Analysis of Jamaica Kincaid's 'Lucy' and Edwidge Danticat's 'The Farming of Bones'

“My mother's education was the product of the riots of 1937 and the industriousness of Mr. Chance. These were history's gifts to my family and if the resources of that grocer, the fruits of those riots, the possibilities of that culture, and the privileges of that skin tone and been extended to others, how many more would now live a life of fulfillment, in a beautiful house high on a hill? (Outliers, Gladwell, 2008, pg.285).” The way how his grandmother well-to-do concerted cultivation. The last extrinsic factor was Mulatto in the American South, when slave woman would have been socially ostracized, and any offspring form the union of black and white would have been left in slavery. However, in Jamaica, the attitudes were very different than America South. In Jamaica, if people are mixed then they did not have any discrimination. Gladwell was wrong when he wrote that “If you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires (Outliers, Gladwell Chapter 5, section 10, pg.151)” because individual cultural legacies, time of birth, and opportunities are more important factors when achieving

In the works we discussed, a mulatto was usually the offspring of a black woman and a white man; however, the key to comprehending the racial identity of a mulatto is much more deeper. A mulatto is constantly faced with the difficult task of struggling between two races that in the past have been in conflict with each other. In addition, they are faced with mixed feelings from the fellow pure bread black members. For example, in Blacker the Berry, Emma character, a mulatto encounter constant resentment and possible envy by not only blacks because of her lighter skin tone, but also from white peers. Even in present society, this is a reality of which many non-blacks are unaware, and which most blacks would prefer to overlook, rather than resolve. It was these revelations that authors like Chesnutt, Wilson, and Thurman attempted to bring insight on.

In our world there are so people that are being overrated, from their skin color, to how they talk or to where they came from or the way they walk, everything from what people wear to where people come from and their ethnic background. These people are looked down on from the rest of society for just being themselves and doing only what they know to do.  For some, it’s wrong if others do not act just like them and they put them down for it. Stereotypes can be described someone of a certain race, religion, gender, nationality, or other groups. You can see that language, gender, and culture (class and race) does relate to power because men’s have more power than women’s, the way you speak, your

The articles “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” written by Juthish Oriz Cofer and “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh are two essays covering the topic of race and gender. With a focus on privilege and race, one may assume that these two articles say the same thing, while in reality that is not true. As McIntosh and Cofer come from two different backgrounds and social standing, the authors offer two very unique views on the subject matter. Due to Cofer being a Puerto Rican woman and McIntosh being white woman, the two are opposites when it comes to white privilege and how it has effected them. This allows for them to give different views on the subject within the papers. Each articles differ in the audience, the purposes, and the appeals used within. On the other hand, both works are similar with the end goal and intended audience. As a member of the audiences targeted by both of these authors, I was able to connect to both of their writings due to the many different ways the two authors connected to their audiences.

Discrimination and Racism are very much a part the world’s history. You can open any history book and find a story or event that shows a dark cloud in almost any country’s past. Nadine Gordimer and Alice walker are two writers from different sides of the world. Both sharing their stories of racism and discrimination. Both were activist, Gordimer from South Africa and Walker in America. In this essay I will compare and contrast the racial theme between both short stories “Country Lovers” written by Nadine Gordimer and “The Welcome Table” written by Alice Walker. Both of these short stories share the same theme, which is centered on racism, but they also contain intertwining themes of love, regret and death. They allow the reader to see into the past and gain an understanding to how the characters were treated and expected to live in those times.

In the United States early history, Native Americans, Africans and Europeans were marginalized by White People, and categorized as the minorities because they were seen as the inferior race. For nearly three centuries, the criteria for membership in these groups were similar, comprising a person's appearance, their social circle (how they lived), and their known non-White ancestry. History played a major part, as persons with known slave ancestors were assumed to be African (or, in later usage, black), regardless of whether they also had European ancestry. Most often these minorities face significant discrimination in various forms whether through voting, law policy, unequal pay, or even implicit racism, minorities of all kinds have been and still are being put down today. The book Between the World and Me is a letter to Ta-Nehisi Coates’s fifteen-year-old son, Samori. He weaves his personal, historical, and intellectual development into his ruminations on how to live in a black body in America. Not only does Coates give his personal experience in how he experience in first hand discrimination, racism, marginalization but he also gives vivid images on how he lived multiple worlds and how those experiences changed him. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua exposes her feelings about social and cultural difficulties that Mexican immigrants face when being raised in the United States. She establishes comparisons among English, Spanish and their variations on how

