American History Essay Example for Free

American History Essay â€Å"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil† was a wise phase once uttered by Hannah Arendt. I love this quote because is perfectly describes the two boys from â€Å"American History X,† Danny and Derek. These two boys have seen and done it all when it comes to hate groups, as both were members of a neo-nazi hate group. Neo- Nazi hate groups use authoritarian, scapegoat, normative, and exploitation theories to justify their hate, discrimination, and torture of anyone who isnt a part of the â€Å"supreme race,† or white. Boy Danny and Derek end up in this life from an early age. Parents are one of the biggest, if not the biggest influence on a childs life. When Danny and Derek were both relatively young they looked up to their father, thought of him as the â€Å"ideal† man. However their father was a racist, influencing almost every thought the boys had. At family dinner when talking about about a black school teacher their father said, â€Å"Its nigger bullshit,† and warned Derek not to buy into the equality teachings. Because Danny and Derek both looked up to their dad so much, this would be and example of the exploitation theory. Exploitation theory is when one societal group, in this case whites, use hostility to keep their position and power intact. This really come into play after Danny and Dereks father was murdered and Derek believes it was a race related killing. Right after their father died, Derek joined a neo-nazi hate group known as the DOC(Disciples of Christ). Being extreme believers in the white supremacy movement, the DOC acted out with violence and extreme hatred toward any other race, especially blacks. Derek, being a high ranking member, murdered 2 black men for the cause. He served three years for the murders, which impacted his whole family tremendously. At the beginning of Dereks sentence he did not want any visitors, claiming it would be to hard to see his family. He made friends with other neo-nazi members in prison, but soon started realizing that they were not serious about the cause like he was. He also started becoming friends with his black work partner who said, â€Å"I aint the nigger in here, you are† Derek started realizing that white supremacy what basically just a scapegoat. Meaning that the followers of the movement were just trying to find someone to blame for their problems, which in this case happened to be  the blacks. After befriending his black work mate he realized that blacks are human too. Once he could recognize blacks as human he finally felt guilt for killing to people, not niggers, people. Derek was determined to help his brother and family by getting them out of the gangs and hate. One of the biggest influences on Derek while in jail was his principal from high school. He was a black man with experience in dealing with â€Å"troubled youth.† He gave Derek the push he needed by saying, â€Å"Has anything youve done made your life better?†. Later Derek told Danny, â€Å"Its just because I was pissed off†. I think this was Dereks way of responding to his principal, he really didnt believe in the cause it was more of just an outlet for his anger that his father would have approved of. While Derek is locked up.

Racism in Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton :: Cry, The Beloved Country Essays

Is Alan Paton racist in his portrayal of the natives? Yes, Alan Paton is racist in his portrayal of the natives as evidenced by the text below: Part I Page 10 Then she and put her head on it, with the patient suffering of black women, with suffering of oxen, with suffering of any that are mute. Pg 13, already full of the humbler people of his race., some with strange assortments of european garments. Pg 22 White Johannesburg was afraid of black crime. OLD COUPLE ROBBED AND BEATEWN IN LONELY HOUSE - FOUR NATIVES ARRESTED. Pg. 35 Who is nothing but a white man's dog. Pg. 44-45 These things are so bad, said Msimangu... it is true that they are often bad women, but hta is theone crime we dare not speak of. Pg. 58 God have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us. White man have mercy upon us. Pg. 59 The white men come to Shanty town. They come and wonder what they can do, there are so many of us. What will the poor devils do in the rain? Pg. 72 Murder in ParkwoldASSAILENT THOUGHT TO BE NATIVES. Pg. 75 I say we shall always have native crime **** until the native people of this counrty have worthy purposes to inspire and worthy goals to work for. Pg. 77 We went to Zoo lake dear. But its quite impossible. I really don't see why they can't have separate days for natives. Where can these poor creatues go? Pg. 78-79 and others say there is a danger for better paid laor will not , but will also read more, think more, ask more, and will not be content to be forever voiceless and inferior. Pg. 79 Who knows how we shall fashion such a land? We fear not only the loss of our possessions , but the loss of our whiteness. Pg. 86 Soe he introduced Kumalo to the European Superintendent, who called him Mr. Kumalo Pg. 123 He loooked l ike a man used to great matters, much greater htan the case of a black boy Part II Pg. 150 God knows what's comign to the country, I don't. I'm not a nigger hater...Pg. 154 The truth is that our christian ...he created white and black, and gives divine approval to any human that is deisnged to keep black men from advancement. Pg. 158 but at the door of the People, which means at the door of the white people. Pg.

