whether it be their far away location, or their differing, yet still awful, situations. Since this section is focused more towards his white audience, King goes into a description of what it was like living as an African American in those times— a situation the black audience knew all too well. His intense word choice of describing the boy’s house as “vermin-infested” provokes a very negative reaction due to the bad

Segregation had had many effects on the black nation, to the point that it started building up ones character, “See the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people”, King shows readers that segregation is even affecting little children, that it is starting to build up a young girls character and is contributing to the child developing hatred “bitterness” towards the white Americans. King makes readers imagine a black cloud settling in a young girls brain mentally, when instead she should have an image of a colorful blue sky with a rainbow, isn’t that suppose to be part of a 6 year-old’s imagination? King gives readers an image of destruction civil disobedience had created in the black community, especially in the young innocent little children.

The stereotypes in the story, makes it difficult for the readers to conclude the race of each character. People assume that the African American character would be illiterate and uneducated and the white character to be well-educated. During the time period of the story African Americans did not have access to a decent education; making it harder for them to learn just the basics. Whites had access to good education, making it easy to believe the white character is more educated. It is also believed that a person that is well educated will have a better lifestyle when they are older. A well-educated person will have a better job, paying more, and have a better opportunity to afford the means of a luxurious lifestyle. An under educated person will most likely live in poverty, struggle for their basic needs, or live in a declining neighborhood. Behavior is a harder stereo type to use to distinguish a race. Many assume that whites have an entitled attitude toward life. Whites had access to a good education and jobs, they had a “I’m better than you” attitude. On the other hand, many think African Americans were upset because of how easy it was for whites to have better access to the basic necessities such as education and housing.

Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here is a documentary exploring life in inner-city Chicago during the late 1980’s. The book follows the lives of two African American youth, Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, who live in Chicago’s Horner Homes over the course of two years. It tells of a lifestyle that is a reality for many Americans and forces the reader to acknowledge a broken system that so many turn a blind eye toward. Kotlowitz does not sugarcoat the struggles and hardships that the citizens of the inner-city face every single day. The Rivers’ boys, like all the children of inner-cities, experience situations and know of unimaginable horrors that rob them of their innocence and childhoods. Lafeyette and Pharoah have to face and overcome many forces that can change their lives for the worst, such as: gangs and drugs, the social system, the Chicago Housing Authority, and the battle within them to give into the worst of society. Sociological concepts, including: racism, strain theory, and social stratification can explain some of the exploitation of Lafeyette and Pharoah.

There Are No Children Here is a story of the struggles two preteen boys live with while growing up in the projects. From the first pages the scene is set amongst the all too familiar gun fire blazing through the neighborhood. This story is of eleven year old Lafeyette and nine year old Pharoah dealing with the daily fight for survival in inner-city Chicago circa 1987.

   Throughout There Are No Children Here, a continuous, powerful tension always lurks in the background. The gangs that are rampant in the housing projects of Chicago cause this tension. In the Henry Horner Homes, according to Kotlowitz, one person is beaten, shot, or stabbed due to gangs every three days. In one week during the author's study of the projects, police confiscated 22 guns and 330 grams of cocaine in Horner alone (Kotlowitz 32).

Alex Kotlowitz's book, There are No Children Here, is a story about two boys, Pharaoh

In There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz, the way of life in Chicago's Henry Horner projects has a profound effect on all the residents who live there. The children become desensitized by the constant violence that they are forced to witness every day. Children are forced to walk home from school through the urban war zone of these housing projects. It is not unusual for the children to run home from school to avoid becoming casualties of the ongoing battle between rival gangs. The violence has affected Lafeyette and Pharaoh as much as anyone in the projects.

There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz, tells a story about the family of LaJoe and Paul Rivers. The book focuses on Lafayette and Pharaoh, two of the younger children in the family, and their interactions with each other, the neighborhood, their family, their friends, and the police. Following the family over three years shows the importance of neighborhood factors when it comes to crime. According to Sampson and Groves (1989), social disorganization refers to “the inability of a community structure to realize the common values of its residents and maintain effective social controls”. Many aspects in the book exemplify how neighborhood factors, social controls, and community factors have impacts on crime. The book exemplifies how neighborhood disadvantage can lead to informal social controls, which in turn produces crime. Due to these factors, social disorganization is the best theory to explain the crime that occurs in There are No Children Here.

He displays them in such a way, attempting to draw attention and outrage by discussing real-world problems. In this novel, the injustice of the economic system is exploited, and the poor treatment of migrant workers is addressed constantly. The faulty treatment of the mentally unstable is also a common theme, present via Lennie’s continuous abuse, and lack of understanding towards his illness from others. Racism is also apparent when the sole African American character, Crooks, is visited or discussed by any of the other characters. He is isolated based only on his race, and referred to using profanities, and never by his name. These themes help make the book a powerful novel, and illustrate how an author can harness the power of his writing to help draw attention to controversial issues present in

     Alex Kotlowitz’s book, There are No Children Here, is a story about two boys, Pharoah and Lafeyette Rivers growing in the late 1980’s in Henry Horner, a housing project in Chicago. The boys try to retain their youth while they see constant gang violence, death of close friends, their brother in jail and their dad struggling with a drug addiction.

In the beginning chapters of the book, we get a glimpse of the typical home and community of an African American during segregation. Many Africans Americans were too adjusted to the way of living, that they felt

In films depicting worldwide disaster, the audience is shown the lengths the protagonists will go in order to survive. While doing so, man’s values are often put to the test and there is a drastic shift in ethics when human civilization has collapsed. This occurs in both Children of Men and The Road. Both films show its characters travel through various locations with the belief that they will be safer in a new and different environment, and the survivor’s efforts to protect themselves from outside invaders, despite often crossing ethical boundaries. However, the two films differ in the extent to which its characters will go to do this. In Children of Men, ethics of survival is crossed when the British government detains illegal refugees in their belief to protect its citizens. By doing so, it also raises the belief of superiority of beings, rather than coming together during a global catastrophe. In The Road, ethical boundaries are crossed both once food becomes scarce and a majority of the survivors resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive, and in a few situations where the main character finds himself in dire encounters.

Cultural Hybridity as understood by Homi Bhabha (1994, 1999) involves human beings as the creators, not the bearers of culture. Due to the individuality and the innovativeness of each human being it also follows that any particular culture cannot be concretely described in terms of its specific contents and constituents. “To my children’s children”, by Magona Sindiwe, is of critical significant in understanding the changing identity depicted in the story. The term is utilized as a part of a wide point of view in various scenes, which as it were, help the per user in taking in a few lessons in light of the setting or the plot of the story. In that capacity, the blend of various personalities in the story line, is of basic commitment towards drawing out the best of the social practices, accepts and demeanors of the groups crosswise over different back ground. Sindiwe story in the “To my children’s children ", is such an exciting portrayal, as the portrayal of a young lady experiencing childhood in a politically-sanctioned racial segregation stricken condition unfurls. For this situation, the young lady encounters a blend of social experience, desires and also culture stun. The story in the book, "To my children’s children” is a deep rooted story of Magona's life while in the town where they were raised, under the care of the colossal grandma, a matriarchal family (Whitehead). The general public and also the family is portrayed to be joyful,