Introduction:
-Often times success is not able to be achieved through hard work.
-Background information: A working Polish man named Jurgis Rudkus moves to Chicago in the United States in hopes for a better future with his family. He and other members in his family work work hard to make a living and as time passes some die while others become corrupted by societal influences.
-Thesis: Upton SInclair applied aspects of the Civil War in his novel with his views on the treatment of humanity through the use of symbolism, and the presentation of the conflict and resolution.
Body Paragraphs
Paragraph 1:
1P: The symbolism presented in the novel brings upon the relation of the oppression experienced by the immigrant workers and African American
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He was too naive thinking that he would be able to achieve the American Dream by just working hard. Similar to the moment when the pigs, with the power of their own feet, walk towards their death, Jurgis and his family have come to America, unknowing of the cheating and selfish men who take advantage of the family’s position as low-class and illegal immigrants. Jurgis reaches this point in life when he finally realizes that the American Dream is all a hoax, but his family is stuck in debt, unable to get out. Just like the hogs in the meat-packing factory,African Americans were born as slaves to work. This work would lead to the profit of their owner like how the owners of the meat packing factories profit from killing and selling pork. Slaves, hogs, and Jurgis’ family are put in this position of enslavement by the people of power(factory owner and rich plantation owners) to make a large profit. Sold into slavery, most Africans worked for rich white men who made large profits from the work of the slaves on the farms.
-Transition sentence: The hogs, Jurgis’ family, and African American slaves all relate to each other in the aspect of oppression by a position of power.
Paragraph 2:
2P: The hardships faced within Jurgis’ family and African Americans during the Civil War are displayed through the conflict introduced in the rising action of the novel.
-In the novel,
Throughout the novel many problems occur. Some of the main problems are racial and equality issues. Events in this book show how prejudice and intolerance can ruin numerous friendships and change lives.
In this essay, both texts, “To kill a Mockingbird” and “The Help”, will be looked at in depth, and the range of literary devices and techniques used in order to portray the theme of racism will be analyzed. The emotional attachment between protagonists, and the positive perspectives shared by characters portray the overall theme of racism and how this is oppressive for all people involved.
According to Frederick Douglass, “it was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery, through which I was about to pass. It was a most terrible spectacle. I wish I could commit to paper the feelings with which I beheld it (p.4).” Frederick Douglass and Toni Morrison literatures examine the stigma of slavery, and the perceptions of its dangers. They illustrate what life was like and the mental as well social impact it had on enslaved African-Americans and their life after gaining freedom. Richard Wright convinces his audience in Black Boy that he was tired of the limitations and outcries in the South “I was not leaving the South to forget the South, but so that some day I might understand it, might come to know what its rigors had done to me, its children (284).” Alice Walker obtains her readers attention by transforming young women into their own characters with a voice using spiritual guidance. In Native Son, Bigger has achieved is lost after being apprehended and brought into captivity, as he transitions back into silence and passivity and begins to recover only in his final confrontation, whereas Douglass in the same prevailing convention, only heals after the regaining of his freedom. Through these literatures, and many others, African-Americans find multiple ways to alleviate and recover from the intensity of undesired bondage and bigotry.
Even Joan, coming from Chinese descent is unaware of such violent acts towards her ancestors; yet, when Sam addresses American-African as “Negro” Lee instantly comes up with the right way of referring to them. “Even in the United States, some people so hate the American Negro for his differences that they keep him enslaved, . . .” “Negro?” Lee said. “Do you mean African-American?” (Buzbee 78-79). Lee’s quick observation was clear evidence that the state’s history standards greatly emphasize on the importance of slavery being taught to middle schoolers. Yet, they fail to address that other races were also the targets of racism, discrimination, and constant humiliation. Students are very well aware of the great suffrage the African-American went through and how they were discriminated against. They learn how the Africans were captured and forced to leave their country, how they worked endless hours, and the severe punishments they underwent if a certain amount of work wasn’t meet. Buzbee in his novel, addresses historical issues that are sadly, not prioritized according to school academic
However, the author raises the awareness of the contemporary issues and challenges of the black community, through the choice of narrative and key concepts that are essential for the genre. The novel explores many critical themes concerning the African-American
Through out the novel racism, poverty, and domestic violence are practically their own characters. These themes not only effect many characters but also manifest themselves symbolically within them. This creates a literary work that typifies the horrors that existed during the early twentieth century. Thus, laving a handprint on society that will never be
Throughout the narrative, Douglass encounters multiple slaveholders, each with a similar trait. Their moral health becomes a deciding factor in each of the slaves lives. While
“I wished to frighten the country by a picture of what its industrial masters were doing to their victims; entirely by chance I stumbled on another discovery--what they were doing to the meat-supply of the civilized world. In other words, I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident hit it in the stomach” (Bloom). With the publication of a single book, Upton Sinclair found himself as a worldwide phenomenon overnight. He received worldwide response to his novel and invitations to lectures all over the world including one to the White House by President Roosevelt. In late 1904, the editor of the Appeal to Reason, a socialist magazine sent Sinclair to Chicago to tell the story of the poor common workingmen and women unfairly enslaved by the
Throughout the course, we have studied many different works, including short stories, poetry, plays, novels, and speeches. Within these works, the theme oppression has had a recurring role. The poem “Oppression” by Langston Hughes, “Strangers that Came to Town” and A Doll’s House are all memorable pieces because each explores the theme oppression. In Langston Hughes “Oppression”, he talks about what if people’s rights were taken from them, the rights that make them human. In the short story “Strangers that Came to Town” it shows the racism against a poor immigrant family who move to a new place. In A Doll’s House, the protagonist of the story is controlled by her husband.
It soon becomes apparent, however, that the couple’s help is purely superficial and they are not doing nearly enough to distance themselves from the system of slavery. Scenes like these brought us back to our own lives and forced us to think about racial tensions, wherever they might be in our community.
Racism is an extraordinary ideal in this novel for three reasons; The “N-Word”, why the novel is not taught in most schools, and finally the way the novel looked at differently with racism involved.
: I think the story’s timeline and the character’s nationality affected the characters because the nationalities of the book’s characters were African-American and during the story’s time line the people mistreated African-American because of their skin color. In the book the main characters were always mistreated by most of the Americans since during that story’s time line Americans thought of themselves as more superior than African Americans. For example, one of the events in the book that affected the main characters are that since they were African-American they had to walk to school, but the most Americans children were given a bus to ride to school. Another example in the book was that the schools of African-American children were given
At first, the narrator cannot grasp that his grandfather was fighting against oppression in his work he was compliant to white men. But as he progresses as a student the denials of the system become more clear it is not clear if white men wish for him to advance or not. The narrator’s worldview has become more
The book is about a family of Lithuanian lithuanian immigrants who recently moved to Chicago in search for a land of opportunity for themselves and their children but soon found out the actual state of America america and realized they had been fooled by the gilded facade. After arriving to Chicago Jurgis was to be wedded to Ona and buy a new house for them and some of their family members to live in. After having difficulties paying for rent and other basic utilities the other family members had to find work to do in order for them to meet the quota placed on them by their landlord. After the death of Dede Antanas the family was put in a tight spot for money and a state of turmoil overcame them and forced them to do whatever it takes to survive the harsh and unforgiving tasks presented
The novels may focus on individual characters like Milkman and Jadine, but the salvation of individuals is not the point. Rather, these individuals struggling to reclaim or redefine themselves, are portrayed as epiphenomenal to community and culture, and it is the strength and continuity of the black cultural heritage as a whole that is at stake and being tested. (93-94)