Drama Exploration †Response Essay

For the response phase of our drama exploration unit, we used two different explorative strategies in order to investigate our characters and help us to be able to define them better and also to allow us to be able to really become the character instead of imitating what we think the character is like. The two explorative strategies we use were called, â€Å"The Watering Hole† and â€Å"Marking the Moment†. The character that I play the part of is called Reg from the play â€Å"Table Manners† by Alan Ayckbourne. He is a realtor and is married to Sarah; they have two children and have what may be called a turbulent relationship. The Watering Hole The first explorative strategy which we covered was called â€Å"The Watering Hole†. During this exercise we were to think of what our character would be like as an animal. We were then to think of what it would be like as a group of this animal, much like flock of geese or a pride of lions. Once we had done this we had to think of a name for our group of animals. Then we had to act out what this group of our character would do at a watering hole and how they would react to other character/animals. In addition to this we had to think of a sound that our animal would make and emulate it. Finally we had to show also how our character would bathe and wash himself once at the watering hole. I was placed in a group with four other people who also played the character of Reg. First we decided that the creature that Reg could be most closely associated with is a sloth. His general disinterest in others and their business is reflected in this. We also felt that a major aspect of his character was that he becomes very engrossed in seemingly irrelevant things, such as when he ignores tom when he is talking about Annie and focuses upon the stale biscuits. This helps to show also that he is interested in feeding himself and in food in general. The only quality of his which did not match the sloth was his very short attention span. So eventually we decided to have a creature that was very slow and disinterested in other creatures, but still one that took passion in food and small items. For the name of our ‘group’ we decided to call it a mob due to the fact that mobs are very disjointed and disorganised and each person is an individual and yet they are still moving in a group. This is appropriate because Reg is not an organised person and he would not work well as a group as he is more of an independent creature. For the voice of our creature we came to the decision that his ‘voice’ would need to resemble that of his actual voice; droning and extremely boring as every other character finds him, he would drink from the pool while very engrossed in the water and would splash around in it and be very amused by it, showing some of his immature side. When faced with the task of acting out what our character would do if he were to wash himself, we chose to just flop onto the mattress (our watering hole) and splash the water and just lie in it as her is not interested in washing himself but in playing in the watering hole. We decided to have different reactions to each character. Name Of Character How we would act? Why we would act this way? Norman Be very calm, even friendly, offering a place at the watering hole. Reg likes Norman, in opposition of all the others who all hate him with the exception of Annie and I think Reg finds him extremely amusing. Ruth Be quite disinterested but also quite friendly. Disinterested because they are siblings and lived together for most of their life and friendly as they have a common enemy in Sarah. Annie Treat her like a loving child and keep her safe from others. Reg would do this because he thinks of Annie as his sweet younger sister and likes to take care of her. Tom Reg treats Tom like a friend. He thinks that he is suitable for Annie. Sarah Be very hostile. This is because he hates Sarah and there is no actual love between them. They are only together because of their children. Marking the Moment The second explorative strategy which we used in order to explore our characters was marking the moment. ‘Marking the moment’ is when a moment in a scene of particular significance is emphasised in some way, this may be by freezing the scene or by using thoughts spoken out loud. Since ‘Table Manners’ is a naturalistic play these methods cannot be used and other methods have to be used. The moment we chose to mark was the point in the play at which it is just Reg and Tom alone together in the dining room. Tom is talking about how he thinks that Annie wanted him to take her on a weekend holiday with him and Reg is talking about golf and his childhood days at which point Tom realises he has missed out on a weekend of pleasure with Annie. This moment is significant because it clearly shows Toms realisation and ignorance and Reg’s disinterest in others’ matters, giving us a clear insight into both characters. We marked this moment by using Tom’s facial expressions to show what he was thinking during Reg’s ignorant speech about aeroplanes. This helped me to understand Reg much better because it showed me that he is a very shallow person and only cares about a few things in life; food, golf and his own personal satisfaction. In conclusion I think that these strategies helped me to better understand my character due to the fact that it forces you to think about what your character would be like outside of the set lines in the play and he or she would be as an actual person and this develops the way I can fit into the role of the character in order to fulfil the role.

