My Uniform By Cheryl Strayed: Article Analysis

I'm pretty sure the message to this short story was about taking chances, not being ashamed about who you are or what you wear, I think this will help a lot of kids because it will show them that style isn't always everything…and it will show people that it's not the way you look but it's the way you make yourself look in

In this quote, Wes Moore, the author, was talking about how he felt about the Riverdale campus where he attended school. He said the pristine campus and well-dressed kids had stunned him during his first visit. Wes felt a crazy-making crosscurrent of emotions whenever he stepped on the Riverdale campus. He said he had to try and hide the fact that his family was so much poorer than everyone else’s at school. Wes even had to sit down and create a schedule every week for his clothes. He only had 3 good shirts and 3 good pairs of pants that he would try and create a new combination so it did not look like he was always wearing the same clothes. Later he even borrowed some of Nikki’s clothes to create more of a variation. Wes’s mother graduated

This includes a story of her mother who waltzed into a social service agency dressed in an impressive outfit to set straight an issue that her elderly neighbor had trouble with over the past year in a single day (Cottom 1012). To elaborate, she justifies why poor people ordinarily make the choices they do, while conversely questioning them. In her text, “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, Cottom declares that “We want to belong” (1013). I agree that we want to belong, if you belong you are safe. At one point, her first professional job manager decided she was accordingly “. . . too classy to be on the call center floor.” (Cottom 1014) This proves that putting money into a brand name suit can have a positive influence on others, in this case she gained a high pay raise and her workload was decreased. If poor people spend money on classy outfits, the rich people will perceive them as their own.

In the “Perfect dress” by Marisa de los Santos, Marisa describes how women view themselves. Women are never satisfied with their appearance, always wanting what they do not already have. Marisa explains the significance of a beautiful dress to a woman on low self-esteem. She taught us that when we learn to see the beauty in what we have, nothing can stop us from feeling untouchable.

In her memoir Warriors don’t cry, Melba Pattillo Beals describes her experiences as she became one of the first nine black students educated in an integrated white school called central high school. The author describes how she survives a harrowing year helping to integrate central high school in Little Rock Arkansas in 1957. The three main ideas that I’m going to talk about are integration, racism, and courage.

Fashion reflects the attitudes of a society more than any other art form. Like art, fashion is a material record of the ideals that swayed the nations at the time of their creation. Through examining the styles, and tastes of a particular era, we can realize where the interests and priorities of a time lie. As Frank Parsons wrote in his 1920 study, The Psychology of Dress, "There is surly no better field in which to trace the devious paths of human thought than in that of clothes, where man has ever given free play to self expression, in a way which, thought not always a credit to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost self, whether he will acknowledge it or

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

​Many different problems caused the Roman Republic to fall. First, the republic needed money to run. Second, the elected officials were corrupt. Lastly, crime was at a high throughout all of Rome. These are just a few reasons why the Roman Republic fell.

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

As we look deeper into this poem, the metaphors portrayed throughout the poem stress just how improbable these dreams are in the chance of becoming a reality. Santos describes her imagined runway model as “leggy, outworldly as a mantis” (9). While once again hitting on the imagery, also compares this woman to that of the graceful creature that walks around on seemingly the thinnest legs on earth. Picturing this woman is exactly how every Victoria’s Secret model looks, as she glides up and down the runway, inspiring jealousy in every elegant step she takes. This is the type of image we are portraying to the young women of our generation. No wonder our dreams are being overshadowed by the reality we live in. She goes on to portray “a head/ like a Faberge egg on the longest, most elegant neck” (9-10). She compares the face of perfection to Peter Carl Faberge’s most renowned work, his golden jeweled eggs. How much more outlandish can we get? And yet we imagine this to be how we should look, and spend the rest of our lives trying to

In the book Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals, the author describes what her reactions and feelings are to the racial hatred and discrimination she and eight other African-American teenagers received in Little Rock, Arkansas during the desegregation period in 1957. She tells the story of the nine students from the time she turned sixteen years old and began keeping a diary until her final days at Central High School in Little Rock. The story begins by Melba talking about the anger, hatred, and sadness that is brought up upon her first return to Central High for a reunion with her eight other classmates. As she walks through the halls and rooms of the old school, she recalls the

She selfishly praised quilts as "priceless" (91) whereas she thought the same piece was old fashioned and out of style when offered to her for college. By carrying the quilts she claims to carry the heritage, however, she shuns the lifestyle of her family, which is of course a part of her heritage.

The short store “Clothes” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is about a young Indian woman, Sumita, and her cultural transition to America that is symbolized by her clothes and the color of her clothes. The traditional Indian attire for a woman is a sari and each one has its own purpose. Her clothes also indicate her progression from daughter, to wife, to woman.

This excerpt shows how more emphasis is put on women’s appearance and its keep up, and also shows the negative connotation of this prettiness; it is associated with shallowness. Not only is there an assumption that women spend much of their time on their appearance, but also there is the connected fact that others pay more attention to their appearance than their other character traits. This is still a reality of today as can be seen on the red carpet. Female celebrities have a whole industry devoted to making them look fashionable and pretty for events. The focus of these events becomes what they’re wearing rather than their work as actresses and singers.

It’s clear that appearance is important to her. Being a poor widow, she put what little money they had into making sure her son looked pleasant, by doing so she couldn’t afford healthy food which made her choose foods that made her overweight, she kept the gaps in her teeth, and gave him an education, all so that their Godhigh legacy could continue on, only because that’s what she wants. By doing this she’s given herself something to gloat about, and she takes any opportunity she has to do so. She’s all talk, using him as if he were another clothing accessory to make herself look better to those around her, after all “[s]he was one of the few members of the Y reducing class who arrived in a hat and gloves and who had a son who had been to college” (p.406). She seems to have great appreciation for the fact that she’s the only woman at the YMCA who dresses up for classes and has a college-educated son. Equating family lineage with identity also allows her to live more happily under the false conviction that she is actually better than everyone else. His mother gets