Like A Winding Sheet By Ann Petry

Let the Circle be Unbroken portrays an african american family’s hardships against powerful white landowners and family tragedies. All in the perception of the strong-willed Cassie Logan. Let the Circle be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor is an enjoyable book with engaging characters, unpredictable plots, and an amusing genre.

Women’s roles in society have become more equal to men’s and have overwhelmingly changed since the 1930s. There have always been influential women throughout history, however, their influential techniques have changed greatly. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, women’s expectations, roles and opportunities, and their treatment can be compared to women today.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a fine example of sexism toward men. While defending women?s rights and making a stand against sexism toward women in her piece Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, Stanton demonstrates (many times) examples of sexism toward men: ?The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries?on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her? (165). By blaming men for every repression women have suffered over the years, Stanton is completely contradicting her argument by being sexist toward men.

“Why did they have to mix their women into everything? Between us and everything we wanted to change in the world they placed a woman: socially, politically, economically. Why goddamnit, why did they insist upon confusing the class struggle with the ass struggle, debasing both us and them-all human motives?” (Ellison 418).

To engage a large audience, Staples appeals to readers with his use to two different points of views throughout the essay: societal views and black views. Staples tries to connect with the readers by giving examples of unconscious thoughts that run through the minds of most people when in the same situation as the “white women.” In his opening sentence, Staples calls the women a “victim.” In her own eyes, she herself was “victim” due to the influence of generalized stereotypes presented in our culture. She becomes quick to judge based on Staples appearance: his skin tone. Because of his color, his every action becomes nothing but threats and anxiety on the women. “She casted a back worried glance. To her, the youngish black- broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a

Many women of the early 1900’s wanted to be treated fairly and equally to their male counterparts. For a long time, it was not even socially acceptable for a woman to work. As a woman’s job in society started involving be part of the work force, many

Here Elizabeth Stanton explains that men have not allowed women into certain positions of employment, such as medicine and law. This is grievous because while women can’t hold any of these positions, they are forced to take up “feminine” jobs, if they are able to at all, and women are not able to study what they are truly passionate about.

Bernstein’s book focuses on how connectivity helped to end lynching, as well as how it increased lynching. The NAACP used the lynching of Jesse Washington to spread awareness of the atrocities committed in the South and the need to stop them. As Bernstein points out, the Jesse Washington lynching, “was just the barest beginning of a battle that would last for many years” (Bernstein 174). News of the Jesse Washington lynching spread around the United States, and even made its way to a British Newspaper (Bernstein 130). The national and international news coverage began the battle to increase public awareness, and would eventually lead the dying out of lynchings done by huge crowds. Lynching, however, is an enigma because increasing connectivity led to more awareness of the issue, but it also increased lynching. As population shifted and the U.S. became more interconnected, for example, during WWI, a rise in the need for Anglos to control their ever-changing environment led to a resurgence of the KKK in the 1920s. Lynching increased as a method of social control and while it was more socially inappropriate, the number of lynchings did not decrease significantly until after WWII. Therefore, in the case of racial violence, increased connectivity was a double-edged sword.

Trauma is an experience of such intensity, that it overwhelms the boundaries of the self. The intensity of trauma might indeed overwhelm psychological resources, fragmenting the idea of the ego and altering the ability to sense self, and distinguish reality from fragmented reality. From such trauma many issues may arise, including psychosis. Psychosis is characterised by an impaired relationship with reality and can be seen through a depressed mood, anxiety, suspiciousness or paranoia, withdrawal from family and friends, and hallucinations. Psychosis could mean a complete loss in being able to distinguish between truth and reality, and losing a sense of self. Literary works, through different literary elements can shape the meaning of

The male commissioners that observed the working environment came from the middle class whereas the women that gave testimonies belonged to the working class. The sexualization of women created a vision of an ideal woman. This “ideal” woman came from the middle class, wholly embodied her gender, and was a total image of domesticity. Working class women did not meet the standard of femininity that the male observers expected, leaving them horrified. This class conflict also helps to explain which accounts of work in the nineteenth stand as the most accurate

