Tolerance In Deborah Ellis's 'Bifocal'

Each and every person on this Earth today has an identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through past experiences, family, race, and many other factors. Race, which continues to cause problems in today’s world, places individuals into certain categories. Based on their race, people are designated to be part of a larger, or group identity instead of being viewed as a person with a unique identity. Throughout Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Richard is on a search for his true identity. Throughout Black Boy, one can see that Richard’s racial background assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some

The Novel Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey revolves around a young boy named Charlie Bucktin living in the small Australian town of Corrigan in the 1960’s. Charlie is exposed to the confronting issues of racial prejudice, injustice and moral duality. He is challenged to question right from wrong, has to come to the realization that law doesn’t always uphold justice and we as readers are positioned to understand that people are capable of holding two conflicting values and remain in confortable harmony. The ideas are portrayed through Silvey’s use of narrative conventions that are used to either challenge or reinforce our values, attitudes and beliefs on the issues explored.

In Richard Wright’s novel, Black Boy, Richard is struggling to survive in a racist environment in the South. In his youth, Richard is vaguely aware of the differences between blacks and whites. He scarcely notices if a person is black or white, and views all people equally. As Richard grows older, he becomes more and more aware of how whites treat blacks, the social differences between the races, and how he is expected to act when in the presence of white people. Richard, with a rebellious nature, finds that he is torn between his need to be treated respectfully, with dignity and as an individual with value and his need to conform to the white rules of society for survival and acceptance.

The occasional frustration in being a bigger person and the ability of a person to grow over time are expressed through the literary devices tone and direct characterization to further develop the importance of rising above challenges in The Other Wes Moore. When Wes was a high schooler at Valley Forge, he became such a high ranking cadet that he was granted more freedom than he had years prior. With this freedom Wes walked to town with his friend of similar ranking, Dalio. On a walk to the pizza parlor Dalio and Wes were harassed because of their skin color and were left running back to their camp in dissatisfaction. Wes felt extreme frustration in allowing the white boy to treat him with such disrespect “because after being called a nigger and having [his] tooth broken, [he had] decided to flee back to campus” (Moore 121). The anger that is conveyed through Moore’s tone exemplifies how unhappy he was to

The novel Bifocal, written by Eric Walters and Debra Ellis is about racism and two people’s point of views about how they see it happen or experience it. Three characters help the protagonist, Jay, positively and negatively. The protagonist, Jay, is influenced by Kevin, Zana and Haroon both positively and negatively through their ignorance, determination and unselfish nature.

The feeling of being judged for the experiences an individual faces can be detrimental to the person 's personality by that these experiences result in you trying to become someone you are not so that you hide what society feels is your flaw, your race. Starr lives in two completely separate worlds, Garden Heights and the area surrounding Williamson High School. These two worlds hinders Starr’s ability to voice her opinions and thoughts about anything because in both of these areas there is this fear of overstepping boundaries. Overstepping boundaries in either area causes an individual to become threatened, for example, in Garden Heights, Starr silences herself whenever she is around gang members because she is frightened that the gang members will harm both her and her family for her opinions. Starr silences herself when she is at Williamson High School, especially since she is one out of the few African Americans that attends there, because her opinion is outnumbered by the majority of the population who are either ignorant about the issues that affects Starr’s race or cares less to even hear issues that occurs to others beside them.

creates a play that illustrates not only the struggle of growing up in a prejudiced world but also

For decades discrimination has been continuously growing, being angled at minority groups. These negative outlooks have created many barriers and disadvantages, with society, for those belonging to different cultures. Each set of characters within the stories are created with different backgrounds, but live with similar expectations and struggles. These barriers occur in day-to-day activities and interactions, affecting individuals, and creating negativity. Paul K. Chappell once said, "To truly listen to others, we must develop empathy. If we do not empathize with people, we cannot really hear what they are saying. When we do not listen with empathy, we hear only their words" (Chappell). White reading each short story, Amy Tan's “Two Kinds,” and Sherman Alexie's “When the Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” the reader is able to connect the stories characters through race, culture, and ethnicity to create that feeling of empathy Chappell was trying to introduce.

