Introduction
In The Lottery (Shirley Jackson), a violent tradition occurs where one member of the community is forced to be stoned to death. Even though the tradition is wrong, this is the way the community was raised and it has been continued to be passed down. In this blog post I will discuss how the American tradition of hazing is similar to the tradition of the lottery and a time I challenged my families tradition of Christianity. ____________________________________________________________________________________________Hazing is a tradition in America that exists in the high school, college, and even professional level. During hazing new members are forced to do crazy rituals including: alcohol, sex abuse, and humiliation, in order to be considered a part of the team. These events can often lead to serious injuries, sickness, and even death. Many examples where this occurs is shown in the article: Hazing continues despite efforts to change. This is a serious, violent problem in America that has failed to diminish over time and remains very popular. Hazing is very similar to the lottery shown in the short story because they both are very violent traditions that have been passed down. Also, since they have been apart of the cultural for so long this is seen as right and the members fail to notice the wrong in the nature of doing it. This is demonstrated in the lottery in the line, “The children had stones already. And someone gave little Davy Hutchinson few pebbles” (Jackson). In this part the older people hand the stones to Davey representing that they pass down the tradition and if they are around this from a certain age they will see this as the right thing to be doing. I was fourteen years old sitting in the front row of mass. The church had colorful window panes and was big enough to fit 500 people. The pews were a dark brown and in some places a light brown showing its age from use over years. “Everyone bow your head and pray.. and let's have a moment of silence for the anniversary of Mario Costa’s passing.” I bowed my head as my eyes got teary knowing I had to stay strong for my family, especially my mom-mom. I thought in my head this can't be real and I just wanted my pop-pop back with me. I tried to speak to my pop-pop reaching out, begging for him to show my a sign that he was still with me. My eyes scanned the room for anything to show me he had heard me, but in a disappointing response, I found nothing. This was the moment I began to question my faith. I wondered if god existed why bad things happened to good people, he was supposed to protect us right? My pop-pop went to church every Sunday of his life and was a good christian, but he ended up suffering from a fifteen year brain tumor. To me this just did not make sense, everything I have been taught was not adding up and I became confused. After this I decided to break away from calling myself a Christian. I do not know what I believe in but I am not willing to label myself as something I am not.
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Introduction
In Hills Like White Elephants (Ernest Hemingway), a woman and a man are in Spain at a train station drinking beers. It is obvious that there is something that is bothering them too and the woman keeps referring to the hills as “white elephants”. By the end they are arguing about an operation that is “perfectly simple”, an abortion, and it is unclear how they end. Due to the open ending, in this blog post I will share how I believe the book ended. I will also share a time I had to decide to stay or leave ____________________________________________________________________________________________ The short story ends with the couple waiting for the train and when the guy asks how the woman is doing she says “I feel fine... there is nothing wrong with me.” I believe that this tells the readers that after this the girl keeps the baby and leaves the relationship. When she says there is nothing wrong with her, I interpreted it that she is fine and having the baby will not make something wrong with her. Ernest Hemingway hints throughout the story that she wants to keep the baby as well. He keeps referring to a beaded curtain that is hanging in the restaurant. This symbolizes many things to me, such as the bond between a baby and a mom through an umbilical cord. The woman reaches out and grabs just two beads which could show how she is now two and wants to keep the baby. I also believes that she leaves the relationship because it becomes clear the guy does not have the best intentions for her. He keeps bringing up the simple operation and that they will be perfectly happy after it is done. When he does ask if the girl is okay with it he says, "But I know it's perfectly simple" (Hemingway). To me this did not allow the girl to give her honest answer and he's trying to influence her decision. The two drink a lot and seem to party and it is clear the guy will not love her the same if she keeps the baby because things will change. With the baby they will not be able to party as much and their lifestyle will change and this does not seem appeasing to the man. As the short story goes on the woman asks questions to strengthen her suspicion about his true feelings that the guy does not want what is best for her. His responses go on to show that the woman was right, guiding the woman to leave the man. After our annual Christmas luncheon, all my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents went back to my house. You could hear the laughter and screams of the kids playing house in the basement. The living room was filled with whistles, and announcers voices from the football game playing. The adults enjoyed their drinks as they could talk and watch the game. Some cousins and I sat around the kitchen table as we were way too full from lunch and talked about what we wanted for Christmas. My uncle walked in, stumbling all over and wreaking, Brianna you look like you got chunky, and Victoria that outfit is hideous." This was the man I had always idolized and characterized as my favorite uncle. He was the next best man to me after my dad. I was stunned, unable to form words and confused on why he was acting this way at first. Looking at him in the eye, "You're an awful person! I do not want you to speak to me again." At the time I believed this was the best response I could have given and saw this as the meanest thing I could have said. If I could go back I would have been more rude and made more of a point. That was the day I ended the relationship I had with my uncle, and no longer saw the good in him. I was done making excuses for his behavior after long hours of disappearing. Until he fixes what the problem is I was done supporting him and dancing around his problem. Introduction
