Category Archives: English 11

Essay corrections

Posted on by under English 11

 

 

The Struggles of Having Colour

What kind of immigrant are you? In a world where there is racism, many people feel the struggles of having colour, because of stereotypes. In the Netflix comedy show, Homecoming King by Muslim, American born, Hassan Minhaj. He shares his story about the prejudice of having a minority skin colour and his experiences with people who are judgemental. In the spoken word “What Kind of Asian Are You?” by Vietnamese, American born, Alex Dang, He talks about all the stereotypes he has faced, and how he still feels the shame of being Asian, but also the pride of being Asian. How do stereotypes and racism effect ones worth? Both Homecoming King and “What Kind of Asian Are You?” focus on self worth, and furthermore one’s worth to society. Both speakers have faced prejudice, isolation and injustice, which is a result of racism. However, Hassan feels that he has an obligation to constantly prove his allegiance and patriotism to America, While, Alex Dang feels the shame of being an Asian, and furthermore, the pressure to please everyone based on stereotypes.

How does racism effect ones self worth? Hassan feels as if his self worth is only based on how others see him, and in many cases, Hassan does not defend himself because he is scared about how others will see him. Hassan shares that his own father felt as if he did not deserve the respect and the voice that all other Americans had. He felt that his value was lower than he deserved. Although Hassan’s father felt this way, like a second-class citizen, Hassan knew he deserved more of a voice and since he wasn’t an immigrant, Hassan didn’t understand why people treated him differently. Hassan accepted the idea of being a second-class citizen, he did not like it, but he accepted it, so he was insecure: “I was so insecure at that age that I couldn’t date another white person, because I was afraid of not being able to be with them, because of the colour of my skin”; Hassan was so insecure about the colour of his skin, that he never wanted to risk getting hurt the way he did, when he liked a white girl. For Hassan there have been barriers that have affected his self worth. As Hassan got older, he earned himself more of a voice. He learned that his self worth was only measured by the amount he gave to himself. Hassan is a dynamic character because throughout his life, he changed from feeling ashamed to feeling pride of himself and his culture. Alex Dang feels as if his own self worth is measured by the stereotypes other racist people make. He has trouble seeing the fact that his value is worth more than the stereotypes that people make. Alex describes the struggles of having immigrant parents. He exclaims that his parents bought the family pet food, because it was cheaper to eat. He shares that at a very young age, his English is already better than his guardians. He shares his battles with having to “assimilate into an America we thought was better than our war torn home”. It was stripping away his individuality. In Alex’s spoken word he shares; “and I still feel the shame of being Asian”, also he shares; “and I still feel pride”. Alex is proud of his heritage and his culture; however, he feels the shame of all the stereotypes that the American society has placed on his culture. His self worth is affected by the thought that he is less significant than the average American.

How does racism effect one’s worth to society? Society has placed a scar on Hassan’s identity. Although Hassan has made a huge name for himself, there will always be a nervous place in this back of his mind. Society has placed labels and rude phrases on people with different skin colour and beliefs. One of the first incidents where Hassan realized he was different was when a little girl called him “poo” coloured. For a little boy this would be traumatic; when Hassan got home, he started washing his hands to try and get rid of the colour. Starting from a young age, Hassan felt as if his worth to society was lower than most. As Hassan got older, he liked a white girl, named Bethany, they planned on going to prom together. When Hassan knocked on the door off Bethany’s house, Bethany’s mom answered and told him; “We have a lot of family back home in Nebraska, and we are going to be taking photos, so we don’t think you’ll be a good fit”. This confrontation really changed Hassan’s view on some white people, and more so it effected his idea of how much society valued him. This incident really hurt Hassan, because afterwards Hassan had to take all the blame for not showing up to prom, and basically abandoning Bethany. Hassan knew he should be respected by society, he understood that society will be cruel, but through many years of hard work, Hassan made it to a place where his own self worth was so high that no one could change his own perception of himself. In Alex’s case, stereotypes have warped peoples mind so much that Alex is no more than just another “Asian”, with no individuality. Society has been trying to hide all the history of the racism Americans have used on Asians. By doing so they have ignored all the important events that Asians have had to go through to be American, but now many are barely even treated as American. Alex wants to be treated equal and be accepted by society, and by wanting to be accepted, he is trying to please everyone. Alex asks the big question: “What kind of Asian do you EXPECT me to be?”. This shows that Alex will be whatever people want him to be because, society has stripped away his individuality, and now he is trying to find himself.

What are the effects of racism and stereotypes? In Hassan’s case he has been labelled as imperfect, when Hassan was young; it was hard for him to feel comfortable in his skin. It was hard because he felt different and insecure, he was the only brown skin boy in his school. Hassan felt as if he was the same as everyone else, but for him, his skin colour was a barrier from being normal. After the 9-11 incident, Hassan and his family were in a way outcasted from society for a while. Hassan’s father said; “whatever you do, don’t tell people you’re Muslim or talk about politics”. This shows the severity of being Muslim at the time. The Stereotype of all Muslims being terrorists really stuck out in America, and people would be extremely racist and harmful to families. This stereotype effected Hassan because he probably felt helpless, he couldn’t do anything about it. With the racism and stereotypes, it really brought Hassan and his father together because they felt more comfortable when they were with each other because they didn’t have to hide themselves from each other. For Alex Dang, stereotypes have affected his whole self worth. Racism has moulded his identity into something he is not. He feels as if his culture is no longer apart of him, but people still use his cultures history to judge him. The racism and stereotypes have forced Alex and his family to assimilate to the American culture, however, America has still branded Alex as a second-class citizen. The racism has carried Alex to the point where he has accepted the stereotypes, he no longer tries to keep his individuality that has been torn off him. Alex has been able to steal back his individuality by finding something he loves. Alex remembers the way he used to feel, he now feels the pride of being Asian. “And I still remember thinking my skin was what I was worth”. Throughout Alex’s life, he has learned that his identity is not based on others view, and the colour of his skin.