This contradistinction shows the bleakness of the main character's hometown of Harlem. He utilized darkness to depict the socioeconomic curb due to the discrimination in Harlem. This darkness overwhelms its citizen; even the narrator notices the homogeneity between his brother’s gloom and the children he teaches in his algebra class due to Harlem’s crime and drugs. The narrator explains how Harlem has snuffed the life out of his brother and students. The narrator presumes a relationship between the darkness of the students and Sonny. "These boys, now, were living as we'd been living then, they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their real possibilities…which had blinded them to that other darkness, and in which they now, vindictively, dreamed, at once more together than they were at any other time, and more

How has a fiction novel helped me understand a certain conflict? A conflict a fiction novel helped me understand was racism and poverty. The novel I have read to help me understand was called “Bud not Buddy” I read this novel when I was in the fifth grade. Even though I was so young the novel still introduced myself to conflicts we have in the world today. The book was about a young colored boy who had no home. The boy had an idea of who his father was and was on a journey to find him. The colored boy had nothing to him no food, no wealth, nothing at all. “Bud” would walk seeking for a ride but never got one. One day a man picked Bud up, only to take Bud back to his home and secures him in the shed for the night unwillingly, until Bud discovers

When Noor was in elementary and middle school, she was ashamed of her religion. She prayed that her mother would forget to wear her hijab when coming to school to pick her up because she did not want her friends to ask questions. She dyed her hair and wore colored contacts to look more like her friends. Lina also rejected her religion and heritage and wanted to be more like typical American girls. She wore makeup, smoked, and got a boyfriend, all without her parents’ approval or consent. Despite these rebellious years, both girls eventually grew to accept and embrace their religion. They learned from these times of identity confusion about what it truly meant to be Muslim in

Middle school can be a tumultuous for students, especially in regards to relationships a general social interactions. Students can be quick to make assumptions about the people around them based on nothing more than superficial observations, which can result in unrealistic perceptions of those people. Because of this, the name of this thematic unit is “Don’t Judge a Book by It’s Cover,” and focuses on the importance of not drawing conclusions about people based on appearances or initial observations. The text set for this unit reflects this theme, as the books and resources included deal with characters or stories dealing with prejudice or discrimination. My hope is for middle school students to think deeply about their own prejudices and

Imagine your child being killed in the most horrific way possible. Now imagine him dying because he was being a good person and trying to help out people you called inferior. That's the story that this book tells. The story of a boy who tries to make friends with someone his father's regime considers an enemy. And accidentally getting himself killed. This book teaches the dangers of racism in a very compelling way.

When I finished reading the story of little Storm, in that instant, I felt deeply sorry for Storm, a child who would have grown up normally like everyone else around him/ her, everyone else except for his/ her two brothers. However, a decision was made by Storm’s parents to break the convention of identifying children by gender, and as a result the chance for Storm to be raised like others. Storm’s parents, Witterick and Stocker are indeed doing something wrong. Their extreme and unusual parenting decision will make Storm a lifelong victim of prejudice.

Even Ahmed becomes compliant as she finds her path to womanhood, further emphasizing that a person’s characteristics can be conformed. She says “…if I had been simply an ordinary girl. I believe I would not have been able to live and accept what my sisters and the other girls in this country have to endure. I don’t believe I am better than they, but I sense within me such determination, such rebellious strength, that I would probably have upset everything” (119). However, her actions speak differently from her words. As a developing woman, Ahmed, renamed Zahra, shows signs of meekness and submission, in contrast to her previous ruthlessness, to the circus owner and her son. “Zahra had given up the use of speech. She wept, and the tears flowed down her face…” (110). Zahra, once domineering, is now compliant. Ahmed alters her personality because she, as well as the Islamic society, associates womanhood with obedience.