Inequalities within minorities is not limited to economic unfairness but also social inequity. The second story that shows how inequality within minorities is “The Myth of the Latin Woman” by Judith Ortiz Cofer. “The Myth of the Latin Woman” is an essay based on the real life experiences of Judith Ortiz Cofer. The story talks about the racist inequalities she has went through as a women of Hispanic descent. “a young man, obviously fresh from a pub, spotted me and as if struck by inspiration went down on his knees in the aisle. With both hands over his hearts he broke into an an Irish tenor’s rendition of Maria from West Side Story”. The author retells one of her experiences from earing graduate credits one summer and she is met by someone whom ignorantly makes racists remark simply because she is Latina. Furthermore in the story Cofer mentions how people gave the man a round of applause. “amused fellow passengers gave his voice the round of gentle applause” (Page 61). This shows that it is acceptable to generalize an ethnic group into a character from West Side Story. In addition to the unfair generalization, Cofer is confronted unfair expectations. I thought you Latin girls were supposed to mature early”. This is unfair assumption made to Cofer. She is treated like a vegetable rather than a girl who traditionally grows into womanhood. This also generalizes Latin women to be matured at a young age. Which is incorrect just because Latinas fall into a small category in society

In conclusion, the 3 main similiarities between both the books and real life society are discrimination, fear and killing of the minority. So the book’s

Whilst many believe that that the theme of guilt in “The Kite Runner” and “Wide Sargasso Sea” affects the characters’ lives, it seems that this isn’t the only theme which does as, the theme of Race affects the lives of characters in The Kite Runner to an extent that certain races feel inferior to others for example, Amir sees Hassan as inferior to him because he is a Pashtun and Hassan is a Hazara. Similarly, in Wide Sargasso Sea certain races feel inferior to others, for example, the “White creoles” feel inferior to the “Black Caribbeans”.

Throughout the novel, we see that the characters are divided into certain distinct groups, which represent the major groups in general society. We also see the social divide between these groups, and while some groups are well represented in society, others are marginalised (i.e. they have barley or no social standing in society).

As race continues to remain a difficult topic in the United States, the factors that affect the way race is perceived and addressed are more influential than ever. In her debut novel Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi explores these controversial issues by juxtaposing the lineages of two half sisters, both from what is now present-day Ghana. One sister, Effia marries a wealthy British governor, while the other, Esi, is sold into slavery. Gyasi travels from 18th century Ghana to the present day United States, weaving a story of institutionalized conceptions of race that resonates in today’s turbulent political world. Gyasi introduces ethnocentrism, the concept that one’s own cultural background colors their view of other cultures, in the relationships between

Pigment, skin tone, gradient, race, and ethnicity. These characteristics unite and divide humans from all walks of life all around the world. While many countries and cultures throughout the world try to downplay the role of superficial conclusions based on perceived ethnicity, usually based on skin tone, it is difficult because for many cultures, skin tone and its implications are as much a part of reality as any other cultural moniker. The Dominican Republic is one of these countries. Since colonial times, skin tone has played a larger role than just signifying what part of the world one hails from; in the DR, skin tone is even more important than money and privilege as an indicator of one’s apparent class. This bias and self-hatred revolving around skin tone is apparent in the characters of Oscar and Belí in Junot Diaz’s The Brief and Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, which serves as a great example of just how engrained skin tone politics are for Dominicans, even for the traditionally non-marginalized upper class and those who leave the confines of Hispaniola.

Although slavery and segregation laws are obsolete, racial inequality remains visible within our society. Throughout the course readings, one thing is for sure: the slave trade is the primary cause of racial inequality from 1500 to the present. Those sold into slavery become the property and a product of violence. Moreover, throughout the 15th to mid-18th centuries, slavery caused people to despise those who looked different from them, based on skin color. Slavery has caused numerous gaps among the privileged white community and minorities who have a history of slavery. This created a divided society based on skin color, with effects that continue to be a small part of our contemporary world.

In conclusion, the data in the literature review was put forward to show the intersectionality with “race” when identifying Caribbean people. The main goal of this research study is to advance ways to integrate the Caribbean community and hopefully this research will lead to possible changes. If I can lessen the emotional consequences in regards to the lack of integration of Caribbean people through this research then I would have made a difference as a ethnic Caribbean person living here in society and as a student of

Throughout most of human history, humans have had a tendency to judge people on the basis of clearly defined qualities, in an attempt to characterize and classify society into more easily understood “black and white” groups. In Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, the characters, representative of the surrounding cultures portrayed, frequently participate in acts of inclusion and exclusion on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and lifestyle as a means of dividing the population into clearly defined, mutually exclusive groups. This underlying expression of discrimination serves as a modern critical analysis against society’s prevalent tenets of inequality.