Frustration, confusion and devastation were the emotions coming from Banks, who Wednesday, October 21, 2015, spoke openly about Corey and their close family (Seltzer). While discussing the incident Banks came to realize that his daughter knew the police officer, Nouman Raja, who shot Jones. The fact that the victim’s cousin knows Raja demonstrates how small the community is. In the article Banks takes blame for the incident by stating “It just hurts to know, man, maybe if I were with him maybe it would have been different” (Seltzer). As he was speaking with the reporters he says “He didn’t know why Jones felt he needed a gun,” but said “Maybe he brought one because he travels at night for his job as a drummer” (Seltzer). Banks tells how Jones was a kind-hearted person and wouldn’t pull a gun on anyone and isn’t a violent person. While giving a description of Jones’s role in the church, Banks talked about how he worked his way up to drummer. Banks brings in other black lives matter cases and describes the difference between their cases and Mr. Jones. Noting that in other “Black Lives Matter” cases the victims wasn’t armed.

Harrison Bergeron underlying theme is dangers of equality being achieved in society. Consequently, there is a negative and serious tone to the U.S.A. maintaining equality, and what occurs when it is threaten. “She fired two, and the Emperor and the Empress were dead before they hit the floor.”

Similar to Dumas’ struggle in America as an Iranian, Brent Staples’ “Black Men and Public Space” details the struggle of being a black man in America. There are countless stereotypes implanted in the minds of Americans of the typical black person, aggressive, dishonest, ruthless, and overall ill intentioned. The first encounter with this racist outlook on blacks Staples had was in a wealthier area of downbeat Chicago, who began to appear worrisome and soon after proceeded to run from the author, who had done nothing intentionally to provoke fear in her. I agree that women should always place their safety as their first priority and should remove themselves from any situation in which they find themselves uncomfortable or at risk, but if blacks and whites can’t manage to walk the same streets without one race thinking the other is going to attack at any given moment due to the misconceptions floating around in their heads, then America really isn’t a land of diversity. It then becomes a land of hierarchy. As he says, Staples is too scared to even wield a knife at a chicken, let alone wield a knife at another human being, but by the color of his skin and appearance, one would never know this. Being perceived as dangerous, he writes, is a hazard in itself, and could easily land him in the back of a police car

In both “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” and “Do the Right Thing” the relationship between blackness and violence fluctuates between a mode of aggression and a tool of survival. Both films consistently attempt to represent violence by blacks as a symptom of white dominance and brutality. In “Sweet Sweetback” black violence is perceived by the dominant white institutions (i.e. the police and the officers) as an act of intentional aggression. White perception deems that blacks will be violent – both physically and sexually – because they are naturally violent. It is the responsibility of the whites to protect society from the hypersexual, hyper-violent black male (Class Discussions, 2014). Such is the case when police officers storm the hotel room in search of Sweetback only to find a black male naked with a white woman in the bed, presumably after having sex. The officers were quick to physically attack both individuals, though the black man received a longer and harsher punishment. Their response highlights the taboo nature of black and white relations in “Sweetback” as well as the dominant fear of black males as sexual aggressors who take advantage of white women whenever possible (Class Discussions, 2014).

A verbal feature Melfi uses to show the themes of sexism and racism is dialogue. The use of dialogue helps establish the unequal pay and the misjudgment of women's intelligence. We see the unequal payment when Katherine Johnson express her frustrations to her boss Mr. Harrison by saying: “Lord knows you don’t pay the coloured enough to afford pearls!” This shows the struggle African American women went through, as segregation was still a regime in the south of America. According to the American Association of University Women, African American women are paid 63% less and white females are paid 75% less than men in 2017. Still to this day, women and women of colour still do not get the equal pay they deserve, like Katherine experienced in this film. This implies that sexism and racism is hard to abolish as it still present in today’s society. We see the misjudgment of women's intelligence through the use of dialogue when Katherine states to Jim Johnson: “It’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses.” Katherine expressed that