Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness Essay

The notion of Sociological beliefs and values has been spread by various different historians, scientists, companies, etc. One notable example of this is modern cinema. Many films in history have contained numerous examples of sociological themes and beliefs to play off as central themes of its core story and characters within. In terms of a particular movie such as the John Hughes’ film titled “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it has come to stand as such an essential and social icon of the 1980’s for various reasons; mainly because of its various sociological overtones of Marxism, social deviance, and norms and values.

Throughout the novel Kindred, Butler compared and contrasted modern African Americans with African Americans that were slaves in the novel. Some of the many ways she compares them are through education, work ethic, and their personal feelings about and/or how they handle their own slavery.

While reading The Stranger I noticed that traits that Albert Camus character depicts in the book are closely related to the theories of Sigmund Freud on moral human behavior. Albert Camus portrays his character of Meursault as a numb, emotionless person that seems to mindlessly play out his role in society, acting in a manner that he sees as the way he’s supposed to act, always living in the moment with his instincts driving him, and if the right circumstance presents itself the primal deep seeded animal will come out. I believe that most of the character’s traits fall under Freud’s notion of the Id and Ego mental apparatus, and don’t believe that his idea of the super-ego is represented in this book.

Sociologists concern themselves with social relations among individuals and groups within a particular society (Luton, 2015), so a sociologist would find this movie interesting because when analyzed through a sociological point of view it provides various examples of socialization,

The Stranger The Stranger exhibits a society that has confined itself with a specific set of social standards that dictate the manner in which people are supposed to act. This ideology determines the level of morality, and how much emphasis should placed on following this certain "ethical" structure. Albert Camus's main character, Meursault, is depicted as a nonconformist that is unwilling to play society's game. Through Meursault's failure to comply with society's values and conform to the norm, he is rejected and also condemned to death by society.

In a world usually depicted as a “man’s world,” a woman’s role is not considered as significant and thus can be repressed. It is why a feminist perspective or criticism comes into place, especially in literature. By definition, a feminist criticism consist of scrutinizing “the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.” (Tyson) In Gail Godwins’s A Sorrowful Woman, the leading female character is concentrated in her efforts in distancing from her structured lifestyle. A feminist would critic Godwins story by as the female character is in pursuit of peace and happiness and wants to escape from the role she has been implanted. The critic would concentrate on the experience woman

African American racial tension has decreased drastically, since the fifties our country has leaps and bounds towards equality. James Baldwin wrote Stranger in the Village, and he wrote about his experience living in a small Swiss village and how he was able to evaluate the American society and its issues of race. Baldwin specifically focused on African American racial issues. Baldwin makes arguments about how race is treated much different in Europe, he also argued how there are still a lot of problems with American society that need to be changed. I agree with Baldwin's thoughts however this essay is outdated and isn't completely relevant to our society today; however some of the broader ideas are.

Question 3, (p. 1135): What are the “trifles” that the men ignore and the two women notice? Why do the men dismiss them, and why do the women see these things as significant clues? What is the thematic importance of these “trifles”?

What role does religion play in the film? Describe the use of different religious symbols, elements or terms.

Moving to New York really enabled her to do this because no one knew her, she didn't have a reputation and she could make a new identity. After Negi and Mami had a fight about their lives in Brooklyn Mami said “ I’m not working this hard so that you kids can end up working in factories all your lives. you study, get good grades, and graduate from High school so you can have a profession, not just a job” (Santiago 246) This quote is very powerful because it shows that there are so many opportunities in this country and Negi should take them before it is too late. This is shown in the book very vividly, when Mami is saying this the tone of the passage is very urgent and a little sad, this is the way Santiago describes Brooklyn. This is the point where Negi realizes if she wants to get out of Brooklyn and do something with her life she is going to have to take those opportunities, it is going to be hard but with a lot of work and dedication she can eventually do it she is going to try to prove everyone wrong and get a good job and make a good life for herself. She is not going to be held back by the traditional roles that were forced upon her that women should not get jobs. After their last conversation about achieving a better life and working hard Mami encouraged Negi and said “That’s what you have to do in this country anyone willing to work hard can get ahead.” (Santiago 246) this quote shows a major transition and important transition. Negi went from working hard just to be a good kid and making her mom happy, to working hard so she can make a good life for herself and her

The virtuous cycle, according to Sherry Turkle in her essay “The Empathy diaries” consists of three main components, first solitude, second conversation and finally self-reflection. These components can be seen clearly in Yiyun Li’s essay “Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your life.”, where Li shares with us her experience with identifying her own self which is linked to solitude, opening up to others which is the conversation and finally her disagreement with people’s view of herself which is self-reflection. Showing us how she works through the virtuous cycle with the added component of time; the before and after concept in Li’s essay can be compared to the beginning and the ending of the virtuous cycle. However, human interactions and emotion cannot fit perfectly into a “cycle”, solitude will not always lead to confidence in oneself and conversation will not always provide rich material for self-reflection to provide for a more productive solitude. The virtuous cycle can break at any one of its phases.

Cultural and psychological concerns is apparent through the use of characterization. Isolation/Alienation in the suburban life plays a big role in both the films

Albert Camus creates a series of characters in The Stranger whose personality traits and motivations mirror those that are overlooked upon by the average man. Camus develops various characters and scenarios that show true humanity which tends to have been ignored due to the fact of how typical it has become. Camus incorporates abominable personality traits of the characters, variety, consistency, and everyone’s fate.

Christian films are inadequate, inaccessible to non-Christians and promote enmity through the ‘Us versus Them’ mentality. According to Nehring, ‘the term Christian film has become synonymous with substandard production values, stilted dialogue and childish plots.’ Though, Caribbean filmmakers have not neglected their contribution to the so called ’Christian Film Industry’. Their films that are torn apart by secular critics are primarily based on interventions aimed at the audience rather than organic to the story. ‘As long as Christian films are motivated by a desire to trap people into hearing a gospel presentation, or as a consolation for losing the culture war, they should not make the final cut.’ (Barber 2014) It is not

In the article “The Kindness Of Strangers”, the author, Levine (2006/2007) writes of the helpfulness of strangers. He does extensive research and also performs experiments. He found that in some places of the world people were more likely to help people they do not know than in other places. He explains that environment, socialization, and economics affects how willing people are to help.