In What You Don't Know (Lulu Wang), Lula Wang is put in a difficult situation with her family. Her Gramdother, Nainai, is diagnosed with stage four cancer and given only three months or less to live and her family decides not to tell her. In China it is believed that mental health is as important as physical health and not telling Nainai will prolong her life. Lulu Wang does not agree with this decision and struggles to keep it hidden from her Nainai. In this blog post I will provide my opinion on how the family handled the situation, and a time I was challenged with a difficult situation. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ My opinion on lying to Nainai changed as I listened to the podcast. In the beginning I felt as if this was very wrong because if it was me I would want to know I was sick and be able to fight it. I think every person should have a right to know about their health and what kind of condition they are in. My opinion varies from the families though because we live in different cultures. In China it is costmary to give bad medical news to a family member, not the patient and they feel joy helps heal sickness. I can understand why Lulu was so upset about keeping the secret from her grandmother because if it was me I would want to tell mine and be able to grieve with her. Although, I understand why she did not tell her grandmother because she did not want to go against her family. My opinion had shifted towards agreeing with the decision by the end of the podcast. After three years Nainai does not succumb to the cancer and stays healthy, and this could be related to the fact that her mental health never declined. Also, the podcast revealed that Nainai's husband was sick and she kept his illness from him and did not tell him. This helped to change my opinion because if Nainai did this to someone else maybe she was not totally opposed to the choice herself. In China they believe in other ways to treat sickness than in America and I was able to understand and accept their choice of keeping Nainai happy. I had faced a difficult choice just like Lulu Wang last summer. A few friends and I had a party on Christmas in July since my friends mom was away, telling our parents we were just having a movie night. We all dressed up in ugly sweaters and invited people over and were having a good time. The beginning started out fun but it turned into the grossest night of my life (we can't even talk about it because it was awful). My one friend got a little out of control and began to throw up but we got her crackers and water and decided she was okay and she went to bed. The next day we both had to work as lifeguards at Ridley Park Swim Club at nine am. My friend was not feeling well but we knew it was just the result of the night before so I tried to get her to eat and drink something all day at work. Since we knew we would get in trouble if our parents found out we decided not to tell anyone. When she went on stand for her final time she called me over and said, "Bri I really don't feel good, this is the worst I've ever felt my hands are cramped I can't move them." Immediately after this I ran to get my boss to help me and as I was running to him she fell out of her stand. She was throwing up all over herself and was shaking, unable to move. We called the ambulance right away and when they came they got her on the stretcher and to the hospital. Me, being her partner in crime, was questioned by our boss, the paramedics, and parents. I had to tell the truth about the night before in order for her to get the best treatment possible. Deciding to tell the truth I knew there would be consequences but I had to decide to do what was right in order to make sure my friend was going to be okay. Introduction
In this blog post I will reflect my thoughts on My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelo). This short story is set during the 1960s in the south when segregation was very evident. Margaret works with Mrs. Glory, and they are both housekeepers for Mrs. Cullinan. During the story Margaret stands up for her rights and rebels when they are taken from her. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ During the pivotal scene, Margaret breaks Mrs. Cullinan's casserole dish and green cups which were very important to her. These pieces were very important to her family and had been passed along generations for years. What causes the breaking of the glasses is when Mrs. Cullinan says to Mrs. Glory and Margaret, "She’s Mary from now on"(Angelo). Mrs. Cullinan says this to exhibit her power over Margaret and demonstrates how racism is still a problem Mrs. Cullinana believed she had so much power over her black servant to change her name and this was diminishing. In an effort to keep her self worth and to stand up for what she believes in Mary rebels. The scene that showed her rebellion was, "Her favorite piece was a casserole shaped like a fish and the green glass coffee cups. I kept his instructions in mind... I picked up the casserole and two of the green glass cups in readiness. As she rounded the kitchen door I let them fall on the tiled floor"(Angelo). Breaking the glass demonstrates the breaking of power and challenged the status quo since the dishes were in the family for so long. I believe that the way Margaret handled this was very well and agree completely with her behavior. She was not going to let anyone diminish her self worth and I think this is a very important trait to have. Breaking the dishes allowed her to make her point and stand up against racism and at the end it worked out in her favor. Mrs. Cullinan ended up calling her Margaret and this was very important to her. I believe it is vital that you never let anyone take your identity from you and staying true to who you are and Margaret does exactly this in this short story. In my life the status quo was doing gymnastics considering I had done it since the age of four. My life revolved around this sport and I spent almost everyday during the week at practice for hours. My weekends consisted of me traveling the country to compete at local competitions, nationals, or even worlds for a couple years. My parents invested endless money and time into this sport but it was all worth it since I was doing the sport that I loved. My goal was to eventually compete in college gymnastics and be able to receive some sort of scholarship from it. This sport brought me happiness and I wanted to make it last as long as I could. My dreams all came to an end when my body started to fight back the endless hours of intense work. Around the time of fourth grade I began to get injured constantly. I went from having a boot on my left foot, to a cast on my right, right back into a boot on my left. The injuries were never ending and around ninth grade they became more severe. My back became the center of my injuries and at first I thought I could push through the pain but it turns out I was wrong. Somedays coming home from practice I was unable to even walk because of how severe it was. I had to change my whole life to overcome these injuries starting with giving up gymnastics. My parents were not happy with my decision and I had to go against them in order to be happy again. I had to make the decision that was best for me even though I was letting everyone else down. This major decision happened two years ago and to this day I could not be happier with it. I have found a new love in cheerleading and I am so passionate for this sport! |
Brianna Costa
Within this blog I will write about concepts in my English class and about events in my life. Archives
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