The Dehumanization Of A Schoolteacher's Beloved

Chapters 4 and 5 explain how Dalton started to see the differences between the treatment of various races in his school. His mother was given the option to enroll her son in either the black, Puerto Rican, or Chinese classes. She ultimately chooses to place her son in the “black” classes, but problems spark when the teacher refuses to physically discipline Dalton in the same manner as everyone else in the class. After this incident, Conley is moved to the school’s Chinese classes and from there he discovers that being white can also be considered as being “privileged.” Although he believes that his family might be a little better off than others in his neighborhood, he befriends a kid named Michael who attends the new school Conley is transferred too. Michael and Conley both go to the same school, but are part of two different social classes. Conley describes himself as a “honky” who is afraid to ever invite Michael to his house due to embarrassment, despite constant pressure from his mother. Dalton’s worries subsided when Michael finally came over, even though Michael still held a higher social presence over Dalton.

Ruth and James had different experiences when they attended school. Back in the days, when Ruth attended school in Suffolk, there was a split between “white folks’ school and a black folks’ school and a Jewish school,” (McBride 79). The school Ruth attended was not actually a real school, but instead a synagogue, where they did not get a good education compared to what other students were learning in school. In contrast, James “was the only black kid,” (McBride 89), attending in his classroom and he would get called many names because he was the only black kid.

Grant Wiggins, which was the plantation’s teacher, had a very harsh way to treat and teach the children. This can be sensed in chapter 5 of the book. He expected them to learn and wanted them to think fully with their heads. He was trying to find a way to get to them. The book mentions a couple of times when Wiggins was not sure whether he was reaching the children or if he was wasting his time. Grant thought, “…Is it just a vicious circle? Am I doing anything?” (62). Racism was sensed and felt in the way white people treated black people.

There are many events in the book that moved me emotionally, some of which made me very angry as I read them. On his book tour Johnathan traveled around speaking to many about his book and his ability to learn to fit in to main stream sociality, but on one of his trips he had to speak at a school in which his audience was a group of special education students. As the children arrived and prepared for his talk, a teacher said to the group of children will introducing him “Mr. Mooney used to be like you, Be respectful of Mr. Mooney. Try to act normal, OK?” (Mooney,2007,7). Of all people, how can a teacher tell a group of special education students to act normal? They are normal. It bothered me to my core. So many special education students are judged and bullied for being different. The world can be a harsh place; however, school is supposed to be an institution in which children of all back grounds should fill safe and at home. For an educator to tell her students to “Act normal “is telling a group of students to not be themselves. Many Special Ed students have enough of life pulling at their self-esteem, for teachers to teach them this way is unacceptable.

The black characters in the novel are all victims of this “separate but equal” mentality; the younger characters yearn for real equality and the older characters have settled in to their lives by accepting their “fate.” The existing structures of society in Bayonne, Louisiana prevent black characters such as Grant Wiggins and Vivian from ever breaking out of their social class; both are forced to remain in their lives as teachers of young black children who will also grow up to live limited lives. Wiggins says of his classroom, “I’m the teacher... and I

This book is about two black children, Layfette and Pharaoh, who grow up in inner city Chicago. They are faced with racism and hardships because of their race and social class. They have different ways of coping, but are better at facing the worst the city has to offer than are many of the other young black children who live around them. During the story the boys are faced with many adversities that stem from the social system. They are faced with gangs, drugs and Chicago housing. However, they also must face their own inner demons that may lead to either of them giving up and giving in to the corruption of the inner city. One of the major turning points in the story is when Layfette gets arrested for vandalizing a car, even though he says he did not. He gets released and is gets off with probation and 100 hours of community service. After this incident the author gets both kids in to a private school where Pharaoh thrives and starts to make good grades instead of daydreaming. Unfortunately Layfette could not handle the pressure and returns to public school. During this time Rickey starts running drugs for one of the local gangs. He is later arrested for carrying a butcher knife. The CHA finally cleans out the horrendous mess in the Henry Horner basements and reclaims the buildings from the gangs. Dawn and Demetrius finally get an

The story is a recount of bullying, told from the point of view of Davy Morne, who describes himself as one of the worst of the bullies. The victim is Herbie, the only indigenous kid at the school, who is brutally bullied for being noticeably different; because he has strong Indigenous features. He is described, “as black as a crow,” imagery which reinforces this difference, as does the language in words like “Boong”, “Nigger” and “Abo”, words which appear in the opening sentences, grabbing the reader’s shocked attention and compelling the reader to continue because how can anyone get away with such brazenly, racist language. Archie Weller excelled throughout the course of this story in his use of imagery: every sentence carried a vivid imagination, from the description of Herbie, his bullies or his torture and all this was cleverly done from the point of view of young Davy Morne.

Segregation had had many effects on the black nation, to the point that it started building up ones character, “See the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people”, King shows readers that segregation is even affecting little children, that it is starting to build up a young girls character and is contributing to the child developing hatred “bitterness” towards the white Americans. King makes readers imagine a black cloud settling in a young girls brain mentally, when instead she should have an image of a colorful blue sky with a rainbow, isn’t that suppose to be part of a 6 year-old’s imagination? King gives readers an image of destruction civil disobedience had created in the black community, especially in the young innocent little children.

