What Is The Theme Of The Text A Ride On The New York Subway

The book goes through Jeannette’s life exposing the mistakes she, her siblings, and her parents made to become the family they were. As her life grows older, Jeannette finds herself in more responsible positions in the world, with editing school newspapers, to writing columns in a small New York newspaper outlet. Her troubles have raised the issue of stereotyping, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Due to her status in her childhood, it was not hard for her to fit in with the other members of the poor community. “Dinitia explained that I was with her and that I was good people. The women looked at one another and shrugged.” (Walls 191) The quote talks about how members of the black community in Welch accepted Jeannette to go swimming with them in the morning hours before the white people went in the afternoon. The people who knew Dinita, Jeannette’s friend, knew that Dinita was trustworthy, and let Jeannette pass. This relates to the thesis because it shows how she was accepted amongst the people who were

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.

In Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” Miss Moore attempts to teach the children of a Harlem neighborhood about class inequality. It’s apparent that the young narrator of the story, Sylvia, struggles interacting with those she views as above her. Numerous times throughout the story Sylvia belittles and lashes out at the people she believes are in a higher social standing. Sylvia’s interactions with those of authority and higher social standing further demonstrate Miss Moore’s lesson of the rift between socioeconomic classes in society. Through the entire story the reader gains insight of how Sylvia’s attitude is a struggle to cope with the differences between economic classes.

I learned early on not to judge a Jelly Bean by its color, and that it was an unrewarding practice to group together these individual candies because when not every bean fit into a color category, I forced it to. The same can be said for people. Each and every one of us are unique individuals, and it is virtually impossible to effectively ‘sort’ us into groups - even more so as our society progresses. Identifiers such as race, religion, sexual orientation - even gender - which we once used to group people together, now make up the many cracks in modern American society. It is this action of separating the Red Jelly Bellies from the rest that creates an almost immobile American mindset: you are a Red… you must be a cherry.

On a daily basis one has the ability of witnessing individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each

As far as she describes, she just enjoyed living with grandparents and she says that the lure of life was everywhere and in everything, but no one in the crowded house had a regular job or social security number, and no one talked about class even if they were open about money. Hooks' personal memories tell me that poor people are afraid to talk about class because to be poor in the U.S. was to be an object of shame and ridicule, and because they were afraid to face the reality that makes them feel miserable, unpleasant, and unsecured. And the most importantly, most of them are not really conscious about how classism affects and exploits them. On the other hand, according to Hooks privileged (mostly white) people do not want to talk about class because they do not really want to change. Hooks says "Citizens in the middle who live comfortable lives, luxurious lives in relation to the rest of the world, often fear that challenging classism will be their downfall, that simply by expressing concern for the poor they will end up like them, lacking the necessities of life". We can see the widening gap between rich and poor and more and more class-segregated society in the U.S. today, but this appears rather favorable circumstance for the privileged people with class power. I came to realize that whites of all class backgrounds seek to keep underprivileged non-white people in subordination to maintain their own class status. Hooks interprets it "the victims

My pre-adolescent years were spent in a community thick with diversity. My friendships were as diverse as the environment in which I lived. It never struck me that racial and ethnic ideals separated people in society. However, upon moving to a predominately white upper-class community I began to question such racial and ethnic ideas. From my adolescent years through today I began noticing that certain people are viewed differently for reasons relating to race and ethnicity. As a result, the most recent community I grew up in has kept me sheltered from aspects of society. As a product of a community where majorities existed, I found myself unexposed to the full understanding of race and ethnicity. Prior to the class I had never fully dealt with issues of race or ethnicity, as a result I wondered why they would be of any importance in my life.

The details build an appeal to pathos and impresses upon the reader that this is a problem worth discussing. They are shared in exploited proportions through the excuse called privilege. And knowingly or unknowingly privilege is something that is given to one unknowingly due to the state the modern world is in. Privilege was unfortunately molded over time and to the best of the future the future leaders of the world are working to make things favorable so that the apparent mistakes made in the past won’t follow through into the future. She had also mentioned in her essay that ‘Privilege is relative and contextual. Few people in this world, and particularly in the United States, have no privilege at all. Among those of us who participate in intellectual communities, privilege runs

She learns that in New York, people are quick to exclude those who resemble any sort of dissimilarity to themselves. When she gets lost and tries asking strangers for help, she notes that, “...a lot of them kept on walking, shaking their heads; those who did stop didn’t look at you first. They gazed off down the block, their faces closed. But as soon as they realized you weren’t trying to hustle them or panhandle money, they warmed right up” (Walls 246). This demonstrates how the many homeless men and women that reside on the streets are almost always ignored and avoided.