Evolution of Childhood - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1249 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/03/13 Category Sociology Essay Level High school Topics: Childhood Essay Did you like this example? Abstract To understand the developments in the current industrial society, one must take a closer look at the view of children during the neoclassic and romantic periods of our history. In his book A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift discusses the role of social classes in determining a childs role in the society, albeit in a satirical way. During the neoclassical period, industrial technology had not surfaced. Therefore, European parents had to toil or work harder to put food on the table. These involved long hours of manual work in the farms. However, long hours of action did not guarantee a higher yield. The inconsistent weather patterns at times determined harvests. Therefore, if a child was born to a low-income family or a developing nation, then he or she would be viewed as a burden to the family or the state. As a result, various mechanisms were set up to prevent children from being burdens to the state or their families. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Evolution of Childhood" essay for you Create order By then, Ireland was one of the poorest European countries. This made it hard to raise a child in this nation (Day 96). To make it worse, the English or the British policy towards Irish was not friendly. This made it harder for the parents to raise children in Ireland. Swift then suggested that the Irish parents should sell their children into the British labor. Selling children into labor was a common trend during this era. Low-income families could not afford to educate and feed their children well. Therefore, some children accompanied their parents to work. They worked for the elite families in Europe. Still, the pay was not good enough. This meant that they could barely improve their economic status. Some parents and their children had to exchange their labor with food. Consequently, most of the work they did was for survival, not to improve their families economic status or conditions. Education was not a right but a privilege that few children could afford. The mode of education or the curriculum was based on enhancing a childs way of reasoning or thinking. This encouraged the rise of philosophy and the increasing interests in science. The focus of some education institutions were based on challenging the religious and political authority of the Catholics (Hindman 103). This was because the church played crucial roles in their lives. Also, there was a continuous struggle or frictional relationships between the Catholics and the Protestants. Children born from wealthy families could afford education. However, this was not the same case to children born of poor parents. At times, the parents could not afford the fee required for their education, or the children were just busy working to help their families make ends meet. Gender was an important issue in European neoclassical societies. Males were regarded superior than the females. Therefore, the males had additional privileges compared to their female counterparts. To ensure the continuity of this ideology or belief, it played a crucial role in the bringing up the children. Boys could be taught matters of leadership while the females could be taught matters of domestic chores, boys were also taught issues of management. This is because they had the right to inherit their fathers property. Therefore, it is believed that there was a close association between fathers and their sons. Similarly, girls enjoyed close associations with their mothers. Romantic era ushered in new ideas of compulsory school attendance and nationalism. In fact, it coincided with the first industrial revolution in Britain. As a result of the revolution, machines were coming in to replace human labor. This led to the establishment of first industries in Europe. The introduction of machines in the process of production led the creation of employment opportunities, development and widening gaps in social classes and finally increased European population due to the availability of more food. In his poem The Chimney Sweeper, William Blake brings into our attention the prominence of child labor during the Romantic era. Machines brought good changes to the society, however, they enslaved people into the belief of economic success. As a result, more people started to strive harder to improve their social and economic status. Therefore, one can easily say that as much as machines improved efficiency or made work easier and brought more food to our tables, it took our children with it and the introduction and prominence of child labor. Religion played a crucial role in the development of a childs labor. According to religious teachings, we are taught to embrace the sufferings of the world to gain rewards in the afterlife. Given that the Romantic era was a period of strict religious tolerance, children (especially boys) and as young as four and five years were sold to industrial labor. Also, the form of religion during this period was deeply rooted in European conservatism. Therefore, words from the Bible were regarded as laws. This hindered the concepts of liberalism in bringing out new ideas. In most industries across Britain, children worked as chimney cleaners. In some, they did other light duties such as sorting out and cleaning some work tools. To most of their parents, this was an act of preparing their children to embrace the difficulties of life in order to make them ready for rewards that come after death, in the afterlife. Such religious arguments led to the prominence of child labor in London and the e ntire romantic era. Education played a central role in this period. The curriculum placed more emphasis on sciences, arts, and law (Bassler 67). Unlike the neoclassical period, most children went to school during the romantic era. This was attributed to two factors. First, more parents were employed at the industries. Therefore, they could afford to take their children to school. Finally, many European nations wanted to focus on national development. Education was therefore made mandatory as it played a central role in a nations political, economic and social development. Gender still played a crucial role in the raising of children. To preserve the status quo, boys had upper hands in social, political and economic roles. However, the notion that boys are stronger made them more vulnerable to industrial exploitation. In England and other countries in Europe like France, boys as young as four and five years were taken to work in the factories. They did light duties but at times had to clean the sooty chimneys. The pay they received was used by their parents to raise the families. Girls, on the other hand, were taught to embrace domestic roles. They stayed at home and took care of their younger siblings. At times, older girls would prepare mills for the families. However, they had no right to own property. In most cases, they were not included in inheriting their familys property. Conclusion Its therefore evident that our historical timelines played crucial roles in childhood. For example, during the neoclassical period, the needs of the society influenced how the children were brought up. This is because the societal needs influenced the parents and governments priorities. However, one can quickly point that the industrial revolution played a significant role in changing the mode of bringing up children. For example, the romantic era was deeply influenced by the first industrial revolution that began in England (Hassel 23). This led to new priorities in education and labor demands from the children. One can say that the need for childs labor increased during the romantic era than during the period of the neoclassic era. This change can be attributed to the industrial revolution.