Common Themes In The House Of The Scorpions

I wholeheartedly endorse what Cottom calls “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, that poor people buy status symbols to survive in this world. She demonstrates that, as a middle class black girl, her family had a way of turning the tables in their favor in multiple aspects in order to supply their needs and wants. Poor people buy expensive items, sometimes depriving themselves of their other needs, just for the respect of others. These items are 21st-century status symbols, they can single-handedly determine the fate of your everyday encounters. The author uses personal experiences to support her argument, persuasively changing your entire perspective and broadening your mind to another individual’s lifestyle.

In the short story “Indian Education” by Sherman Alexie the theme that is represented in each grade is racism. Throughout Alexie’s life he experiences more and more accounts of racism in school. Also, Alexie experiences levels of hardship as he gets older. Thus, the story’s theme statement could be summarized that racism enables hardship in one's life.

In Tressie McMillan’s “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, it changed people’s views on the threat of keeping up with society, and the status symbol people think they must maintain. Society classifies it as Middle class, suburbs, or simply rich and poor. People feel threatened when someone looks better than them, or has something that they do not have. This story killed all reasons to even feel this way. McMillan also linked this story back to her own personal childhood. Their family was a classic black American migration family, with rural Southern roots. During this time most African Americans were considered as poor. Her family

Ethos, pathos, and logos are all devices that Barbara Ehrenreich effectively uses throughout her novel Nickel and Dimed to prove that America needs to address the commonly overlooked issue of poverty within every community. It is important that she uses all three devices because they help support her argument by increasing her credibility, connecting to the readers’ emotions, and appealing to their sense of logic. The combination of these devices puts a sense of urgency on the problem Ehrenreich is addressing and therefore creates an effective argument.

The frequency of the theme is one piece of that poverty is the main theme of the book. Throughout the book poverty is constantly shown whether it's migrants trying to sell items or describing how children in honduras, Tegucigalpa scrounge in waste dumps for food in competition with birds and other children. Upon the hilltop trucks rumble into position while children and adults all fight for the best position. *As the trucks dump their load people around quickly grab at bits of plastic, wood, and tin while constantly traversing over biomedical waste and other foul extremities. Occasionally a child finds a

I will discuss this question using my chosen theme that is destiny, In Tom Tyker’s Run Lola Run and my related text Charlie Kaulfmans and Michael Gondrys Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.", says Martin Luther King Jr. Truer words have never been spoken, for when ignorance is bliss, there is a steep price to pay. In The House of the Scorpion, Nancy Farmer creates a character named Matteo Alacrán, and for the first half of the book, he is ignorance personified. When Matt learns the truth about his identity, his bubble of bliss is shattered, but perhaps it was for his own good. The great poet Thomas Gray writes, "Where ignorance is bliss, / Tis' folly to be wise." Yes, ignorance is bliss, but it is just as much of a "folly" as wisdom.

From the beginning of the story, we are shown racial inequalities. Ellison introduces us to our character who is a broke and hungry African American economically struggling to save his lady friend’s, Laura’s, life. The protagonist “got no birth certificate to

In the poem “Choices” by Allen Steble and the book Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers a common theme was presented. Throughout the poem “Choices”, it was explaining that everyone was a choice in life to do what they want. In the book Scorpions, Jamal is a twelve year old boy growing up in Harlem, his brother is in jail for murder, everywhere Jamal goes he seems to get into some sort of trouble. He is bullied at school by a bigger boy, labeled by his teacher as trouble maker and his brother tells his gang that Jamal needs to be the leader of the Scorpion gang. Jamal and his best friend Tito are later found in a dangerous situation. The theme of “Choices” and Scorpions are related. A common theme between these two is making decisions.

Inequality is a theme that runs throughout all of history. Harper Lee uses the theme of inequality in her book, To Kill a Mockingbird. Tom Robinson must deal with inequality when he is accused of a crime he didn’t commit because no one will trust a black man over a white man. The Cunningham family must face discrimination because of their lack of money. Scout even faces inequality when she tries to play with Jem and Dill. The theme of inequality is a strong one in Lee’s book, and her use of inequality doesn’t only define racism, but also discrimination based on wealth and gender.

“The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas is about a young girl wanting to figure out why life sometimes seems harder for her just because of her race and where she stands in society. The main characters in this story are Martha, her grandfather, and the principal. They are some few minor characters, her two teachers. The

We encounter too many people everyday and it’s impossible to get to know them all. We observe and gauge them based on appearances, just like we do with “ Books based on their cover ” says Edwin Rolfe in “Murder in the Glass room”. In “Strangers” by Morrison, she meets a fisherwoman at her neighbor’s seawall. Morrison notices that the woman was “wearing men’s shoes, a man’s hat, a well-worn colorless sweater over a long black dress”(Morrison 199). It seems upon seeing disgracefully dressed fisherwoman Morrison feels sympathy for her since roughly dressed people are considered to be unsuccessful and defeated in today’s world. Whenever we see homeless people weather on streets or on television they are always shabbily dressed, but have we ever seen a successful person dressed like a homeless guy? We think and opinionate based on our past experiences and adapt to what we see and hear in the environment around us. ||||| In “Stranger in the village” Baldwin visits a little village in Switzerland to work. No black man had ever been to this village before and the Baldwin was told that he would be a

The third factor in reaching the theme of social discrimination is the use of classism. As defined from the Merriam Webster Dictionary, Classism means: Prejudice or discrimination based on class. Throughout the short story you get a feel for the class, that Old Phoenix is a part of. Throughout her long journey, she makes references to slavery through the use of metaphors,

The book’s character’s main problem is finding individuality in racism. For the duration of the book, the narrator is constantly fighting racism and stereotypes. Ellison put many examples in the book to help show the character’s fight to be seen equal. Ellison shows that, through the character himself, that you can not tell people who to be. However, Ellison throws curves at the narrator that challenges

One significant theme that is present throughout the story is the one of unequal rights for African Americans. One instance of social injustice is described in the very