To show first hand to the whites the inequality’s and hardships that the blacks face, the entire first section is in a narrative and a descriptive format. The use of these types of essays lets the readers feel more involved in the story and feel things for themselves. Split into two sections within itself, this first paragraph juxtaposes two stories — one about a “young Negro boy” living in Harlem, and the other about a “young Negro girl” living in Birmingham. The parallelism in the sentence structures of introducing the children likens them even more — despite the differences between them — whether it be their far away location, or their differing, yet still awful, situations. Since this section is focused more towards his white audience, King goes into a description of what it was like living as an African American in those times— a situation the black audience knew all too well. His intense word choice of describing the boy’s house as “vermin-infested” provokes a very negative reaction due to the bad

To begin with, conformity, as it is present in the southern United States due to a poor system of education, has resulted in the makings of a more racist environment. In the south, there was previously and is currently an education deficiency. In Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the narrator Jean Louise “Scout” Finch begins to realize the uprising of a more racist society beginning in the late 1930s and early 1940s. As the contagion spreads, Scout reaches the age at which she must attend school to receive an education herself. On the first day of Scout’s academic career, a young boy named Burris Ewell leaves class for the rest of the year. He claims, “Been comin’ to the first day o’ the first grade for three year now” (Lee, 36). However, according to one of Scout’s classmates, “The truant lady gets ‘em ‘cause she threatens ‘em with the sheriff, but she’s give up tryin’ to hold ‘em. She reckons she’s carried out the law just gettin’ their names on the role and runnin’ ‘em here the first day. You’re supposed to mark ‘em absent for the rest of the year” (Lee, 36). The setting of “To Kill a Mockingbird”, although it is a fictional place, is

The novel “To kill a mockingbird” demonstrates the theme of racism through the various situations that occur within the book. Atticus’s decision to defend Tom Robinson begins to have a deep effect on the Finch family. This is demonstrated by the Finch family receiving many racist comments from various people. The next example of racism is demonstrated when Calpurnia, Scout, and Jem go to a church where only “black” people attend, and the Finch family gets discriminated. Later, when Calpurnia, Scout and Jem got home, Scout asked Atticus if she could go to Calpurnia’s house, but Scout’s aunt said “no”. This is because Calpurnia’s neighborhood has too many “black people” which is a “bad influence” on Scout. Through these situations, it is clear

Scout’s school did not stress the importance of equality, and it showed in the town’s ignorance. But, Scout did not let school taint her perception of others, and she believed “everybody’s gotta learn, nobody’s born knowin’. That Walter’s as smart as he can be he just gets held back [...]. Nothing’s wrong with him. Naw, Jem, I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks” (Lee 304). Scout’s friend was going to get held back in school because he was poor and unable to attend as often. She stood up for him, because she thought everyone deserves an equal chance. However, a place that did not give everyone an equal chance was the courtroom where Atticus defended a black man accused of a crime he did not commit. After losing the case, Atticus consoles his children and tells Scout and Jem that “as you grow older, you’ll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don’t you forget it- whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, or how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash” (Lee 295). While others may see a situation such as this and say that the black man was at fault, Atticus sees through the color of a man’s skin. He wants to make sure his children do this, too. Growing up in the south, racism was expected to be seen. But, just because something is common does not make it right. Atticus made it a priority to teach his

Whether it is sunshine or rain, the plant tries to stay in place and develop. However, sometimes a storm comes by and moves the plant out of place, but it comes back to how it was at last. Sometimes life’s ups and downs do a similar thing to humans. They try to stand strong and still, but a wave of change or in this case a wave of discrimination comes by which causes them to lose their innocence at an early age. In Scout’s case, she is introduced to a different language people use to describe certain races or to categorize people. Atticus, Scout’s father, said, “Nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don't mean anything—like snot-nose. It's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody,” (Page 107). Scout, at first did not understand why people would do such a thing; however, her father tries to make her understand how racism works. He tells her that he is arguing for African American to have equal rights and others to love them instead of thinking they are given special rights. Scout learns the power of language; how it can shame others for who they are and what they do, and how it ignites a debate between individuals. Scout, also learns that if someone is convicted of a crime, it becomes extremely hard for their family members

The stereotypes in the story, makes it difficult for the readers to conclude the race of each character. People assume that the African American character would be illiterate and uneducated and the white character to be well-educated. During the time period of the story African Americans did not have access to a decent education; making it harder for them to learn just the basics. Whites had access to good education, making it easy to believe the white character is more educated. It is also believed that a person that is well educated will have a better lifestyle when they are older. A well-educated person will have a better job, paying more, and have a better opportunity to afford the means of a luxurious lifestyle. An under educated person will most likely live in poverty, struggle for their basic needs, or live in a declining neighborhood. Behavior is a harder stereo type to use to distinguish a race. Many assume that whites have an entitled attitude toward life. Whites had access to a good education and jobs, they had a “I’m better than you” attitude. On the other hand, many think African Americans were upset because of how easy it was for whites to have better access to the basic necessities such as education and housing.

Factory workers are being produced today, although the age of factories has long passed. Students are dehumanized from their first graded assignment, their first report card, the first time they step into school until they graduate. At that point, they are completely stripped of critical thinking and creativity and see learning only as memorization for a test. There seems to be no meaning beyond the face value of what teachers say and possibly less. All that is needed is to memorize word for word what the teacher says. They don’t perceive “what four times four really means, or realizing the true significance of “capital” in the affirmation “the capital of Pará is Belem,” that is, what Belem means for Pará and what Pará means for Brazil” (240). Freire introduces the banking system as the cause of dehumanization, but it is not the system in general that causes it. It is the use of grading. They are used to measure the value and intelligence of students, so this is all students focus on. They only do what they need to receive the highest marks. However, this means the students don’t have time to truly understand their material or realize that they don’t have to spend that much time with the material. After all, the purpose of the banking system is to just fill students with information.