Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been the subject of classroom study as early as 1963. The book's content of racial slurs, profanity, and the discussion of rape have led people to challenge its place in libraries and classrooms across North America. One of the common causes of objections is the use of the word “nigger,” and the implication of black students being mocked because of racial stereotyping. The word 'Nigger' is used 48 times in the novel leading to withdrawal from various institutions. However, it is still a part of the curriculum in many schools for obvious reasons.
The word “nigger” was used during the time the novel was written and is important to the historical accuracy. It is wrong to use the "n-word" in a derogative way, but it is also inaccurate to pretend it wasn't used commonly in the past. “To Kill a Mockingbird” deals with racial prejudice and provides readers with life lessons as Scout matures and learns from positive parental figures. Removing this novel from the curriculum would prevent students from gaining this knowledge and blind them from our history. Shielding students’ eyes from the horrific word is not and never will be the correct approach. Certain words are no longer acceptable in society and it is important to understand the reasoning behind this. Tolerance is a key theme in the novel and is important to emphasize this in young impressionable minds. We cannot move forward as a society if we do not learn from our mistakes in the past and this is why "To Kill a Mockingbird" should remain in the curriculum of high schools throughout the world.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Different Perspectives: US Occupation of Iraq
Each of these four pieces were quite shocking when read in class and the effects seemed to linger. I learned a great deal about the ongoing US occupation of Iraq and am now able to create a timeline of events. However, these pieces portrayed much more than a series of events on paper. The war became real. Soldiers tell stories that the media aren’t able to depict.
Filmmaker Deborah Scranton captures raw emotion in her film, “The War Tapes,” by doing interviews right after soldiers are off duty. She says, “If you let time go by, it kinda softens and smoothes the edges.” Scranton is able to gain access to soldiers' emotions and even diaries through mutual trust. A trust that does not exist between the media and soldiers. One soldier reads from his journal: “I should really thank God for saving my lucky ass. I’ll do that, then I’m gonna jerk off because these pages smell like Linds and there won’t be anytime for jerking off tomorrow.” It is hard to think of something more personal than the soldier’s longing for his girlfriend back home.
While watching the TED talks on Deborah Scranton’s “The War Tapes” I had a newfound appreciation for the work soldiers do oversees. I have spent my share of arguments opposing the war in Iraq and fail to realize the hard work done by soldiers in that country. I had heard about soldiers complaining the media was not publishing stories about the successes in Iraq, but didn’t think much of it. However, this is a very important comment and Scranton reinforces this with an example: “Pink Squad and another squad spent their entire day outside the wire trying to save Iraqi lives, the Iraqis who work on the post.” Soldiers dedicate their time to helping the Iraqi people, which also includes cleaning them up. One soldier stares at a blood stained sidewalk and says, “I don’t think there was anything left from his abdominal down.” The scene opens the viewers eyes to the horrors of war. People are torn apart by fatalities and even mistakes. A soldier, with a child and wife back home, killed an Iraqi child while handing out candy from his hummer. Now he’s reluctant to tell his wife and “afraid she’s going to think I’m a monster.” This makes the trivial challenges in our lives seem insignificant.
The article, “Lost Soldiers” by Dexter Filkins is an honest take on the soldiers serving in Iraq. Some of them still defined as “boys” yet being handed heavy guns. I was taken aback by the age of these soldiers, the youngest only a year older than me, having to deal with death on a daily basis. The following paragraph was raw and very effective: “Sometimes, right after a guy is killed, you feel as if you are in possession of a terrible secret. He’s there on the ground, alive only a minute ago, and the only people who know he’s dead are standing right there by him. The rest of the world thinks he’s alive, as alive as he was when he climbed out of bed that same morning, only a few hours before.” These dead soldiers have left their families with a gapping hole in their lives along with untouched bedrooms. Filkins uses figurative language in this paragraph to instill the feeling of empathy in the reader. The news of a soldier’s death is not automatic, but gradual. The message needs to be relayed to friends and family through a series of people and no one really considers how far the word has to travel. Along with this, the reader is able to think of the war from the eyes of each soldier and not as a whole. The photo essay, “The Shrine Down the Hall” is astounding. Each pristine bed left untouched by a fallen soldier. Each bedroom telling a story for many years to come. High school trophies and teddy bears help me realize the sorrow of losing a son so young in his life. The US flag in many of these rooms showing each soldier’s pride in their country. It is easy to become immersed in these pictures and imagine the soldier’s faces and lives back home. It is truly unfortunate that these young men weren’t able to live their lives and grow old.
The documentary, “No End in Sight,” was an eye opener for me. It is embarrassing to admit, but I had no idea of the extremities of the looting in Iraq after US occupation. Stolen artefacts from the National Museum of Iraq were shocking, but strangely, the US soldiers were doing nothing about it. “There was absolute lawlessness.” as stated in the documentary. Orders from the top were being made, overriding many informed officials who “had been to Iraq 8 times and knew what the facts on the ground were.” The US army was not prepared to occupy a country and sufficient plans were not made. What I find most shocking is the soldier’s pleas for armoured hummers. At a question and answer session a soldier asks, “Why don’t we have those resources.” and is given the answer, “You go to war with the army you have.” This should not be the case. The US army budget is one of the highest in the world and should spare no expense in protecting its soldiers. The viewer was informed of trillions of dollars spent on the war in Iraq, but not on soldiers’ necessities. In the documentary, the occupation of Iraq is compared to controlling a “chicken with no head.” This is quite accurate and creates a gory and uncensored image in the viewers mind, exactly what the documentary is looking to achieve.