In conclusion, Both Homecoming King and “what kind of Asian” focus on self worth and more so, worth to society. Both speakers have faced many barriers that get in the way of their value. Hassan feels as if he must constantly prove himself. Alex feels the shame of being Asian, also, the pressure to please everyone. Although, both men feel insecure, ashamed and feel attacked by racism, they are both proud of themselves and where they came from. At the end of Hassan’s presentation, he shared jokingly: “I am the cure to racism.” Society has started with abolishing slavery; now society must abolish racism.

citations
Alex, Dang, Poetry Button, What kind of Asian are you? YouTube, 29 Jan. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoP0ox_Jw_w.

Minhaj, Hasan, Homecoming King, Netflix Official Site, Art & Industry, 23 May 2017, www.netflix.com/watch/80134781?trackId=13752289&tctx=0,0,206d1fee93aff35590cd5bd20dca895e6d8442c9:77062e09a17216056ec8842a6b57e99796cd8a73,.

 

 

I am proud of the quotes I used and of the format of my essay.

 

Next time I would try to use better punctuation and give more evidence

 

corecctions censorship of sciety

Posted on by under English 11

Censorship of society

Cuba, China, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia, North Korea and Saudi Arabia, are an example of which countries use censorship to govern their people. Censorship is a way many of the worlds leaders use to govern their people. To the outside world, many of these countries are looked down on; and criticized for the way they act on and treat their people. In the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, written in 1953, by Ray Bradbury. The tells the story of Guy Montag. At first, Montag takes pleasure in his profession as a fireman, burning illegally owned books and the homes of their owners. However, Montag soon begins to question his profession and eventually humanity. Therefore, humanity is unable to thrive where there is censorship. Fahrenheit 451 exhibits the predicament where censorship causes lack of creativity, rebellion, and creates confusion.

Censorship causes lack of creativity and isolation, in the novel, it helps clarify how censorship can effect peoples brains, it shows how censorship can make people feel happy when they are by their selves, but deep down they truly are hopeless. In one of the passages in the novel, it shows the way the dystopia reacts to human connection and being social. “Why aren’t you in school? I see you every day wandering around.” “Oh, they don’t miss me,” she said. “I’m antisocial, they say. I don’t mix. It’s so strange. I’m very social indeed. It all depends on what you mean by social, doesn’t it?” in the novel where censorship is everywhere, society has changed the meaning of being anti-social, and social, they have totally flipped the meaning to make people who are creative and warm to feel outcasted and different. in the novel, books represent the meaning of knowledge, when the government takes away and censors the books, its just like taking knowledge away from the people. The government has replaced knowledge with technology, although technology can be used for good, society has used it to create isolation, and furthermore they have created a very melancholic world for themselves. Technology kills diversity, it kills the diversity of ideas. Society benefits from differences and debate. These debates allow us to progress, to move beyond the mistakes of the past, and to leave our world a better place than we found it. Censorship can prevent the free flow of ideas, North Koreans live in the most censored place in the world, all the radio, news papers and television are all censored by the government and they put only what they want their people to hear. North Koreas has the biggest information void in the world. (2) Censorship cause lack of ideas and creativity, it creates isolation.

Censorship causes rebellion, in the novel Fahrenheit 451, Guy Montag began thinking about what was going on is society and decided it was time to stand up for what he believes in. rebellion is necessary in order to gain full knowledge of the truth of society. Many people do not rebel against there censored country, because they do not fully understand what is happening, others are frankly just scared of what will happen to them if they do so. Many of the countries that entertain censorship have wars within their own countries, this is where a group of people who do not like what the government is doing or saying and will fight back to gain control of the government. Censorship violate the rights of civilians, freedom of speech, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of religion. Censorship violates the first amendment.
Censorship creates confusion among the people. In Fahrenheit 451 there are many ideas to support that censorship creates confusion, Mildrid, Guy Montags wife was very confused about her own life, she was so confused by censorship that she almost got her husband killed for owning books. Beatty was so messed up by what society said he was, and told him to be, he could not think for himself, and eventually got himself killed, because for him fire fighting meant to kill, and he felt like that was the only thing for himself to live for. Censorship can even confuse the government and people in authority, in Fahrenheit 451, the fire fighters are so confused on what they are supposed to be, the police have no idea what they are doing. The government probably just goes along with what is happening because they don’t know any better. In places like North Korea, many of the people there have no idea how censored they really are and confused about what life actually is, they have no hope in life, they have no freedom of speech, no freedom of religion, they don’t have many basic human rights. People who are censored are confused, people who censor others are more than confused.
In conclusion, humanity is unable to thrive where there is censorship. Censorship is a way of governing and keeping the people under control, it is ruthless and it does not work as well as giving your people rights and knowledge, therefore censorship in not useful and humanity is unable to thrive. Can humanity thrive where there is censorship?

 

 

did well.

I thought my ideas were clearly presented.

I put good quotes in

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did bad.

grammar wasn’t good enough.

should’ve proof read more.

Are writers and artist as important to society as scientists and engineers?

Posted on by under English 11

It really depends on what type of person you are. Some people can really enjoy a book or a piece of art. others really enjoy the sciences and engineering. But if you break it down many scientists and engineers need art to do what they do, and artists and writers write about science all the tim. Architects use art to design homes and other things. Artist used architectural ideas for there paintings, without artists and writers the world and science would be less exciting. Without science and architecture I have no idea where human kind would be. In conclusion scientists and engineers could not do what they do without art and writers. On the hand neither could artists and writers do what they do without engineers and scientist.

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