The Memory Keepers Daughter

For centuries, one of the most controversial aspects of society was racism. Minorities and ethnic groups are despised and viewed with abhorrence since the coming of the Industrial Revolution.

Racism has always been a big topic in society, even during Jesus Christ time. I believe racism comes from independent thinking and views and how this view from family, friends and society forms us each day. Racism has to do a lot with social status, money, power, looks, sex and much more. Coming from a third world country I can really see the major differences of racism how they vary by culture and education. My experience in the United States as a young boy has formed my racism definition and view of society in general. One of the biggest influences in my life is my father name Evaristo Navarro in terms of racism, he came from an era where marrying a

No matter how appalling and malicious racism can be, it is and will continue

On days I was unable to pull myself out of bed, I would read Furiously Happy while under my covers, staring at the ceiling and dealing with the many voices that kept clawing and breaking each layer down that built a fortress of self-doubt and underwater volcanos of self-loathing. Many people do not understand these feelings that blossomed inside, and therefore bring their own selective perspectives about mental illness devaluing my human in brain experiences. Explaining to them proved to be harder.

Furthermore, tremendous advances have been made in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses in the recent decades. Nowadays, someone with a mental illness is treated with respect, just like every other person, because, in fact, everyone is equal. Society’s goals today are to treat and support the mentally ill individuals enough so they can live in

Eventually every person will have to realize that being envious of one another makes you ignorant, and that everyone has imperfections and no one is perfect but everyone at one point must stop comparing themselves to everyone and accept themselves for who they are.

Much of society would have us believe that racism is no longer prevalent in today’s world. But, if this is true, why is there still such a societal gap between black and white? One lasting aspect of racism comes from the association of “negative traits” with a

“Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your

In the book The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, the author, Kim Edwards, designs a story about a father who abandons her down-syndrome daughter, which then leads to many different outcomes and consequences. As Edwards creates her story, she incorporates many aspects of the book, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. Some of the specific chapters that are evident in The Memory Keeper’s Daughter are Chapter 10 It’s More Than Just Rain or Snow, Chapter 12 Is That a Symbol?, and Chapter 23 It’s Never Just Heart Disease… Furthermore, these chapters are also significant in helping develop most of the plot, conflict, characterization, etc. of Edward’s novel.

Therefore the latter form of institutional racism is found widespread in British public institutions. Racial inequalities are rife in housing, education, health, politics and authorities.

Racism can be “defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes” (“What”). The face of racism over the past 50 years has changed but yet, some still stay the same. People made laws against racism and it is not as blunt anymore. But opinions and stereotypes will remain which will cause others to still be treated differently.

People that are deceiving don’t tend to have good results. In the novel The Memory Keeper’s Daughter written by Kim Edwards, David Henry shows in the beginning of the story that he could be deceiving by hiding a secret from his wife. David Henry is deceiving as he tells the biggest lie about his new-born child to his wife throughout the story. The husband keeps his twin daughter a secret as soon as he finds out that there was a chance that she would have a heart defect. There was no way he would tell his wife about this daughter so he decides to act as if the child doesn’t even exist.

Humans have come a long way in terms of racism. We want to live in an era where discrimination and racism was a very common thing. The big question I will however pose is, is it not still a big and common thing? Racism a great amount of violence. Romberg the holocaust? The group that wiped out nearly 6 million people? All of this chaos created by one single racist mind. Racism is not always about violence. Racism is discriminating against someone because of either their religion, skin color, or their features. But out of all this hatred, came some inspiration, from Martin Luther King jr., Barack Obama to Collin Kaepernick.

Racism in this country has been prevalent over centuries now, and still a huge hindrance in the United States of America. Racism has a huge history with scholars documenting the long illustrious reasons and root causes as to why this has become such a major topic of issue in the United States and its psychological and social obliterations in the society.

Racism has been an ongoing social justice issue for decades, and we seem to always fail to make it stop. According to Dummett (as cited in Fernando, 1984), racism is the behaviour and attitude that emerges from our beliefs that certain people are different from us. These differences are mainly based on race, where people come from, physical characteristics, such as colour and hair type or behavioural characteristics, and that people categorized must be treated differently based on their needs, capabilities and rights. Usually there is one dominant and superior group and a few inferior groups (Dummett, as cited in Fernando, 1984). Coates and Morrison (2011) suggests that what we distinguish as real and true may not always be real and that things may not always be as it seems. Coates and Morrison (2011) also states that we live in a racial matrix, where we have this illusion of reality and that differences associated with racial status and hierarchies are perceived as the norm in society and this perception of reality is not easy to get rid of. There are four types of racism; subtle racism, colorism, internalized racism and reverse racism (Nittle, 2016). Racism can be explicit, but it can also be very subtle and covert, which is a huge problem, as most people do not even notice it and they do not realize that it happens on a day-to-day basis (Coates and Morrison, 2011). Racism is not only one problem or concern, as it is brings along a variety of other problems and is compiled