Filmmaker Deborah Scranton captures raw emotion in her film, “The War Tapes,” by doing interviews right after soldiers are off duty. She says, “If you let time go by, it kinda softens and smoothes the edges.” Scranton is able to gain access to soldiers' emotions and even diaries through mutual trust. A trust that does not exist between the media and soldiers. One soldier reads from his journal: “I should really thank God for saving my lucky ass. I’ll do that, then I’m gonna jerk off because these pages smell like Linds and there won’t be anytime for jerking off tomorrow.” It is hard to think of something more personal than the soldier’s longing for his girlfriend back home.
While watching the TED talks on Deborah Scranton’s “The War Tapes” I had a newfound appreciation for the work soldiers do oversees. I have spent my share of arguments opposing the war in Iraq and fail to realize the hard work done by soldiers in that country. I had heard about soldiers complaining the media was not publishing stories about the successes in Iraq, but didn’t think much of it. However, this is a very important comment and Scranton reinforces this with an example: “Pink Squad and another squad spent their entire day outside the wire trying to save Iraqi lives, the Iraqis who work on the post.” Soldiers dedicate their time to helping the Iraqi people, which also includes cleaning them up. One soldier stares at a blood stained sidewalk and says, “I don’t think there was anything left from his abdominal down.” The scene opens the viewers eyes to the horrors of war. People are torn apart by fatalities and even mistakes. A soldier, with a child and wife back home, killed an Iraqi child while handing out candy from his hummer. Now he’s reluctant to tell his wife and “afraid she’s going to think I’m a monster.” This makes the trivial challenges in our lives seem insignificant.
The article, “Lost Soldiers” by Dexter Filkins is an honest take on the soldiers serving in Iraq. Some of them still defined as “boys” yet being handed heavy guns. I was taken aback by the age of these soldiers, the youngest only a year older than me, having to deal with death on a daily basis. The following paragraph was raw and very effective: “Sometimes, right after a guy is killed, you feel as if you are in possession of a terrible secret. He’s there on the ground, alive only a minute ago, and the only people who know he’s dead are standing right there by him. The rest of the world thinks he’s alive, as alive as he was when he climbed out of bed that same morning, only a few hours before.” These dead soldiers have left their families with a gapping hole in their lives along with untouched bedrooms. Filkins uses figurative language in this paragraph to instill the feeling of empathy in the reader. The news of a soldier’s death is not automatic, but gradual. The message needs to be relayed to friends and family through a series of people and no one really considers how far the word has to travel. Along with this, the reader is able to think of the war from the eyes of each soldier and not as a whole. The photo essay, “The Shrine Down the Hall” is astounding. Each pristine bed left untouched by a fallen soldier. Each bedroom telling a story for many years to come. High school trophies and teddy bears help me realize the sorrow of losing a son so young in his life. The US flag in many of these rooms showing each soldier’s pride in their country. It is easy to become immersed in these pictures and imagine the soldier’s faces and lives back home. It is truly unfortunate that these young men weren’t able to live their lives and grow old.
The documentary, “No End in Sight,” was an eye opener for me. It is embarrassing to admit, but I had no idea of the extremities of the looting in Iraq after US occupation. Stolen artefacts from the National Museum of Iraq were shocking, but strangely, the US soldiers were doing nothing about it. “There was absolute lawlessness.” as stated in the documentary. Orders from the top were being made, overriding many informed officials who “had been to Iraq 8 times and knew what the facts on the ground were.” The US army was not prepared to occupy a country and sufficient plans were not made. What I find most shocking is the soldier’s pleas for armoured hummers. At a question and answer session a soldier asks, “Why don’t we have those resources.” and is given the answer, “You go to war with the army you have.” This should not be the case. The US army budget is one of the highest in the world and should spare no expense in protecting its soldiers. The viewer was informed of trillions of dollars spent on the war in Iraq, but not on soldiers’ necessities. In the documentary, the occupation of Iraq is compared to controlling a “chicken with no head.” This is quite accurate and creates a gory and uncensored image in the viewers mind, exactly what the documentary is looking to achieve.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Landscape Use in "Annabel" by Kathleen Winter
In the excerpt from "Annabel", landscape is used to enhance character and theme quite noticeably. Labrador’s coast is a particularly scenic part of North America and “a traveler can come to Labrador and feel its magnetic energy or not feel it.” The land has a strong connection with its inhabitants, but also select tourists. Jacinta and Treadway are described using scenery in the following quotation: “Treadway belonged to Labrador but Jacinta did not.” Treadway has followed in his father’s footsteps and worked as a trapper while Jacinta teaches in the little school in Croydon Harbour. The land is important to Treadway and his fellow trappers and it is described with great respect in the excerpt. “Canadian mapmakers had named the lake but the people who inhabited the Labrador interior had given it a different name, a name that remains a secret.” Treadway feels a strong connection to the landscape and this is made clear to the reader as the excerpt continues. Treadway “considered the house to belong to his wife, while the place where waters changed direction belonged to him, and would belong to any son he had.”
The landscape is beautifully described in this excerpt. At times, it comes alive and a clear image is created in the reader’s mind. The following quotation shows the respect and strong relationship with the land the trappers possess: “The movements of the ducks were the white hunter’s calligraphy.” Nature plays a prominent part of these trapper’s lives and the descriptive landscape in this excerpt makes this apparent.
The landscape is beautifully described in this excerpt. At times, it comes alive and a clear image is created in the reader’s mind. The following quotation shows the respect and strong relationship with the land the trappers possess: “The movements of the ducks were the white hunter’s calligraphy.” Nature plays a prominent part of these trapper’s lives and the descriptive landscape in this excerpt makes this apparent.
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