Riding the subway to a New York City resident is nothing new. It’s something that many of us New Yorkers have to use as transportation because living in a crowded city with limited space to drive is not very ideal. For the people who do drive, they do so for personal comfort and convenience. But for us commuters, having to not look for parking and worry about traffic takes up less of our time. On the other hand we experience train delays and disturbances in personal space. Nonetheless, the pros outweigh the cons and using the subway has become a part of our daily routines for many of us New Yorkers. Marc Auge states that, “If he draws himself into the field of his ethnological inquiry, it is no less fitting for his readers to broaden the scope of appreciation of the work for riders.” With that in mind, I observed the connections with my experience riding the subway in a city integrated with many different peoples and cultures.

The author uses the young girls’ friendship to show the world that if small children can interact freely despite being of different races, why would adults discriminate against one another? The author intended to use two different races without mentioning them since he knew that readers are very intelligent and can always figure out the races he was talking about. In addition, the author was very skillful in keeping the reader in suspense so as to compel the reader to read all through in an effort to find out what the two races are (Sklar, Howard 137-154). The author is trying to show us that there are different social classes between the two races. This is evident through the description the author gives the two mothers, that is the mother of Twyla and Roberta’s mother. Twyla’s mother is described as party lady who often attends to parties such that she can’t afford to have time to care for her daughter. This alone shows that Twyla’s mother belongs to a better well off social class. Only a person with money would go to parties very often. Therefore, as readers, we are able to conclude that Twyla and her mother belong to a high social class. Only people in high social classes are associated

She makes it clear that although we say that our society has come far from the old forms of discrimination we have not truly ended racial caste in America and that we have merely redesigned it. Looking at racial inequality from a Marxist lens, race is used to oppress individuals in order to capitalize on wealth. Furthermore, Marxism looks at race as a byproduct of the human desire for lucrativeness. In other words, certain groups want to accumulate as much wealth and material, and in order for them to do that they need to mitigate competition. Competition is reduced through oppressive tactics, certain groups of individuals establish themselves as the essential subject whilst making everyone else around them as the inessential object. By identifying a separation factor, like skin color, one group can thus establish itself as the subject while establishing the other as the object. Tying this back to the play, we can see the correlation between white people and supremacy, and black people and inferiority. Color Blindness comes from a lack of awareness of racial privilege conferred by Whiteness. Due to the fact that White individuals have never encountered difficulty pertaining to issues of race, they are unable to sympathize and acknowledge that the condition exists. Rebecca, as

While watching the video there were powerful quotes by the flock of people who came to New York. One compelling account was of a man talking about the ride to New York from Europe and the difficulties they faced in the sea. For instance, there were four thousand civilians, food was meager (small portion of bread and soup), and most of them didn’t see the sky. The man who recounted his perspective described it as being an animal, but I believe it is more related to the slave trade where African-Americans were carried in sheer amount with little to no food like the immigrants coming to New York. Another powerful recollection was from a woman who stated, “Everybody waiting to get off, but not know what you’re coming and what was going to happen”.

“When people rely on surface appearances and false racial stereotypes, rather than in-depth knowledge of others at the level of the heart, mind, and spirit, their ability to understand people accurately is compromised,” James A. Fondles. Before we learned that labels are not what makes a person I use to look at the world as only black and white. I viewed this world as one where any person of the same color was just as identical as the next. But after learning that character is what makes a person I began to see this world in a new light. No longer did I believe that a person based on their ethnic group, religion, or race was similar to another but that characteristics and history are what makes a persons’ individuality.

are hundreds of airports just like this one all around the world. I cannot be intimate with a location that is constantly repeated because it does not exist as an individual place. The structure of the airport does not require individuality in order to function. Its production of repetition and homogeneity is the basis for its efficiency worldwide because it creates an order through which people's movements can be controlled smoothly.” Those places have become spaces of transition, junkspace. They usually don’t carry notions of history of cultures. They don’t contain within themselves enough spirit of quality spaces. People move in and out without experiencing them as meaningful moments to be inhabited. People come to the airport in order to leave. They pass through a series of hall ways in such a hasty pace with anxieties to get to final destinations.